Things are never as they seem to be. I learned that the hard way. My name is Lang Ren. I’m raised in France, but my parents always said I originally came from somewhere in Asia, although my face doesn’t give that away.
I was found all alone in the sewers of Paris. The first few years afterwards I lived in an orphanage. I was raised strictly. There was no television in the orphanage and computers weren’t invented yet. Even though life was hard, it wasn’t that bad. I had many friends. There were somewhere around twenty children and although we had some fights, we could get along with each other.
Every once in a while a new child came and sometimes others left when they were adopted. When you get used to that, it isn’t hard to make new friends. I tried to keep in touch with some of them, but it’s not easy, because I had to come home right after school. Telephone use was also not allowed, except when it was an emergency or when a former orphan had a birthday.
All summed up it was a good childhood, but things were only getting better. I remember the day I was adopted like it was only yesterday. I was surprised and delighted they chose me as their adopted child, but I was also afraid what would be out there. I’ve never really been out of the orphanage before and didn’t know what to expect for the future.
My new parents didn’t live far away, so I could go to the same school as before. After a few months I realized it wasn’t that bad. I made new friends since at first I only hung out with children from the orphanage. When I turned eleven I went to Ecole Claude Bernard. Grades weren’t a problem. I scored grades between a 12 and a 15. This is the equivalent of a B or a C in the United States.
I never had any doubts that my life with my guardians would give me better opportunities and a nice peaceful life in the future. Oh, how was I wrong…