The Full Moon Ritual

Chapter 19. Henry

"Let us sacrifice our today so that our children can have a better tomorrow."
-A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

Chapter 19. Henry

"Well, good evening ladies and gentlemen!" A blonde man walked up to the stage, holding a microphone which Hazel concluded was blue tooth. His hair was sleeked back and his face looked fresh, even though there were a million rays of light glaring at him. He was wearing a black colored suit and his voice boomed around the hall.

"We are pleased to welcome you to our 27th anniversary of the "Shining Stars" organization, which has provided free education to over 10,000 kids from across the country!" Everyone applauded at the kind work that they did and a few whistles erupted from the crowd too.

"We can very proudly say that today we have had the honor of calling over 27 of these precious little stars who will be joining us on stage in a minute. Some of these children were found helplessly begging on the streets of America...'' Hazel's thoughts drifted off to a small boy who was watching the whole ceremony from one of the windows of the hall. His clothes were ragged and his hair were messy and covered with dust and mud. By the small beam of light that illuminated his face, Hazel noticed that sweat trailed down his face which she then realized were tears and not sweat.

Feeling pity rise in her heart, she made a decision that that boy would also be a part of this ceremony and would see himself standing on that stage today.

''I'm gonna go get a drink of water. Do you want something, sir?'' Hazel whispered over to Michael who shook his head, indicating no.

Hazel passed the guards and rushed outside towards the place where the boy stood. She tiptoed so that she were standing a few feet away from him. She could hear his whimpers and sniffs as he wiped his tears away using his sleeve.

Poor boy...

''Hello,'' Hazel said gently and smiled at the boy when his eyes turned towards her. He looked scared and hurt.

''What's your name?'' She asked, taking small steps towards the boy.

''Henry,'' the boy whispered, his voice quivering.

''How old are you, Henry?'' Hazel asked.

''Nine.''

''Why are you standing outside over here, Henry? Aren't your parents waiting for you?''

At the word 'parents', he shook a little before sobbing. Hazel, unable to see the boy crying, bent down and hugged him who hugged her back.

''You can tell me what happened, Henry.''

''They died. I have no home. I-I live at the orphanage. But t-they treat us so badly. They d-don't even l-let us go to school. Everyday, they beat us with sticks and I don't wanna go there anymore!'' He exclaimed, sobbing violently now.

Oh...

''Why were you standing here then?" Hazel asked the crying boy.

"I was making my way to the orphanage and I saw this function and I prayed to God that maybe just maybe one day even I would get to get education."

Hazel thought about it. No doubt, she could not just leave this kid there. He had plans and dreams and ambitions for himself and if there were any way through which she could help him reach those dreams then she would.

"Tell you what, you'll get to stand on that stage today."

"Really?" The boy's eyes lit up with a spark and all the sadness from his face faded away.

"Really really. I just need to talk to someone first," She smiled, walking back inside.

"Are you sure you drunk only one glass of water?" Michael asked her as she sat on her seat.

"No." She replied.

"Well then how many?"

"None."

Michael raised his eyebrow before shaking his head and chuckling.

"In fact, I wanted to talk to you about something. Out of this place, obviously," She added.

"Right now?" Michael asked to which Hazel nodded. Michael nodded back to her and stood up before walking to the main lounge as Hazel followed.

"I do assume that you made me miss that speech for something extremely important," Michael said. But deep down he knew that he wanted to miss that speech since he's been listening to it every time they celebrtate their anniversary. They only change the figures, not even the words.

"Well, the thing is that umm there's a boy..."

"Ms. Grayson, you called me here to tell me about a crush of yours? I do not have any dating experience nor can I be your old and wrinkly Fairy Godmother like the one from Cinderella," Michael cut her off.

He does not have any dating experience? Hazel's wolf scoffed internally.

Scratch that, he's seen Cinderella? Hazel asked back making both of them chuckle.

"Did I say something amusing, Ms. Grayson?"

"No, it's not you, sir." She shook her head.

"What's his name?" Michael asked in his demanding and authoritative tone. He would never admit it to anyone but he felt a tinge of jealousy.

"There's no one I have a crush on, sir."

Except you...

"But during the speech, I found a boy who was looking at the ceremony through one of the windows. I asked him his initials and found out that he comes from an orphanage but he's beaten and he said that he wanted to get access to education. I told him that I would help him and that is why I came to you. You yourself said that you've funded a lot of money to these people so I wanted to ask you to help him."

"There's millions of kids like him, Ms. Grayson." He said thoughtfully.

"I know but he looked so hurt and vulnerable and I felt like that I should help him and he's also an orphan so I want to be able to give him a push start towards his dreams."

"It doesn't work that way, Ms. Grayson. We have to get to know the kid's full name, his information, get him licensed and then he can be able to get on stage like one of those kids."

Hazel sighed, feeling a lump form in her throat. She shouldn't have given that boy fake hope. Telling him the truth would hurt him more.

Michael saw the look on Hazel's face and felt stupid for saying that. His wolf ached seeing her like this and he wanted to take away the pain away from her.

"You know," He started. "The organization wanted to help one more kid right at the day of their ceremony, maybe he could be that lucky kid."

Hazel beamed at him. Without thinking, she rushed to him and hugged him tightly. "Thank you so much!"

*****************

After a lot of talking and discussions with the director of the organization, Hazel watched as Henry was given a quick shower and stripped off of his clothes which were replaced with a nice suit. She clapped louder than anyone else when she saw him on stage as his eyes flowed tears of joy. Out of thousands of people in the room, his eyes captured hers and Hazel could see how they shined and she was sure that he would do wonders in the future. 

After the ceremony ended, the hall was cleared and transformed into a dance floor with people dancing on it. Hazel was leaning on one of the tables stacked up at the corner with a champagne flute in her hand and her eyes on the people who were dancing. Hazel laughed at a man who was doing silly things while the woman beside him was blushing and playfully punching him while mouthing 'stop'. She roamed her eyes around the hall to see that Michael was talking to a bunch of business men but his eyes were fixated on her.

She blushed and looked down, feeling his gaze on her. She turned around to put the flute down on the table she was leaning on. Turning around, she came face to face with a man she had never expected to be here before and gasped as her eyes widened.

Sorry for the lame chapter but it was just a filler one showing how pure Hazel's heart is and that Michael ALSO has a soft side. Thoughts on this chapter? Let me know in the comments below!

Question:

Must every werewolf book have a rogue war? :/