A long time ago, in a town very near to your own, was an orphanage.  The orphanage had nothing unique about it, other than its large size.  Even less unique were the children calling the orphanage home.  None had any sort of special talent or expertise.  Their ages ranged from four to sixteen, with most falling around the age of eleven.  They were allowed to go to the school, and even attend and participate in extracurricular activities; as long as they didn’t cost money, that is.  The orphanage itself was run by women who ruled with an iron fist. 

She was unfair, and her punishments unjust.   Mrs. Abbot had her usual punishments, like extra cleaning or no showering for the day.  But, her punishments could be more severe.  Mrs. Abbot thoroughly enjoyed seeing the face of child who was told that they couldn’t eat that day.  She would often punish some of the kids just to show the rest of the children who ruled.  Some of the staff would try and stop her, tell her she was doing wrong, but she quickly fired them.  Only staff who were too terrified or those who agreed with Mrs. Abbot continued having a job at Abbot Orphanarium.

Mrs. Abbot owned and operated the orphanage.  She had higher dreams, though; dreams of being the town’s mayor.  She thought if the town saw how well behaved her children were, and how much she helped the less fortunate, they would vote her in.  The children at Abbot Orphanarium suffered greatly, but they never told anyone about their plight.  The last child who tried to get help, Ricky Gordino, hadn’t been seen in months.  Some say he was put into their mystery meat stew, or that he was buried out in the garden.  In reality, none of this was true.  Ricky Gordino was going to go for help, but was instead, adopted.  He was in some far off town, with a new family.  The kids of course, had no idea.  It didn’t help that Lester spurred the kids into thinking terrible thoughts. 

Part I

Lester Kennington was one of the few kids who strived in the orphanage.  Rigid order.  That was how things were kept.  Lester had been in the orphanage since he was two, and learned early on how to make his life easy.  He started by trying to do exactly what Mrs. Abbot did.  He yelled at those who misbehaved, and even tried to punish a few of them.  A staff member caught Lester trying to keep a little girl from showering, and took him straight to Mrs. Abbot.  Mrs. Abbot had the opposite reaction that you might think.  She gave Lester a slap on the back, and told him what a good job he had done.  From that point on, Lester was impervious to punishment.  He did all that Mrs. Abbot asked of him.  He became almost as much of a tyrant as Mrs. Abbot.  He took anything he wanted from whoever he wanted.  Lester was a big kid, and at sixteen, he was the oldest child at Abbot Orphanarium.  Naturally, people flocked to Lester.  His gang was called the Enforcers.  They were all boys, and to the rest of the kids in the orphanage, they were called goons.  Lester’s goons.