Coma [YiZhan FanFiction] ✔️

Chapter 3. The orphanage

Chapter 3. The orphanage

Emotionlessly, Zhan accepted that he had been taken to an orphanage. He had a small suitcase with some clothes and his two teddy bears with him. But he was only allowed to keep one of them. Because the rules at the orphanage said that none of the children could have more than one toy.

So he separated with a heavy heart from the teddy bear in the police uniform. Of course he didn't say anything about it. He just did as he was told. "Choose one of the two teddy bears and put the other one in a box." He was told and he acted.

There were many rules at the orphanage, many of which Zhan didn't even understand. He had to share his room with five other boys, all different ages. The eldest took on the role of the big brother and looked after the younger ones.

Zhan was neither the youngest nor the oldest in his room. He was somewhere in between. Since there were only three beds and six boys with him, he had to share his bed with another boy. His name was Jay and he was four years old. Jay, like many in this orphanage, could not speak properly.

There were probably too many children there, so the staff could not take care of them all. Most of the time they could only see the staff when they were all in the big dining room and eating their meagre meals in silence. Generally there was little talk there.

Every afternoon the children were allowed to play in the yard. But they had no toys. So they took whatever they could find. Sticks, leaves and even stones. And it was completely different from kindergarten. Here the children didn't scream and run around, they sat together in small groups and talked quietly or played in silence.

Only a few older children or even more teenagers had been more agile and noisy. But as soon as the staff yelled at them, they too were quiet. Somehow, Zhan seemed like everyone was like him. Introverted and calm.

Like in kindergarten, Zhan was mostly alone, only Jay had stepped aside more often and tried to talk to Zhan. But because of his language difficulties, Zhan had considerable problems understanding him. So most of the time he pretended to listen to him while either staring at the sky or looking holes in the air.

Day after day, week after week and month after month, every day was the same. Get up, wash, breakfast, class, noon, class, playtime, dinner, wash, bed. They had celebrated neither holidays nor birthdays.

Sometimes when Zhan was in his little room, looking at the empty dirty grey walls, he wondered if he was in some kind of prison for children. The windows had bars on them. The front door was always locked. They were locked in their rooms for the night. The yard was empty and barren except for two trees that stood there. A high wall surrounded the property and barbed wire had been placed on top of this wall.

Not that Zhan had ever heard or seen that any of the other children had tried to escape.

In this orphanage, they were prisoners who were not allowed to leave the house or property. They vegetated and the staff watched. The three meals a day were just enough to satisfy their hunger. There was no healthy food. But nobody complained. Maybe because nobody had the strength to do so.

Or maybe because they were threatened to let them stew in some hole in the basement if they didn't follow the rules.

Couples would come and look around once a month. And sometimes one of the children was adopted. Which didn't mean that this necessarily happened legally. Once Zhan saw a couple walk in the door. They were carrying a black briefcase. And when they left the orphanage with a baby in their arms, the briefcase was gone.

This happened several times during the months that Zhan was there. Mostly children under the age of three were selected. And only those who looked healthy. Zhan called these happy children, the suitcase children. They exchanged a suitcase for a child. A suitcase child.

Zhan had been in the orphanage for ten and a half months when there was a big party. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the orphanage, the director had decided that a celebration was in order.

In this case, it meant many couples came to visit. A few garlands were put up on the yard, a long table was set up with many tables and on it were drinks and pastries. From a loudspeaker, children's songs boomed.

Zhan sat down on the stony floor under one of the two trees and ate a piece of cake. Jay sat next to him and muttered something Zhan didn't understand while he stuffed his cake into himself.

A boy whom Zhan didn't know came running towards him and smiled at him. He talked to Zhan in a language he didn't know. When the boy realized Zhan didn't understand a word he was saying, he pointed at himself and said, "Park Seo Joon." And showed an eight with his fingers.

Eight-year-old Park Seo Joon waved to one of the couples that came running. He pointed at Zhan and talked about something that Zhan would have liked to know what it was. The mother of Park Seo Joon pulled Zhan up on his legs and turned him around in circles. Zhan wondered what this was all about until he saw the suitcase in the hand of Park Seo Joon's father.

Am I also a suitcase child? Zhan wondered.

The boy's mother smiled and nodded. Then she said, "My son chose you. We are going to take you home with us." Zhan looked at her with a distraught look.

Seo Joon took Zhan by the hand and pulled him behind him. They followed Seo Joon's parents who went to the orphanage's director.

The old grim woman went with them to her office and the suitcase changed its owner. They talked, wrote something down, signed some forms and Zhan watched all this as if he was in a trance.

"How lucky you are, Xiao Zhan. These good people want to adopt you and they will take you to South Korea. Where you' II live with them and your new big brother." She explained to him with a broad grin.

A few minutes later one of the staff came and gave Zhan his suitcase with his clothes, his old teddy bear and the one he had received as a gift from the two police officers almost a year ago.

Shortly afterwards his new brother took him by the hand and led him outside. Out of the orphanage, into a car. They drove to the airport, went through checks, and finally sat in first class on the plane, they were on their way to his new home, his new life in Seoul.