Times are Tough

Chapter Three

I woke up to the sound of my phone going off. I checked it to see that there was a message from Thomas, whose number I had gotten at the party. 

Hey, wanna hang out today? Xx

I smiled and texted him back: 

I'm at the children's hospice this morning. Text you later? X

He replied with: :) X

I took a shower, taking the time to wash my hair and braid it, and chose to wear a flowery sundress with my brown boots and a long, white cardigan. 

Nobody else seemed to be in the house even though it was only 10am, so I wrote them all a note explaining where I was going and headed out the door.

***

When I arrived at the hospice I started to feel strangely nervous.

 As I got there I saw two adults with a young girl walking in. I smiled at them and decided to introduce myself.

"Hi! I'm Sage and I'm going to be volunteering here for a while so I thought I'd introduce myself."

The mother, I presumed, gave me a genuine smile. "That's lovely! Thank you so much! I can't wait for you to spend time with our little Kennedy here," she said as she gestured towards the small girl hiding behind her leg.

I bent down so that we were at eye level and I held out my hand which Kennedy shook. 

"Nice to meet you Kennedy, you have a very beautiful name."

She giggled as her mum and dad started to bring her inside. I followed. 

I waved to the receptionist who I was starting to become acquainted with. I realised that I didn't even know her name yet. 

"I forgot to ask the other day, what's your name?"

She laughed, "Oh, silly me. Sorry for not introducing myself. I'm Lisa! I've worked here for 10 years now. You'll love it, everyone does."

She led me in the same direction that Kennedy and her parents had disappeared off to just minutes before. 

We entered a bright, vibrant room filled with toys and beanbags and a large television. There were probably about 10 children here as well as their parents. 

Lisa turned to me, "We operate on a day to day system as well as an overnight system. Some children come here as if it was a sort of day care. It's to give their parents a break from being on constant lookout for something happening. They're collected at the end of the day by their parents. We also house about five children at the one time. There are joining rooms for any family members who want to stay also and there is 24/7 help available."

She whispered the next part to me, "That's usually for the kids who don't have long left."

I nodded understandingly, before she moved over to the group of kids playing.

"We also have a teen club. That's mostly for the kids who grew up but still want to see the friends they made here, while knowing that we can still provide their medication for them at the correct times. We started that only a year or two ago but it's been a hit so far. They mostly stay upstairs and watch movies or chat to each other. Another girl who volunteers here is the one who is mainly involved in that."

She clapped her hands and they all turned around to face her. 

"Right kids! Say bye to mommy and daddy!" She called, as they all ran and hugged their parents.

I smiled, knowing that I was going to get a lot out of this. 

Once all the parents had left and the children were sitting still, the door banged open as a clumsy, blonde entered the room.