The Home of Unfortunates - Steam

By Tanvi Ambekar and Archita Ravikumar

 Orphans Talia, Maya, Marine and Chia have lost their freedom again, and they are now separated from each other. Each of them are trapped with their own problems, and each challenge is introduced with secrets that could shake the very foundation of their world. Join the journey of enemies and allies, pa

• Language: English
• Publisher: TAAR PUBLICATIONS
• Release date: Jan 2, 2024
• ISBN: 9798869069399

Book preview

1

Life

Talia glared at the wall of the cafeteria. She and Maya were locked up in this new orphanage, which was all the way in the Hydro Kingdom, according to the welcome sign at the front of the building.

About two months ago Talia, as well as her best friends Maya, Marine, and Chia had escaped the horrible orphanage they called ‘Home.’ After years of suffering the four of them escaped and went on to live for a few weeks in the city, finally discovering what it felt like to experience life for once. But the Paum agents - a branch of the government that focused on cases the police couldn’t or wouldn’t deal with - had been on their tail the whole time. On the agents’ third attack, the group had been separated with only Maya and Talia staying together. From what Talia knew Chia and Marine were both in the Pyro kingdom; the land of the Pyro Shapers, people with fire powers. The ‘Runaway Rehabilitation Center,’ where Maya and Talia were locked up, was in the Hydro Kingdom - the land of the people with water powers.

As for the Rehabilitation Center, it was much cleaner than the other orphanage she had lived in for most of her life, but she hated it all the same. For some reason, it felt worse than the old one, but she had to agree, it was much more comfortable. They had good food, a gymnasium, and the hospital was just a building over.

Yet, the guards had still tried to wipe their memories before they came to the Runaway Rehabilitation Center. They were abusing their Shaping. Talia hadn’t been too concerned about the erase until she realized that none of the other orphans there had had their memories erased. They were the only ones, and it showed. Talia’s and Maya’s erases had both failed. Maya’s had failed because of her D.I.D., but Talia had an intact mind, at least from what she could tell. And her memory wipe had gone wrong. It felt like she had lost her ability to smile. All she felt now were negative emotions.

Regardless, she had to hold it together. She didn’t want to go crazy. Maya needed her. Plus, they had already made a new friend, Clementine Jase. He went by Clementine or CJ mostly. He was tall and had hair and skin a bit lighter than Maya’s coffee skin tone. His eyes were different colors due to a health problem, one naturally green and one a pale yellow.

He had been here for nine years, dropped off just after his sixth birthday. He had been adopted by a very kind family a couple of years ago and then had been dragged to the Center because they were deemed ‘unfit for parenting.’

Snacktime is over, everyone, a robotic voice announced over the loudspeaker.

Grumpy much? CJ teased.

No, Maya snapped, crossing her arms.

Um… one sec. Excuse us, Talia said politely, leading Maya to a corner of the playground and lowering her voice slightly. You’re still Maya, right?

She nodded. Yep. Good thing Fiona didn’t come out or something. About a month earlier, they had discovered that Maya had D.I.D., which stood for Dissociative Identity Disorder. It was caused by traumatic events in the victim’s life, and Maya’s had been triggered by the sight of her house burning down right in front of her, knowing that her parents and brother were inside. The disorder itself caused the affected person’s personality to split into multiple parts, switching at random, or to be triggered by emotions or senses. Fiona was Maya’s most childish personality, almost like a little kid with a hot temper.

All too soon, it was time for classes to start, and they all filed into their respective classrooms one by one. It was Meditation class for Talia and Healthy Cooking class for Maya and CJ. That was the only time that Maya acted nice around him, according to CJ.

Talia was okay with Meditation, particularly because it involved no actual studying. The class practiced meditation and techniques for stress and focus, which would have helped if what Talia was worrying about was resolvable. Worrying about your best friends getting captured and wondering if they were okay could never be fixed with a stress ball.

It didn’t help that Talia had no clue what she was going to do about it. Together, she and Maya had deduced the locations of Chia and Marine, but they still didn’t know what to do about it.

And then there’s CJ…

Her head felt like it was trying to run in ten directions at once.

Once the class ended, Talia went to get a drink of water and noticed Maya munching on some lettuce wraps with peanuts, coconut, and what looked like a little bit of spicy sauce. She smiled as she noticed a small splat of sauce on Maya’s cheek. It was nice to see Maya being a little bit messy.

They had their next class together. It was math, which, despite being a subject they both hated, was with a teacher they both loved.

Did you study last night? Maya asked, holding open the door for Talia.

Yeah, I don’t have a fancy photographic memory, Talia teased.

Maya rolled her eyes.

Come on. We’re late.

They rushed to their desks just as Mr. Eli walked in, holding a stack of papers. He passed them to a girl in the front and asked her to pass them around. The clock ticked and the test began.

The teacher was writing something down in his lesson notebook, glancing up occasionally to inspect the class as pencils scratched against papers. Everyone liked this unit, so the ‘Done’ bin filled up quickly. Mr. Eli always had a bowl of mints at the front of the class, and whenever a student finished a test or quiz, they were encouraged to take one. They were delicious, melting on your tongue like butter.

Now Talia’s next class was Healthy Cooking, and Maya had Reading and Writing. Everyone had the same subjects: Morning Warm Up, Healthy Cooking, Meditation, Math, Reading and Writing, PE, Gardening, Science, their Shaping sessions, and one more, like an elective. They all had these every day, and so the school was always chaotic. New students almost always had to stick with the veteran students to find their way around the massive place.

Talia walked into her cooking classroom, and as soon as she stepped in, the scent of crispy lettuce and oily peanuts tickled her nose. This was one of her favorite lessons.

They made lettuce wraps that day, just like the ones that Talia had seen Maya munching on. She downed them just as quickly too.

***

Talia pushed open the door to the library, which was open until one in the morning, and slipped behind one of the bookshelves to her and Maya’s favorite spot; a small nook with two padded purple chairs. Maya was already there, flipping through some sort of storybook boredly.

Maya, can I ask you a question? She asked as she sat down.

Sure.

Do you want to escape?

Talia studied Maya’s face for any sign of expression, but she continued looking bored.

Not really, Maya said, snapping the book shut.

Talia froze when she heard footsteps a few shelves back.

"Oh relax, only nerds are here this late. There isn’t anything out there for us. Okay, yeah, the place was horrible and we had to escape, but here, it’s decent. I mean, we get proper education without the teachers out to get us, and the food is good and, more importantly, we might actually get adopted."

Talia’s heart panged. "True, but did you ever think that if we got adopted, then we might get separated? She shook her head. We’re already separated enough, at least the two of us should try to stay together."

So?

So what?

So what if we get separated?

Talia stared at Maya’s still-bored expression in disbelief. So what if we get separated? Something was definitely off.

Then Talia’s eyes narrowed. Fiona, is that you?

Maya finally looked up from the book cover, blinked, and then smirked. "Yup, I was wondering how long it was going to take you. Oh, the Gardening teacher is not going to be happy with Maya!" As soon as the words left her mouth her eyes went blank for a few seconds, and then she rubbed her eyes.

Talia sighed and flopped back in her chair.

Sorry, what were you going to ask me? Maya took in Talia’s expression, and then her eyebrows creased with worry. Oh man, did I change again? I’m so sorry, she said with a slightly downcast expression.

Talia kicked herself. No, it’s not your fault, she said reassuringly. I was just curious about your opinion on escaping.

"Uh, yes, why?"

Well, I was thinking about it since the first second we got here. Instead of crawling through the vents like we did last time, which isn’t possible by the way, because Chia isn’t here and we don’t have a vent, do you want to just try and sneak out during PE? We have that together.

Maya nodded, and then saw the look on Talia’s face; something in between hesitant and determined. The expression on her face changed from guilty to expressionless. It bothered her more than Fiona’s bored expression; this made it feel like Maya was holding back a part of herself that she didn’t want Talia to see.

"We have to bring CJ. There is no way we are going to get out without him. Plus, his Wind Shaping session is outside, at the same time as our PE session. It makes perfect sense."

No.

Why?

No.

"But why?"

Just... no.

Why? Why don’t you like him? You have been moody whenever you're around him.

I have my reasons and I don’t want to bring him. Maya’s violet eyes turned hard.

Bring who? A deep voice interrupted. Talia whipped around and Maya just glared at the speaker - and who would it be but CJ.

How long were you standing there? Talia questioned.

Long enough.

How long? she pressed.

I came in right about the time when you said...PE. I have no idea why you were talking about that and the topic changed to me, but meh.

Then you do know who we have been talking about, Maya said in a frank tone before rolling her eyes.

I do, and I have the same question. Well, actually I have a lot more questions, but why don’t you like me?

Talia sat still, waiting for Maya to hit him, but she stayed silent, opening and closing her mouth, trying to form words but none came out. He chuckled at her a little before continuing, Maybe you will tell me later. And you, he said, looking at Talia, will fill me in tomorrow.

And with that, he turned around and walked back behind one of the bookshelves.

Talia and Maya stared at each other in disbelief, but Talia could barely restrain her smile.

Maya saw through her act, though. You invited him, didn’t you! Of course you did!

No I didn’t! I swear that was a coincidence. But it might be better this way, because now he knows without us tell- she withered under Maya’s look. I seriously didn’t!

* * *

Breakfast the next morning was pancakes. Maya liked extra syrup (probably because it was berry syrup) and extra butter, while Talia only liked butter and even that to a minimum, because according to her, ‘gluten free pancakes have enough taste in themselves.’ CJ was sitting with some of his other friends, all of them laughing their heads off but there was one boy who wasn’t. He was just eating his pancakes and occasionally stealing a glance at their table before snapping his head away to look at something else.

Pretty sure that’s Will, CJ’s roommate, Talia thought. Wonder what they’re talking about.

During the morning announcements, Talia snuck over to him and said, Choose a seat next to me in science.

He nodded, confused at first before his mouth formed an ‘O’ like he just remembered something.

Yeah, Talia thought. Maybe if you had saved your ABSURD questions from yesterday until SCIENCE, I wouldn’t have fallen asleep at midnight because of Maya’s RANTING!

Talia’s day passed in a blur, only coming to her senses on the walk to Science.

When Talia walked in, she surveyed the room, looking for a good spot to sit that was a little farther away from others. Science had flexible seating and there was a whole menu of seats to choose from; floor desks, standing desks, rocking chairs, spinning office chairs. Talia eventually settled on the beanbag chair table, which was stuffed in the corner, and only had four seats. Nobody was sitting there now.

CJ strolled in about two minutes later, his brown hair plastered to his face and his hands marked with thin lines of dirt. He had probably just come from Outdoor Work and clearly hadn’t cleaned up.

Luckily, that day, it was a free class, which was where they finished any late work or homework during class for half credit. Talia slipped CJ a note underneath the table while pretending to work on her atom model.

‘We need you to help us escape,’ it read.

Talia heard CJ’s soft gasp and a few heads turned their way.

I can’t believe Mr. Hunter would make us write a whole essay about how he deserves Ms. Ova! he said, covering up his slip and causing some giggling from the other students - including Talia. Ms. Ova heard him too and a light pink tinted her cheeks before she immediately looked down, resuming her work. Mr. Clementine Jase, you have a C in my class. Please work on your sheet.

There had been a widespread rumor about Mr. Hunter, their English teacher, who had an eye for Ms. Ova, their Science teacher. There had been numerous sightings of something going on between them, and everybody knew about it.

After they all returned to whatever they were doing, and once no one was paying attention to them, he quickly flipped the slip of paper over and wrote something. He handed it back with impressive speed.

‘What? How are we going to pull that off?’

Talia practically rolled her eyes. ‘You will Wind shape.’

CJ rolled his eyes right back but grinned.

‘You’re insane. But I’ll try.’

Yeah, I know but if I’m going to go down, then you are coming with me, she whispered.

Mr. Clementine Jase and Ms. Talia, Ms. Ova said sternly. Please work on your models. You think I can’t see you passing notes?

Sorry, they said in unison, embarrassed.

She’s perfect for Mr. Hunter, he whispered just loud enough for her to hear and returned to scribbling on his atom worksheet. Talia laughed softly and finished gluing the final electrons onto her model.

2

Try Again

Maya sat on her bed, staring out into space with her cheeks stained with tears. Every time Talia would see her, she was always crying or curled into a ball. She would hear the soft, muffled sobs at night. Was this how I was when I first arrived here? Talia thought. She never had the guts to talk to her. Every time she would see her, her stomach would flip, like she was going to start crying too. All until one day when Maya just randomly started talking to her about what had happened.

Try, she would say, every time Maya got stuck or started crying again.

***

Maya stormed away, leaving Talia behind to sob. That day was horrible. Fiona made an appearance, hurting Talia like she always did. Talia could feel even more tears well up as her head fell into her hands. Sobbing, she sat there, all alone.

***

Maya crying, as she told everyone how her parents and brother died. She was handling it well, probably got