Three friends meet up once again, only to be caught in the middle of a fire and a murder. Was it them, their love interests, or someone with a more devious plan than they expected.
This was a school project, a combined effort of three minds...and on...
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"Finally!" I sigh in relief as I step off the train onto the platform. Looking around, I see a tall, elderly man waving at me with a sign stating Mika Marx. As I approach him, I take in the details of his appearance. He has a head full of silver hair that was slightly messy. Dark green eyes with surrounding laugh lines look at me along with a cheerful smile.
"Hi, Mika. My name is Joseph Graves. You can call me Joe. I am going to be taking you to live with us at the orphanage. Is that alright?" I stare at him before nodding my head in reply. "Alrighty then, let's go." He leads me to an old van and helps me put my stuff in the back. I start to get into the back seat but he puts out his hand to stop me. "You can ride up front with me."
"Isn't that illegal?" I asked.
"What is?"
"Me riding in the front seat."
"No, it is not illegal. You are tall enough to sit in the front. Plus, there is not an airbag that can hurt you. Just make sure to wear your seatbelt." Joe said.
I climbed up into the van and buckled my seat belt. Joe began telling me about the orphanage as we drove down an old forest like road.
"There are about one hundred children in Jedburgh orphanage. The rooms are large, so you will eventually have to share with two girls. As of right now, there is only one girl in your room. Her name is Serafina. She is a little shy, but she loves to read books and wants to go to England when she gets older."
I sat there in silence while he continued to chat about how I was going to feel right at home. We drove for a couple more miles, and then we turned off of the main road onto an old wooden bridge that overlooked a small creek. We turned up the driveway and drove towards a large brick building with a stone archway in front of it. As we went through the archway, I took in the details of the place. There was a decent sized play area with a swing set to the left, and to the right was an area to park cars. Joe turns into the parking area and shuts off the van. I opened the door of the van. All of a sudden forty children swarm the parking area.
"Mr. Joe!"
"Who is that?"
"Is she staying in my room?"
I just stood there with all of those eager eyes staring at me. They waited for some kind of response. As I was about to open my mouth to reply, I was cut off by a voice in the back of the crowd.
"This is Mika. She is new here and she will be staying in room seventeen on the second floor." voiced an older lady from the back of the crowd. As she approached I could see that she was of medium height, and she had shoulder length hair. Her hair was iron gray and curled to frame her face. She peered at me with her hazel eyes before giving me a gentle smile. "My name is Angie Graves. You can call me Mrs. Graves. Mika I hope you will enjoy staying here. I am sure that Mr. Graves told you about your roommate. She is currently upstairs waiting for you. Would you like to come up and meet her?"
I nodded my head and followed her through the yard up to the large metal door. She opened the door, and, as we entered, I noticed the walls were not white like the ones at my previous orphanage. There were a lot of differences between Berxley Orphanage and Jedburgh. There were no iron fences or creepy statues of the founder of the orphanage. This place reminds me of a school more than an orphanage. I thought to myself. We entered the front hallway and walked up the large staircase to the first floor.
"Mr. Graves probably told you a lot about the orphanage, but knowing him like I do you may need a refresher. This floor is for the newborns through the five year-olds. The second floor is for the six through ten year-olds. The 3rd floor is for the eleven through fifteen year-olds. Then the fourth floor is for the sixteen through twenty year-olds, but we usually don't have too many of them. They usually leave before they turn seventeen." Mrs. Graves informed her.
We proceeded towards the second floor. All along the walls were pictures of the children who had lived there prior. Most of them were with their new families and looked genuinely happy, unlike the other kids at Berxley. There was one photo that stood out against the rest. It was an old black and white photograph of a little boy, standing in the archway of the orphanage. He had suitcases on the ground beside him. He looked somber and resigned to the fact that he was going to live here. Underneath the photograph, there was a plaque inscribed Joseph Samuel Graves.
"What are you doing? Mika?"
We proceed up to room seventeen, and Mrs. Graves opened the door. Inside there were two windows overlooking the play area and a small flower garden. The walls were a cream color, and two of the walls were covered in drawings. The drawings varied from England's Big Ben to Alice and the Cheshire cat having tea. Along the walls there were two sets of bunk beds. One of the bunk beds had its head facing the North, and the other had its' head facing the East. In between the two windows there was a small table. It was piled with notebooks, novels, drawing utensils, and papers. Beside the desk was a trash can filled with crumpled up drawings. There was a large bookshelf in the left corner of the room filled with old books. They ranged from classic fairy tales to silly coloring books.
Suddenly there was a creak and a groan from the top of one of the bunk beds. A blond mop of hair appeared over the edge of the bed, and annoyed lilac eyes glared at me as I entered the room.
"Serafina this is your new roommate, Mika Marx. Mika, this is Serafina Forest. You girls can decorate the room any way you want. I'll leave you two to get acquainted." Mrs. Graves said as she left the room.
Serafina stared at me for a few moments before speaking. "W-why are you here?" Her voice was soft and it cracked when she initially spoke. It sounded more like she was asking 'what happened to you that brought you here' than 'why were you born,' so I didn't take offense to it.
"Because the previous orphanage I was at was full, they had to ship some of us off. I was the lucky one to get shipped off." I replied half seriously and half sarcastically.
She nods. Then she turned over and continued to read what looked like a book on drawing. I went over to the empty dresser by the bed and began to unpack my things. Afterward, Serafina went down to dinner, but I stayed behind and crawled into bed to go to sleep. As I dozed off I wondered what was in store for the next chapter of my life.
