The Mech-man

The burning sun hid behind faraway mountains, another day had passed Hemisville – a tiny village on the edge of the country. Evening came as the sky darkened. Dim light could be seen in a lonely and ancient orphanage. Quiet chatter of children could be heard by any pedestrian passing by. It was a frosty winter's night; snow as big as pure white feathers began to fall slowly on the old and rusty roof of the orphanage. “Eat quicker you dirty children, two minutes and you’ll have to go to bed.” A mean voice shouted over the quiet chatter. It was the voice of Mr Beckon, the cruel and terrifying owner of the Beckon orphanage. He was a chubby mid aged man. He had muscular hands as thick as some orphan’s legs. His eyes radiated power and cruelness. He hated every single child in the orphanage, he loved seeing them suffer from his cruelness and his unhuman t*****e. Immediately, the children went quiet, trying to wolf down one piece of bread slice given for dinner. There were exactly twenty of them, suffering together in the orphanage. “I hate this place!” A thin orphan complained silently after finishing his sad amount of dinner. He was short for his age, his pale face seemed even more paler in the dim candlelight. His dark brown eyes reflected anger but also sorrow from the experiences he had before coming to the orphanage. He was a newcomer, he was left at the orphanage two weeks ago, unconscious and without remembering anything. “Shut up or else we will all get into trouble! You don’t want Mr Beckom to get mad. He’s a monster.” A tall orphan hissed back. He was the oldest of the twenty children, all of them respected him. “Now, everyone to bed, no speaking and stay in your beds no matter what happens, or else!” Mr Beckon warned loudly, “Five seconds, five, four…You there, no more eating!” The lights closed. Darkness swallowed the whole world. After a while, when the children were sure that Mr Beckon had left, a quiet whisper broke out. “So, Jack, what were you telling us last night about your dream?” One of the smallest orphans asked in a whisper. “My dream, when I leave the orphanage is to become famous!” Jack answered, “I want to travel the whole space and experience everything that life has for us and…!” “That’s not good enough, I want to become a protector!” Another orphan interrupted. “I want to become a mech-man, to adventure and discover new places in space! I also want to be the strongest of all mech-men.” “Bah, a protector is too dangerous. When I grow up, I want to become an actor, and I will send all my money to charity to help orphans like us!” one orphan exclaimed. “I want to…” Everybody was having a great time except the newcomer. He lay in his uncomfortable bed, sighing. The whole two weeks had passed, all he could remember was his name. Max. “What’s your dream, newcomer?” Someone asked curiously, “You must have one, everyone does!” “I don’t know, I don’t know anything. All I could remember was my name – Max.” Max replied, ashamed. “Max, you never told us before!” the orphan said. “Welcome to the orphanage, Max!” Everybody cheered. “You’re now officially one of us!”