Fifth Avenue

Hartley sat on her bed pushing her natural light blue hair into a high ponytail only for the hair band to snap, she cursed silently and left her hair to fall over her face as she got up.

Hartley was at Saint Mary’s Orphanage, she had no friends as everyone was afraid of her, even the nuns avoided her as they all found her to be strange. Some nuns even said her unnaturally blue hair was the work of the devil himself, but that was all nonsense.

The breakfast bell rang for the third and final time and Hartley trudged tiredly down the stairs, her over-sized jeans rolling under her shoes and the sleeves of her shirt covering her hands. “HARTLEY!” called Sister Juanita, the head nun at the Orphanage, the only one not afraid of her, but that didn’t mean she was nice. “HURRY UP ’ND GET DOWN HERE OR WE’YA GIVIN YA FOOD TO THA DOGS!” she called, using broken English.

“I’m here” Hartley said quietly, a small smile playing on her delicate features.

“Don’t ya smile at me girly ya late, again” Sister Juanita snarls and Hartley nods the smile disappearing, she looks down and makes her way to her seat.

Nobody ever sat next to Hartley and no matter how much she would try and ignore it she could always feel their eyes on her and hear the light whisperings of jokes against her. “Ya’ll get five minutes ta eat before ya chores need ta be done” Sister Juanita says before disappearing into her office where she would most likely remain until supper.

Breakfast went as usual and when they were finished eating everyone lined up in single file to place their plates into the wash, which one of them would later be chosen to do.

Once they were done everyone walked into the church where they did their morning prayers for five minutes, while everyone had their heads down and were muttering the same lines as the pastor in front of them, Hartley remained with her eyes open, not muttering a thing.

As the prayers finished the pastor looked up and gave Hartley a deathly glare before clearing his throat and exiting the stage were Sister Katie took his place. “Okay kiddies time to call off tha chores” she shouts and Hartley sighs, it seemed nobody at this orphanage could speak proper English. The sister continued to name off people to chores and Hartley seemed to ignore Sister Katie until her name was called “Hartley! Ya’ll be workin’ with Gretchen and ya girlies will be workin’ in tha church this week!” she yelled and a shiver ran through Hartley.

Gretchen was a force not to be reckoned with. She had bleach blonde hair and big brown eyes, she was very popular and gorgeous, everyone both feared and loved her which was something Hartley strongly envied. Gretchen hated anything different, meaning Hartley was near the top of her hate list.

All children exited the church to continue on with their chores leaving Gretchen alone with Hartley and Hartley couldn’t keep herself from staring at Gretchen in pure fear, this wasn’t the first time they had been paired up and every other time they had Hartley ended up in pain or being completely humiliated.

“Don’t stare” Gretchen snaps, a heavy scowl playing on her otherwise perfect face.

“I-I wasn’t staring” Hartley says cowering; she wasn’t in the mood to be peeling candle wax off her skin today. Gretchen chuckles venomously before both girls positioned themselves at the door ready to welcome the people as they entered.

Monday’s were never a busy day so it mainly consisted of Gretchen and Hartley standing at the door of an empty church staring at each other. Hartley gulped and she pushed her nails deeper into her hands drawing a small amount of blood.

Gretchen saw the look of fear and panic in Hartley’s face which made her smile, she loved seeing people squirm out of fear against her. Just as Gretchen was going to take a step forward the doors fly open revealing a group of people.

They each walked in giving the girls a small nod. The first one to enter was a tall man who looked to be in his early forties with piercing green eyes and natural blonde hair neatly combed back, half of his face looked well put together whereas the other looked burnt, he wore an expensive looking black suit which held tightly against his muscular frame.

The second was a small boy no older than five or six who wore dirty brown overalls and heavy black boots; he had huge brown eyes and curly brown hair.

Following closely behind was a perfect looking couple; the man was unnaturally tall and muscular with longish brown hair tied into a messy bun and a half burning cigarette poking out of his mouth which was nicely framed with a long but neat brown beard, he wore a simple white t-shirt and worn out blue jeans. The girl whose arm was tangled with the mans had honey brown hair that reached just below her ears, she had ice blue eyes and olive light skin, she wore a cute blue sundress with flowers around the edges.

Lastly entered a man who looked no older than nineteen, he had bright blue eyes and olive skin like the woman before him, he was obviously muscled and he wore a light blue shirt with a plaid one over it, his long legs clad in dark blue denim jeans.

Hartley looked at the group, they looked normal but something told her that looks could be deceiving.

Hartley looked back to Gretchen only to see she was gawking at the attractive men who had just walked in, not that she blamed her, this was an all-girls orphanage meaning seeing men other than the pastor was a rarity, and seeing men this attractive was just pure luck. Hartley cleared her throat gaining the attention back from Gretchen and walked towards the overly heavy doors pulling them closed, although Gretchen was there to help she didn’t, instead she stood there with an evil grin.

“Take some notes Hartley, I’m about to show you how to handle men who look like that” she winked, her evil grin being replaced with what Hartley thinks was supposed to be a seductive one, but it just looked lop-sided.

Gretchen turned on her heel and walked towards the group swaying her hips way too much before leaning over to the last man to walk in and whispering something into his ear, he just shrugged her off which made Hartley’s eyes go wide and Gretchen to storm off angrily.

Nobody ever just shrugs Gretchen off; Gretchen always got the attention she wanted.

Hartley remined staring at the man with wide eyes until Gretchen pushes her bringing her out of her train of thought. “Don’t stare” she said repeating her sentence from earlier and Hartley nods before making her way to the front of the church so she can light a candle, and get away from Gretchen.

“I don’t think that girl likes you very much” somebody said from behind Hartley causing her to tense up, nobody ever talked to her unless it was to yell or make fun of. “Are you okay?” the person asks with what sounded like slight worry; Hartley couldn’t manage any words so she just gives a slight nod before turning, her breath hitches as she does. The person who stood behind her was the last man to walk in and from him being this close she could see how attractive he really was.

“Do you have a name?” he questions looking at her with a knowing smile and she gulps before nodding again, “Cat got your tongue?” he chuckles and she shakes her head quickly.

“It’s Hartley” she said, her voice shaking.

“Hartley, not a name you hear normally, but I think I prefer Blue, I’ll call you Blue” he says and Hartley can hear a slight English accent seeping through each of his words making them sound almost angelic.

“Justin!” she hears a voice yell authoritatively and he turns to see the first man to walk in glaring at him, the man standing in front of her rolls his eyes and gives Hartley a small wave before walking back to his group. Strange, thought Hartley before she turned back towards the candles lighting one.

The group stayed there for a couple more hours remaining silent apart from the occasional whisper between themselves, as soon as they left Gretchen stalked towards with Hartley with a look of pure hatred.

“What did you think you were doing?” Gretchen spits angrily and Hartley takes a step back only to be blocked by a wall “You had no right talking to him when I couldn’t” Gretchen pushes Hartley causing her head to hit against the wall with a loud bang which echoed through the now empty church.

Before Gretchen could do anything more the doors again burst open, this time only revealing Justin. “Sorry ladies, am I interrupting something?” he asks walking towards the girls, his hands tucked comfortably into his pockets.

“No of course not” Gretchen says batting her eyelashes uncontrollably; maybe she had something in her eyes? Thought Hartley as she looked at her confused attempting to ignore the now throbbing pain she had in the back of her head.

“Right” Justin answered slowly looking at Hartley knowingly before leaning over into the seats and grabbing a phone “Just forgot this, I’ll be on my way then” he waves and walks out extremely quickly once again leaving Gretchen alone with Hartley. Luckily just as Gretchen was going to continue her abuse Sister Katie walked in telling the girls that supper was ready.

“Don’t think this over” Gretchen says whispering into Hartley’s ear as they walk behind Sister Katie to the dining hall.

“Hurry kiddies Sister Juanita is nawt a patient woman” Sister Katie says hurrying the girls. As everyone takes a seat the room remains silent and Sister Juanita clears her throat.

“EVERYONE QUIETIN DOWN!” she yells and everyone looks around confused. ’Okay good then, everyone link hands and gets ready for your prayers” everyone grabs each-others hands, except for Hartley who remained alone with her hands knotted together in her lap. Sister Juanita gave a her a look before smiling an obvious fake smile and continuing with her prayers as everyone else followed.

Hartley could feel eyes on her the entire time but she didn’t have to look up to know that they belonged to none other than Gretchen. She began to shake, her lip quivering and sweat began to form on her forehead. She knows she had somehow irritated Gretchen and it was not going to end well for her.

“Amen” Sister Juanita ended before proceeding to take her seat at the long table in front of the hall “Eat!” she yelled and all the children looked down to their food. Hartley was always terrified of this food, afraid that one day it might come to life. It looked like slop with little chunks of over cooked meat and bad carrots, but they had no other choice and it kept them alive, barely.

Hartley jabbed her fork into the meat which ended up bending the weak metal. She gulped and placed her fork down suddenly no longer hungry. She sat for the ten minutes and waited until they were all excused to bed.

Hartley basically ran and almost made it to her room before she felt a strong force slam her into the wall, ramming her already hurting head into the weak plaster. “Running away won’t get you far” Gretchen snarls and two girls, Gretchen’s lap dogs, stood behind her chuckling.

“I’m sorry” Hartley sobs gripping Gretchen’s arm which had tight hold on her shirt “please Gretchen I didn’t do anything wrong” Hartley begs, which only irritated Gretchen more and making her grip tighter.

“Why are you so different to everyone else Hartley?” she asks cruelly “if you were just normal, I wouldn’t be forced to punish you” Hartley gulps back her tears not wanting to give them the satisfaction of seeing her cry. “You know he was only being nice to you because he felt sorry for you” Gretchen said smiling, once again her grip tightened this time making Hartley yelp in pain “he was supposed to talk to me! Not you, do you not understand when an even moderately attractive man is around, I am the only one who can talk to him” she growls releasing Hartley and full forcibly slapped Hartley which made her whimper, her hands flying to her stinging cheek. She knew better than to scream or call for help, if she did the nuns would run up and Gretchen would find a way to make her end up in trouble.

“You’re worthless” Gretchen growls kneeing Hartley in the stomach “Pitiful” Gretchen now punches her in the opposite side of her face that she slapped, the force knocking Hartley onto the ground and she rolled into the foetal position as to offer herself some sort of protection “and hopeless” Gretchen delivers one more hard kick into Hartley’s stomach before walking off with her laughing lap dogs following closely behind.

When Hartley was sure they were gone, she pulled herself off the ground, blood dripping from her mouth and nose, and walked into her room. She sat on the thin mattress just as tears began to fall down her face; she sobbed attempting to ignore the pain that now seemed to pulse in her ribs. She lay in her bed sobbing almost uncontrollably until she eventually she fell into painful slumber.

The next morning, she awoke, her entire body ached and her eyes basically begged to remain closed but she had to eat and get to the church. Hartley pulled herself up and walking to the disgusting excuse for a bathroom looking into the mirror. She had two giant purple bruises on her face, one over her right eye and the other almost covering her left cheek. She turned on the shower and removed her clothes before stepping into the cold shower her body tensing at the sudden change in temperature.

She took no longer than five minutes before stepping out and drying herself, she slipped on her oversized blue dress and left her hair down to dry before walking downstairs to see Sister Juanita standing at the bottom of the stair case with her arms crossed and a sour look across her face.

“What took ya so long?” she snaps before tightly gripping Hartley’s bruised arm and pulling her into the dining hall. “Sit down and don’t ya be late again” she warns before storming to her table and beginning to eat. Hartley’s stomach rumbled but she didn’t eat but instead stared down at what was supposed to be porridge with a grim look.

When breakfast finished, everyone got up and continued the normal morning rituals before once again leaving Gretchen and Hartley alone in the church. Nobody seemed to comment on the bruises across her face and she wore a long-sleeved dress so nobody could see the ones that begun to form on her arms.

“Watch yourself” Gretchen threatened bumping past Hartley before taking a seat at the back. Attempting to ignore her Hartley got to work by placing bibles in each row. The place was again before the doors opened to reveal the same group as yesterday to walk in and take the same seats in the front row.

Today they all wore business attire and held briefcases, which was a strange sight to see but once again Hartley, shook it off and continued her duties.

Hartley placed the last bible on the benches and nods to herself before looking around, ‘This place had the face of heaven but if you peeled away the paint it would show the walls of hell’. She thought before walking to the front alter and sitting down.

“Quite a shiner you have, what did you do, steal somebodies juice box?” someone chuckles and Hartley looked up to see Justin smirking down at her. She gulped and looked to the back of the church where she saw Gretchen glaring at her.

“Please don’t talk to me” Hartley all but whispered as she pulled herself up.

“Why not?” Justin said following her as she made her way back to the doors.

“You’ll get me in trouble” she mumbles.

“Trouble?” he chuckles “well I guess I won’t talk to you then” he says feigning being hurt, which made Hartley look up to him with a strange expression; never had she met somebody with such childish behaviour.

“Thank you” Hartley said faintly before walking away from him only to stop as she heard footsteps following after her. She turns and gives Justin an unimpressed look which only makes his smirk grow further.

“Look I said I’d stop talking to you, never once did I say I wouldn’t follow you” Hartley breathes out clearly irritated and grabs a cloth to wipe down the benches. “So, do you like volunteer here or something?” Justin asks and Hartley tries to ignore him as she continues her chores.

“No need to be grumpy just a simple question, anyway you look to young to be a volunteer you look like what” he pauses and begins to count on his fingers “Fifteen, sixteen? Meaning you should be in school, what is it detention, uh…. juvey??” before he could name anything else Hartley looked up to Justin tears brimming her eyes.

“Actually, this church is connected to an Orphanage, which I don’t understand how you didn’t know that” she says in a confused tone “I’m an orphan so if you wouldn’t mind I have to do my chores so I can eat tonight: Hartley spits and her eyes go wide. She had never once raised her voice at anyone, she was taught better than that. “I’m s-sorry” she stutters looking down.

“No, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to pry” Justin says clearing his throat “I’ll catch you later “he says giving her a weak smile before walking back to his group, he leant in and whispered something, they all nodded and got up beginning to walk out. As they did the woman’s eyes remained on Hartley’s and she gave her a sympathetic look as if knowing what she was thinking.

That night Hartley sat in her bed looking around to the sleeping girls around her, they didn’t get their own rooms they had to share with up to around eleven other girls which caused it to get a bit crowded at nights. Hartley sighed and once she was sure everyone was sleep she pushed open the window adjacent to her bed and crawled through the small gap quietly.

Whenever Hartley got angry or upset this is where she would come, somewhere nobody could steal from her or take away from its beauty. It was just, her place. Hartley sat on the cold bricked roof and curled her legs under her chin starring at the beauty of the lights and the boast playing against the cold blue sea.

She sighed happily allowing all of her sad memories that had passed drift away and she remained peaceful until she heard a whisper of a voice murmur her name.

‘Hartley’ a voice spoke and Hartley shot up looking around worriedly, if she was caught out here she’d be in so much trouble she wouldn’t be allowed to eat for a week. ‘Calm down Hartley, you won’t get in trouble, calm down’ the voice whispered again and Hartley gulped.

She had finally lost it after all the beatings and the mental torture she had gone insane.

The voice chuckled ‘You’re not crazy either, but you are different’ this word made Hartley’s face drop even more, she hated being called different.

‘Why do you have to be so different Hartley?’ she heard Gretchen’s words repeat in her mind and her breathing starts to pick up.

“Who are you?” Hartley says, sweat now noticeably rolling down her face.

‘Someone who is here to help’ the voice replied.

“How- I mean why?”

‘I understand this is very confusing for the moment Hartley but I promise you it will begin to make sense if you give it time, keep your mind open’ the voice said and she didn’t know why but these words seemed to calm her down ‘I’d get back to bed now Hartley, I’ll see you soon’ Hartley shivered and looked around noticing the building across from the Orphanage, a curtain on the top floor window blowing in the wind.

She slowly crawled down into the room and slid back into her bed forcing her eyes shut just as the door opened revealing Sister Juanita and Sister Hannah standing and looking over everyone. “I hope they’re ready” whispered one of the voices.

“Don’t we all” whispered the other, they stood there for two more minutes just staring at the girls before the door closed quietly leaving Hartley lying in her bed with her heart banging against her chest.

What did they mean, I hope they’re ready?