The Orphanage

I was woken up from a drunken sleep in the dorms by people running to the common room. I staggered to the door and threw it open and grabbed the nearest person

"Whats going on man?"  

"Jesus Chrissy you could sleep through the apocolypse," Mary said as she dragged me to the common room handing me her jacket. The childrens center outside of town just exploded.

That shook me from my stooper. "WHat do you mean exploded?"

"As in big ball of flames. But its weird all the staff were found a safe distance passed out from the home."

I looked up at the television screen and my eyes were locked on what was now a huge hole in the ground. The childrens center houses 122 orphans. I should know as i volunteered there every week. The ages of the children were infant to twelve years old before they were transfered to teen housing a few blocks away that taught life skills and other nessesities before you become a adult.  I was just there yesterday helping in the nursery with the abandoned babies. I felt tears come down my cheeks as I watched the police help the staff into ambulances and the police patrol the grounds. I saw alt of my dormmates wiping away tears as we watched this horror unfold. The screen started to show pictures of the children on the screen. I saw all the babies we would take care of and play with and I swore to myself that if the police didn't find out who did this I would.


*******************1000 Miles above the earth**********************


"Sir, are you sure this will work?" The member of his team asked as they checked on the last room of children.

"Yes Mikon it has to. We have a planet full of people who want children but so many are unable to have them.  Our DNA is so close to these earth children they will be perfect on our planet. We have went through over a million applications for our kind to be parents to these children and will intergrate them with what few children are on our planet. We will rebuild our planet with these angels. If this works we will go back and save more. Just remember, your job will be to stay behind and watch the grounds in which these savior were taken from and report anything suspicious to us over time."

"Yes Sir." Mikon said, stepping towards a pod to take back to earth. "Sir please give my parents my best and tell them i will miss them."

"Mikon its just a short 10 years and we will see you again soon but i will pass the message along."

**********************One week later*******************

I sat at the front of the church after the service. The whole college community had come out to say goodbye to the children we helped with as a town.  I watched the faces of the children I was helping flash on the screen and I said their names out loud. Nothing had been found at the scene and not one corpse or set of bones had made it through the blast. None of the staff have any memory of what happened except a sweet smell came up and they drifted asleep. The last person awake was Mrs. Abby the nursery overnight attendant. She had just put sweet Cloe to bed after she had awoken from a bad dream.  

Then Cloe's face came across the screen and the screen paused.

"Child you can't do this to yourself."

I looked up to see father Mikeron walk towards me.

"Father I know sometimes things do not make sense. I know what the evidence says I understand it I am in training for forensic investigations. But this makes no sense at all. 122 children and not one corpse. There is no fire known to man to make a whole that big to leave nothing."

"Well then dear what are you going to do?"

I looked at father Mikeron and stated rather a factly, "I am going to find out who did this and i am going to get justice for these kids. We cared father we were not old enough to be parents but a lot of people in H dorm went there 2-3 times a week. Every holiday we were there making sure these kids were loved and had people who cared. Previous volunteers who graduated made a point to come back and some of the children were adopted from there from older volunteers after their familes were started. This is personal until i know the truth I will NOT let it go."

"Chrissy just remember do not let this destroy you. You need your future as well."

I shook father Mikerons hand and walked down the isle towards the sun.

*********************Inside the church********************************

"I helped your people but be careful son."Father Mikeron started, "That young woman is stubborn and headstrong she practically lived at the orphanage. She will not stop so if this works and you decide to save any more of those babies you need to make sure you do it far away from here."

Mikon watched the woman walk away from his place in the shadows. She might be a problem he thought I will watch her and see how things proceed.  Weeks later H dorm had the land cleared from the orphanage and created a garden on the property with the church's permission. There will be times when Father Mikerons will join us on the property and help us lay stones for paths and help dig holes for plants. Father Mikerons had also asked if we would be interested in planting raised gardening beds in honor of the children of the orphanage. H dorm was all up for raised beds and before Father Mikeron could do anything else the dorm was there with wood for raised beds along with seeds and dirt. All he had to do is point and the beds were created and planted before the end of the day.

My own parents knew how much the loss of the orphanage hit me so my dad arrived at sunset a few nights after the garden was almost completed and had his truck bed full of solar lights for the pathways.  So that night with the help of my parents we set up the path lights and put the remaining in the gardening shed we had near the waterfall created by the engineering department.

A few weeks passed and it was time to head home for the summer.  My parents came to the school to get me and help me pack up my dorm room.  Once we were done I asked my parents to stop by the gardens so I could do one last walk. My parents dropped me off so I could be alone there for a while. I was walking around the grounds when I heard, "Hello Chrissy."

I turned around and saw Father Mikerons walking towards me.  He was walking with a younger priest. I smiled and walked towards him, "Hello Father I am so glad to see you before I left."

"Chrissy this is father Mikon he will be joining me to help with our growing parish." 

I walked up and held out my hand, "Father Mikon welcome to our small college town."

"Nice to meet you, Chrissy," He said, "May we join you for your walk?"

"Of course," I said. "I wanted to walk the grounds before I left."

"Chrissy you will be coming back in the fall, won't you." Father Mikerons asked, "You sound like you're not coming back."

I smiled, "I will admit Father Mikerons I am on the fence about returning.  The loss of the children has really hit me hard.  Especially the loss of Cloe." I said, "Losing her was like losing Amelia all over again."

"Amelia?" Father Mikon asked.

"Amelia was my roommate.  She was attacked one night and didn't realize that she was pregnant until she was back at school.  Amelia was going to keep the baby with the help of her Grandma. Grandma Susie was going to move to town so she could keep Cloe with her while Amelia went to school. Rules here are you cannot move out of the dorms until you have a certain amount of credits. We had just found an apartment for Grandma Susie and were going to help her move in the following weekend when we received news that Grandma Susie had been killed by a drunk driver. The stress was too much on Amelia and she went into labor. After a few hours of being in labor Amelias and Cloe's, heartbeats started to crash. They rushed her into an emergency C-section but after they got Cloe out, Amelia started to hemorrhage, she got to kiss Cloe on her forehead and then she flat-lined. We learned later on that she had a weak heart and with the loss of Grandma Susie and the early labor and hemorrhaging her heart could not handle it."

I took a moment and took a breath, "So you have to understand H dorm would come here and help already, But after losing Amelia we all made sure Cloe had all her needs met. Most of the supplies that were in the nursery were due to the campus baby shower and youth shower we had for the weekend after Amelia died. We wanted to make sure these children knew they were loved."

Father Mikon looked taken back, "So these children had an extended family outside the orphanage?"

"Yes, they did," I said. "We were like the extended family.  As we used to say we were the older sisters and brothers who had to go away and could not stay all the time."

We all looked up when we heard a car honk. My parents were back and parked at the curb. I turned back to the priests, "I guess it's my time to go." 

"Chrissy I really hope you will come back in the fall.  You will always be a member of this church and we would miss you if you did not come back," Father Mikerons said.

I shook both the father's hands again and said, "Thank you so much, Father. I will think and pray about the decision. Maybe with some time and space, I will have a clearer head and will gain a better perspective."

Father Mikerons watched Chrissy climb into her parent's car and drive off.  He turned to Mikon and said, "I do not think we took into consideration those who cared for those children. Your people should be concerned as that child does not stop and if she comes back she will be looking for answers. If she had had the chance she would have adopted Chloe."

Mikons eyes followed Chrissy as she left and sighed, "I could feel her hurt and sadness. Not only for Chloe but for her mom as well."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I settled in my seat as my parents pulled away from the curb. My mom turned to look at me and said, "Chrissy I know how hard this semester has been for you. Your father and I have spoken and if you choose not to return in the fall we will stand behind you or even if you want to take a full semester off to reset and just stay at home we are behind you 100 percent."

I took my moms hand and said, "Thank you both I am just unsure about what I want to do. I will think about it till the end of july and make a decision. New semester paperwork has to be e filed in August. I never withdrew so I am good with time."

Dad glanced at me in the mirror, "Chrissy we know you will follow your heart. We got your back!"

After we arrived home the first thing I did was go upstairs and just lay on my bed.  I started running through everything that had been going on and that had happened in the last few months. Little Cloe would have been walking soon as she was trying to push herself all over the floor. I fell asleep and dreamt of that sweet baby.

What I didn't know was that the family who received Cloe was at that moment watching her pull herself up in the main family room. The family who adopted Cloe felt so grateful for having her and being her parents and would move heaven and earth for her. They decided when she was old enough to understand they would tell her the story of how she came to be theirs and how much they loved her.

Looking at his wife he said, "I am glad your brother was able to find us Cloe. I could never love someone as much as I love her. We must send a picture to Mikon and show him how she thrives."

Back on earth Miken checked his communication device and saw a picture from his sister's husband. The picture showed his sister holding a laughing Cloe and his sister looking so much at peace."

He thought back to his problem at hand and considered telling Chrissy the truth. He would have to think about that option in case she decides not to let it go. They would have to consider the next orphanage if this works out to be far away in a different country. A country where they are not a lot of people who care about the children and these children would be very wanted. 

Chrissy slept in a fitful state until she woke up and said, "I am going to find out what happened."

Walking downstairs I found my parents at the table talking. My mom stood up and poured me a cup of coffee. After she handed it to me she asked, "Chrissy are you feeling better?"

Looking up from my cup I said, "Not really."

Dad cleared his throat and said, "Chrissy I know you have been through a lot. Mom and I have been thinking before you make any decisions why don't we go to the lake and have a relaxing week. That way you can do what you do best and think among the trees and nature. How does that sound."

Smiling at dad I said, "You guys can take off of work?"

Mom laughed and said, "Our jobs are aware of what happened. Dad and I have vacation time and we thought this would be a great time to have a family vacation."

"Lets do it!," I said. "Your right a week by the lake will be exactly what I need."

The next day mom and me got up and went to the store to get easy things for meals when we headed to the cabin. As we went through checkout my mom turned to me suddenly and said, "Chrissy will you run and get some extra shredded cheese and tortilla shells?"

I went and got what she asked and when I got back I noticed the tabloid magazines were turned around. I reached up to see what the store was hiding and there was a picture of the orphanage with the headline, no bodies found all workers found passed out on the lawn.

I looked at the magazine and put it back and said, "Where was the news coverage when it happened."

Mom looked at me and took my hand, "Chrissy are you alright sweetheart."

Taking a deep breath I said, "No but yes. It funny the tabloids did a story but not national news outlets since day two."

The cashier didn't say anything until we were done and said, "Its ridiculous they did not report anything else on the tragedy. I was up at the college a few weeks ago and saw the memorial park you kids created. I know its not much but we did leave a donation in the box and all you kids and those sweet babies have our prayers."

I looked at her and said, "Thank you we were attached to them and spent a lot of time there. We miss them all a lot."

She surprised me when she came around and gave me a hug. She held me at arms length and said, "Never let their memory go. That way you will never forget them."

We thanked her as we drove back to the cabin and I said to mom, "I wonder if Father Mikerons has pictures of the kids still. Maybe we can have the art department do a walkway at the park with their faces engraved on stone."

My Mom looked at me and smiled as she said, "That is an amazing idea. Why don't you email Father Mikerons when we get back to the cabin and get the ball rolling."

We headed back to the cabin and when we arrived I helped mom put everything away and went upstairs to send Father Mikerons and email with my suggestion of the memorial walk. After I sent the email I decided to head down to the river and just relaxed on a chair on the bank. I must have been lost in my own thoughts because I was started when I heard, "Its funny to see you here Chrissy."

I looked up and saw Father Mikons at the start of the dock. I stood up and said, "Father Mikons, Your right I am here visiting with my parents. Would you like to join me the river is quite relaxing to watch."

He approached me and took the chair next to me. Looking over he asked, "How are you holding up?"

I have a small smile and said, "It hurts to know they are gone, but I feel like they are still all alive. I miss Cloe more than you could ever imagine. I will admit I was considering dropping out of college and adopting Cloe when everything happened. Now her and all the other children will never have the chance to grow up."

He sighed and said, "You know child those who are gone are not really lost and one day you will see them again."

I looked him in the eyes and said, "I hope so Father."

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

Later that day after Mikons left Chrissy he went to his hotel room and sent a message to his own world. He suggested that if they are to do this again they would have to find orphanages with children who did not have people who cared so deeply about the children. Unlike the college that had students who loved and cherished the children. He spoke about Chrissy and the pain and loss she felt. He requested guidance on how best to handle her situation as he was concerned about her mental situation and how she had confided in him she wanted to adopt his own new family member.

He went to sleep and when he awoke he had a response waiting.

We are saddened by the news you have provided about the student Chrissy. We ask you to please keep an eye on her and send us information if she gets worse. We will most definitely rethink how this is handled in the future. Please know all the children from your niece Cloe to the oldest boy Nathan who was fifteen are thriving with their new families. Attached is a picture from your sister of Cloe starting to walk. There is also a picture of a few council members trying to teach the new boys about scoot ball which we learned is similar to the earths soccer. Also a picture of your mother and some of the young females in the garden at the councils palace planting flowers. We are not that different from earth.

Mikons looked at all the pictures and had tears in his eyes. The joy the children had in their eyes was evident. His mother looked younger than he remembered helping the young girls learn about gardening. When he saw the picture of Cloe taking a step with a big smile on her face he knew they did the right thing. He thought of asking permission to speak with Chrissy and bring her for a visit. He thought maybe if she understood what they were doing than she could be an supporter and help him with his search for more children if they moved forward.

Chrissy- Main Character
Mikon- Alien liason
father Mikerons-church pastor

Cloe- Mikons sister and bil