The girl looked around, trying to find the Mother in charge of watching over the children that were still outside. She was nowhere to be seen.
"Where will we go?" The girl whispered.
"Far away from here. I'll make sure you're safe, I promise." Chase was still holding his hand out, waiting for the girl to take it.
A few moments of silence passed. The girl stared at Chase's hand.
"Let's go." The girl grabbed Chase's hand.
The blue haired boy's face widened into the biggest smile he had ever made. He had to stop himself from jumping up and down at the sight of the girl's smile.
"C'mon, we have to go before one of the Mothers gets out here." Chase ran towards the fence outlining the backyard, the girl running with him, hand in hand.
The fence wasn't that tall, a over little ten feet, but Chase was confident he could climb it.
He planted his sneaker into one of the fence's holes, lifting himself up before his other foot did the same.
The girl watched, nervous at the height of the structure. Neither of them were over five feet tall, so the fence was well over double their height.
Chase swung his foot over the top of the fence before noticing that the girl wasn't following him.
"What's wrong?" Chase called down from the top of the fence.
"I'm scared." The girl was upfront about her fear. She looked down at the grass.
"Remember our promise? I'll always be with you, every step of the way." Chase held a hand down to the girl. She looked up from the grass, smiling at the sight.
She took his hand, struggling to steady her weight on the side of the fence.
Eventually, she swung her foot over the fence, facing Chase at the top of the fence.
"See? I'll make sure you're safe. I promise." Chase smiled, swinging his other foot over the fence, "Now we jump."
The two interlocked hands and jumped.
As their feet hit the ground, the girl noticed a faded striped pattern on the grass outside of the fence.
Motion sensors.
An alarm went off as red lights appeared on the side of the building behind them.
"C'mon, let's go!" Chase began to sprint, the girl following behind him.
They ran into the woods that surrounded the back half of the orphanage. Their feet crunched against the dead leaves that had piled up on the moist soil.
The girl's breathing began to get heavy, catching Chase's attention.
"Are you alright?" Chase asked. He turned around, the girl's hand still holding his.
"Yeah. I'm fine." The girl said between huffs. She knelt over a little, trying to catch her breath.
The sound of the alarm had grown faint with distance. Chase looked in the direction they had just ran from, making sure no one was following them.
"How about we just walk for now?" Chase smiled as the girl nodded.
They continued their walk as the setting sun began to turn into a rising moon. Both of the kids started to flinch at every sound the forest made.
A step was heard from far off.
"What was that?!" The girl asked in a panic.
A deer ran by the kids, hopping off into the darkness.
Chase chuckled, grinning at the girl as she pouted.
"That wasn't funny!" The girl's pout slowly turned into laughter, joining Chase in the humor of the situation.
The girl halted her laughter as she noticed a light pass by in the far off distance. Another one followed, just as another moved in the opposite direction.
"It's a street! Let's go!" The girl started to jog, Chase doing the same.
They made it onto the sidewalk. A dirt path led them onto the main street, where they found that they had been walking a nature trail.
The two kids watched cars zoom by, staring in awe as what seemed like hundreds of people walked the sidewalks, too engulfed in their own busy lives to see the two dirty orphans staring at them.
"Woah!" The girl exclaimed. They walked south on the sidewalk, staring at each worker, child, and couple that passed them.
"Wait. Where are we going?" The girl stopped in her tracks, puzzled at their aimless walking.
Chase thought for a few moments. He looked around, trying to find something useful. Eventually, his eyes locked onto a pizzeria. A poster on the window read "D.C's best pizza!"
"Are you hungry?" Chase asked the girl. She nodded shyly.
"Then let's go!" Chase walked into the middle of the street.
"Wait!" The girl pulled him back onto the sidewalk. A car zoomed past in the lane Chase had just stepped into.
"Woah… Thanks…" Chase felt embarrassed. The two kids moved to a crosswalk, where they waited for the light to turn green.
After making it across the street, they entered the pizzeria.
It was packed, families and couples seated at almost every table in the establishment. The two orphans covered in dirt looked around, trying to find someone to help them.
"Hello, you two. How can I help you?" A waitress knelt down to the kids' level with a polite smile on her face.
"One pizza please!" Chase said excitedly.
The waitress chuckled, "Alright then! And where are your parents?"
The two children looked down at the wooden floor. They didn't know how to answer that question without causing a scene.
Several customers began to watch. The absence of an answer led to murmuring among the crowd.
"Are you alright?" The waitress asked after a few moments of silence.
"They must be orphans! The alarm from the orphanage sounded today!" A woman in the crowd exclaimed.
The murmuring grew louder, going from slow gossiping to a worried call to action.
"Oh my. I'll call the orphanage. You'll be back home soon, don't worry." The waitress stood up, turning towards the phone on the podium next to her.
Chase began to panic. He looked to his friend to see if she was alright.
The girl was breathing heavily. It was quick, faster than Chase's. She grabbed her chest, her mind racing with all the things Grand Mother would think up as punishments for a runaway.
"Oh no, we're going back." Chase thought. He would rather die than deal with the backlash that would come with their return. He placed his hand on his forehead, trying to slow his racing mind.
"Um, excuse me. These are our kids. Sorry to cause such a commotion." A blonde-haired woman gently placed her hands on the kids' shoulders. She wore blue jeans and a white t-shirt.
"I'm so sorry for all the trouble. We'll take our food to go, please." A man with dreadlocks hanging past his shoulders stood beside the blonde woman.
Chase looked up at the two adults. He then looked at his friend. The two of them silently agreed to go along with it in fear of the other option.
After the adults had packed up their dinners, they took the two children outside to a small silver car. They stopped right in front of the door.
"Hi, you two. I'm Mrs. Frewin and this is my husband, Mr. Frewin." The blonde woman kneeled to the kids' level. She had a much warmer smile than anything either of the orphans had ever witnessed from an adult.
Chase was puzzled by their names. It wasn't like the nicknames people made out of their designated numbers.
"How would you guys like to pick up some food?" Mr. Frewin smiled through his curtain of dreadlocks.
"Yes please!" Any shyness left in Chase was thrown away as soon as food was mentioned.
They packed into the small silver car, driving out of the pizzeria parking lot and into a drive-thru.
A bag of cheeseburgers was delivered straight into the hands of the two orphans. The Frewins chuckled as the two kids gobbled their meals down.
They parked the car in the fast food restaurant's parking lot as Mrs. Frewin turned toward the back row.
"So, are you two really from the orphanage?" Mrs. Frewin asked.
The girl looked at Chase. She hadn't spoken since they met the Frewins, letting Chase answer for her.
"We ran away. I was gonna get separated from her. I couldn't take any more of them, either." Chase looked out the window as he talked.
"You guys are so brave, never forget that." Mr. Frewin looked at Chase through the rearview mirror.
"Brave?" The two kids had never considered it brave. Rash, maybe.
Mrs. Frewin looked to Mr. Frewin. They both nodded as Mrs. Frewin turned back to the kids.
"We have a little home of our own not too far from here. We can adopt you guys, get you enrolled in school, and give you all the food you want. How does that sound?" Mrs. Frewin's smile warmed both of their hearts down to the core.
The kids' eyes widened at the word, something they had only heard in hypotheticals.
Adopt.
Neither of the kids had thought it possible to be adopted. They thought it was a one in a million chance they would ever leave that orphanage. They nodded excitedly, brimming with joy.
"Alright, then we're on our way." Mr. Frewin shifted into drive, starting the journey home. "First thing's first, we gotta come up with names for you guys."
The kids looked at each other in confusion.
"I thought we went to an office to get number designations." Chase stated.
"Oh, honey. We don't do those numbers in our home. We'll come up with a name for you two eventually." Mrs. Frewin chuckled at their confusion.
They made the ten minute drive to the Frewin's house, parking the car in the driveway.
It was a small suburban home, fit with a front and backyard along with two stories.
Mr. Frewin unlocked the front door, revealing a cozy living room with a dining room and kitchen in the background, leading to a backdoor that opened its way into a backyard.
"Hey, Vida, come meet your new friends." Mr. Frewin called up the stairs.
A small girl rushed down the stairs. She held a thin botany book in one hand and a marker in the other. She had dreadlocks just like Mr. Frewin, yet they fell well past her hips.
"Hi! My name is Vida! What's yours?" Vida grinned as she awaited an answer.
The two orphans looked at each other.
"They don't have names right now, but we'll come up with some soon." Mrs. Frewin smiled "Now get comfy. Tomorrow, I'll make it official."
Soon enough, they came up with their names. The boy had fallen in love with the action heroes he saw on the Frewin's DVD collection, so they called him Chase. The girl had fallen in love with the romance stories in the same collection, so she became Amora.