Belle Stone

Part 9

The guy has been in deep thought for the whole night. He tossed and turned. The wrinkled sheets underneath him dug into his flesh. That made him even more uncomfortable than he already was.  He couldn't even sleep due to the circumstances. Why did he say that? What made him promise such a thing? How will he pull it off? Will he really be able to do it? He has to. He promised.

The whole night passed by with him tossing and turning in his bed. Millions of ideas racing in his head. Most of them being executing the promise without anyone knowing but he couldn't do that. He would lose his job. For some reason, the staff here is so strict when it comes to Belle. There is no way he could pull it off without being caught.
The only thing left was to talk to the staff again. Try and make them see what he sees.

The sun came out and he was getting ready to go. In his head was still chaos. How will it go? What will they say? Will they understand? ls is he going to be yelled at? Will he disappoint Belle? Those and many more questions were going through his brain.

Minutes away from the orphanage he took a deep breath, as his chest rose up he closed his eyes for a bit clearing his thoughts. He calmed down a little.
"You can do it."
He whispered to himself, trying to gain the confidence he desperately needed. Walking in the building he smiled, as usual, trying to make it look as natural as possible. He greeted everyone there and then went on to the supervisor to ask for a quick meeting.

His hands trembled as he took them out of his pockets to grab the metal handle. They left a lot of sweat on the carefully curved edges.
His heart skipped a beat the second he saw the director sitting there. Even his warm smile was intimidating. He managed to regain some strength before he spoke. Sounding scared wouldn't really help his case.
"Good morning, sir."
"What brings you here, my child?
This wasn't a good start. He was diminishing the guy's position due to his age. How will he be taken seriously? Nonetheless, he has to try. Those words drove his determination and he was keen on sounding more confident.
"I have an idea. It regards all of the people here. So, I was wondering if you could call up a quick meeting."
"How quick? We have children to take care of."
The man in the chair bore his eyes into the young worker in front of him. Emanating his power onto the guy.
"Just a few minutes. I lay out my idea and you vote."
"Okay. You have a deal."
He was impressed by the guy's ability to hold his composure. He was able to keep his cool and he even sounded demanding.

While everyone was coming in, his palms started to get a bit sweaty but Belle's sweet smile from yesterday kept him from giving up. He stood there in front of all of them. All of the heads turned to look at him. His stomach did a somersault but he kept his composure. He had to do it for Belle.
"Listen, I know you are all a little bit confused and startled by the sudden gathering but I have an important thing to say. You know what you think about Belle and you know what I do." They kept silent. He didn't expect them to but they did. It gave him some reassurance so he spoke with ease.
"Now before we start getting into any further discussion I would like to say that even if she was like you say she is, she is different now. She is the cutest being ever and the sweetest too. So innocent that she probably wouldn't even hurt a fly."
Some of the head started turning away from him. Their stubborn mindset not being able to change but he continued in the same way. He still had hope that he will succeed.
"Before she was probably scared and new to all of this so she, you know...did the thing."
He saw some shivers down the line. Blank expression not being able to hide the fear.
"Anyway, now she is just a little girl and that little girl is in need of company. Don't deprive her of the rights she has and let her play with others. She is just a little kid. I assure you, she is."
Pleading, desperate and soft. His voice touched the strings of your heart even if it was as cold as ice.