18Hey guys, decided to write a new story, hope you enjoy it, and don't forget to review!
"Lou?" The single syllable sounded from the object that the warden held in her hand, venomous fingernails curling around the phone.
"What?" The warden asked, her tone snappy with annoyance.
"You still running that delinquent facility?" The woman on the other end asked.
"Why do you care, sister?" the Warden barked back, the rays of the sun that escaped through her curtain burning away her patience as a cheap fan hummed loudly in the background.
"Would you mind taking in a teenager?" asked the quiet voice from the other end.
"What do you think I run here, a free hotel? Don't ask me for favors like that." The warden hung up the phone.
It rang again.
"What?"
"I'll pay you if you take her in."
Lou Walker sighed, and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Why do you even want me to take her in?"
"She's an absolute monster!" The mortified voice answered back. "She needs her spirits broken. Needs her back bent. Needs to learn her place." Dorris Walker cut to the chase, hoping her sister would help her out.
Lou hung up the phone again.
It rung again the next day. And the day after that. And so on and so forth, until finally the warden gave up. "Fine, fine!" She yelled into the defenseless object that she held in her hand. "What is her name?"
A shout of triumph could be heard from the other side and Dorris spoke into the phone once again, "Emberlyn Carter."
"I'll bend her back alright."
Em lay on her back, on the plastic bus seats that stuck out at horribly uncomfortable angles which resulted in Ember shifting around constantly. Her black wayfarers often slid off her nose because of the unattractive sweat which caused her to clumsily drag them back to place. Her messy hair spread out all over the bus seat. Random streaks of orange and gold zigzag through her head of bistre brown hair. Her eyes, rimmed with kohl, drooped sleepily. She hummed a tune, out of beat and rhythm, but she could not care less.
"Hello, you spoiled little brat, I got some news for you," said the fat old lady, her ugly face filled with wrinkles of old age. Her orange hair was laced with grey and tied up into a tight bun.
"What on earth, Grandmother, could be important enough for you to come tell me, voluntarily that is?" Em replied mockingly.
"My sister, Lou Walker, has agreed to take you in."
"She as old as you?" Carter asked rudely, uninterested.
The old lady huffed, "pack your bags, you little ungrateful street rat, you're leaving in the morning." She left right after she said that, complaining on her way out. Em grinned.
Ember Carter had lived at a shabby orphanage for three years. Her family members have been dead for five. Dorris Walker, the owner of a cheap orphanage, was a cranky old lady who dreaded Ember's existence.
Em tied her hair up into a loose, messy pony tail, having to un-attach the sweaty ringlets of hair that stuck onto the back of her neck with her fingers.
Finally, the bus moaned to a stop, the aged engine making a dying sound. The mud stained bus door was kicked open by the driver, and Ember was pushed off gracefully. She stumbled a little, then regained her posture, head held high and thin dark lips drawn into an arrogant smirk.
"Welcome to Camp Green Lake, girlie," the guard murmured, voice laced with rude mockery. The horizon was vague and hazy from the wavering heat, the sun burning the sandy desert surface. Orange figures dragged shovels back to the sad excuse of a camp where grey tents stood, tattered with defeat.
"Fresh meat," yelled a muddy camper. Like dominos, it was a chain reaction.
"It's a girl!"
"New camper!"
"What?"
"Woah!" Then the cat calls started. Ember was nudged forward by the impatient guard, pushed into an air conned room. The walls were a peeling yellow, scratched and smudged. A naked bulb hang from the ceiling, and swung slightly in feeble breeze made by a small fan.
"Emberlyn Carter," a chubby, short man who looked like a retarded cowboy said with an arrogant accent that held authority.
"Yes?" Em asked, mimicking his voice.
Mr. Sir huffed, then introduced himself. "I am Mr. Sir," Ember's lips were stretched downwards to prevent herself from grinning. "You think my name's funny?" Em shook her head slightly, not at all intimidated. Mr. Sir's face pinked in the cheeks, but he decided to let this one slide. Just then, the door was opened by a short man, with a nose that resembled Squidward's. Ember smirked slightly as he reached forward to shake her hand.
"Good morning, Ms. Carter! I am Mr. Pendanski!" The happy man introduced with a goofy voice that sounded too bubbly to have came out of a grown man's mouth. Behind Mr. Pendanski, was a frizzy red haired woman. Lou Walker, Ember stated to herself, recognizing the woman immediately. The woman had a pale freckled face that was pinched into a frown of disappointment.
"You're it?" She spat.
"Gee, did you expect something else?" Ember replied sarcastically, a grin on her face as she pulled a ringlet of brown hair behind her ear.
"That's an understatement," was the older female's snappy reply.
"Sorry to disappoint," Ember replied, not at all sorry, "Emberlyn Carter at your service, we're going to have fun together," the orphan introduced, holding her hand out, knowing it was not going to be shook. The Warden stared at it with distaste and Em pulled it back in, not the least bit offended.
The red haired woman scoffed, then turned to leave, but before she walked out the door she called over her shoulder, to Mr. Pendanski. "Put her in D-Tent, won't you?"