Miss Lucy took the liberty of giving Evalyn the "grand tour" of the house. She had first shown her the main halls and where each one led. Miss Lucy showed Evalyn the game room, which was basically a room filled with white shelves that contain bored games. There were two small round tables with chairs where children sat and played with the games. There was a box TV where below it was a game system. Evalyn saw at least a few children playing at the tables or sitting on the sofa playing with the game system.
Miss Lucy then showed her the library. Which was a typical library. Bookshelves stacked high to the ceiling filled with books of all kinds. Five round tables and chairs accompanied the room to fulfill it. The TV room was next. It had a long TV in it with two leather sofas and two comfy recliners. A coffee table was set up in the middle of it with a rug that laid beneath it.
Evalyn was shown the dining hall, and then the outside area. She was even told that there was a garden if she ever wished to visit it. Finally, Evalyn was taken upstairs where the bedrooms are. "This is the girls' section." Miss Lucy told her and took her down two sets of hallways and passed many doors. Some of the doors were left open where Evalyn could see groups of girls sitting around on the beds giggling and sharing rumors.
"Here we go," Miss Lucy said, opening a door at the end of the hallway. "And this is your room! You know, I normally wouldn't have given you a room to yourself, we don't usually do that you see. Everyone gets a roommate. But your caseworker has convinced me to give you your own separate room" —Of course he has, Evalyn thought with an eye roll— "I'll just leave you to unpack. When you're finished you may come down to the dining hall where we'll be serving lunch!" Miss Lucy closed the door as she left, leaving Evalyn alone in the room.
The room was fairly big. It had two twin beds, each on one side of the room. At the foot of both beds were trunks to store personal belongings. A bedside table accompanied both beds with each having a small lamp. There were two wardrobes on either side of the door. And a scratchy rug completed the room in between the beds. Evalyn sighed and tossed her bag on the right bed and sunk down onto it. Self consciously, she rubbed her fingers on the ring she wore on her right hand.
The ring's band was a gunshot gray, its beautiful design curved fittingly on her ring finger. The jewel that rested on top of it was a deep, dark blue. It was smooth and round, snuggling comfortably on the ring band. A sudden pitter-patter on the window snapped Evalyn back to reality. She stood and walked over to the window. On the other side of the window was a cat. The cat looked like any other cat. It was short haired with leopard patterns that decorated its coat. Its bright green eyes shined the brightest out of everything. Just staring straight into it would make any person feel dizzy.
Evalyn opened the window and the cat jumped down into the room; walking around the creaky wooden floor. It's about time you let me in, the cat said telepathically into Evalyn's mind.
"I'm sorry, Leo," Evalyn said as she shut the bedroom window. "I would've come sooner, but Miss Lucy, the headmistress, wouldn't take me to my room until after she showed me the place... it isn't exactly my fault, you know."
And I— Leo jumped onto Evalyn's bed —thought someone with your capabilities would have done something to move things along much faster, no? Leo made himself comfortable on the pillow, sitting straight up, like a dog on guard. Evalyn went over to bed and sat down next to the feline. She reached over and rubbed his ears.
"I couldn't," she said. "I promised Mr. Collins that I wouldn't use any of my powers. You remember last time, don't you?" Last time happened nearly five months ago, when Evalyn was caught in her room with Leo. Apparently, the orphanages have a strict "no pets allowed" policy. And when the mistress of the house saw Leo, she got very upset. She had reached for Evalyn to punish her for bringing in an animal and Leo took action and turned into his ultimate form. The headmistress was frightened at the sight of such a thing and went to call animal control. Evalyn stopped her by using her powers.
Yes, Leo said. It wasn't my greatest moment, but that woman had it coming. Evalyn smiled. She guided her hands down in between Leo's shoulder blades and began to scratch. Leo responded with a satisfied purr and arched his shoulders up. After a moment, Evalyn dropped her hand and began to rummage through her bag where she took out various turtleneck sweaters, tights, toothbrush and paste, and few other necessities.
The feeling of loneliness drenched over her as she placed each item gently on her bedside table. Leo followed her moves with his bright green eyes. "I miss them." Evalyn said with a voice full of sadness.
I know, replied Leo. You'll be together again, that I promise.

𓃠

When Evalyn arrived at the dining hall, the sound of laughter and voices hit her like a wind storm. As she entered the room, most of the laughter and voices died down, and eyes followed Evalyn's every move. Rude whispers stalked Evalyn as she went to the lunch table and grabbed a slice of greasy pizza and a bottle of water. As Evalyn went to go sit down, Miss Lucy emerged from nowhere and placed a hand on Evalyn's shoulder. She smiled sweetly down at the young girl.
"Attention! Attention everyone!" Miss Lucy said to her children. "We have a newcomer today! Her name is Evalyn! I want everyone to greet her and make her feel at home." Giggles and whispers from the other children started up. "Evalyn, why don't you introduce yourself, dear?" Evalyn stood there. Not saying a word, not moving a muscle. She wanted nothing to do with these people. After a long awkward silence, Miss Lucy cleared her throat and smiled painfully. "Okay then! Go ahead and enjoy your meal. I hope you do enjoy it here, Evalyn, we're all very happy to have you." Still without a word, Evalyn made her way to an empty seat where two teens accompanied the table. They stared at her for a moment before returning back to their earlier conversation.
Evalyn picked up her slice of pizza and watched as the grease dripped from the bread to her plastic plate. Her face scrunched up at the sight and she placed the slice back down on her plate. She slid the plate to the center of the table, grabbed her bottle of water and left the dining room. At a table not too far away from where Evalyn sat, a group of boys laughed and joked. One of the boys at the table did none of those except watch as Evalyn got up and left the dining hall.