Yune was an orphan for as long as she could remember. She was brought in as a baby and lived with the others since then. Her parents were never found. Apparently, she had been told that a complete stranger found you on the side of a trash can abandoned for the street cats and rats. The stranger was nobody special. Just some teenager with a pompadour was all the headmaster could remember. It was a dark and rainy night. The man's face was hidden and the headmaster never found out who that stranger was.

Yune was aware of her story. She was told that story directly by the headmaster, who she considered the closest thing to a mother. The orphanage's headmaster was named Janet Singh. She was an orphan as well. She was never adopted and eventually took over.

The orphanage itself was in what Yune would consider a normal neighborhood. There wasn't much that she saw outside of the place besides the orphanage and school.

Even though she was surrounded by plenty of other kids who were in the same situation, Yune never figured out how to really communicate with them. She was always shy. The other kids didn't bother or bully her, but never attempted to make contact with her either.

She felt like she just existed in place and time. Everybody was aware of her, but all they did was walk around her. She didn't feel sad or upset by it. It just felt normal.

She did have the headmaster to talk to, but even Ms. Singh was always busy making sure the orphanage was organized. By the time Yune turned seven, she even began to help her. Before, she didn't have the confidence to help. She was afraid that she might slip or drop something important. Yune was never really yelled at by the headmaster, but even Ms. Singh wanted Yune to go make friends with the other children ever since she was a baby. But even then, she just couldn't make a lasting friendship.

When pushed to it, Yune was able to talk. She could say the simple greetings and graces.

"Hello."

"How are you?"

"It's nice today."

"Heard there was going to be a new movie coming out."

Simple things like that.

But she never could figure out how to go deeper. She could communicate just fine with others, but she never felt like she belonged to any one group. She didn't consider any of them as friends. She wasn't rude or mean. And neither were others. But people really just saw her as boring. She wasn't terrible to hang around, but at the same time, she wasn't any fun to be around either.

Yune spent most of her days alone as a child. Occasionally, she helped Ms. Singh carry some papers or set-up something when she was finished with her homework.

In the end of the day, Yune just felt fine. Never having a really good day. Never having a really bad day. Just fine.

But these were the days that Yune would completely forget about once one girl decided to make contact.

Elizabeth Hershey. Or, for short, Eli - which was the name she preferred anyways.