"It’s my turn! Get off da swing!" The little girl shouted, her hazel eyes flashing with anger. The small boy on the swing grinned. "What’re you gonna do? Make me play dollies with you if I don’t? Go away, girly-girls don’t get to swing!"

The little girl looked around the large park, scanning the open field for people, then calmly walked over to the swing and punched the boy in the face. She hit him square in the eye with all her might, knocking him off the swing. "Don’t you ever call me a girly-girl again, or I’ll show you what happens when I really get angry!"

The boy looked up at her with his big blue eyes, then started crying as the girl pushed him out of the way and settled down on the swing. It was soft at first, but then became body-wracking sobs that made him gasp for air. The girl quickly got off the swing and ran over to him.

"What’cha crying ‘bout?" she asked.

"You hit me!" he answered, eyes wide with fear and disbelief.

"Ah, big deal!"

"It hurt!"

This made the little girl smile. "I’m sorry. But you shouldn’t call me a girly-girl. How would you like it if I called you a girly-girl?"

He looked down at his feet. "Not very much. I’m sorry. I promise I won’t do it again!"

"A’right, but only if you promise. My brudda says dat a promise is something dat you gotta keep, no matter what, come hell or high water!"

The little boy smiled, showing a mouthful of straight, white baby teeth. "I promise!"

"Good. I’m Samantha, my brudda calls me Sammy, but you can’t call me dat ‘cause it’s only for my brudda. I’m 6 years old. What’s your name?"

"My name’s Chad, but you can call me Ruin. Everyone in da orphanage calls me dat cause dey say I destroy stuff all da time. I don’t mean to, but it jus kinda happens. Da people at da orphanage say I should be happy ‘cause dey cared enough to give me a nickname, but I just think it’s ‘cause dere are four other Chad’s dere an’ dey get us confused. I’m 7."

"Ruin, I like dat name. You live at da orphanage? Why?"

"I dunno."

"Oh. Well, you wanna be my friend?"

"Sure! I don’t have very many ‘a dose!"

"You promise to always be my friend?"

"I promise!"

"Okay friend, can you come over for lunch?"

"Sure!"

Samantha and Carter sat up on their roof, gazing at the beautiful clear spring evening. They had spent many nights like that, just sitting back and enjoying the view. Sometimes they’d speak; sometimes they’d just be silent, enjoying the others company.

Samantha stared up at the stars, her hazel eyes shimmering. "Think whatever’s up dere is staring back at me right now?" she asked.

Carter laughed, slinging his arm over her shoulder. "I’m sure it is. Where do you come up with all dese stories? It’s amazing what you can think up," he shook his head.

She turned and stuck her tongue out at him. "Mom an’ dad say I have a great ‘imagination’. You’re just jealous ‘cause dey don’t say dat ‘bout you!"

The 14 year-old boy’s hazel eyes darkened so much they turned almost black and his body went rigid. "Well mom an’ dad miss a lot ‘bout me," he said tonelessly, looking away from her.

"Sure dey do," she laughed, poking him in the side, totally oblivious to his change in attitude.

"Sammy… Do you love me?" he asked quietly.

She opened her mouth to make a smart-aleck comment, then hesitated. The voice he had used to ask her that question was a voice she had never heard from him before… It was almost sad. Finally, after a bit of staring at her shoes, she nodded. "Of course I do… Why you ask?"

"Even… Even if I did something really, really bad?"

"What’d you do?"

"Didn’t do nothing, yet. But I can’t take it anymore, Sammy, I just…" His words trailed off.

She let out a loud yawn and blinked a few times to keep herself awake, then nestled her head against his chest. "Can’t," she stopped to yawn, "Can’t take what?"

"Sammy," he stopped, trying to figure a tactful way to say what he needed to say. "Mom an’ dad…Ain’t all dat great. Dey wanna do something to you… Something real bad… An’ I keep trying to talk ‘em outta it, but you know how dey are. Dad’s always gone to some dig, you know how much he loves his job, being one a dem fancy archeologists… An’ mom’s stubborn as a mule… I just don’t know how long I can keep ‘em from doing it."

He looked down to catch his baby sister’s reaction, then sighed with frustration. She had fallen asleep, and missed his whole speech. He shook his head and picked her up, crawling through the window into the house, then carried her into her bedroom. He set her down on her small bed, kissing her forehead, then he turned away and walked out of the room, making sure never to let what he had said a few moments prior slip out again.

Samantha raced through the front door of her family’s small house, dropping her sopping wet coat on the floor of the living room. It was a small house, only two bedrooms with a kitchen and a den, but she knew how lucky she was to have such a home, compared to many of the other children she knew who lived in tiny corners or even in alleys. "Mommy, Daddy, Carter, I’m home! I had a great day! Ruin an’ I went swimming ‘cause some mean kid pushed Ruin in da water, an’ so I pushed da mean kid in da water but he hung onto me an’ we both went into da water! He ran away, but me an’ Ruin stayed in an’ played in da water! I’m kinda wet, but-"

She stopped as she entered the kitchen, only to find her mother not there. She was certain it was dinnertime, but if it was, where was her mother? "Daddy? Where’s Mommy? She’s not in da kitchen an’-"

Her father was not in his chair. Her father was always in his chair, reading a book or talking to her mother or writing his memoirs. Something didn’t feel right. She couldn’t explain it; it just felt… Wrong.

"Mommy? Daddy? Carter?" She ran around the house, searching room after room to try and find them. "Please come out! I don’t wanna play no more!"

She ran out to the front yard and stopped in the middle of the street in front of a carriage. The carriage stopped and a woman of about 40 stepped out, looking around with an air of regality.

"Oh dear, are you Samantha Kates?" The woman asked.

Samantha nodded slowly. "Do you know where my Mommy an’ Daddy an’ Carter are?"

The woman looked at her sadly. Samantha noticed how the woman’s dark features seemed to all soften when she got sad. Her brown eyes, which Samantha could tell had make up on them, turned slightly upward, and her dark brown hair seemed to frame her face perfectly. "Darling, I think you’d better get in my carriage and I’ll explain on the way."

Samantha took a step back. Her parents had always told her to stay away from strangers, but this woman seemed nice enough. "Explain what? Go where?"

The woman’s expression was now one of unmasked pity. "Sweetheart, your parents are dead. Your brother killed them. You’re going to the orphanage, where you will live from now on. Your things will be brought to you at a later date."

Samantha didn’t hear anything after that. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, as if it were not real. She nodded as the woman took her hand and led her to the carriage. This had to be some kind of joke! She had just turned 9, so maybe her brother was playing a birthday prank on her. The carriage would take a long drive up to some deserted place, turn around and take her back home. She would jump out and run into the arms of her brother, who would be smiling happily that his prank had worked so well. Then they’d race into the kitchen, say hello to their mother, hug their father and eat dinner. Samantha watched as the carriage pulled into the long driveway of the orphanage. Ruin was standing by the door, waving like mad. She waited until the carriage had stopped moving completely before jumping out and running to him.

"Ruin, they said dat my parents… An’ dat Carter did it… An’ dat I’ll be living…"

Ruin’s mouth was creased in a tight frown. "I know," he said simply.

Samantha looked at him, surprised, then burst out crying. Ruin held her tightly as she wept. She wept until no more tears would come, and she couldn’t sob anymore, then she cried silently with dry eyes.

From that day on she promised herself she would never cry again.

"You know Sam, now dat you’re living here, you need a new name. Samantha ain’t good for you, it don’t fit you," Ruin declared one night while the two were sneaking a late night snack from the kitchen.

"I agree. But what? I ain’t exactly da easiest person to come up with a nickname for," she said, reaching out for some more cheese.

Ruin slapped her hand down. "Would you knock it off? If you eat anymore food, Mrs. Patty’s gonna know someone was in here. You know da first people she’d point fingers at are me an’ you! How ‘bout Finger for a name? ‘Cause you’re always getting fingers pointed at you when something goes wrong!"

Samantha groaned. "Finger? I thought you was ‘sposed to get smarter when you got older, an’ yet here you is, all ‘a 10 years, an’ I can’t decide if you’re dumber den a rock or dumber den Edward!"

"Hey, ain’t nothing in da world dumber den Edward. ‘Sides, it was just an’ idea. A’right, since obviously we ain’t gonna find one word dat’s normal dat fits you, how ‘bout we just pick a fancy word? What ‘bout one ‘a dem your fadda…Sorry."

Samantha winced, but kept her poise. "He always used to talk ‘bout something called a relic, whatever dat is. How ‘bout dat?"

Ruin grinned, happy she was okay with speaking of her parents. "Relic. It’s perfect!"

"Den Relic it is. I don’t ever wanna hear da name Samantha again. Let’s get going, Mr. Jones is ‘bout to make his midnight rounds."

They both jumped up and began sneaking back up to the bunkrooms. As they reached the door, she turned to Ruin. "An’ one more thing."

"What is it?" he asked quietly.

"Don’t ever bring up me family again. Dey’re gone, what’s done is done, an’ what’s past is past."

"But Carter isn’t dead, he just ran awa-," he started.

She glared at him. "Dere’s another name I never wanna hear again. He don’t exist, far as I’m concerned. I don’t gotta past, an’ my name is Relic. Got dat?"

"Got it."

"An’…you do know dat you’re my best friend in da whole world, right?"

Ruin grinned. "A’coise, an’ you’re mine. It’ll stay like dat forever, I can promise you dat."

Relic smiled as the warm glow of the sun hit her face, awakening her from her sleep. She didn’t bother to open her eyes, she just lay there, blissfully peaceful. Until about 2 seconds later, when she noticed that there was an’ unusual amount of weight on her shoulders and legs. Her eyes shot open immediately, searching for the reason for this sudden heaviness. "Edward," she muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Morning, Sunshine! Sleep well?" The boy asked innocently.

She glared up at the boy, scanning over him with her eyes quickly. He was a handsome boy; she would have to give him that. Though he wasn’t as muscular as some of the other boys of 17, he could hold his own in a fight. Those were his only decent traits, as far as she was concerned.

He and two of his friends had taken it upon themselves to make her life a living nightmare ever since her first week of staying at the orphanage. She had demanded to be placed in the boys sleeping quarters as oppose to the girls because she didn’t like any of the girls and she wanted to be with Ruin. Thanks to her great powers of persuasion (and threats to burn the whole orphanage down) she had gotten what she wanted. Ever since then they had taken every possible chance to hurt her in anyway they could. They would break rules and blame it on her, beat her up, and anything else they could think of.

They also took great joy out of harassing her, in public or in private. They would grab her from behind and try to ‘play a game’ with her, or they would pinch her and poke her whenever they could get away with it, which was almost always. It didn’t help that the people in charge of the orphanage, Mrs. Patty and Mr. Jones, thought of Edward as their golden child who could do no wrong, and her as the spawn of Satan.

Over the past few months, as it was becoming painfully obvious that she was indeed very much a girl, these occurrences had been increasing at an alarming speed. In fact, just the previous week Edward and his lackeys had hidden all her clothes from her. It was well known that if they lost their daytime clothing they would be forced to walk around in their underwear because the orphanage would not give them another set and their pajamas were strictly to be worn from the time they got ready for bed until the time they got ready for breakfast. No doubt that’s what Edward had been hoping would happen, but luckily for Relic, Ruin had an extra pair of clothes that he had lent to her until she found hers.

Now, it seemed, Edward had come up with another brilliant idea for how to torture her. Judging by the bright smile on his face as he shifted slightly so that his knees were digging even harder into her thighs and his fingers into her shoulders, he was quite pleased with this one.

"Edwahd, what in da name ‘a Joseph do you think you’re doing?" she asked, struggling to get out of his grip.

He just smiled wider and tightened his hold. "Me? What’a ya mean?"

Relic’s eyes darted around the room, not finding a single person in it besides herself and him. ‘Oh no! Its Saturday, laundry day. Dey is all way down in da basement, cleaning dere clothes! I must ‘a slept through it…I wonder why Ruin didn’ wake me up? Oh dat’s right! I told him if he ever woke me up again I’d kill him! Darnit, since when did he start listening to me?’ She thought. She turned and glared at Edward again. "I mean-What. Are. You. Doin. On. Top. ‘A. Me."

"I was just ‘bout to give you what you know you been wanting," he said, smirking down at her.

"Dat’s it!" she yelled, before kneeing him.

His face turned an odd purple color and he rolled off of her, yelling in pain. She kicked him in the side before jumping off the bed. "I’se had enough ‘a your teasing, enough ‘a getting beatings, enough ‘a your games, an’ enough ‘a you!" She screamed.

She went to jump on him again, but before she could land she was jerked back by her collar and thrown to the ground. She rolled over and came face to face with Mr. Jones. He picked her up by one arm, dragged her out of the room, down the hall and into the office.

Once inside of the office, Mr. Jones pushed her in one of the two ratty old chairs resting in front of a desk. He walked to the other side of the desk and sat down in a large, comfy chair. He opened his mouth to speak, but the door being swung open and Ruin being shoved in, followed by Mrs. Patty interrupted it.

"You irritating little wretch of a b-…" Mrs. Patty stopped as she noticed Relic and Mr. Jones. "You again? You two…" Mrs. Patty’s face turned red with anger as she shoved Ruin in the seat next to Relic. "Jones, we need to have a word in the hall, if you please." Mr. Jones got up and followed Mrs. Patty out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

As soon as they had left, Ruin turned his chair to face Relic, and she did the same. "What’d you do dis time, huh?" They asked in unison.

They laughed, used to saying the same thing at the same time. Finally Ruin stopped. "Well…see, we was down washing our clothes, an’ I was walking up da stairs when all da sudden I tripped an’ flew back inta da barrel ‘a watah! Da barrel broke an’ all da water an’ clothes dat were in it went everywhere!"

Relic sighed. "Well, at least you wasn’t hurt. I’m in here ‘cause dey caught me fighting Edwahd. So what d’you think dey’re gonna do to us? I think dey’re ‘bout outta punishments, an’ plus, we’re too old for half of ‘em anyway!" she laughed, careful to avoid why she had been fighting with Edward.

He nodded and moved his chair over so it was right next to hers. "But we’ll deal with whatever dey come up with together, right?"

Her smile got bigger. "Don’t we always?"

About five minutes later, Mrs. Patty opened the door and walked into the room. "Now you two," she began, sitting down in the chair Mr. Jones had sat in, "Have been nothing but trouble for years. You break things. You fight. Anywhere there’s trouble, you two seem to be. For many years we have put up with this, this disgraceful behavior, but enough is enough! You are old enough now to be courting, even marrying! You have no time for such silly things as seeking out trouble. I’ve said this before, many times, and I’m sick of it. This facility has done all it can for you two, and you thank us by creating trouble? Well, not anymore!"

Relic’s eyes widened as the gate-guard and Mr. Jones walked in, grabbed Ruin and Relic by the arms and pulled them out of the office, out the front door, down the drive and to the gate.

"In case you’re not getting this, you’re being thrown out!" Mr. Jones said, pushing them both onto the sidewalk outside the gates.

Ruin jumped up and ran for the gate, but the guard shut it before he could get back inside. He sighed and helped Relic off the ground. "So what’a we do now, genius?" she asked, brushing herself off.

"Oh, don’t even try to blame dis on me! If you hadn’t always been fighting, dis never would ’a happened!" he yelled.

She stood up to her full height of 5’3. "Now you listen to me, Mr. ‘I-can-break-anything! I wouldn’t have had to fight so much if you hadn’t always been being picked on!"

Ruin stood up fully also, hovering over her. "I can fight jus as well as you, if not better!"

"But you never do! Forget you, I don’t gotta stand here an’ take dis, I’m leaving!" Relic yelled before turning around and stomping away.

Ruin counted to five silently and then looked up as she came back down the street slowly, her face bright red with embarrassment. "It’s been so long since I been out in da town dat I forgot where everything is…"

He laughed and motioned for her to sit down next to him as he sat down on the sidewalk. She did so, letting her head rest on his shoulder. "Where do we go, Ruin? What’a we do?"

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, knowing how frightened she was. It looked as if for the second time in their whole friendship, he was going to have to be the stronger one. "Cheer up, we’ll figure something out, we always do. But I know we gots to get outta heah. So c’mon, get up, lets go!"

Relic grinned. "You’re da bestest best friend in da whole world!"

Ruin laughed and pushed her over playfully. "I’d have to be to put up with da likes ‘a you!"

He jumped back just in time to dodge a punch. "You get back here! I’ll show you ‘putting up with da likes ‘a me’!" she shouted, standing up and chasing him down the road.

As they ran down the street and turned the corner, neither one glanced back at the orphanage. They just kept running, playing, and blocking out another piece of their life.

Continue On To Part Two

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