Chapter 1

Dennis Raveley had unique eyes; not many people liked those eyes when they first met him, and thus not many people came to like him, after first disliking those eyes of his.
His eyes were a dark grayish color that suited his extremely pale face. So pale was this face that should he lay down inside a coffin and remained still, an observer could have mistaken him for dead. This appearance caused people to believe he is sick and call him 'a sickly boy'. Dennis did not mind this, because in a strange way he was pleased about how he looked and always possessed a fair reservoir of self-esteem as the result of such positive self image, all in spite of his loveless upbringing.
Dennis was neglected since the very beginning of his life and developed no strong attachment to any thing or any person, he was rarely bothered during much of his youth, and fairly early he had decided to be content with the lonely existence he was bestowed with. Dennis liked to read; there was a bookshelf filled with small volumes in the first orphanage he had lived in and he went there often in pass-time, reading found him something to do, because the matrons in the first orphanage he lived in took little notice of him and life in the orphanage was uneventful. In the orphanages he lived in that didn't have books, he walked and even when the library was beyond typical walking distance. He liked to read non-fiction, including the dictionary, because he had the persisting curiosity of wanting to know what everything is, and how everything works. It started when he was taken to the hospital to get a vaccination for a flu, and noticed the little sticks with cotton wrapped around the ends which the doctor used to dab iodine onto his skin before administering the needle, he didn't know what they were called then, and found out (they were called cotton swabs), though he didn't remember when this event took place that provoked his ultimate hobby of collection small pieces of facts and vocabulary. The more he read, the more he realized that he knew less, so he read more and felt great when he acquired new information. He always liked libraries and enjoyed stocking his own mind like one. Dennis led a solitary, almost robotic life.
Dennis changed orphanages once every one or two years, each time being handed to orphanages that accept older children, it was like outgrowing his clothes and getting new pairs, and he switched orphanages often because no one had wanted to adopt him; he was too old and too terrible looking, largely due to those eyes of him that people took immediate dislike to. His irises are dark gray, not unlike other people, but in his gray irises it was difficult to determine where his pupils are, for they were dark gray too, not black. This peculiarity was the reason why people disliked him for his eyes, those dark gray circles disturbed and unsettled them, and gave the impression that there are no eyes at all, only emptiness. The cornea of his eyes also contributed to the unsettling appearance; they did not reflect light. Although he was very much alive and quite healthy if not slightly without malnutrition, one look into his eyes seemed to dissuade that belief. People rarely looked Dennis in the eyes even when they spoke to him.
On a cloudy day in November that forecasted rain, Dennis was called to the matron's office on the early morning. He was shook awake and went in his pajamas to the office on the first floor. His bedroom in the second floor dorms was not shared by anyone, for he was the oldest yet again at his latest orphanage and the matron did not trust him with a roommate. Dennis yawned and entered the office of the matron, and did not meet the matron's eyes. He sat down on the single chair facing the matron's desk, though he wasn't directed to, he didn't mind.
'I never said you could sit down, Dennis.' The matron said and tapped her fingers upon the broad desk she sat behind. Dennis nodded, he stood back up.
'Now, say, Ms, may I sit?' The matron directed him.
'No thank you, I'll stand.' Dennis said politely.
The matron pursed her lips and remained silent for a moment. Then she said, 'I don't suppose you want to know why I called you down here at this time of the morning.'
'Probably.' Said Dennis.
'Probably?'
'Probably.' Dennis replied.
'What's that supposed to mean?' The matron challenged.
'I don't know whether I want to know why you called me down at this time of the morning, so probably is the best answer since it can mean the affirmative or the negative.'
The matron did not say anything again, she only continued after realizing that Dennis would say nothing more, 'You are arranged to leave this place.' The matron said plainly.
'Okay.' Dennis said, it had only been five months at the orphanage he was lodging  in, it was his shortest stay yet.
'A family has adopted you.' The matron said, realizing she would not have any success to provoke some excitement out of this child resident of the orphanage, who was no longer even a child; Dennis was thirteen years old. 'They have sent by mail the instructions you are to follow. I have called a taxi to take you to the train station, where you are to take the ten o'clock train to the 4th country stop on the gray line, a car will pick you up there to take you to your new home.' She gave him a slip of paper on which the directions were written in neat handwriting. There was also one train ticket.
The matron opened a thick portfolio containing the records of all the children of the orphanage, this was to be Dennis' farewell address. She came to a sheet of records belonging to Dennis, she read over it and said, 'You've only been with us five months, and you've stayed at nine homes prior to this, I hope you are grateful a family has agreed to look after you, children your age don't have much luck left getting adoption, you are very fortunate. You should be very grateful.'
'Okay.' Dennis said and smiled, 'I enjoyed staying here too, there is a library nearby.'
The matron did not know what to say to this statement. She continued, 'Yes, the family that has adopted you is very wealthy, you are very fortunate indeed, do you know that?'
'I think I do.' Dennis said.
'Then you will behave accordingly, cause no trouble for your new guardians, and I do not wish to see you again, understood?'
'Understood.' Dennis replied.
'You may go. Your things have been packed by Maddy, remember to thank her before you go, and change out of your nightwear, there is a change of clothes for you in your room, your suitcase is there too.' The matron dismissed him with a wave of her hands. Dennis turned around to leave.
'Dennis Raveley,' the Matron said, wanting to finish something she had in her mind that she had saved for the entire duration of Dennis' stay at her institution, ever since the first she's laid eyes on him and decided she didn't like him one bit, 'I simply can not imagine what this family was thinking when they decided to adopt you, because quite frankly I can't imagine one thing they might have found likable about you, I myself can not think of one such reason, because I don't like you, and at the other institutions they said the same things, and I agree completely. You are very, very fortunate someone even gave the thought of taking you in as their own.' Dennis turned around to face the matron as she expressed her first and final thoughts about him, and waited patiently for her to finish, as he had always done. The matron then said, 'The family did not even come here to see him for themselves, they must be a blind bunch.' This she said mostly to herself, but Dennis still stayed to listen.
'Now why are you still here? You are discharged, remember to behave yourself, and I do not want to see you again, understood?' The matron gestured with a wave of her hand for Dennis to remove himself from her presence.
'Good bye, Ms. Craven.' Dennis said, and his stare met that of the matron's. The matron Ms. Craven froze, she sat befuddled and stunned in her armchair as Dennis turned and left forever.
The early morning chill sharpened Dennis' senses and made him fully awake as he stepped outside from the main entrance of the orphanage, his last one, and entered the taxi waiting there on the curb for him, holding a small suitcase in one hand. He thanked Maddy the dean before he left, but did not look at her in the eye.
Dennis had on a brown coat, one blue shirt, one pair of faded jeans that was gray and loose and old brogues two sizes too large for his feet. He wore no hat and his dark hair fluttered in the breeze. He put his other hand into the pocket of his jacket, and was surprised to find something within its depth, an earring. He took out the pin-sized jewellery and wondered where he had obtained it, he put it back into his coat pocket. The sun was rising pale and distant over the skyline, the skyscrapers of downtown stood like black pillars extending into space from his angle in the little quiet street where the Victorian style orphanage was built. Dennis looked around the street within his vicinity, looked back at the front steps of his tenth and final orphanage, admired the vintage oak doors one last time, and got into the yellow taxi.