THE ORPHANAGE

Chapter Seventeen

PETER’S POV

I made sure I provided food for Martha and the kids before leaving the motel, I’ve been trying to reach out to father Matthew but his number hasn’t been reachable. I’ll try again later but right now I need to know how and when kalian took a picture in our house and how he was in an orphanage.

I parked my car in front of Mr. Downer’s antique shop, the bell chimed as i walked in.

“Mr. Downer?” I called as I walked around in the shop, my eyes going through the old artifacts in the shop, I came across an old vase with Greek pictures around it, I reached towards it “don’t touch that” he said as he walked out of the storage room

“Except you have a million dollars to make up for it” he came towards where I was standing by the vase, “welcome Peter, Your visit is quite surprising , how may I help you?” he gave me a handshake as we moved towards his seat

“I should have called before coming but it’s urgent, I need you to help me take a look at this” I brought out the picture from my jacket and placed it on the table

He swiped the picture off the table to take a look at it, “hmn” he exhaled

“it’s quite an old picture you’ve got here?” he dropped the picture on the table and opened his drawer, “you mean it’s really old?, like when? Do you have an idea of the year?” I asked eagerly and he chuckled softly

“don’t be too anxious and let me figure it out” he put on his glasses and his flashlight, he kept looking at the picture and I kept sighing and tapping my feet impatiently

How the hell did a kid we just adopted show up in a old picture in the house, He finally dropped the picture and removed his glasses

“well?” I shrugged, “this picture was taken in the year 2000” he said and my jaw dropped, 2000? But kalian is eight years old, how is that even possible.

“are you sure about this Mr. Downer?” I asked in doubt, “I’ve been an antique collector for years, I know my stuff” he arched a brow and I remained stunned

“Mr. Downer, that kid in the picture. My wife and I just adopted him a month ago” I said, “why would you adopt a 21 year old kid? I thought your orphanage was for troubled children only” he asked

“You don’t understand, the kid is not 21. He’s eight” I said and his eyes widened, “eight? Are you sure he’s not having any growth problem or disease?’ he asked further

“No, we checked all his records. He has no sickness at all” I gesticulated, He remained silent.  “do you believe in reincarnation? Or what if the boy was just a look alike?” he asked

The door chimed and a customer walked in, he got up quickly.

“how may I help you?” he asked the customer, “I just want to take a look at your collection of Glamerge eggs” the lady said, “this way please and I’ll be with you in a minute” he pointed to a section in the shop and came back to me

“with what I’ve seen, honestly I don’t even know what I believe anymore Mr. Downer” I shook my head and he sighed

“you see, you might have a problem on your hands. I recognize this lady and this kid” he pointed to the lady standing beside Kalian in the picture. “she and her husband owned an orphanage, until one unfortunate incident that wiped out the kid in there, wait” he bent and dropped a newspaper in front of me

I grabbed a hold of the newspaper and you could tell it’s old by how damp it looks and how some pages were coming out, MYSTERIOUS KILLER WIPED OUT CHILDREN IN THE MCGREGOR ORPHANAGE” I read the headline and I quickly looked at Mr. Downer

“ They all died?” I asked, “all of them, except the woman that claims it was the kid that did it” he pointed to Kalian “the cops thought she lost her mind and locked her up in saint john’s psychiatric hospital, kept her in a stray jacket. They said she keeps seeing something that’s not there, tagged her extremely dangerous” he added.

“If I go to her, will she be able to talk to me?” I asked.  I need more explanation, Kalian cannot be 21 years old. Everything doesn’t even make any sense, I need to hear it from her myself.

“she’ll talk but she says only sentence at a time, just tell them you’re asking of Mrs. McGregor” he said and got up , “I’ll see you later” he went to meet his customer

 I rushed out of the shop and into my car and drove to the motel as fast as I could