Miracles

New Life

''So what are we gonna do with the baby?'', asked the nurse.
''Well we send it over to the orphanage when it comes of age. Poor little guy. Must have had awful parents.'', replied the doctor.

So as the abandoned baby grew, he was sent to the orphanage. He grew up branded as Aike and marked with bruises.
The kids were horrible to Aike. Each day they played pranks on him, stirring up trouble and making sure he was on the line for it.
The orphanage was
crowded and dirty most of the time. Rooms were a mess as wild kids tore through them. The nuns tried to reason them but was no use. Aike was of an anomaly to them.
He tried his best on his schoolwork unlike the other kids. He was the nuns' favorite. Mrs. Berley adored him the most and treated him as if he were his own son.
The kids mocked and bullied him for being a goody two shoes.
Aike managed to ignored them all. He clung onto the belief that somewhere out there, his parents were still alive. He believed someday, his parents would come and whisk him away. He smiled at the fact that then all this misery will be left behind for good.
As each day dragged by, Aike grew weary of never leaving the orphanage. He thought of becoming like one of the mean kids. Their carefreeness about everything was just cool, he thought.
So each day he tried to be like them. He followed them like a desperate puppy. He made rude remarks at anything to try and impress them. They acted as if he was invisible.
Because of this, his grades began to slip. Once they sunk so low, Mrs. Berley didn't know what to do with Aike anymore. However much she whacked him with a stick or rapped his knuckles with a ruler, he held onto the pain, trying not to let it out.
His upper teeth would bite onto his lower lip to try to stop from screaming in agony. The pain was excruciating but he beared it all.
Mrs. Berley finally stopped and rested her palm on his head.
''Aike, I don't know what to do to you anymore. You're not yourself. What would your parents say?'', he said.
''I don't care. I like being the bad kid. It's cool. And my parents are probably dead by now so they won't care.'', Aike replied cooly.
"They don't care. They never did. They would be here if they did and I wouldn't be stuck in this hellhole!", he lashed out.
Mrs. Berley flinched, unprepared by the sudden burst of emotion.
''Oh Aike. They cared. They cared enough to place you somewhere with a roof over your head and food on the table. They weren't able to do that. They wanted what was best for you'', Mrs. Berley placed her palms onto Aike's shoulders.
Tears glistened as they fell mercilessly out of Aike's eyes. He sniffed.
''There there. Everything will be okay. Tell you what. If you stop acting like those kids I'll personally buy you a big bag of candy. Those kids will be so jealous of you!'', suggested Mrs. Berley.
Aike abruptly stopped crying. His tear stained face broke into a big grin.
''Really Mrs. Berley? Candy would be great! It's so rare to get sweets to eat. Oh, I promise I would be good again!'', Aike said.
And with that, Jack skipped out, beaming. Mrs. Berley chuckled.
''Kids. Give them a bag of candy and they'll do anything.''

'Poor thing.', she thought. She knew his parents. Not only did she know them but she was Janice's sister. She hated having to lie to her nephew about his father's true nature.
'He's a monster. Left his own flesh and blood even though he didn't have to. They had enough money to support him. Oh my poor Janice.'
Now my nephew is here on the edge of a cliff, ready to jump at any moment.'
She hated the fact that Janice had sworn her to secrecy about revealing her relationship to Aike. "Please Berley, it's for the best." Janice had begged her sister a long time ago.

Mrs. Berley peered through the glass window to see the 8 year old bragging to his friends about recieving a bag of candy. Her heart broke in half.