The Girl Who Was Found In The Snow

The Girl Who Was Found In The Snow(Johanna) A young girl walked slowly along the snow covered path. The snow was already very deep and it was still falling.
The girl looked about eleven or twelve. She was skinny with long brown hair and lovley blue eyes. Her cheeks were rosy red and her face was pale. She was wearing a thin coat with patches and an old knitted scalf, and she was wearing an old wollen hat, that matched the scarf. Her brown boots looked as if they were too small for her feet, as her face looked full of pain with every small step she took. She was wearing a dress, that was obviously too small for her, that showed her knees.

As the snow fell the girl stopped suddenly and looked around. She was completely lost. The whitness of the snow covered everything and every corner she turned looked exactly the same as before. Was she walking in circles?
She started to walk a little faster. Her heart was beating extremely fast in her chest and she was sure it woud burst. She looked behind her every now and then as if sure she was being followed but there was nobody around.

Her face was getting cold and she tried to wrap her scard over her mouth to get a little warmer. Her legs were also freezing, and they were starting to feel numb.
She ran and ran but she seemed to be getting more lost, and confused with every step.

She tripped and fell and she was too tired and weak to get up and carry on walking. She had absolutlutly no idea where she was. She put her head down into her cold lap and burst into tears.

“Is this the end of me? Am I going to die alone in the cold with no one to call my family and no where to call my home?” she asked herself . The tears flowed down her cold face.

She took a deep breath and lay down in the snow. She was exhausted. She didn’t care that she was cold and wet and hungary. She was going to die anyway, so what was the point of worrying. She looked up at the darkening sky and sighed. This was the last time she was going to look at the sky and see the snow falling on earth.
She closed her eyes and waited for death to take her. She was going to die. She would be taken away from this cruel world and she would be able to see her mother again. The mother who had died years ago leaving her alone on earth with nobody who loved or cared about her.

She suddenly felt herself being lifted up and off of the ground. She smiled, her eyes till closed. She was finally going to be happy.

The young girl suddenly felt warm. She opened her eyes, to see what heaven looked like. She was in a large room on a sofa, in front of a fire. She looked around, disappointed. She wasn't in heaven. She was in someone's house. She looked around. There was a lady sitting by the table on the other side of the room and a young man was reading a newspaper.

"Hello? Where am I?" the girl asked.

The two adults came over to her.

"Hello Darling. You are in our house. My husband found you in the snow and be brought you here to get warm and dry." the lady said.

The girl looked around the room again, then she fainted.

Just then a boy came into the room. He saw the girl lying on the sofa and was suddenly full of questions.

"Who is she?" he asked.
"We don't know that yet John" his mother said.
"But where did she come from?" he asked.
"We don't know. Your dad, here, found her out in the snow." his mother answered.
"Out in the snow? Why was she out in he snow? She could have frozen to death." the boy said, gazing at the young girl.

"Darling, can you stay here in case she wakes up, your dad and I need to have a talk." John's mother said.
"Ok Mum." John said, not looking up from the girl's face.

His parents left the room and John sat down on the sofa opposite of the one the girl was sleeping on.

John began to daydream, wondering where this strange pretty girl may have come from. He sat there completley lost in his thoughts, that he did not notice the girl start to stir.

He suddenly saw the girl move and stared at her. Her eyes opened and he looked into them, unable to look away. He was staring into the prettiest eyes he had ever seen.

"Are you an angel?" the girl asked.
"Errr… no, are you?" the boy asked, confused.

The girl sat up.
"You are not an angel? So I am not in heaven?" the girl asked, and she burst into tears.

"Mum? Dad?" John called, worried.
His parents rushed in.

"What is it?" asked John's dad.
"She's woken up. She asked if i was an angel, and when i said i wasn't she burst into tears." John said, worried.

"Hello Darling. I can see you are awake. Where are you from?" said John's mum, smiling.
"I am from the Orphanage in the city. I took the train but I was kicked of as i had no ticket or money. I walked the rest of the way." the young girl sad, and she burst into tears again.

John's parents sat down beside him. He looked up at them, confused and worried. He could see the girl looking at them, and he felt bad that he had a kind mum and dad, and this girl had no one.

"What is your name?" asked John.
"My name?" the girl asked, looking scared.
"Yes, your name." John said.
"I don't really know. My mum died when i was just a baby. And my dad died before i was born. The adults in the orphanage called me Jane, but i'm sure that is not my real name. I would rather prefer to be called Mary-Anne, or something like that. " the girl said.

"Well, Jane. We are going to have to take you back to the orphanage." John's dad said.
"Please don't, sir. I won't be any trouble. I don't want to go back. They are horrid there." Jane said, and she burst into tears again.

John's parents looked at each other.

"I'll go to the orphanage tomorrow." John's dad said.
"Noooooo" Jane shouted, jumping up.

"No not you, sweetie. We want to see if we can maybe adopt you." John's mother said, smiling.

Jane sat back down, smiling.

"Mum? Really? I've always wanted a sister!" John explained.

He looked over at Jane and they smiled at each other.

"She really is the most beautiful girl i have ever seen." John said to himself, his cheeks going a little red.

John's mum went upstairs and found some of her old clothes for Jane. Jane changed and then the family, and Jane, sat down for a late but delicious meal.

That night Jane slept on the sofa, in a lovely white night dress that John's mum had had when she was Jane's age.

The next day, John's dad went down to the orphanage.

"How can i help you?" asked an old looking lady, in the orphanage office.
"I have come about a young girl called Jane. I found her in the snow, near where I live in Maize-Brooke." John's dad said.
"We will take her off your hands for you. That girl, she is a terrible one. She upsets the younger ones and lots of the children follow her with her awful tricks. We will punish her well, don't you worry. My name is Mrs. March, by the way." the old lady said.

John's dad shook his head and said, "I did not come to ask you to take her back. I came to say that we, my wife and I, want to adopt her. And now knowing for myself how you treat these poor orphans here i'm glad i am not sending her back here."

Mrs. March looked horrified. She took out some papers and soon John's dad had adopted little Jane.

"Are there any things that belong to Jane that i can take back for her?" John's dad asked.

"She has no other clothes but we have a box of a few things of hers down in the basement. The children here are not allowed many toys or treasures as it is against the rules, so we keep most of the things down in the basement. I'll have them sent for." Mrs. March said, and she disappeared from the office for a minute or two.

She soon came back with a young lady of about twenty years of age. The young lady was carrying a large shoe box and on the side was the word JANE painted in bold black paint. Inside the box was a gold ring, a brooch, a doll, a small teddy bear, and three books.

John's dad took the box, thanked the two ladies and went. He was thinking how dreadful that orphanage was and how mean and stern Mrs. March looked.

When he got back to Maize-Brooke he stopped off and a clothes store and brought a pair of new boots, just the right size for Jane, a new hat, some gloves, and a lovely red dress. Then he went to the store and brought some chocolates and current buns. Then he went back to his house.

Jane and John were out on a walk when John's dad came home. John's mum was in the kitchen making lunch. She had just taken a lovely cake out of the oven, and was making a roast chicken and baked potatoes.

" I sighed the papers. Jane is now ours. I'm glad of that, that orphanage was like a prison." John's dad said.
"Shall we put her into school. If she is going to live here i really think we should." John's mother said.

They hadn't heard John and Jane come in.

"I'd love to go to school. Can I? The school at the orphanage was terrible. I didn't learn anything." Jane said.
"Oh please mother, can Jane come to school? She'd be in my class. I'd look after her really good." John said.

"Of course she can go to school." John's mum said.

"Jane. I went to the orphanage today." John's dad said.

Jane went pale. "What did they say? Do i have to go back?"

"I signed the papers. You are now our little girl. Here is the box of your few things." John's dad said, handing Jane the shoe box.

Jane took the box over to the table, John behind her.
She stoked the box before opening it. She slowly opened the box and took out all the contents and layed them on the table. The gold ring, the brooch, the doll, the small teddy bear, and the three books looked like lovely treasures to Jane

"Look mother. She has a gold ring and a brooch." John said.
"Yeah, they used to belong to my mum, before she died. Her other jewels were sold, given away, or stolen but she insisted, that i had these so i have them." Jane said.

"Three books. What are they? Do you like to read?" John asked.
"They used to belong to my mum when she was little. I don't know what they are. I can't read." Jane said, sadly.

"YOU CAN'T READ!" John said surprised.
"No. Never learned. The orphanage school was really bad and they didn't try and teach me. I can read a little but not much. That is the only down side of me going to school, they'll all make fun of me." Jane said, tears coming to her eyes.
"No they won't. Don't cry. I can teach you to read. And so can my mum. She used to be a teacher, before i was born." John said.

Jane cheered up.
"What are these books called? Can you read them for me?" Jane asked.
"OK. There is The Secret Garden, Little Women, and Treasure Island." John said, picking up each book in turn and turning them over in his hands.

Jane picked up the doll and the bear and hugged them each in turn then she put them back on the table. She then picked up the brooch and handed it to John's mum.
"You can have this brooch. It's to say thank you." Jane said.
"Darling, it's ok. You keep it. It's yours. Anyway, we have you. In this family we share everything with everyone." John's mum said.

Jane packed all her treasures back in the box and closed it.

"We have something else for you." John's dad said.

John's dad layer the pair of new boots, the new hat, the gloves, and the lovely red dress on the table.
"These are for you, Jane."

Jane looked at her new treasures and smiled.
"I love the dress and the boots and the gloves and the hat." Jane said, looking at each of them in turn.

Then she saw the box of chocolates.
"Are these also for me?" she asked smiling.

"Yes. They are for you and John to share." John's dad said.

Jane opened the box.
"You can't eat any until after lunch." John's mother said.

Jane closed the box again, and put the chocolates in the box with her other treasures.

"Jane. There is one more thing." John's mum said.
"What?" Jane asked, her face aglow.

John's mother lead Jane upstairs. John followed.
She opened a door. Inside was a small room, with a lovely bed inside. There was a desk, also, and a chest of draws. There was also a lovely mirror.

"Jane. This is your new room. John's room is throughout this door here." John's mum said.
She went into Jane's new room and opened another door in the wall next to he desk. Jane had thought it was a cupboard but it was the door to John's room.

"We can sneak into each others rooms and back and mum and dad won't know." whispered John to Jane.
Jane smiled. John smiled back, and winked.

Jane looked around her new room, and the rest of the house. Then the family sat down to a lovely meal, and finished off with buns and homemade chocolate cake.
Jane looked round at her new parents and her brother John, and smiled.
She had a home. She was loved. She had a family. She was sure she was going to be very happy.
A tear trickled down her face, but this time it was not a tear of sadness. It was a tear of happiness and joy.