Mother Wears Red: The Boy in the Red Cloak

Mother Wears Red Arc

The Boy in the Red Cloak

The East Crest orphanage rustled with the sounds of happy children and tears of disappointment. It was around this time adults, both male and female, would come around seeking their "dream child" as they called it and to give them the perfect home. Chosen children often jumped for joy and even kissed their future parents feet when they are called into the small furnished office where they are to be given away. Some children ran back to their bunks to say goodbye to the friends they've made and have even promised to come back for them when the time was right. But there were some kids who didn't say goodbye to anyone and even mocked the children as they drove away in a swanky car. But no matter how friendly everyone was, everyone was jealous of the chosen. The orphans would spread rumors about the chosen child's times here and how they were unbearable to hang around. Everyone who was chosen was automatically disliked.

This was Adonis Cesaire's first introduction to the feeling of hate.

He was sometimes glad he was never chosen. Not because he didn't want to be hated, but because he didn't want the love of anyone but his mother.

His Mother.

Even though it has been several years since her death, there is not a day that goes by that he doesn't miss her. Her beautiful chocolate locks, her soothing gaze and most of all the reputation she held wearing her red cloak. His mother had been the villlage farmer and gardener. Every week, the two of them would bring their harvests to the village central where everyone could grab what they needed. Some people were too poor to buy or lacked resources to grow their own food. Adonis would see faces of sadness and despair morph into faces of joy and gratitude. The village had been very close knit.

But on that terrible night when those vicious creatures invaded the village, the village didn't act very close knit. In fact, they scattered. Although they were hesitant to leave their loved ones, they did so without looking back. Nobody had come to save Adonis or his mother when the creatures ripped her apart, literally. Several men and women stood and watched like it was the climax of a movie.

He wills himself to remember no further.

When the ordeal was over, many children were left without parents and even homes. The Magic Council arrived on the scene rather quickly, but to him they were already too late. They took every orphaned child to East Crest, where they would live in the city's self-proclaimed "world's best orphanage."

He hated it here. He should be with his mother. No, he wishes he was the one viciously torn apart by the nightmarish creature and sent to Heaven. His mother deserved to live! He damned everyone who just watched her die, including himself.

He breathed deeply. He needed to control his rage. He was thirteen now, he shouldn't be throwing hissy fits. God forbid the disciplinary officer decided to check on him and his emotions break through the hollow mask he wears. He would be beaten and tortured into the next century.

The orphans were also forbidden from practicing Magic as well. They said it would affect their chances of adoption, like he even gave a shit. Adonis was always in and out of the orphanage. Never around in the daytime, but was always back before curfew was the way his schedule worked. He would never tell anyone that he secretly practiced magic, not even the adorable four and five year olds who looked to him for protection. The disciplinary officer wasn't the only abusive one in the orphanage and he would be damned if another person he cared about was harmed.

Especially if they found out he was practicing Darkness Magic.

It was purely an accident that Adonis discovered he had a talent for Darkness Magic. He used his own money to buy a spell book that had several categories of Magic inside it and the first spell he perfected with ease was a Darkness Spell. He was briefly proud of himself, but diminished his happiness on his walk back to the orphanage. He'd suffer a horrible punishment if his magical talents were discovered. They would give him hell for tarnishing the orphanage's name!

Adonis briefly collapsed to the cobbled ground next to his spell book.This particular spell was hard, but he wouldn't give up. He'd been out here since breakfast and hadn't come back for lunch. He presumed the orphanage would be mad, but the headmasters knew he was a loner and left him alone most of the time.

Adonis gripped his mother's red cloak as the cool air brushed his neck. Yes, he had kept the cloak. But could anyone really blame him? His mother was all he had and the only thing left for him by his mother was her infamous red cloak.

He passes by a stand of various red flowers and his thoughts drifted to his mother's love for the color. Tears pricked the back of his eyes, but he shook them off. He couldn't go inside the orphanage crying. He clenched his fists. He didn't want to see the eyes of pity, it would only remind him of the same eyes that watched his mother die.

He arrived inside the orphanage and was immediately greeted by the laughter of children. The young ones greeted him as they surrounded his feet, an immediate sign they wanted to play. The children led Adonis to their bunks when they were stopped by one of the headmasters.

"Adonis Cesaire. Your presence is requested in the adoption room." the headmaster said in an upbeat tone.

Adonis shifted uncomfortably under the headmaster's gaze. "Am I in trouble or something? Is it because I missed lunch?" he spoke quietly. The children at his feet gave him sad and fretful glances. He smiled at them to show he was okay, but on the inside he was taken aback.

The headmaster shook her head. "No child, someone is here to interview you." she explained.

An interview?

Adonis had never been chosen for adoption in all his years of staying in the orphanage, so why now? Maybe he really was in trouble and the disciplinary officer was waiting for him with that paddle or even worse his belt! Adonis shivered at the thought of the belt hitting his back and arms with a loud crack.

"Adonis?" the headmaster spoke up, breaking his train of thought. "Shall we go?" she gestured to the hallway that led to the adoption room.

Adonis shrugged. "Sure." he heard himself say. He patted the heads of the young children, signalling he'd return shortly. The children exchanged looks and trailed off towards their bunks, worried about their older friend.

"I'm ready." Adonis said as he stood tall.

"Very well, Adonis. If you'll follow me."