Katherine sat on the porch of the orphanage and watched the sun go down.

“Katherine! It’s dinner time. The mistress is getting mad, and she won’t wait any longer,” said Sadie, who was her best friend. Katherine hopped off the porch banister and ran inside. Once she was in the dining hall, she saw the mistress red-faced, and she stomped towards Katherine and grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her to a seat.

“Katherine, I will be getting rid of you, and when I mean getting rid of you, you will be adopted,” the mistress said with a smile. Katherine knew that the mistress hated her the most. “But it will not only be you. It will also be Mackenzie,” she said, and everyone knew that Mackenzie was the mistress’s favorite.

After dinner, Katherine put everything in her ripped up farmers market bag and laid down, but before she could go to sleep, there was a knock at the door. Katherine walked to the door and opened it, and the second she opened it, Sadie hugged her.

“Don’t go. Please don’t go,” Sadie whispered. She knew why Sadie was saying this. It’s because Sadie did not have any other friends.

Katherine pulled herself away from Sadie. “I’m sorry, but I can’t stay here. I need a family. It’s been twelve years without a mom or a dad, and I need one,” Katherine said with tears in her eyes.”

“I get it. You care more about a family than your friends,” Sadie said angrily.

“No, it’s not like that,” Katherine yelled. Sadie shook her head and left the room. Katherine closed the door and headed back to bed.

The next day at 8:00 am, a carriage with a woman and a man stopped in front of the orphanage. Katherine ran down the stairs to the entrance. Once she saw her new parents, she felt happy inside, but she did not see Sadie. Then, sadness fell over her.

“Hi, girls. This is Lily and James, and they will be your new guardians,” said the mistress.

Katherine and Mackenzie shook Lily and James’ hands, and they both jumped into the carriage. Before Katherine got into the carriage, she saw Sadie looking out of the window. A tear rolled down Katherine’s cheek, and she jumped into the carriage. Once they got to their new house, Katherine was starving, and their house was huge. They even had a pool. Once they got inside the house, Lily and James showed Katherine and Mackenzie’s room.

“You girls will be sharing a room, and you each have your own bed,” said James.

“And you each get your own maid,” Lily said while pointing to a bell on each of the beds. Lily and James left the room.

“So Katherine, do you like this house?” Mackenzie said shyly.

“I guess,” said Katherine. Mackenzie turned around.

“Okay, you may think I was the mistress’s favorite, but I hate the mistress,” said Mackenzie.

“Girls, breakfast is ready!” said Lily from the dining room downstairs.

The girls trotted down stairs and sat at down at the long dining table.

“So Mackenzie, tell us about your parents,” said James. Mackenzie froze and ran away, and everyone stayed silent.

After breakfast, Katherine found Mackenzie crying on her bed. “I don’t know my parents,” Mackenzie said between tears.

“Well, I don’t know my parents either, but you should at least be truthful with Lily and James,” said Katherine.

The next morning, there was a carriage waiting for Mackenzie.

“Mack, there’s a carriage waiting for you,” said Lily.

Katherine looked outside the window and saw the mistress in front of the entrance. She ran out of her room and down the stairs to the entrance, but she was too late. The carriage was almost all the way down the road. Katherine went back to her room and laid down on Mackenzie’s bed. A couple minutes later, Lily and James were standing at the foot of Mackenzie’s bed. Katherine jumped up from Mackenzie’s bed and hugged Lily and James, and then Katherine looked up at them.

“Where did Mack go?” Katherine asked.

“Well she, for some reason, went back to the orphanage,” said James.

Katherine’s eyes started to water, and she hugged Lily and James again. That afternoon, it was so hot that they had to stay inside, so Katherine secretly started to plan a rescue mission. Her plan was to go out at 10:00 pm, grab one of the horses from the stables, and she would ride to the orphanage and sneak in and grab Mack.

At 10:00 pm, Katherine was already at the stables. She grabbed a beautiful white stallion named Snowball, and she hitched her up. When she got to the orphanage, she knew that there was a secret passage in the back which led to the kitchen, and the kitchen was very close to the bedrooms. Once she got in to the secret tunnel, she remembered the times she and Sadie tried to escape, but the mistress always caught them. She kept crawling. Once she got to the kitchen, she was glad that she could finally walk, but she also had to keep quiet or else the mistress would keep her from going home. Once she got to the bedroom hall, she got so worried that she would wake everyone up. When she got to Mack’s bedroom, she had to be very careful. Once she got the door opened, she quickly walked into the bedroom and quietly closed the door. Once she was next to the bed, she started to slowly shake Mack.

“Katherine, is that you?” Mack asked.

“Yes, now be quiet. I’m saving you from this dump,” said Katherine.

Mack climbed out of bed and quietly went to her dresser. “So how are we getting out of this dump,” said Mack while getting clothes out of her dresser.

“Well, we are going to climb out the window because we are so close to the ground,” said Katherine looking out the window.

After Mackenzie finished packing up, Katherine opened the window and started climbing out, but then the door burst open and there was the mistress. Katherine jumped out of the window followed by Mackenzie, and they ran right to Snowball while the mistress ran to the exit. The two girls got on Snowball and rode off with the mistress right on their tail.

“So where did you get the horse?” asked Mackenzie out of breath.

“Lily and James have a stable behind their house,” said Katherine.

Mackenzie nodded.

Once they got to Lily and James’ house, they put Snowball back in the stables and ran into the house. Katherine ran up the stairs to Lily and James’ room, and they were still awake.

“Lily, James, I rescued Mack. Come downstairs,” said Katherine, and they followed.

When they got downstairs, they found Mackenzie sitting on the couch. Lily and James hugged both of the girls.

“I’m happy that we are all one big family,” said James.