THE ORPHANAGE

Chapter Five

PETER’S POV

I’ve been discussing with Hawkins about getting a job at the lumber mill since working at the construction site doesn’t really pay much, all they do is over work you and still pay you peanuts. I don’t need that kind of a payment now since I have 7 kids to take care of and one is still on the way.

I can’t tell Martha to get a part time job since she’s pregnant and besides who will take care of the kids, hopefully working at the lumber mill will bring in a lot of cash because is a herculean job and since they need more people, they’ll be willing to pay more and $3000 is enough to cater for my household.

I quickly stopped to get gas, there wasn’t really any filling station around my area, was getting closer to Hawkins’ place before I finally found a gas station.

But the place looks abandoned, like it went out of business years ago and they only have one dispenser which seems to be working perfectly and the other two were chained.

I tried to fuel my car but it wasn’t working, almost resorted into hitting the stupid thing then I figured I had to put in a couple of coins before actually fueling my car.

I walked into the mini mart and I saw a middle aged lady by the counter chewing a gum nastily and the big mole on her face seemed to be attracting flies or maybe it’s how nasty everything looks in here, even though the shelves were fully stocked with foodstuff and junks the floors still look dirty and unkempt and even the cartons of rotten bananas were still sitting by the trash waiting to be disposed but the lady just sat there doing nothing but reading a magazine and burping.

“um hello, I want to get gas” I said and she groaned as she dropped the magazine and looked at me, “you need to insert coins into the machine before getting your gas, hope that helped? Bye” she said with a straight face as she picked up the magazine

“I-I don’t have coins so I was hoping you’d could help me with a little change” I continued as I watched her in disgust, can’t really take my eyes off that mole though

“here, drop your dollar” she poured five coins on the counter for me and I slipped a $5 bill towards her, “I don’t have change for five dollars, mind getting anything else champ?” she said with her cracked voice

“uh, yeah sure” I walked toward the vending machine and slipped a coin into it, my drink dropped into the box and I bent to pick it up. Not really into yoghurt but Martha might need it.

On raising my head back up, the vending machine was completely empty and I turned sharply, the store was empty too and the lights started to flicker

“Hello, anyone there? Hey!” I yelled but instead one of the lights turned off completely, my hands started to shake, “who turned off the lights?” I yelled again and I heard a loud sparking sound, I quietly bent down and used my hands to shield my head

I quickly rushed towards the counter and swiped the remaining coins off the counter and inserted it into the dispenser so as to fuel my car.

As I waited impatiently, I started to hear footsteps walking towards me but I didn’t bother looking back, the atmosphere started to smell like sulphur and damn it smells so f*****g bad

I started hearing buzzing sounds and it became more and more closer, flies started to rush towards me and I moved back waving my hands in the air, I felt someone tapped me as I turned a weird looking man put his hands down my throat, my eyes screwed shut, on opening them back.

“hello, young man, would you like to get anything else?” the woman waved her hands in my face and I flinched

“uh- no no” I shook my head, “I don’t have any change champ” she leaned back on her seat

“Never mind, keep the change” I swiped the coins off the counter; I inserted it into the fuel dispenser and fueled my car. I took one last look at the place and I caught the woman staring at me before I drove of hurriedly.

MARTHA’S POV

I walked downstairs into the kitchen to offload the things I sent Juniper to get at the supermarket, we run out of foodstuffs every two weeks. I guess it’s not easy to take care of 7 kids at once, but I knew what I was getting into when I started this orphanage.

I looked into the brown bag she brought home and nodded positively as she got everything I wanted, the land line started ringing and I rushed into the living room

“Martha’s orphanage, how can we help you?” I smiled as I picked up the landline but there was no feedback on the other end, “hello, hello” I removed the landline from my ear and looked at it as if I could see the person on the other end

“hello” I said again and the line started to get static and i quickly dropped the landline, I heard dropping sounds in the kitchen and I turned sharply and I saw the apples rolling towards my feet

I stared at them confusedly and I walked slowly into the kitchen and all the other foodstuffs were all over the place, I looked around in confusion. It couldn’t be one of the kids that would have done this, they are all having their quiet time.

I bent to pick up all the apples and I heard running footsteps upstairs and I stopped to be sure of what I heard before I continued to pick the rest. I dropped the apples in the sink and picked up other foodstuff, sighing heavily as my back was starting to ache.

I heard dragging sounds like someone was dragging a body bag or something heavy around the house and I rushed out of the kitchen, standing confusedly in the passage I looked around and finally walked upstairs to check.

“Mama” I heard a little girl’s voice and I turned sharply, “mama,mama, mama” I heard a little girl say repeatedly and turned around in circles looking for where the voice is coming from

I finally saw a little girl sitting by the corner of the passage and I slowly walked towards her, she was stabbing a little doll and I stood in awe.

“mama, mama” she yelled as she stabbed the doll and I flinched, she turned to face me and I moved back slowly and she crawled towards me