Chapter Text
Penny awful
One
I tried to be a good boy. Do as I was told and don’t question it, it’s how you survived in here. In a place filled with so many other people I was all alone, Desolate.
“Stiles, when is Mommy and Daddy going to come?” My little sister Lydia frowned asking me again. She’s the only person on the face of this earth that I still care about. I counted the days and it’s been just me and lyds for the past four years after that tragic day. I straightened her bow and fixed her braid a bit.
“They just might come today.” I said. When Dr. Martin and his wife arrived, all of the kids in the orphanage along with the nuns and my teacher, Ms. Halliwell stood in line to greet them. The Martin couple were very well known in our little town. Dr. Martin and his wife, Celia were both renowned physicians and often donated large sums of money to charities including the orphanage that Lydia and I were forced to grow up in. I turned sixteen last month and accepted the fact that probably no one will want to adopt me, but my baby sister at the young age of six still stood a chance. Parents like Dr. Celia his wife could give her the life I never had, the life that Lydia should have had.
The Martin couple were close enough to us now that I could see their faces. I clenched my jaw and pinched Lydia’s arm the hardest I could without leaving a bruise. She cried out and shoved her face into my side. My heart hurt at my decision but I didn’t care.
“Hey, there there little one. What’s wrong?” Mrs. Martin asked her kneeling down to face her.
“What’s your name?” She continued when Lydia faced her.
“Lydia.” My sister replied shy, head bowed down. Mrs. Martin took out a handkerchief and wiped away her tears. She exchanged a look with her husband and the three of them went into Sister Mary’s office. Half and hour later Lydia packed her things and I went to say my goodbyes.
“Lydia?” I knocked on her door. Holding my tears back I hugged her.
“Promise me you’ll be good for Mommy and Daddy okay?” A pang of guilt ripped through me like a thorny vine tangling around my flesh, as her smile dropped.
“You’re, you’re not coming home with me?” Her little lips trembled.
“No, little princess I’m not and I’m so sorry. I have to stay here and take care of everyone else until their parents can come and find them.”
“But I don’t want to go home without you!” She stomped her foot, crying.
“Look, Two years okay? Just two years, when I turn eighteen I’ll come home for you.”
“You promise?” I hooked my pinky finger with hers and shook on it.
“Pinky promise.” I gave her one last smile and kissed her forehead. I carried that smile until the towne car drove off, Lydia waving to everyone in the back window. The children were playing outside today and I sat alone for once at a garden table, fiddling with the wooden letter blocks. Sister Mary sat down in the other chair and plucked the block out of my hand and rearranged it with four other blocks.
“That’s a very selfish thing you did Stiles, brave but selfish. She’s only six child, who is to say two years from now she won’t forget who you are?”
She lined the five blocks facing me spelling ‘Lydia’.
“Then good. If she forgets me, she’ll forget the pain. I’d rather stay here and suffer by myself than the both of us wallowing in pity together. God knows that I’ve been praying for this day to come, when she’d leave this dungeon. Hopefully she’ll forget about this place, just think it was a bad dream. She’s born prim and prudent but I hope she’ll be a fool, just another ignorant girl oblivious to all the monstrosities of the world.”
In the garden where we sat I stared at the sky. The mystic blue plane that we always looked up to, but today it seemed a bit grey. Just a bit grey.
two
I straightened the files on the shelf in Ms. Halliwell’s room, and dusted every surface until my work shined with perfection. A knock on the door caught my attention, and the person who knocked was a breathtaking man.
“Yes?” I asked. The man was tall and muscular had the face of a greek god mixed with the best Italian features.
“I’m looking for Ms. Halliwell.” He spoke running his hand through his black hair.
“She’s not in right now. It’ll probably only take about ten more minutes for her to get back from the meeting. You could maybe sit and wait if you don’t mind.” I stuttered a bit, breath taken by him.
The awkward silence was unbearable and I finally broke it.
“So I didn’t catch your name.” The man looked at me giving me a weak smile. The odd thing I noticed was the his eyes didn’t directly meet mine, it raked my image from head to toe before settling.
“Derek. Derek Hale.”
“Stiles Stilinski.” We shook hands but instead of letting go, he took my right hand and kissed it bringing it to his mouth. My cheeks blushed, I immediately took my hand away hearing footsteps come.
“Stiles, have you seen- Oh.” Ms. Halliwell walked into the room shaking Hale’s hand.
I made a move to leave, after pulling the chair for Ms. Halliwell to sit in but she stopped me.
“Stiles, Stay. Mr. Hale this is Stiles, the one I’ve been talking about. He’s an outstanding young man both very bright and intelligent. He’s also very caring of the younger ones here at Sisters of Mercy orphanage.”
“I can tell.” He looked at me in a way that terrified me, like a lion grinning at it’s prey and playing with it before the kill.
“And, I would be honoured to have you as my son Stiles.” I contemplated his words in my mind. If I get adopted it could mean a changed future for the better, but on the other hand this man seemed maleficent like a wolf draped with a sheep’s skin. I made the decision the be adopted because as of now it’s the best way I can secure my future and see Lydia again. I signed the last paper, and my name was now Stiles Kane Hale. I packed my spartan bag and my new father drove us off in his black sedan.