Spirited Away
Portion Two
A few hours later I headed downstairs for lunch. I could smell the pasta from my room, yum.
I sat down in my usual spot at the table. The orphanage was in chaos as per usual, these kids were impossible to tame. The oldest kid here was seventeen. His name was Kevin and he kept to himself, only coming down for meals. I had often wondered what he did all those hours, cooped up in his room, morning noon and night. We didn’t go to school, so we didn’t have six hours of boredom to fill up the time. Each week we were assigned chores to do but they never took that long, considering how many kids there were.
This week my chore was dinner dishes. Along with two other kids that I hadn’t been bothered learned the names of (they had only arrived last week, I think their parents died in a car crash) we had to clean all the dishes brought in after evening meals, which included the mugs for hot chocolate. Something I couldn’t be bothered doing because by then everyone had gone to sleep.
“Sit down!” I look behind me, Nurse Nelson (and unless you haven’t noticed yet we call all our caretakers by their last name with the word nurse attached to the front, I don’t know why, they’re not certified or anything) stood with her arms crossed and a stern look on her face. She had been known as the strictest and most likely to crack since her first day here.
I remember that day like it was yesterday. It also happened to be the same day that the Young family had taken me in. Not according to their name, the Young family was far from young. They were fifty and had three grown up children who had moved overseas, but I guess they wanted more, they’re the kind of parents that can never stop loving. Really liked there, I had my own room and balcony too. But all that came to an end when Mrs. Young had a heart attack (god bless her soul) and died. Mr. Young was incapable of taking care of me; he ended up moving overseas to stay with his son.
While I had been thinking everyone had been seated (after a stern talk from Nurse. Nelson about good behavior) and lunch was being served. Just as I had smelled we were having pasta, cheese pasta, my favourite.
We ate in silence apart from a few giggles. Some of the kids had begun making faces behind Nelson’s back. Guys, that is so childish, but then again they were only five.
I finished lunch before everyone, but as table rules no one could leave until everyone had finished eating and the table had been cleared. Here’s another interesting fact you may like to know (well if you lived here you’d find it interesting, anything’s interesting if oyu have nothing to do all day) we were all seated accordingly, like a seating plan if you will. It went around the table clockwise, from oldest to youngest.
I had the fourth seat, being the fourth oldest. When you reached eighteen you had to leave. Some people went to the homeless shelter (the place you went to when you had no where else to go) or some got a job and paid for their room and board here until they could get a real home or apartment. When I reached eighteen I planned to move as far away from here as possible.
As time progressed eventually everyone finished their meal and Nurse Carter came into clear the table. A few minutes’ later three boys left their seats and went into the kitchen. Then Nurse Nelson came and dismissed us.
As soon as she turned her back the room went into utter chaos. I dodged a flying ball and headed upstairs. The halls were quiet what with everyone downstairs and all. I heard a door close behind me and assumed it was Kevin going back into his room.
These were the moments I cherished, the times of pure solitude and serenity (although I didn’t know what those words meant exactly, I had heard them being used a few times) it was utter bliss.
I walked along the halls, occasionally looking in on people’s unoccupied rooms, until I reached an old wooded door. This door lead up to the attic, the only room in the house (for it originally was one, until it had more rooms attached to the sides and top) that had a veranda. There I could spend hours looking out into the countryside, reading a book, or simply relaxing with my thoughts. Occasionally I listened to the various birdcalls and tried to master them myself, although I wasn’t very good at it.
The door creaked open, this was my usual past time but I hadn’t been up here in a while. The floor was dusty and the walls were covered cobwebs, (does it ever occur to you, that whilst the cobweb may be the spiders home, you never do see it dwell there?) I made my way over to the veranda.
The old, run down beach chair I used to sit on was still there as old and broken as ever, but it never bothered me. I made my self comfortable and looked up into the sky, it was beautiful this time of day, there was no glare coming from the sun and the wind was just a slight breeze.
Like I said, total bliss.
I sat down in my usual spot at the table. The orphanage was in chaos as per usual, these kids were impossible to tame. The oldest kid here was seventeen. His name was Kevin and he kept to himself, only coming down for meals. I had often wondered what he did all those hours, cooped up in his room, morning noon and night. We didn’t go to school, so we didn’t have six hours of boredom to fill up the time. Each week we were assigned chores to do but they never took that long, considering how many kids there were.
This week my chore was dinner dishes. Along with two other kids that I hadn’t been bothered learned the names of (they had only arrived last week, I think their parents died in a car crash) we had to clean all the dishes brought in after evening meals, which included the mugs for hot chocolate. Something I couldn’t be bothered doing because by then everyone had gone to sleep.
“Sit down!” I look behind me, Nurse Nelson (and unless you haven’t noticed yet we call all our caretakers by their last name with the word nurse attached to the front, I don’t know why, they’re not certified or anything) stood with her arms crossed and a stern look on her face. She had been known as the strictest and most likely to crack since her first day here.
I remember that day like it was yesterday. It also happened to be the same day that the Young family had taken me in. Not according to their name, the Young family was far from young. They were fifty and had three grown up children who had moved overseas, but I guess they wanted more, they’re the kind of parents that can never stop loving. Really liked there, I had my own room and balcony too. But all that came to an end when Mrs. Young had a heart attack (god bless her soul) and died. Mr. Young was incapable of taking care of me; he ended up moving overseas to stay with his son.
While I had been thinking everyone had been seated (after a stern talk from Nurse. Nelson about good behavior) and lunch was being served. Just as I had smelled we were having pasta, cheese pasta, my favourite.
We ate in silence apart from a few giggles. Some of the kids had begun making faces behind Nelson’s back. Guys, that is so childish, but then again they were only five.
I finished lunch before everyone, but as table rules no one could leave until everyone had finished eating and the table had been cleared. Here’s another interesting fact you may like to know (well if you lived here you’d find it interesting, anything’s interesting if oyu have nothing to do all day) we were all seated accordingly, like a seating plan if you will. It went around the table clockwise, from oldest to youngest.
I had the fourth seat, being the fourth oldest. When you reached eighteen you had to leave. Some people went to the homeless shelter (the place you went to when you had no where else to go) or some got a job and paid for their room and board here until they could get a real home or apartment. When I reached eighteen I planned to move as far away from here as possible.
As time progressed eventually everyone finished their meal and Nurse Carter came into clear the table. A few minutes’ later three boys left their seats and went into the kitchen. Then Nurse Nelson came and dismissed us.
As soon as she turned her back the room went into utter chaos. I dodged a flying ball and headed upstairs. The halls were quiet what with everyone downstairs and all. I heard a door close behind me and assumed it was Kevin going back into his room.
These were the moments I cherished, the times of pure solitude and serenity (although I didn’t know what those words meant exactly, I had heard them being used a few times) it was utter bliss.
I walked along the halls, occasionally looking in on people’s unoccupied rooms, until I reached an old wooded door. This door lead up to the attic, the only room in the house (for it originally was one, until it had more rooms attached to the sides and top) that had a veranda. There I could spend hours looking out into the countryside, reading a book, or simply relaxing with my thoughts. Occasionally I listened to the various birdcalls and tried to master them myself, although I wasn’t very good at it.
The door creaked open, this was my usual past time but I hadn’t been up here in a while. The floor was dusty and the walls were covered cobwebs, (does it ever occur to you, that whilst the cobweb may be the spiders home, you never do see it dwell there?) I made my way over to the veranda.
The old, run down beach chair I used to sit on was still there as old and broken as ever, but it never bothered me. I made my self comfortable and looked up into the sky, it was beautiful this time of day, there was no glare coming from the sun and the wind was just a slight breeze.
Like I said, total bliss.