Chapter 21
845 Words
Crow was at the orphanage watching the younger Crow and White. It appeared that some time has passed since first being dropped off here by Edolas; Crow and White appeared a bit older and Ashley was a high school girl.
“How much time has passed?” Crow asked the shadowed figure beside him.
“About two years since being dropped off here.”
Crow smiled, “She looks great.”
“I think she was in her junior year at the time.”
The building appeared to need repairs in places, while other spots looked as good as new.
The children were playing with each other, laughs being heard throughout.
Ashley had gone into the kitchen and back out to call the children to the table.
“Food is ready everyone!”
“Food!” The children yelled in unison, running to the table.
They all sat in their chairs waiting for the food to be served.
Ashley came back from the kitchen, plates on a tray, almost as if she were a waitress. She laid the plates on the table in front of the children, within the plates were pancakes.
“Pancakes!” They all cheered.
Ashley placed the syrup at the center of the table before looking every one of the children in the eye.
“Eat all of the pancakes you guys. We can’t have food being wasted, alright?”
“Yes ma’am.” They all said in unison.
Ashley passed the syrup to the child on her right before going to grab her backpack from her little space within the building.
When she returned to the table, all of the children had finished pouring the syrup onto their pancakes, she placed her homework from school onto the table.
Young Crow looked across the table at her homework.
“Is that Ale-ge-brah?” he asked curiously, pronouncing the word slowly.
Ashley giggled, “It’s Algebra and yeah it is.”
“Is it hard?”
“Yeah a little bit.”
“I don’t think I wanna go to high school…”
Ashley looked at him sternly, “You are going. Understand? You need to.”
Young Crow reluctantly nodded.
She smiled a little, “Hey, and when you do and you get a girlfriend you truly think you are going to stay with, introduce me. That goes for all of you young boys. And to the young girls, introduce me to your boyfriends. If he turns out to be a delinquent, I swear to God I’ll-”
“What’s a delinquent?” Crow asked before she could finish.
She smiled, “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.” She looked down and continued to do her homework.
After everyone finished their pancakes, they went to go take showers before bed.
Ashley finished her homework after an hour and a knock came from the door. She went to answer it.
When she opened it, a man stood on the other side of the door.
“I brought some more money to help you fix the place. He handed her half a million dollars.
Ashley smiled, “Thank you, do you want to see Crow and White today?”
“I filled out the paperwork already, didn’t I?”
She looked at the man, “Oh yeah you did. I’ll go get them now.”
She went to the room where they had started to get their beds ready to sleep in.
“Hey you two, Edolas is here.”
Their eyes began to reflect their happiness.
“Edolas? He’s here!?”
She nodded and the two ran out of their room and began running to the front door.
Edolas smiled at the two children, “Hey, guess what? I’m going to adopt you guys today!”
The two young boys smiled, “Really!?”
“Really.”
“Yay!”
They began to run back to collect their things.
Ashley looked back at them, sadness tinged in her eyes.
“Hey, it’s okay, I’ll make sure to have them visit every once in a while.”
She smiled a bit, “thank you.”
The two boys came running back to the door, each carrying a bag full of clothes.
Ashley went on her knees, giving the two boys a kiss on the forehead.
“Be good you two.” She looked each of them sternly in the eye before offering a smile.
The kids, in response, gave Ashley a tight hug before turning to Edolas and leaving.
As young Crow reached the door, he turned back to Ashley.
“I know that you worry about if you take care of us well enough, but I think you’ve done a good enough job. Seriously, you’re mom-material.”
Ashley smiled in response, “oh yeah? Well, I’ll have you know that I don’t plan on having children just yet.”
“Well, when you do, I know they’ll be great and behave well.” He smiled before turning around. Young Crow walked out of the door, making his way to Edolas’ car.
- Writer
