Clouds River Valley

Chapter 6: Moonlight

At this moment, none of them was aware what was happening above the ground, they seemed like the world above didn't even ever exist, and the tunnel was the real dream, a dream that no one wanted to wake up from, they kept walking and expecting like they could be reborn in a new world once they reached out to the end, in this new world, they could have their loving parents, their own room stacked with all kinds of toys, countless plates of deserts, and the most important, the good night kisses from their beloved parents.

As usual, Emily cleaned up the dinning room after all the kids finished eating, and then she started to prepare for breakfast the next day when the kids were reading in the library before their bedtime. It was not until all the kids went upstairs and went to bed, she could go back to her own room on the first floor and call it a day.

Her room window faced to the back yard, if the weather was nice on that day, the sunshine from the sunset could cover her whole room, but she barely had time to see it since it was the busiest time of the whole day, that was around dinner time and all the kids had been looking forward to it the whole day. But she loved the nighttime, the crickets chirping made the world even quieter, moonlight shone through the light clouds and came to her room, she could see the forest beyond the backyard, she enjoyed lying on her bed and enjoying the moonlight shower while looking at the beautiful night view out of her window.

Sometime Emily was also surprised how long she had been in the orphanage, the first memory of her life was in this orphanage, she couldn't remember how old she was, or even what season it was, what she remembered was she sitting on her mom's lap and looking at the tower, blue sky and clouds, maybe she was having a candy, because she could almost still taste the sweetness every time when she thought of that moment, there was also a red bird not too far from them was singing at them. That was Emily's first memory, it had been so many years but never got old.

That night, Emily went back to her room after all her job is done, she did not notice anything unusual until she heard a door opening before she fell asleep, that door had a unique opening sound, and she could easily tell that it was the door on the 2nd floor to the tower. She seemed remember something and sat up, "Did I forget about the meeting?" She thought.

"No way, it's not Saturday today", she looked at the calendar on the night table.

What she did not know was Leo already found out her date with Richard in the middle of night, at least she didn't know how much Leo knew. But she was sure that nobody could open that door except Richard and herself.

Richard's wife had passed away many years ago, to be specific, it was the year before Richard joined the orphanage. Richard was only in his early thirties and just got married with his wife a couple of years ago, they came from the same place, a small town about one hundred miles west of Clouds River, they also went to the same college not too far from the town, they met and feel in love with each other at that school. Richard worked as a high school teacher before they were married, his wife decided she would like to stay at home and focus on her writing career which Richard fully supported. Though the whole family was relying on Richard's salary, they didn't have much struggle financially, the first year of marriage was simple but full of happiness.

However, none of them would have expected that there was not much happy time left for their family. A year later, Richard's wife was pregnant, at the moment when his wife shared the exciting news with them, Richard would never think the next ten months would be the happiest time of his life. Even though it had been so many years, he still could remember the night when his wife was holding his hands tightly, it was like she knew at that moment that she didn't have much time left, she never let go Richard's hand till she and the baby both left the world at almost the same time.