The Orphanage Down The Road / Running Man Animation / Fan-Fiction

The Red Mark

That night Sarah looked through the files in her desk.

She remembered the boy's name, Liu, from somewhere. She wanted to know where.

It was in one of the first files she checked.

There were various papers, all involving Orphans she'd been scheduled to pick up over the years.

The bottom of each page had been stamped with a green mark to show that the Orphan it was written about had been picked up. Except for one.

This page had been stamped with a red mark. It announced that the Orphan was missing.

It was Liu's paper. Written by his parents, asking her to come collect him and put him up for adoption. It was funny how they'd never specified why they were giving him away.

She remembered that night. How she'd turned up in that town only to have the parents tell her the boy was gone. Taken by his sister.

And he lived only a dozen houses away from the Orphanage at that very moment.

It made sense now. Why he'd been scared of her when she'd turned up at his house.

He hadn't been afraid of her yelling at him. He'd been afraid of her taking him away to the Orphanage. Taking him away from his sister, who had clearly risked a lot to keep him close. To keep him with her.

Sarah tucked the paper back in with the rest, but not before stamping it with a green mark.

She didn't need to collect him and put him up for adoption. He was alive and well. With a roof over his head and food on his plate. And a sister who loved him.