THE ADOPTED CHILD

Hope

After being discharged from the hospital, Aunt Susan took Camellia straight to Hope Orphanage after completing the necessary procedures at the police station. Once again, she was taken to a new place under a new name to live a new life.

There isn't any news or media like it should be, right as Camellia's desire. Probably because people respect her decision. But perhaps because she is an orphan, she had originally been abandoned, so people don't need to care about her very much. Either way, everything has passed away. The old orphanage has totally gone. People just need to say that it's all gone to dust, they don't have to report in detail about a six-year-old girl who miraculously survived after the disaster. Sitting on the train back to the Hope Orphanage, Camellia suddenly laughed at her sudden thought.

From the moment she boarded the train, Camellia was silent, not talking, just staring out the window. Sometimes when Aunt Susan asked her, she could only perfunctorily give the answer to let the story go to the end. So, her laughter at that moment caught Aunt Susan's attention. Startled, Aunt Susan, relying on Camellia's vision, looked out the window as far as she could, trying to figure out the interesting things that Camellia had just seen. But in the field out there, other than a few rolls of hay and a few tractors, there was hardly anything that could make people laugh like that.

"My daughter, what interesting thing have you just seen?" Aunt Susan looked lovingly at Camellia and asked her.

Camellia now realized that her laughter had attracted Susan's attention. From the beginning until now, Aunt Susan has always tried to talk to her so that she doesn't get bored when she has to go on a long business trip before arriving at her new place. But because she was not interested in conversation, no matter how much Aunt Susan tried, the story still reached a dead end and ended with her silently looking out the window. If she said "Nothing" now, Aunt Susan would be dead sad. But if she told the truth about what she was thinking, Aunt Susan also wouldn't feel any better.

Camellia swept her eyes, glanced briefly at the field outside once more, then turned to look at Aunt Susan.

"Look, the tractors are small like that but the rolls of grass are as big as a house. If the tractors lift the rolls of grass up, will they ever overturn?" Camellia said excitedly, her eyes sparkling and her smile arching again. "Then, that roll of grass will roll round and round, then it collides with another, and then the whole grass rolls run after each other across the field."

Camellia herself felt that what she had just said was silly, nothing to laugh at, but for some reason Aunt Susan laughed, laughed for a long time, laughed until tears flowed. Maybe because Aunt Susan was listening to a six-year-old girl's story and found it amusing. But Camellia was just pretending to be innocent like a six-year-old girl, so that she didn't find her story funny.

“Your thinking is very strange, but also very interesting!” It took a long time for Susan to hold back her laughter. She was holding a tissue and dabbing at the corner of her eye as she talked to Camellia. “Think about it, if the rolls of grass are chasing each other like that, how can we stop them?”

"Oh, dear!" Camellia thoughts.

She was about to finish her nonsense story, but Aunt Susan wanted to say more about it. Camellia sighed inwardly, then pretended to be contemplative again, continuing to talk to Aunt Susan. The story seemed to her to be getting worse and worse, but somehow, no matter how it ended, Aunt Susan would start a new story from there.

It was not until the waitress on the train pushed the small lunch cart to their seats that the story stopped. Camellia tried to eat as quickly as possible, then, she cleaned up the paper box and closed her eyes. From that moment until she arrived at the Hope Orphanage early the next morning, her pensive, silent state continued.

She didn't want to talk, so she tried to control her emotions so as not to laugh and then had to reluctantly talk to Aunt Susan. At Aunt Susan's enthusiasm, there was also a slight guilt in Camellia's heart, but eventually she let it go because as soon as the guilty feeling burned, the wariness and suspicion towards Shasara inside her flared up strongly, overwhelming for her guilty feeling.

Orphanage Hope is very similar to what Camellia imagined when she heard Aunt Susan talk about it. A three-story building, almost as old as Orphanage Homie. Orphanage Hope is perched on a small hill, surrounded by low fences and green grass. Behind the building is a forest. From a distance, Camellia somehow thought of the orphanage as a forgotten castle in the middle of the forest. But when she got closer, she discovered that this "castle" was not forgotten, but really bustling. The children in the orphanage saw Aunt Susan return and ran out to meet her. Seeing that scene, Camellia immediately felt happy.

Camellia was arranged to sleep in a room already occupied by nine other children on the second floor. Orphanage Hope arranges roommates who are usually of the same age, not as haphazard as at orphanage Homie where she lived before. The bedroom is also a bit larger. Perhaps because each room is filled with children of the same age, they live together in harmony, and do not often quarrel. At orphanage Homie, arguments, even fights, never affected Camellia because she often stood out by everything, she had only looked without any action. But peace like here is still better.

Activities in the orphanages are largely the same. There are still common activities, like going to school, going out, a few days someone comes to give gifts, a few days someone comes to observe the children to adopt. Most children want to be adopted by a certain family, hoping that their life will become better, so every time a stranger comes, they are much more obedient and understanding compared to normal days. In particular, if they hear from someone somewhere about the "child ideal form" that the coming people want to adopt, the children often try to act like that "ideal form" to get attention.

Only Camellia is not. Previously, when she lived at other orphanages, she also did not. She didn't try to be obedient, she didn't want to be noticed, she didn't want to be adopted by any family, she just wanted to live in peace in the orphanage. Therefore, whenever she knows that someone is coming to adopt a child, she will find a way to make herself as obscure as possible. When no one notices, she will hide away, out of sight of those who want to adopt a child.

Living at Orphanage Hope for a few months, Camellia quickly found the perfect place to hide whenever someone came looking for her. Her hiding place is a very large hole made up of three tree trunks. If people don't get up close and look closely, surely no one will notice that there is a large hole there. The tree hole was large enough for two or three adults to stand inside. As for Camellia, she can even lie down.

Camellia found this place during a midday stroll. That time, many people came to participate in volunteer work, so the whole orphanage was noisy and bustling. Everywhere she could see people talking, laughing, she could see the food and toys on display. Camellia didn't like the atmosphere very much, so when no one was paying attention, she slipped out and walked into the small forest.

Camellia loves this forest. From the first day she came to Orphanage Hope, the first time she saw a forest behind the building, she liked it. Sometimes, the children growing up in this orphanage often even told each other mysterious and scary ghost stories in the forest, so no child dared to come near but her. Because she herself is not "normal", her life is a strange thing, her story is also extremely mysterious, just a short distance from the horror. The forest became her own ideal hiding place.

One afternoon, at the usual time, Aunt Susan excitedly announced to the children that tomorrow, three families who wanted to adopt children at the same time would visit Orphanage Hope. These families all have very good conditions, so Aunt Susan hopes that at least three children will be adopted. Thus, their life will be turned to a new and nice page. Camellia, as usual, was not excited at all. She didn't even hear what Aunt Susan said. Her mind was still drifting to the hollow of the tree in the forest, about the two letters and the heart shape carved on the arch of the tree hole that she had just discovered when she accidentally slipped and fell on her back in the heart of the hole.

The word was probably engraved for a long time, so the traces have faded a lot, only the heart shape can be recognized immediately. The two letters seem to be R and E or F and B or something. Camellia thought she'd have to take out her flashlight tomorrow to get a better look.

When the usual time ended, Camellia slowly followed the other children out into the yard, then let the children run, talk and laugh, play themselves. She chose a tree to sit on and lean back and watch thoughtfully.

"Camellia." Aunt Susan's voice suddenly sounded next to Camellia, causing her to jump, her spine stiff. She looked at Aunt Susan bewildered. It took about four or five seconds before she let out a short breath, relaxed her body, and leaned back against the tree.

In fact, Camellia has been here for a few months now, everything, everyone here is used to her, but she still hasn't completely relaxed, hasn't completely let go of her suspicions about Aunt Susan. For some reason, she still sometimes thinks that Aunt Susan is Shasara incarnate, even though she has never done anything to harm her. On the contrary, she is always very nice, always taking care of her.

Camellia is not afraid of Shasara nor is she afraid of her jokes. She's used to it all, so she's always casually living and waiting for everything. She even had a few tries to guess how many days later the next calamity would appear, what calamity this time would happen to her or what after this calamity, what name she would be called by.

But she is still doubtful. Because she doesn't like any people who know her story, especially when that person lives next to her, watching her is like watching a funny play.

“You… Don't like to live here?” Aunt Susan sat down next to Camellia, stroking her long brown hair.

"Why do you ask that?" Camellia did not answer but asked in return.

“I see that you often play alone, and you are not interested in doing all the activities that the other children enjoy,” Aunt Susan said mildly. "I do not know if I have arranged anything that is not good for you."

"Oh no, Aunt Susan. Do not think so, please!" Camellia smiled lightly. “Life here is very good and I like it very much. It's just that I prefer to be alone more than participating in operating games. "

Aunt Susan sighed softly and told her a few more things. She was afraid that what had happened in the past would affect her, afraid that she would be uncomfortable. She said again that she had found out about the families coming to adopt children tomorrow. They were all very good. If Camellia doesn't want to live at Hope orphanage anymore, she will introduce her to the family that she thinks is the best. Aunt Susan also said, being adopted, her life would be better in this place.

"I don't want to be adopted," Camellia said. Her tone is very resolute. “I want to be here.”

"Why?" Aunt Susan asked. “Most of the children in the orphanages expect to be adopted by a good family. Why wouldn't you want to?"

“I'm afraid of being abandoned again…” Camellia only talked a half, then dropped the excuse she had made up and lowered her head.

She knew this one sentence would suffice, but added one more in a choked voice before she looked up at Susan with her red eyes.

"Can you let me stay here with you?"

Aunt Susan affectionately looked at Camellia with a light smile but two tears fell from the corner of her eye. Camellia was a little confused. Aunt Susan's crying was not part of her plan. She just thought that Aunt Susan would say "okay".

Camellia awkwardly wrapped the small arms of a six-year-old girl and hugged Aunt Susan. For those few seconds, it occurred to her that perhaps her suspicions were wrong. Aunt Susan probably wasn't Shasara incarnate.