Sunflower Seeds Orphanage For Kids

CHAPTER II

Sunflower Seeds Orphanage for Kids

After a few days, the Lysanders went back to their beloved house, and Kruze’s head was aching, for millions of thoughts was stuck in it for so long.   

     “Are you okay Sweet? Want to talk about something?” asked his loving wife, 

     “Actually yes…” he answered, 

     The couple sat down on the couch, and started discussing about all matters, 

     “Darling, there’s a war. That’s why the government’s looking for military soldiers. I just need to do this job so I can know when. So we can protect ourselves from danger, so we can—” Fawn suddenly interrupts Kruze by telling him, 

     “Dear, are you sure you want to do this? I mean… You’re risking your own life for us. You can’t just do that, I mean- we need you in the family” she said worriedly. 

     “Fawn, my dear, my darling, my sweet sugarplum. You do not worry about me. Because if you get stressed out too much, this thing might get much, much worse. I  have no problem with moments like this, I just need to deal with it. I will do this for my family, for my beautiful wife, and for our sweet Pax.” Kruze explained, looking at his wife’s worried eyes with a small, gentle smile.

     “Smile, my darling” he said, putting his two fingers gently on both ends of Fawn’s lips, and pulls it into a sweet, smile. “There you go.” 

     Fawn chuckled, “I’m so happy…that I got to spend my whole life with you.” 

     “Darling, protect our son while I’m gone okay? Just think of anyway just to keep him safe, anything, just for his safety.” Kruze said. 

     Fawn began to tear up again, 

     “Sweet, don’t cry. You’re much more beautiful with a smile.” Kruze gently put his two fingers in both ends of Fawn’s lips, and again, puts it into a sweet, gentle smile. 

     “I love you, Kruze” she said staring into his husband’s gaze, 

     “I love you more, Fawn” he replied, Kruze gave Fawn a quick, but sweet kiss on the lips, just to make her smile wider.

After a whole month, the Lysanders were getting ready for the upcoming war, they were packing bags, preparing weapons that they can use, even a small, pocket knife will count. 

     While, Kruze, on the other hand, was hoping he would see his wife and his son after the war. He was also, wearing his military uniform, with a huge gun on his side. He was packing his bags in his room, when Fawn opened the door. Kruze slowly put his attention to his wife, and smiled, 

     “I’ll miss you, my darling. Do remember that you are the most beautiful, amazing, loving, kind, passionate, person I have ever met in my entire life. Protect Pax, anything will do.” He said, 

     “I’ll miss you more…” replied Fawn, Kruze kissed Fawn on the cheek, and continued packing. 

     Suddenly, Pax entered the room. He stared at his dad’s luggage bag, he stared back to his father and ran to him, hugging him tightly, little Pax was crying in his dad’s arms, hoping he will see him again. 

     “C’mon. Let’s get ready” Fawn said looking at Pax sweetly, Pax nodded and they prepared for the war. 

     Many minutes later, Kruze’s phone rang, he picked up his phone from the table, and saw Mason was the one calling him, Kruze nervously answered the call. 

     “Kruze, get ready, it’s about time.” Then the call ended, just like that.

     He gave out a big sigh, and put his phone to his luggage bag, he was about to zip it up, until he notices he forgot something important. He unzips the bag, and looks at the room, spotting the Lysander family’s picture on a frame. He grabs it and carefully puts it in his bag. 

     “Darling! It’s time.” He said, not long, Fawn and Pax heard what he said, and got ready. They closed all the windows, assuming those will later protect them.

Fawn and Pax was following Kruze outside, they were hiding in a narrow, dark alley. Kruze faced them and bent his knees down to talk to Pax, who was glancing left and right, afraid that someone might interrupt them. 

     “Pax, look at me son.” Pax slowly looked in his dad’s hazel eyes, and Kruze looked in Pax’s. “Remember to be a kind kid, to be great someday, you’re story will be known by everyone! Promise me one thing Pax…” he paused, 

     “what is it?” his son asked, 

     “Promise me… whatever happens, grow sweet and kind, generous and loving, caring and patient. Just like your beloved mother.” Pax nods, and a tear came rolling down his cheek, 

     “Oh, son. Don’t cry. I’ll be back.” Then, he stands up straight, meeting Fawn’s lovely blue eyes, which was also letting out tears, Fawn smiled gently at him, 

     “I know… I’ll protect our son, and you’ll be back.” She said to Kruze, 

     “No, three more words…” he replied, 

     “I already said it, you said to me ‘You’ll be back’” she answered, 

     “No. That’s not it.” Kruze said, he then smiled to wait for her reply.

     “Then what?” said Fawn, suddenly, Kruze was crying, yet, he was still smiling at his wife. “Fawn, darling… I love you”. He leans forward to meet her wife’s lips. And it ends up as a passionate kiss. The couple closed their eyes, but when Fawn opened hers, the love of her life was gone. 

***

 Fawn, shook her head, trying to let go of the memories with her husband in her head, and began focusing on what was happening, she pulled Pax along with her while walking straight on the narrow alley. She saw a dark figure, wearing a hood, Fawn walked towards the figure while Pax on the other hand, has no idea of what was going on. Fawn continues to walk towards the figure until, it finally takes the hood off. It was a woman, with short hazel hair, she was quite pleasant looking, but Pax was still nervous of what was about to happen.

    Fawn stopped, the woman walked forward, she straightens her arm to shake Fawn’s hand. Fawn slowly raised her hand and take it. 

     “The name’s Hems, Olivia Hems. I see you’re holding the kid… May I?” Hems said, Fawn looked at Hems, then at Pax, then back at Hems, 

     “c-can I just have my last words to my son?” Fawn said, Pax was shocked, his eyes were wide open with surprise. 

     “LAST WORDS?!” he said, but Fawn shushed him. She looked at Hems waiting for an answer, 

     “Sure, I know it must be hard to lose your child.” She replied. Fawn nods, she bent down to meet Pax’s eyes. 

     “Mommy, what do you mean Last Words? What does she mean Losing your child? You don’t love me anymore?” Pax said, silently crying, 

     “No, no. Mommy, and Daddy loves you. Almost 50 percent of our hearts belong to family, and that family includes you. The rest belongs to God, to friends, and more. We love you Pax, we just want to protect you. It’s much more dangerous here. It’s better that you won’t spend your life with us than you being at risk.” She explained, 

     “But—” Pax was about to make a sentence, but Fawn interrupted it     

     “Shh, just remember what your daddy told you. We love you no matter what, and I’ll meet you when I can.” She replied, 

     “Mom, why don’t you just come with me? So both of us can be safe and sound?” Pax asked, 

     “Pax, like I said earlier, 50 percent of my love belongs to family, which includes you, and your dad… I can’t just leave your daddy hanging, where will he go when the war is over? He won’t have money to just go to the airport and go meet us. I’m sure he will have injuries, every soldier does. Who’ll care for him? Don’t worry, if he’s okay, we’ll fetch you straight away.” Fawn explained slowly, 

     “But mommy, who’ll care for me?” Pax asked, Fawn answers by, 

     “They’ll care for you, Mrs. Hems will. And you will have a lot of friends there, the only thing is, you don’t have us with you. But that’s okay, we will always will… In here” Fawn put her hand in Pax’s chest, almost felt like tearing up, they hugged each other, she  kissed Pax’s forehead, and waved him goodbye.

***

After 5 years, Pax woke up at the sound of a large bell. He sat at his bunk bed, scratching his eyes while yawning. He got up, as well as the other orphanage kids, all of them, heading for breakfast. 

Meanwhile at the breakfast table, Pax sat beside his friend, Alexa. 

     “Morning Pax, do you know what our breakfast is today? I’m kinda starving, and I’m not in the mood for some pudding” she said. They walked beside each other at the wide hallway on their way to the cafeteria. 

     “It’s like 9 in the morning, you just woke up, and you’re starving? I’m pretty sure you ate last night.” Pax replied. His hair was a ginger mess. Although, he stared at Alexa’s black hair, which was just as normal. Both of them entered the large wooden room, the other kids rushing in. They’re hungry as crap, Pax thought. He knew he didn’t want to swear, even when just in his mind.

    “Oh, you know me Pax, my only talent is eating!” Alexa’s sentence made Pax laugh. “although, I’m thin as a lizard”. The two friends sat beside each other on the large long table, with the other kids joining them.

   The door burst open, letting a fat lady with quite a colorful apron and black hairnet come in with a bunch of delicious looking meals in her hand. 

    “I’ve made a special breakfast for you all! You’ve requested me this dish for ages!” the lady said, giving all the orphanage kids their meals.

    “Thanks Aunt Comy! We really appreciate that” Alexa said, “Mmmm, finally a dish to fit all of my hunger”

     They all ate peacefully, while Alexa was more like eating aggressively. Pax just stared at her like he used to see her like that every day.

     Pax and Alexa came back to their bunk bed later on, after eating. He then sat on his bed looking at the small wooden drawer beside it. On top of it lay a wooden box, also a nutcracker beside it. Alexa climbed up the bunk bed’s ladder, leading her to bounce in her bed atop of Pax’s. Soon, she noticed him holding a picture with the wooden box in his lap.

     “Miss them, don’t you?” she said, Pax nodded slowly. “You’re lucky you still have a good memory of your family, I barely knew what my parents look like, I was just 4 when they sent me here.” She lay there looking at the ceiling.

     Pax said nothing, he was staring at the picture containing him, his mother wearing a scarf on her head, and his father wearing his soldier suit. 

     “At least you’re quite sure they’re safe, me… I don’t even know what happened to them. Are they dead already? Did my dad come home safely and they just forgot about me? Did my mom had a panic attack and no one can help her, so she died? I don’t know…” he said, his eyes were watering, he started stared at the ceiling as well, trying to stop his tears from falling down.

     “Look, you’ll forget about them someday, somehow, someway. Because you will be adopted, and whoever that person is, I’m sure they’ll treat you as their true son. So cheer up” Alexa said. She sat up from her bed to comfort him. That’s what friends are for. 

     Their conversation was soon interrupted by some kids bursting inside the room. Pax put the picture inside the wooden box, and returned it on top of the drawer.

As the day passed, all of the kids were asleep. On the other hand, Alexa was quite struggling in her sleep, although she wasn’t having a nightmare filled with ghosts and monsters; But a nightmare containing her worst times in life that even she, can’t remember herself.

     “I DON’T WANT THAT KID OKAY? WE’RE NOT EVEN MARRIED!” shouted a man in her dreams. There was a toddler crying while a couple was fighting.

     “WELL FINE! GET OUT! I’LL TAKE CARE OF OUR KID INSTEAD!” a woman replied.

     “Look, I know we both love each other… But I’m not ready for a child okay? Why won’t we just put her away for a while and when we’re ready… Let’s get her back…” replied the man. The toddler was still crying, even louder now. The woman was crying too, even though she felt like disagreeing, she nodded slowly.

     “She’s only 4… but—I’ll just read her something that she might remember while she grows up…” the woman said. She lifted the crying toddler up, and while she was reading a book… The toddler was slowly stopping from crying.

     Alexa sat up at her bed quite quickly, as if she was having her worst nightmare. She rubbed her hands in her face, trying to keep herself calm. She got up from her bed and brought a lamp with her, and got out of the room and wondered down the hall, hoping there was somebody still awake. She passed Mrs. Hems office, which was still lit up a bit. She was startled by the door opening, she was relieved to found Mrs. Hems still awake. 

     “Oh my, Why are you still awake at this sudden time, my dear?” she asked, staring at her bright hopeless purple eyes. “Come in, come in. Are you hoping to see me?”

     Alexa came into her office, Mrs. Hems were still wearing a night gown, Alexa saw a book and figured that Mrs. Hems was reading. She sat onto a chair and said, “Well, I was hoping to find someone that’s still awake, so, that’s a yes.” She stared at the room for a moment, there was a fancy bed with curtains in the middle, two wooden drawers beside it. There was also a bookshelf on the right that was full of books.

     “Erm… What do you need, my darling. Perhaps, if you’d like, I could make you a hot and nice tea?” she asked

     “Oh, no thank you. I just want something to entertain me. Perhaps, erm…a book?” Alexa said while staring at Mrs. Hems’ book laying at her bed. “I mean, if you don’t have one it’s fine, but if you do, it’s also fine if you won’t let me borrow it for the night. I’ll just go back to bed and—” 

     “Oh! Don’t be silly, I’ll let you borrow one of course, oh no…I won’t let you borrow it… I’ll let you have it!” she said

     “As in… You’ll give it to me?!” Alexa answered with surprise.

     “Yes of course! Because I just finished reading it and I find no use of it in the future…I do hope you like William Shakespeare, because it’s one of his works.” Mrs. Hems said, she handed Alexa a book, Alexa glanced at it’s cover, it read “Romeo & Juliet”. She stared at the cover for a few seconds which made Mrs. Hems a bit puzzled and confused.

     “Is something wrong dear? You don’t like the book? Erm… What kind of tales do you like?” she asked, glancing at Alexa’s dreamy eyes. 

     “Oh, it’s n-nothing… it—it just reminds me of my bad dream tonight, which is the reason I’m currently here…” Alexa spoke.

     “And what exactly is that bad dream you are saying?” asked Mrs. Hems. She looked worriedly at Alexa, who didn’t manage to find the correct words she was about to say.

     “W-well… I caught glimpses of my mom and dad fighting about me. The last thing I experienced with at least one of them was reading this book, before they sent me here…” she said, “I guess they’ll never come back for me after all…”

     “Oh my…I’m so sorry—Let me replace that book with another much pleasant one—” Mrs. Hems uttered, but was soon intervened by Alexa.

     “No thank you—I think I like this book more than any other books down there” she mentioned.

     Alexa made an exit from Mrs. Hems’ office. She walked down the dark and narrow hallway, still staring at the book cover. Finally, she reached the room where all of the other kids slept. She found her and Pax’s bunk bed at the very end of the room. She noticed that Pax was already asleep, snoring. She chuckled a bit, yet she ignored it and jumped on her bed. Now she was lying there, holding her book up so she can read. Her lamp was beside her as she read :“She hath, and in that sparing makes huge waste, For beauty starved with her severity. Cuts beauty off from all posterity. She is too fair, too wise, wisely too fair, To merit bliss by making me despair: She hath forsworn to love, and in that vow. Do I live dead that live to tell it now.” Romeo uttered.

After a few months, there were only a few kids that Pax knew at the Sunflower Seed Orphanage, most of them were already adopted. Pax looked around the room, mostly contained by empty beds. He was sitting at his bed hoping someone would already adopt him, he felt so insecure as the past few days, a person would come into the room and look for a kid that they want. But they always just pass by him, even though he tried his best to look nice. He combed his hair (that is almost everyday, a mess). He would wear his best, but all of them would just ignore him.

     Pax was startled to find that Alexa was actually talking to him, and he was just daydreaming, while staring at an empty bed. “Pax! Are you even listening to me?” Alexa muttered,

     “Oh! Sorry Lexa, I was thinking about—about me actually being adopted! You know… because that’s quite impossible to happen!” Pax said sarcastically, he was saddened, but he hid that feeling while talking to his best friend. “I can’t believe you’re already adopted… and you’re leaving me here—hanging! Without no actual support of anyone or anything!” 

     “It’s not my fault somebody wants me to be their child! Look, Pax. You’ll be fine. Like I said—Erm—a few months ago… You’ll forget about your parents, someday, somehow, someway. Because you will be adopted and that person will treat you as if you’re their true child!” Alexa said while packing her bag, she grabbed the last thing she needs and closed her luggage. “Hey, it’s not the end of the world! I’m sure we’ll soon meet somehow! Just remember me! Here, I’m going to give you this book so you can… I don’t know, just take it.  Now, I’m going to start a new life, with a new family… Wish me luck!” Pax stared at the book she gave, it was A William Shakespeare book, the title read “Romeo & Juliet”. 

     She zipped her bag and Head out to the room’s exit, where there was Mrs. Hems and a person beside her, waiting for Alexa. “Alexa, meet Rayna. She’ll be your mother from now on” Pax heard Mrs. Hems introduce Alexa to her new mom, he just glared at them, Alexa smiled at Rayna, and she looked back at him and whispered, “Bye Pax!” She waved her hand goodbye, Pax waved back, trying to smile while seeing his only friend leave.