THE CHOSEN RIDE
1227 Words
Morning had finally come.
At Starhaven Orphanage, the entire building was alive with noise. Doors opened and shut, footsteps ran through hallways, bags zipped, clothes were tossed onto beds, and voices echoed from every room. It felt less like an orphanage and more like a train station before a huge journey.
Teenagers from different dorms hurried around, carrying backpacks and suitcases, some laughing, some nervous, some pretending they weren’t scared at all.
One boy in the hallway shouted while trying to close an overstuffed bag.
“Who packed bricks in my suitcase?!”
A girl passing by laughed.
“That’s because you packed your entire wardrobe, genius!”
Another teen near the staircase was fixing his jacket and muttered to his friend.
“Do you think the HEROES headquarters has better food than here?”
His friend shrugged.
“If they don’t, I’m coming back.”
The hallway erupted into laughter.
---
Inside Ava and T. L’s room, clothes were spread across the bed, books stuffed halfway into bags, and one shoe somehow sat on the windowsill for no reason.
Ava was folding her clothes neatly, while T. L was sitting on her suitcase, trying to force it shut.
“Why is this bag refusing to close?” T. L groaned.
Ava looked over.
“Because you packed random things. Why are there three spoons in your bag?”
T. L blinked.
“In case I get hungry?”
Ava stared at her.
“You know they have spoons where we’re going, right?”
T. L thought for a second.
“…What if they don’t?”
Before Ava could answer, the door suddenly burst open.
Two small figures ran inside.
It was Billy and Derek.
Both looked upset.
Billy’s lower lip trembled as he stared at them.
T. L immediately softened and climbed off the suitcase.
“Oh, Billy… what’s wrong?”
Billy rubbed his eyes.
“You guys are leaving…”
Derek sniffed.
“And you won’t come back.”
Ava stopped packing and knelt beside them.
She smiled warmly.
“Hey. That’s not true.”
Billy looked up.
“It isn’t?”
Ava shook her head.
“We’ll visit. We promise.”
T. L crouched in front of both boys and placed her hands on their shoulders.
“Listen to me. Just because we’re going to train with the HEROES doesn’t mean we forget you.”
Derek looked unsure.
“Really?”
T. L nodded seriously.
“Really.”
Billy narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
“Pinky promise?”
T. L froze.
Ava immediately burst into laughter.
T. L slowly looked at Billy.
“You’re making me do a sacred contract?”
Billy crossed his arms.
“Yes.”
T. L sighed dramatically.
“This is serious business.”
She stretched out her little finger.
“Fine. Pinky promise.”
Billy and Derek instantly locked pinkies with her.
Then Billy grinned.
“Now you can’t break it. Ever.”
T. L whispered to Ava.
“I think I just signed my life away.”
Ava laughed.
The four of them hugged tightly, and for a moment, the room became quiet.
---
Just then, there was a knock on the half-open door.
James leaned against the frame with his bag already over his shoulder.
“It’s time to go.”
He looked at Ava and T. L, then smirked.
“Unless you’ve changed your minds.”
Ava stood immediately.
“What kind of question is that?”
T. L grabbed her bag.
“We were born ready.”
Billy suddenly jumped at James and hugged him around the waist. Derek copied him a second later.
James laughed and nearly lost balance.
“Whoa! Ambush!”
He looked down at them and smiled.
“I’m gonna miss you guys too.”
He crouched to their level.
“But you two have to help Mrs. Rose while we’re gone, okay? No causing trouble.”
Billy looked offended.
“I never cause trouble.”
At that exact moment, he accidentally teleported onto Ava’s bed and fell face-first into a pillow.
Everyone burst into laughter.
James raised an eyebrow.
“Perfect timing.”
Derek pointed and laughed.
Billy sat up with the pillow on his face.
“That was not on purpose.”
T. L was laughing so hard she almost dropped her bag.
---
A few minutes later, everything was packed.
T. L lifted her bag and slung it over her shoulder dramatically.
She pointed toward the door.
“Alright.”
She grinned.
“HEROES… here we come.”
Ava and James exchanged amused looks.
The three walked out side by side into the main hall.
---
The big hall was filled with selected teenagers from all the orphanages nearby. Bags were stacked beside them. Excited voices echoed everywhere.
Some were nervous.
Some were smiling.
Some looked like they were trying not to cry.
At the front stood Mrs. Rose Olivier.
As Ava, T. L, and James approached, she opened her arms.
The three of them hugged her tightly.
Mrs. Rose smiled through tears.
“You all be careful, alright?”
James nodded.
“We will.”
Ava hugged her again.
“Thank you for taking care of us.”
Mrs. Rose touched Ava’s cheek and smiled.
“You made this place brighter.”
Then she turned to T. L.
As soon as T. L hugged her, something changed.
Mrs. Rose held onto her longer than the others.
Longer than she intended.
T. L noticed and gently pulled back.
Mrs. Rose looked into her face, tears filling her eyes for reasons she couldn’t explain.
She whispered softly.
“I don’t know why… but from the first day I saw you, it always felt like I knew you.”
T. L gave a small smile.
“Maybe you did in another life.”
Mrs. Rose laughed weakly through tears.
T. L wiped one tear from her cheek.
“I’ll visit. Promise.”
Mrs. Rose nodded, unable to speak.
---
Outside, the buses were waiting.
Large black coaster buses lined up outside the orphanage gates, each marked with the glowing golden H symbol of the HEROES.
The windows were darkly tinted, and armed HEROES security agents stood around them.
Teenagers boarded one by one.
Ava stepped inside first.
James followed.
T. L climbed the bus steps, then turned around one last time.
Outside, Mrs. Rose stood with the other caretakers.
Billy and Derek waved both hands wildly.
“DON’T FORGET US!”
T. L leaned out the bus window and shouted back.
“I CAN’T EVEN IF I TRY!”
Billy shouted.
“YOU PINKY PROMISED!”
T. L laughed.
“YES, COMMANDER!”
The bus doors shut.
Slowly, the engines rumbled.
The buses began moving away from Starhaven Orphanage.
Inside the bus, the three friends sat together near the window.
Watching the orphanage grow smaller.
Watching the only home they had ever known disappear behind them.
T. L leaned back in her seat.
Ava looked at her.
“You okay?”
T. L stared ahead.
A small smile formed on her face.
“No idea what happens next…”
She looked out at the road ahead.
“But I think our lives just changed forever.”
The bus drove into the rising morning sun.
And somewhere far away…
At the towering headquarters of the HEROES…
something was already waiting for them.
- Writer
