Storm over London

The wind was howling through the window as she sat huddling her knees together for warmth. The other girls in the room were curled up in their beds or with each other for warmth. Shivering under thin blankets against the cold that blew into the room through cracks in the window. Some of the windows had boards over them, the glass long gone. Even the windows that still had glass were ill fitted and the cold seeped through the sides. Winter in London could be very cold, and the little girls that grew up in the Sunny Hills Orphanage had it worse than most. Samantha stared out the window next to her bed. She was older than most of the other girls, and sometimes they crawled into her bed for comfort when they were scared, but not tonight. They knew when she didn't want to be bothered. She could barely make out a street lamp in the snow covered street below. The window was dingy and with the snow swirling around it, it was almost impossible to see anything. The mistress of the orphanage was probably down stairs in her apartments next to a warm fire. She had been a kindly, helpful young woman when she had started running the orphanage at the young age of 19, but 35 years of dealing with children who were not always the easiest of children to deal with had made her cold and indifferent. they came and went, she did not get attatched. Samantha had been here since she was a baby, and she had seen changes in the woman in just the 15 years she had been here. The last 15 years had seen many more orphans coming in than going out however. With the war going on, London's orphanages were overcrowded, and the amount of children just running wild in the streets had nearly tripled as well. Samantha had thought about joining them more than a few times, but at least here she knew she had a place to sleep and food to eat. She also couldn't leave the other children behind. She was old enough to help care for them now. She was considering taking over the mistress's job when she finally decided to either retire or die. If she didn't decide to do either one soon, Samantha might have to force her into it because they could not keep living like this... (to be continue.)