So, hello to anyone who was nice enough to consider reading this fic! I hope it doesn't disappoint. Anyway, the first few chapters are just filler, but soon enough we'll get to the good stuff. I'm trying my hardest not to Mary Sue any OCs, but if I am, then please tell me. Nicely, no flames, please. Kindly read the first few chapters before deciding whether you like or hate the story, this first chapter isn't much to judge on concerning the rest of the story. It's just there to show a bit of background and build up my character before throwing her to the wolves, figuratively speaking.

Enough of my talking, here's the first chapter!

Kyla, or Ky, Anderson woke to the sound of quiet feet running through the hall outside her bedroom. A few muffled shouts could also be heard, things like 'Shut up, they'll hear us!' and 'Oh crud, I think we woke up one of the teachers!'

Ky smirked, that would be the younger kids, attempting to get outside and play before one of the adults heard all their noise and got up to scold them. She considered going back to sleep, but suddenly the air conditioner kicked on, it's loud whirring spreading throughout the building as all the other vents in the orphanage sprayed cool air at the occupants. A few disappointed noises were made by the kids out in the hall, and any hopes Ky had of drifting back to sleep fled faster than the little footsteps when an adult was heard approaching.

She braced herself for what she knew was coming. She had those footsteps memorized. The heavy thump of his right foot followed by the hesitant pat of his left, then a scrape, then the right foot again, on and on in a thud, pat, scrape, thud, pat, scraaape. Mr. Lawrence, the Vietnam veteran who someone had gotten the bright idea of sticking into an orphanage for the children of imprisoned and/or executed criminals. He liked yelling at the young residents for things their parents had done, but he seemed to particularly hate-

"Anderson!" his grating voice barked, accompanied by five huge bangs on the door, "ANDERSON! Wake up! Kitchen duty, now!"

"I'm up, I'm up," she responded irritably. She rolled out of the bed, letting herself fall to the floor before standing and taking the one step journey to her dresser. As she pulled out a long sleeved black shirt and some slightly too large brown pants, she heard Mr. Lawrence's angry grumbling as his thud, pat, scrape moved along down the hall. She found a belt and socks in her messy jumble of clothes, and once she was dressed, put her shoes on.

Finally, she pulled a knitted red and black hat carefully from its place hidden under her mattress. It was the last thing her father had given her before being arrested and put into prison for crimes he'd long since repented of. Thinking of him brought up the memory of her mother, and Ky's hand subconsciously went to touch her neck, where a locket had once hung.

Another knock came to her door, this time less violent. "Kyla, you're needed in the kitchen," came the voice of one of the less horrible adults, seventy year old Mrs. Carson.

"Coming," Ky said, yanking the hat down over her light brown hair and exiting the room. Mrs. Carson had already moved down the hall to get one of the other kids up for kitchen duty.

Ky, head down so as not to make eye contact with anyone, made her way down to the kitchen, where five other children were already stirring a big bowl of eggs to be scrambled, and getting dishes from the cupboards. She washed her hands before setting the temperature of the oven burners so that frying pans for the eggs could be placed on them. She then ducked under the arm of an older boy, who was passing a jar of jam to an older girl, so that she could fish sausage patties out of the refrigerator.

None of the other kitchen helpers seemed to acknowledge her with anything more than a nod of thanks when she handed one of them the sausages or a slight shake of the head when she asked if anyone needed pepper, but they talked and joked amongst eachother.

When the meal was prepared, the kitchen help was allowed to eat before the others, but no one offered Ky anything so she opted to wait. With a sigh, she went out onto the back porch thing, which was more like a large platform sticking out of the building with a railing around the edge. She leaned her elbows on the railing and looked out over the trees. The orphanage was placed in the middle of nowhere, for the safety of the occupants, considering that people might want to get revenge on them for the crimes of their parents. Ky thought she saw something moving in the trees down below, something larger and darker in color than the deer and wild turkeys that normally populated the area.

She glanced around to see that no one was looking, before slipping under the railing and dropping to the ground below. Another thing about the orphanage was that no one was allowed outside unless they had adult supervision, because some of the kids there were the type who wanted to follow in their parents' footsteps. Now was one of the few times that Ky was glad no one really noticed her, otherwise she'd be in serious trouble right then. As it was, she was able to sneak down to the trees' edge without incident. Now the only problem would be getting back into the building unseen, but she'd cross that bridge when she came to it.

As the girl walked farther into the woods, her thoughts drifted away from anything except enjoying the crisp autumn air and exploring. This was the first time in ages that she'd been able to get this deep, and she even forgot about the dark shape that had piqued her curiosity in the first place. She found an interesting depression in the ground that had filled with rainwater from the storm the night before, and sat down near it to study the reflection of the colored leaves in the gently rippling surface.

Suddenly there was a flash of light and a part of the ground near the depression was blackened and smoking. Understandably, Ky jumped and nearly shrieked, but caught herself just in time. She couldn't let any of the adults back up in the building hear her screaming at anything, else she'd get herself caught. Something was moving in the undergrowth behind her, and she suddenly remembered the dark shape she'd seen, getting images of bears and wolves, hungry for a thin little human girl, chasing her down.

With those cheerful thoughts urging her on, Ky made to sprint through the pool of rainwater to the other side of the depression, where she could see a climbable tree to take refuge in. Unfortunately, she never really got past the center of the rainwater pool. Something slippery beneath the surface made her lose her footing and fall face first into the water. Now, normally she would have just gotten back up again, but something stopped her from moving. She felt herself sinking into the water, and she fought to hold her breath as she sank farther than should have been possible. Just a minute ago, she'd been looking at the pool of water. It hadn't been more than half a foot deep at most, even taking into account water's natural distortion of one's distance perception. Ky seemed to sink forever, and just when she felt her lungs would pop, she broke the surface, clumsily treading water and coughing.

Wait, the surface? She'd been sinking downward, so exactly what was this the surface of? She looked around and saw that she was right by the coast of some island, and that the rocky shore wasn't too far away. The water was freezing, so she swam to the shore as quickly as possible, flopping down on the pebble beach to catch her breath. It seemed that she'd washed up in the middle of a storm, what with the raging winds and occasional blasts of ice cold rain.

Curled up, shivering, and breathing erratically, Ky was too focused on trying to stay warm to remember that you weren't supposed to fall asleep in the cold. She also didn't manage to notice the shouts that could be faintly heard above the howling wind, or the shapes of people that closed in around her as her world faded into darkness.

So, I hope you enjoyed that! I'm unsure of it's quality . . . . Anyways, it starts to get good in the next chapter, and you might even find out what Ky's significance is by the third chapter! Doesn't that sound nice?

Now, I'm sure anyone who's read a lot of the fanfics on here is getting highly tired of this by now, but . . . . REVIEW! I've got candy for any reviewers . . . .