Leah

2 - Life at the orphanage, #COULDN'T BE MORE PERFECT

I was sent to an orphanage the next day. It's hard for me to just digest the fact that my only relatives decided that I did not deserve to be loved and taken care of, sending me to an orphanage! It was on the 13th of September. I was wearing a dark green raincoat and some warm tees and jeans on that rainy morning. My hair was neatly braided. 

There I stood in front of the orphanage door, along with Clara. The door opened, "Ah, you must be Miss Hamilton. Come in child.", a plump woman said leading the two of us inside. She was not that old but was short. She had dark brown hair that complimented her face. She was dressed in a lavender gown and wore fancy pink slippers. She did seem confident when she led me inside. 

"Your full name.", she said in a very stern voice to me.

"Lisa Elizabeth Alexandra Hamilton", I said in a sad tone. 

"Maria!", the woman yelled, calling an older girl. "Take this girl to the barn. Brief her about the rules and pick some eggs for breakfast.", she ordered the girl who stood behind me.

Did everyone yell at each other here in the orphanage? I expected this to be a nice, peaceful place where you could have delicious meals along with your friends, have a walk around the flowery gardens and just enjoy life.

"And child, you might want to say goodbye to your relative as for this might be the last time you shall meet her.", the woman told me, miserably failing at being sweet.

"Farewell Clara.", I said trying to be optimistic. "Thank you and Aunt Katherine for everything. And, if mom and dad return. Please tell them where I am.", I said almost crying. 

Clara said nothing. She just nodded, raising her eyebrow. 

"Don't worry! All of us here are like you, orphans.", the girl said as we walked down the silent, empty passage. "My name is Maria Johns, you could call me Maria.", she said. I said nothing. "That was Mrs Peter. She hasn't been keeping too well. She is often short-tempered, so you better not disappoint her or question her."

"Who is she?", I asked her in a cold muffled voice.

"She is the housekeeper. You could consider her to be the head, like somebody who runs the place", Maria answered

We went to the barn where we picked some eggs. 

"Well, the rules are pretty simple", Maria explained some rules like I was in a long university lecture, already. Hmmph, why does everybody have to be this boring? Look, I understand that my life suddenly feels like misery. But common people! Let's start living outside the gloomy ice cave where even a slight move outside the 'required' will lead to ice-breaking which will lead to the entire cave collapsing on your head! I was not listening. She went on and on. But suddenly...

"Maria, hold on a sec. Did you say 'Earn money'?", I questioned her. "Well, where am I supposed to get it from? "  

"Yo, girl. Do you expect me to steal banks?"

"Go EARN it! Well, how do you think we run this home? Money does not fall from the sky when Mrs Peters yells at God for not helping her run the orphanage... Turn around, why do you not see the other 200 children who are supposed to be here?", Maria yelled at me expecting an answer that was not popping in my head.

"Cause they are non-existent?", I said jokingly. 

"No, you dummy! You are out in the world, earning money.", Maria replied

When we went back inside, Mrs Peter asked me to sign on a blank in a record. 

"Umm, Mrs Peter, what is a REF NAME? Because my REF NAME has been entered as Leah, which is certainly not my name.", I said not knowing what exactly I wanted to achieve by acting smart.

"What do you want, Child.", she said, tired.

"REF N---", I answered back innocently. Maria was watching from behind. She hit her head disappointed, she had asked me not to question her a minute ago.

"Reference name. If there are 12 Lisas' like how it is now, calling Lisa would lead to all of you crowding around me. REF NAME is more like a nickname.", she said without any emotions. 

"Daddy used to call me Sparkle, could that be my REF?", I asked trying to be nice. 

"Oh honey, I don't care what your daddy called you! A REF is used to call you without love, unlike nicknames cause technically, nobody cares about you. Take the first letter of your names. And that is how I got Leah. No ifs, or buts. Get out of here.", she yelled at me.

LISA ELIZABETH ALEXANDRA HAMILTON, Leah. 

10 minutes later, the other 200 orphan girls and boys came ages ranging from 4 to 16. They all gave the collected money to Maria, who would give it to Mrs Peter. My first meal at the orphanage was served, 1 tiny omelette, 2 slices of bread. and sour milk. All the 200 odd children sat on the grass in the open field behind the dormitory,  held hands and recited a prayer, and ate breakfast. The omelette was bland, the bread - don't ask. It was so hard! The milk - I DIED!  What was I having? If mother ever ate this food she would certainly give an hour-long lecture about quality, hygiene and nutrition of the food being served for children. 

It was at 2 pm Mrs Peter called me. "Leah, get dressed. I have figured work for you. You will be scrubbing the floor at Mr Dittle's home. Maria will take you there. Don't lose the money!"

And I was like, Oh great. Work already. I am so excited! (me being sarcastic).  This was bad, I mean bad as TERRIBLE. First, they served bad food in small quantities and then they make me work to earn money. To be honest, I have NEVER worked, maybe bake cookies and brownies with mum if tat counts as work. Seriously, scrubbing floors. Why? 

I carried a whole scrubbing set that Mrs Peter asked me to work with. Just great! They better treat me well, give me a glass of whole fat milk and chocolate cookies, or maybe pancakes to satisfy my hunger. I was overthinking, right. My expectations were on a whole new level!

Maria led me to Mr Dittle's home. It was an old, grey house, with a couple of broken windows. It was a silent home. The garden had died and the door was in bad condition. The whole scene of the house gave me the creeps. I was getting a bad vibe.

 I rang the calling bell. No answers. I waited for a minute when I decided to ask Maria for help but that girl had already left. Seriously girl? I knocked this time and the door creaked open. All that was running in my head - "HAUNTED"!!! 

A/N: 

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