THE ORPHANAGE

Chapter Eleven

MARTHA’S POV

Mrs. Fitzgerald was supposed to come and clean the cemetery today but she didn’t come or call that she won’t be available. I’m starting to get really worried about her, I know the trouble she’s been through with her son and I should be checking on her.

But I’m getting heavier by the day and my pregnancy will be six months by tomorrow, I dropped the plate of baby carrots and strawberries in front of Kalian as he kept coloring.

“What are you coloring sweetie?” I tilted to take a look at his drawings, “A tree” he said without shifting his attention

“Honey, wasn’t Mrs. Fitzgerald supposed to weed the cemetery today?” Peter asked as he walked in, “yeah but I don’t know if she’s still coming, she hasn’t called yet to confirm that she won’t be around so let’s wait a while” I said

“Alright then, I want to go check on Ashley in the hospital, I’ll be back soon” he pecked me, “won’t you maybe take her lunch or something?” I walked towards the kitchen

“the hospital has a strict rule against food coming from outside, they have a kitchen so I’m sure they’d give her something to eat” he grabbed his coat off the rack

“alright babe, do me and favor and stop by the grocery. We’re out of milk” I pointed to the fridge and he nodded before walking out of the house.

I paid my attention back on Kalian’s colorings and turns out he had colored multiple stuff, I haven’t had enough time to bond with kalian like I do with the other kids but I’m hoping that we could get closer and he would see me like a mother to him.

“can I take a look at your colorings?” I asked and he nodded positively before passing me multiple papers of different things he colored

I sat on the chair by the dining and placed the papers on the table so I could take a look at them one by one

I picked up the first paper and the smile automatically wiped off my face with what I saw, this is a coloring of his parents when their car crashed, is he missing his parents? How did he even know this was the exact thing that happened? He didn’t miss anything in his description of the crime scene

He colored everything right, including the bridge and…he drew someone in the back seat of the car. I dropped the paper and picked up another one, it’s a drawing of a boy..laying fast asleep in bed with a shadow figure standing and watching him. The boy looks like..it’s Dagwood.

I quickly picked up more papers and they were the drawings of the other kids, it’s like they were being watched, I got to the last paper and it was the drawing of the cemetery. Shadow figures were standing over open graves, my eyes widened and I dropped the papers and quickly got up.

“uh-um Kalian honey, what is the meaning of your colorings?” I asked nervously as I moved towards him but he didn’t pay any attention to me or say anything

“Kalian, Kalian” I placed my hand on his shoulder and he turned sharply, I flinched and his eye balls turned all white, “Death Martha!” he growled and I screamed and jerked up from the couch

I must have fallen asleep on the couch, I sat back on the couch.       The doorbell dinged and I flinched, I got up and opened the door.

“Hey!!” My sister said as she pulled me into a hug, “Mabel, you didn’t tell me you were coming over” I closed the door behind her as she walked in

“well I decided to surprise my sister and I don’t think I did anything wrong” she dropped her bag on the table and sat on the couch.

I chuckled softly as I sat beside her, “hey there champ” she whispered to my stomach and I giggled

“how I’ve missed you so much” she held my hands, “I missed you too, it must have been a stressful drive. How is Elijah?” I asked and the colors drained from her face

“oh, I’m so sorry” I patted her hand, “no it’s fine, I knew were weren’t going to work out anyways . so how hav…” she paused as her attention diverted to the band aid on my forehead.

“what happened?” she had a concerned look plastered on her face as she checked my head, “it’s been pretty rough around here, with the kids and everything. I even hallucinate” I chuckled nervously

“you could have at least called me to help you, and- oh my God did you fall?” she said as she saw the bruise on my elbow

“it’s nothing much” I said sarcastically, “you can’t be falling, it’s dangerous for the baby. And apart from that you might end up really sore, where was peter? Why couldn’t he be with you all the time?” she started to blame peter and little does she know that peter tries his possible best. We both share the work around here.

“No it’s not peter’s fault, he tries his possible best. But he can’t be here all the time, he has to work and besides I can handle it” I shrugged

“yeah, like you’re handling it right now” she said sarcastically and I sighed, “I’ll be fine okay?” I held her hand and she exhaled

“okay fine, but don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything. How are you coping with the kids? Must be stressful preparing all six of them for school” she chuckled

“school?” I asked as I got up and walked to the kitchen to get her a glass of juice, “they don’t go to school” I placed the juice on the mini table and dragged it towards her

“what do you mean they don’t go to school?” she arched a brow as she sipped from her glass, “you mean you just keep those kids in here all day?” she added

“yeah, they are troubled kids. They can’t be anywhere near more kids so they won’t be bullied or called weird and besides I home school them and teach them coloring so they won’t be doing nothing at all” I explained

“No  no, you can’t do that Martha. They need to socialize and see the world as a different places and not as dangerous as they think it is, I understand that you’re concerned about them but trust me you won’t be doing much when you get heavier than this” she pointed to my stomach and I sighed

“I’m the only one that knows how to take care of my kids, what If they don’t treat them right in school? What if they get injured or….” She cut me off

“Martha Martha, they’ll be fine. Don’t rob them of the opportunity to enjoy their childhood, these kids have been through a lot and they deserve to have a normal childhood” she persuaded

“okay fine, but I have seven kids how will pay for all their school fees?” I rubbed my temple, “the world is evolved now and you’d know that if you actually get out much. There are government schools that are free to the less privilege, Even Christian schools like Saint Mary that’s just around the corner here.” I sipped from my glass

“Okay, I’ll discuss about it with peter and we’ll check on the school later” I finally agreed,

“you don’t have to worry about checking out the school, I’ll get all the paper work and bring them here. just fill them and they’ll be ready to go” she said excitedly

“Thank you Mabel” I pulled her into a hug, “I’m just happy you decided to give these kids a chance. Now what can I help you with before I leave” she got up and looked around the house

“um-well I’ve done most things, just to prepare lunch before the kids wake up” I walked into the kitchen, “so what do you have in mind?” she asked as she followed me swiftly

“I’m thinking macaroni and cheese” I said as I checked the expiry date on the box of Macaroni, “I’m sure you’ve been feeding these kids too much dairy, how about turkey wraps or maybe even pizzas for a change. You can’t keep cooking all the time” she leaned on the dining table

“they can’t all eat pizza. Leslie is allergic to olives, Anthony doesn’t eat onions, Cassandra thinks mushrooms are baby fungus and Dagwood doesn’t even know what a pizza tastes like” I sighed and rubbed my back

“you’re just getting yourself unnecessarily worked up, I’ll handle this just go sit” she said and walked back in to go rest.