Secela stared with wide eyes at the hallway where Ina and Alorra had been.

                I’m going to find Ina, she thought. And I’m going to escape the orphanage tonight. Secela turned back to the doorway into the dining hall, where she was about to clean. She scrubbed and swept the floor with determination, thinking up plans of escape. By the end of her remaining chores, and the end of the day, Secela had decided what she was going to do. She would use the same plan as before, tiptoeing out of the orphanage, since that had almost worked the last time.

                That night, after everyone had drifted off to sleep, Secela got up carefully from her creaky, hard bed, quietly peeling back her one, thin blanket. She didn’t put her shoes on. They could make too much noise. She slowly opened one of the wooden doors out of the vast sleeping area and slipped through the door. She quickly turned to see if anyone was watching. They weren’t. Secela sighed with relief. But then she heard a voice.

                “Going somewhere?” it asked. It was a girl speaking. A girl with very snooty voice, as if it had been made for bulling. It was Garyne, Secela’s rival at the orphanage.

                Great. This was exactly what I wanted right now, Secela thought. Garyne was two years older than Secela, and a full head taller, too. Garyne liked to brag about her height and prettiness (not that she wasn’t pretty, since she had blond hair and green eyes), and her way of bragging was telling the smaller kids that they weren’t ever getting adopted (this was ironic, given that Garyne was fourteen years old, and had spent her whole life at the orphanage, never getting adopted).

                “Look at yourself!” Secela had overheard Garyne say to one of the little boys (who got adopted the very next day).

                “You’re too ugly and small to get adopted. I mean look at those puny arms!” she had held one up between finger and thumb, pinching it. “I, on the other hand, have much more chance of getting adopted,” she had said, tossing her ponytailed hair and batting her eyes. Her cronies had backed her up, laughing. Now, Secela glared at Garyne in the moonlight. Garyne crossed her arms.

                “Were you so desperate to get adopted that you had to find a good family for yourself?” She asked, smirking.               

                “You don’t have much more of a chance,” Secela retorted. “You’ve stayed here longer than I have. I hear you’re too much of a bully to be likable to anyone. In fact, the one time you got adopted, I heard you got put back in the orphanage by your old mistress for beating on the other workers!” Garyne visibly gritted her teeth.

                “Fine then. Go! I don’t care!” She glared at Secela, then shut the door. Secela sighed with relief again, then turned, heading on her way again.