The day Nicholas arrived at the orphanage, the autumn came
and never went. He could remember a time when there had
been winters, springs and summers, just as he remembered a
time when he had parents. But they were all gone now. And
Nicholas was here, living in a rather tall stone building
that was something of a cross between a cathedral and a
small castle. He didn't know who had built it or why it
was
now an orphanage. He didn't even know what month it was,
and no one seemed to care that the seasons never changed.
Time was measured differently here.
Nicholas felt the crisp, morning air tingling on his face
as he opened the heavy window shutters and filled his
lungs. He could see fingers of sunlight reaching through
the branches of the trees in the forest. It might have
even
been the enchanted forest, but one could never be sure.
Everyone knew that the orphanage had an enchanted forest
on
one side, but no one seemed to know exactly on which side
it was located. Every time someone identified where it
was,
it seemed as if that part of the forest moved somewhere
else. Because of this, people who left the orphanage
grounds usually never found the way back. Return visitors
were scarce. Nicholas had never even seen a visitor at
all.
He saw only new children as they arrived, as if from
nowhere. The residents of the orphanage lived almost
completely in isolation from the rest of the world.
That's
because the orphanage was their whole world.
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