text: Little Ina Little Ina has been in an orphanage trying to get adopted for over 25 fortnights. She was finally going to get adopted before the pandemic struck. No one was allowed to leave their houses and there was unrest in society during the pandemic. Ina was devastated because she just wanted someone to love her, to make her feel like she belonged, unlike how she felt for so long. Ina was for so long neglected at the orphanage after her parents died. She was short with warm skin, and chocolate eyes, and hair braided down her back. She had a long thin scar running down her face from when her head slammed against the seat when her parent's car crashed. She had just been an infant. Maybe two or three at the time. She was so young when it happened it seems like a distant memory. She had always gotten teased at the orphanage. She cried herself to sleep every night feeling as though there was no one to love her. When the pandemic struck; no one knew what was happening. She got teased worse, and the adults didn't help. No one could go outside and everyone found it as an opportunity to target the weakest person. They'd play pranks and bully her until one day when they took it too far. They snuck into her room and cut off her hair. She woke up to a shorn head and startled, ran out crying. She passed people who were pointing and laughing in her face. She turned away and ran into the bathroom. She looked in the mirror as tears rolled down her face. A strong presence radiated around her. She felt soft hands wrap around her and pull her face up. She smiled a true smile. "Mom!" And then the ghost of a touch as the presence was whisked away; torn from her. "Mom!" she cried. "Don't leave me!" But it was too late. She turned and saw herself standing in the mirror with red puffy eyes, swollen cheeks, and tears streaming down her face. She turned as two girls walked in and pushed her into a stall door. She hit her head and crumpled to the ground. The last thing she heard was their laughter ringing in her ears. She woke up with a bump on her head. She looked at herself and couldn't see anything valuable. Why would anyone want her? She looked at her short hair and ran her fingers through it. She despised her hair now. She heard all the mocking and laughter in her head and it drove her to the point of insanity. She sheared her hair shorter, into a neat bob. She ran out of the bathroom so she could get to her room. All around her people laughed and pointed, or shoved her into walls. By the end of the night, her body was covered in bruises. She wished there was someone out there to care for her, but the honest truth was that there is nobody out there who could ever love her. She gave up hope that she would ever be adopted. She started slinking around the orphanage with a glum look on her depressed face. Nothing could make her smile anymore. Years later the pandemic passed and no one wanted her. She was still getting teased daily. One day she had had enough. At lunch one day a girl got in her face and started teasing her. Ina got tears in her eyes but wiped them off. "Awe, is baby gonna cry?" the girl taunted. Ina had had enough of the bullying and jumped on the girl. They rolled around and got in a brawl. Ina got some good punches in. Later she had a swollen face and black eye but it was worth it. Ina had a new aura. People respected her. Until she got into trouble for giving that "poor" girl a black eye. Now whenever people would come to adopt, they would stay away from her like she had the plague. No one wanted her, or ever would. She didn't sleep and she did not eat anything. She would stay in her room and avoid the other kids in fear of harassment. No one would befriend her after the accident and that girl became a sort of a celebrity as the innocent victim of the vicious girl who got attacked for no reason. News spread, even outside the small orphanage, and out of the very small urban town. She knew she made a mistake, but why should she get punished? It was only out of self-defense. After that day whenever she looked at herself in any mirror, all she saw was a monster. Someone who couldn't be trusted, and could not be loved. After all: who could love a monster? She wasn't even sure what she was and all the negative voices in her head were telling her to just stop trying. It is not like she'll ever get adopted. She tried and tried, but could not silence the voices. She miserably thought that if she died, so would the voices, and the laughter, and the taunts. At least no one could hurt her if she was dead. But that wouldn't do her any good and it is too soon. Also, what would her mother think? She could see her mother. She slammed her head against a wall. What was she thinking? She couldn't end her life! She walked back to the orphanage one last time as a couple was looking for someone to add to their family. Someone to love! She ran up to them, but they chose the girl who she had earlier punched. The girl who had made her life miserable. The girl who was going to belong and be loved. Why couldn't she be that girl? With the pandemic, she never got adopted and even after the pandemic, she didn't get adopted. So she finally learned the truth: No one wanted her, and no one ever would.