Anderson walked out of his room into the creaking corridors of the second floor. The orphanage was a two-story building, and all the bedrooms were on the second floor. It was a very old orphanage, and everything was either very old and barely working or just broken down and collecting dust. Walking down the stairs, Anderson heard and felt it creak, causing him to slow his walk down. Although he knew, or more specifically, remembered that was how the stairs had always been, Anderson felt the memories that he had of his decade and something years he had been in the orphanage felt more like autopiloted than him actually experiencing it himself. It was like a murky layer had been removed from his eyes, allowing him to see things clearer.
“Count Dracula finally rises. Muhahah!” Reaching the ground floor, Anderson was greeted by a familiar exaggerated voice. Anderson turned to a pretty dark-skinned teen feeding an eight-year-old girl seated on her lap. Kira: That was he
The top floor had all the bathrooms and bedrooms. Facing the stairs along the long hallway were five bedrooms. From the looks of it, it seemed the orphanage in the past used to hold a lot of children and matrons. Now that there were not that many, Anderson and Carson were given the opportunity to have their own room since they were both old enough to have their privacy. Unfortunately, only one person would get that opportunity since the other would have to stay with the boys to help take care of them.Anderson occupied the last room on the right which was said to be the room of an old matron after winning it in a very long game of rock-paper-scissors. The room next to his was occupied by the twins and Carson. It was much larger compared to Anderson’s room. It had four different bunk beds. One occupied by the twins and another by Carson. You would think the twins would each occupy a bunk bed, but the refused to be separated from each other even if it meant sleeping on di
“I heard the orphanage was getting a new member soon.” The old man suddenly changed the subject while he was giving Anderson his payment. The abrupt change startled Anderson a little. It was only this morning they had heard about the new addition to their orphanage.“Wait, how did you?” Anderson could not help himself but ask.“This is a very small town. Everyone hears everything. Haha” Old Cabbage laughed at the confused expression on Anderson’s face. He had really begun to love the little different expressions on people’s faces recently. Even he had no idea when he picked that up. “Well, not that it matters. It’s only unfortunate that this time, it’s you three who are going to be leaving soon.” There was a little bit of sentiment in his voice.Anderson became even more confused hearing the words of the old man. And what did he mean by three of them? Was he talking about Carson and Kira as
“So, what’s on your mind, kiddo?” While Anderson and Miss. Agnes stood in front of the kitchen sink doing the dishes, Miss. Agnes finally asked. She had realized Anderson looked like he had quite a bit on his mind but did not want to say with everyone present. That was why she agreed to let Anderson help her even after she insisted on driving everyone to bed.Anderson took a deep breath to compose himself and questioned. “What happened to all the children?” Anderson saw Miss. Agnes freeze slightly. She picked up the knife in the sink and slowly began to wash it with a distracted look. “How did they leave? I heard no one had ever come to adopt anyone. It’s fine. You can tell me.” Anderson held her hand, comforting her which caused her to slightly relax.The knife was the last of the dirty utensil. She picked up a napkin and wiped her hand. “Sit with me.” Miss. Agnes motioned to the dining chairs and sat with An
Anderson slowly opened his eyes and stared at the old ceiling above him. He frowned slightly and was immediately put in a bad mood. He knew morning would come, but he felt it had come a little to quick. Anderson felt the night had passed too quickly. Anderson was almost about to blame the morning for forcing him to face what he would have to face today.Regardless of what he felt, morning had come, and he would have to face it regardless of his desires or lack of it. Slowly waking up from his bed, he showered and made himself ready for the day. Anderson grudgingly made his way downstairs where everyone except Miss. Agnes was waiting to have breakfast. It looked like they were having leftover stew from the previous night for breakfast.“Woah. Someone is in a bad mood.” Carson spoke up the moment he saw Anderson, drawing everyone’s attention towards him. Anderson had not realized it, but a small frown had made its way onto his face. His entire person wa
Mary stood in place not moving an inch. She slowly raised her teddy bear towards her face trying to hide behind it. No one knew particularly the reason but assumed she was still shy or maybe still a little scared. “Okay, everyone.” Miss. Agnes walked over and stood behind the young lady. Anderson walked back and joined the group by the stairs who were still giving him worried looks. Their attention was finally drawn to Miss. Agnes who was now urging Mary slowly over.“As you have already heard. This is Mary.” Miss. Agnes made a general introduction of everyone, calling everyone by their names. “Welcome to the family.” With a bright smile on her face, standing in front of everyone, she welcomed the new addition, Mary.“Family?” Mary asked in a confused fashion. For all she knew, where she in was an orphanage, yet the lady called it a family. Everyone smiled warmly at her. Kira walked over and picked her up, walking her to
Anderson sat there wondering if it was fate that she had been sent to him the first time, seeing how she had been sent to him again, or if it was because it was just some sick and twisted game being the reason she had been sent to him. Was this Mary supposed to be sent to another orphanage but had been sent to him to play with his mind, to torture him?Anderson held his clenched fist under the table, hiding it from his two friends who had been staring at him quietly for a while. He subtly breathed out and looked at them. “What?” He asked. Their piercing gazes were a little uncomfortable for him.“What do you mean what?” Kira whose glare felt looked like it might pierce through his face, snapped. “What happened to you? And don’t you dare say nothing.” Her face looking like she was not ready to listen to anything other than a proper explanation.“Bro, what is happening? First it was yesterday. I had to shake you for
The night was long for Anderson. That night he saw nothing. Darkness and absolute darkness. There was no dream that came to him, yet for some reason, Anderson felt conscious of it all. He had no idea if it was because he had questioned it earlier, and had thought of testing it out or not, but this time his sleep felt different. Surprisingly, he did not feel any kind of fear from the darkness he was in. If anything, it felt more like an embrace. A warm embrace.Although comfortable, Anderson had the feeling that if he allowed himself to fall completely into that blissful feeling, he would not be able to ever wake up. Understanding this, Anderson allowed himself to “passively” enjoy the feeling while trying while to wake himself up. Not to his body back at the orphanage, but to the dark room with Leash. Anderson already knew his original body was not what was with him, but his soul instead. If so, didn’t that mean that every time he went to bed, the darkness h
It was a good thing the local school helped Kira with the curriculum, helping her stay up to date. Kira herself never slacked off in the least. She made sure to study as much as she could. The town’s school helped her with a few of the classes and the books after school. It was the least they could do since they could not take in all the kids on scholarship.“Where’s Carson? Ah, speak of the devil.” Just when Anderson asked, Carson showed his face. His not so good looking face. He looked like a mess.“Uh. Remind me not to drink again.” He groaned while holding his head. Anderson and Kira laughed. He says that, but if he got another chance he would hurriedly jump at the opportunity to drink without hesitation.After chatting a little while, Kira left to prepare breakfast for the kids. “So anything I need to know?” Carson finally asked.“The old man has a rodent problem. You’ll probably have to tak