The Orphaned Orphanage

The sun smiled on the young children playing in the garden. Their joyful faces would lift any mood the morning news had spread through the orphanage. Alyssa placed the last few bags at the foot of the old stair case and scurried the children along the hallway, reassuring them that they were safe. When they were really not. The government had not only stopped funding orphanages that host white or Indian children, but placed a new law that they could take any property they wished, for free. A young boy, only five years of age, stood before Alyssa and tugged on her skirt. His big dough eyes filled with tears and his lip stated to tremble.

"Where are we going Aly?" whimpered the boy.

Alyssa held the boy in her arms, cradling his sniffling body. She smiled down at him and wore a mask of strength, being careful not to show signs of defeat.

"To a farm Matthew," she gently replied, "where we will have lots of fun."

Matthew's crying face now sported a large grin. He ran off and started telling the others, glee filling the room. Alyssa's own lips started to tremble now, as it was a lie. There was no farm, there was no fun.

Car tires on the gravel pavement and surprised gasps and voice meant the wait was over, they were here. A booming knock and the front door rattled in her brain. Alyssa wiped the tears away and opened the large doors. In front of her stood two terrifying men, disguised in police uniforms.

"We're here to take the children to their new homes." Spoke the first man.

"I know why you are here." Spat Alyssa as she glared at the two men.

Screams brought her attention behind them, what she saw horrified her. The children were being dragged in the back of the cars, their voices quivering with every piercing scream. She sprinted past the men, but for what? There was nothing she could do; she knew this day was to come when the letters came. Alyssa didn't sleep for days when she read those dreadful words...rehabilitation...public child centre.

Alyssa knew all too well what those were like. Detection centres for children who were alone and defenceless. She started the orphanage to protect these young souls from that life but the higher power took that dream from her. The children, one by one, were hauled into the cars. There screams filling her head and their eyes staining her memory.

"Aly!" Cried a voice, "don't let them take me!"

Matthew jumped into Alyssa's arms and held tightly around her neck. A brute of a man stormed towards them and seized Matthew from her clutch. His warmth still imprinted in her mind, she froze.

The children were long gone, and the chaos silenced. Alyssa stood kneeling in the gravel, tears pooling around her. Their faces returned to her as she closed her eyes, their voices crying out to her. Trembling, she lifted herself past the door and into the house. Her mind caved in and a loud wail escaped her lips.

Gone. They were all gone.