Citrus Sinensis

Orangey lived a simple life. He was born and raised in the Southern California in the town of South Beach, and lived a modest life growing on a tree. That is until the day he decided to separate himself from his home and travel the world; this decision would change his life forever.
It was a bright, sunny Saturday morning, the birds where chirping and all seemed right with the world. Orangey had already packed his bags and was saying his last goodbyes to his fairly large family, each of which consisted of a teary hug and heart-felt hand shake. Finally he came up to his father who looked at him sternly and said, “The World’s a dangerous place, don’t do anything stupid like that time you went to Tahoe.” Now orangey knew his father meant well by these words but they hurt none-the-less.
By the time he had finished saying his goodbyes it was already midday and the sun was high in the orchard sky. Orangey walked a few yards from the house and looked back just to get that one last memory searing glimpse so that he would remember his way back if need be, turned and started to walk away. After an hour or two of rolling around orangey had reached the edge of the orchard and decided to sit down and rest for a while. He had never been off the tree before and he was already having second thoughts about leaving it, “If I knew there was going to be this much walking I would have stayed back on the tree, my goodness.” Then all of a sudden he heard a slight scuffle coming from behind, he turned around to see who it was but nobody was there, he stared at the spot for a second and then shrugged it off. A few minutes passed by and then he heard the scuffle again this time slightly louder from behind, it was at this point that he started to shake in his peel slightly, he slowly turned back to the spot but same as the first nobody was there, “Who’s there?” said orangey, nobody answered, so he continued on sitting and relaxing under the shade of an oak tree. After a while of sitting in the warm glow of the sun and letting a cool breeze lick his face he slowly drifted off to sleep.
He awoke with a start hours later with a splitting headache and laying in what appeared to be a large wooden box. Startled, he got up and looked around the room. Through the dim light he was able to make out 20 or so other oranges stumbling around the room in a distant manner. He walked up to the nearest one and asked, “Hey buddy, what is this place?” the orange just looked at him with a vacant expression on his face and after a couple of seconds continued walking around the room screaming out random curses. Confused, orangey started walking around until, in the corner of the box closest to him, he saw an orange beckoning him over. When he reached the corner the orange said,

“What’s your name kid?”
“Orangey, what about you, you got a name?”
“Yeah, it’s Citrus sinensis. What was an upper classy like you doing all the way out by the edge?”
“I wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, so I thought why not try and start fresh ya know.”
“Oh, is that what you wanted, eh. Well you’re in luck! You are currently in a shipping container destined for the east coast and our inevitably deaths ya dumb ass!”
“WHAT!?! Why?”
*scoffs* “Who knows, these creatures have been kidnapping anyone who’s gone anywhere near the edge, bunch of schmucks what the hell'd we ever do to them?”
“What creatures?”
“What do I look like, an fuckin' zoologist. All I know is that their huge and mean and they’ve been taking oranges from all over the Southern California area and jamming us into these boxes and shipping us half-way across God knows where.”
“What, I mean… Wha...”
“Look...kid, I can see you’re a little out of it right now, why don’t you sleep it off go grab some food and talk to me in the morning. You’ll feel better, I promise.”

Citrus Sinensis was an older orange, in his late 40's. He was born and raised in the town of Solvang. When he turned 18 he joined the UOMC (United Oranges Marine Corps.) He was promoted to the 2nd armored C.O. after the battle at Der Mal, and earned the medal of courage after he held off Fruit Fly (F.F.) forces single handedly until reinforcements arrived during the Blitz. He proved himself time and time again throughout his carrier, but on November 25th, 2008 on a routine shakedown run of the neighboring town of Tropicana he was captured. But even then he showed valor when he got three of his men to safety before they where also captured. Physically wise he has small yellowish spots all over his body and he is slightly more oval than the other oranges. He has a tattoo of his squad insignia on his upper right arm, and has the aura of an orange whose life has not been an easy one, and even though he had a tough peel you could see sadness in his eyes.
The next day Orangey woke with C.S. standing over him holding a cup of water,

“Wake up sunshine.”
It took orangey a moment or two to get his bearings and then taking the cup said,
“Thanks C. How long was I out?”
“Ah, not too terribly long, couple of hours at the most. You feelin’ any better?”
“Oh I’m awesome.” said orangey sarcastically. “Do you have any idea where we are?”
“No idea, we left port last night so we can’t be to far from home, oh and don't call me C alright.”
“Well tha—“

Before orangey could utter another word the lid of the box was ripped open, and for the first time orangey was able to see the ugly mug of the creature that had captured him. Looking back around he saw that everyone else had gone deathly still, he quickly dropped and laid there with out making so much as a twitch. For what seemed like a lifetime the creature just stood there looking at all the oranges and then reaching his hand down into the crate he grabbed the orange closest to him and started to rip off his peel in a sadistic fashion.

“What the hell is he doing C.!?!”
“Shut up and don’t move!”
“But...”
“I said shut up dammit!”
"We can't just sit back and let this happen!"

getting up orangey started to make his way toward the creatue, but he was quickly tackled by Sinensis and pinned to the ground and said,

"What the hells the matter you? You wanna die, huh!?!
"No..."
"Then shut the hell up and don't move, you got me!?!"
"Yes!"

Laying back down orangey looked back at the helpless orange and looked in horor as the creature drove its fingers into its flesh. After every last piece of peel had been removed from the poor oranges body the creature ripped the orange into pieces and popped each piece into its mouth like it was a piece of candy. The creature looked as if it was savoring each and every piece and was relishing in the moment. The horrific incident of terror was over before it really began and the creature soon reattached the lid of the box and walked off. It took a while for this event to sink in, everyone just stood there shocked. Orangey then felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see C looking back at him. “You ok?” Said C, “Yeah, um, yeah I’m a, I’m ok.” “Good cause we gotta find a way out of here and your going to help me.”
That night wasn’t a night for sleeping, instead orangey and C started coming up with plans on how to escape before the creature came back. But after hours of failed attempts the two oranges gave up and went to sleep.
The next morning the two friends woke to find that they where being carried into a menacing looking building with random pipes going every which way. Soon they where beyond the doorway and orangey looking around saw a horrific sight. Oranges where being tagged and then forced into mesh bags before they where thrown back into the containers. “What’s going on C?” “I don’t know orangey, but I think I know how to escape, just follow my lead.” Orangey opened his mouth but then quickly shut it because the creatures had starting putting oranges from their crate onto the conveyer belt that led into the belly of the beast. Soon orangey could feel the cold hands gripping his back and was almost immediately placed onto the conveyer belt. Looking at C he knew that he was about to do something drastic and stupid. As soon as the hands of the creature let go C made a break for it, “No, what are you doing!” said orangey. But it was too late to do anything, C had already jumped off the belt and onto the ground and rolled like he had never rolled before, and just before he was out the door he was grabbed from behind and yanked from the floor. Orangey saw C get captured and was terrified but at the same time relieved when he saw that the creature wasn’t going to eat him, he was just going to put him back on the belt, but this was not to be. Due to the sanitation of the floor C had become too contaminated for human consumption so C was to be disposed of. This came as a blow to orangey and he remained still and contemplated what had happened during the cleaning and bagging process.
Orangey left the factory with one goal, to keep C’s dream alive and free as many oranges as he could from the east coast and try and get them safely back home to California. Thanks to him numerous amounts of oranges made it safely back home to their families. He made the trek from coast to coast 6 times until his capture in early 2009. Orangey lived a fulfilling life and even though he was inevitably captured he was finally at peace and knew that others would carry on his legacy.
From orchard to savior, orangey will live in the rinds of others for generations to come. You will not be forgotten