Sadie Greene felt her windblown hair lash against her face and sweep tears across her cheek.
The single memory of her previous life wandered around inside her head aimlessly.
It was a stormy night in the small town of Crowell, Texas and young Sadie was snuggled in a rocking chair with her mother. Suddenly, a man with drunk eyes holding a bottle burst into the room.
"We ain't got no food to feed her now," he grunted, emotionless.
"But dear, we can't-" Sadie's mother protested, tears streaming out of her eyes.
"Now, we agreed. It's time, and she's old enough!" he grumbled back.
Suddenly, Sadie felt herself ripped from her mother's arms as she struggled free.
"Ma!" Sadie cried, tears flowing down her cheeks in abundant rivers.
Her mother simply hung her head and let the tears come.
"Come on, girl." the man snorted, grasping on tightly to the thrashing little girl whom he forgotten was his own daughter.
"No!" Sadie screamed.
And that was all she could remember. Sadie lay awake upon the soft green grass and gazed up at the night sky.
Where was she exactly? Sadie wasn't sure. After her final shout for her mother, everything went black. Then she opened her eyes, and here Sadie was ever since. Never hungry, never thirsty, it was pleasant, but strange at the same time. Time never seemed to pass.
Was she dead? No, Sadie was sure she wasn't. Not here. Her mother had told her many stories of where everything would be perfect and she would never had to see her father ever again. Sadie called that place Paradise.
"The Lord will be waitin' for ya there. I'll be there first and prepare us a hearty supper when ya arrive with your new family." her mother had announced, smoothing out Sadie's tangled auburn hair and brushing it out of her eyes.
"Where is it?" Sadie asked curiously.
"Right here," her mother smiled back, putting her hands against her heart.
Sadie curled up into a ball and let her tears flow. What else was strange, was that she never got hot or cold, or bothered to take off her tattered leather jacket, her mother's most expensive piece of clothing she ever purchased.
Suddenly, Sadie felt a gentle tap on her left shoulder.
"Hello, you must be new here." a smooth, confident and soft voice greeted her.
Sadie turned and stared at a boy her age with kind blue eyes and sleek dark hair.
"I reckon you've been here a long while," she sighed.
"I'm Arion, I came from Canada." the boy explained, "But I wasn't born there, I was born somewhere else… I forgot where." Arion smiled, holding out his hand.
"I'm Sadie, Sadie Greene. I'm from…" it took her a while to remember where her hometown was.
"Crowell, Texas." she answered.
"Gets harder and harder to remember, huh? You'll get used to it," Arion winked.
Sadie shook hands awkwardly with Arion and glanced at him fascinatingly.
"Ya look a mighty bit strange to me," she giggled.
"You talk funny, try talking like me. The other folks are going to make fun of you if you continue to talk like that," Arion giggled back.
"Umm… like, like this?" Sadie tried, imitating Arion's accent and his way of talking.
"Yeah, that's lot better," he agreed.
Then Arion noticed Sadie's tear-stained face.
"A little sad?" he asked.
Sadie nodded slowly, biting her lip to hold back the tears.
"We all were. This is where the unwanted end up. And this is where we will stay, forever." Arion sighed.
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Sadie asked, wiping the tears away with her sleeve.
"Both, I guess. You'll like it here, but you'll also hate it here. Either way, there's no way out." Arion replied, taking Sadie's hand.
"How old are you?" Sadie asked.
"Thirteen, well, I was before. Age means nothing here, though." Arion answered painfully.
"Oh," Sadie said, staring down at the ground.
"Same," she added.
The playful grin appeared back on Arion's handsome face.
"You ever heard of the place where all the good people go?" Arion asked.
Sadie thought for a moment, then nodded, recalling the memory.
"Well, this place is like it," Arion explained, guiding Sadie across a row of rocks in a river.
"My ma ain't here," Sadie protested, her smile fading.
"She'll never be," Arion replied, hopping on rocks in front of Sadie.
"Then this isn't Paradise. It's where unwanted youngsters go!" Sadie shouted, suddenly angry.
"You're talking like that again." Arion snorted.
He sighed and shook his head.
"It's too late. Our parents lead us here without knowing." he told Sadie
"No, it was just my father," Sadie said quietly.
Arion shrugged and Sadie hopped across the rocks in front of her.
Suddenly, Sadie could not help but let tears come. All those years of hiding under her bed when her father came home, all those years of watching him hit her mother when she didn't give him money for drinks, Sadie finally let it all out.
Arion sighed as he saw Sadie sobbing into her arm. He gently put one hand on her shoulder and whispered into her ear:
"The unwanted are wanted more than anything here,"
The words meant nothing to Sadie for a second, then she understood.
This is where she would never see her parents again. But this was where she could have a second chance at life, everything could start over.
"Who's in charge here? And where's everyone else?" Sadie asked.
Arion took her hand once again and smiled.
"I'm in charge. And everyone's over there, in the village or the lake," he shrugged, pointing to the path ahead of them.
"Wait until I introduce you to everyone! Don't worry, you'll fit in perfectly." Arion assured, scurrying up the path.
Grinning, Sadie raced ahead of him to where her new life would begin. Maybe this wasn't Paradise, but Sadie felt certain it was just as good.
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