Adopted

"Shhh... don't cry." Eric contemplated is he should try to wipe away my tears since I once rejected his touch.

"I'm fine."

I said with no emotion in my voice nor in my eyes.

"Okay, maybe I should leave you for a while, just for me or the nurses if you need something." He said as he excused himself out of the room.

I felt empty.

I have died but I woke up in a similar body as to what I had in the past.

Do I really deserve this? As they have said I was cursed to be alone.

Even now, I'm an orphan.

No family and now, no memories of my past in this life.

I touch my face which used to be full of scars and burns…

I brush my hair which used to be short and uneven.

I hugged my body which used to be tossed aside, kicked and, bruised black and blue.

Am I supposed to live through hardship again?

I feel tired.

I laid my body back unto the bed then stared up on the ceiling.

Will everything be repeated again? Am I going to be called as a cursed child again?

As I asked that to myself my consciousness faded out.

___

A few days ago I got out of the hospital and went back to the old orphanage.

Everyone knew that I've lost my memories and maybe that is why they have been nice to me, And I can't bear to be friendly to people, knowing that I've been orchestrated by hundreds of people to die.

I picked out a book out of the dozen books on the shelf, although it is a little old the covers are in tatters but the words inside can still be read.

I held the book tightly then went out of the house. I directly ran towards the apple tree in the front yard then sat under it.

I was wearing a white dress that reached only two inches above my knees so I sat carefully in a lady-like manner to avoid wrinkling my dress and cover my legs properly.

I began to read.

___

"We are here master." The driver said.

An old man got out of the car along with his assistant in tow.

"Master are you sure you want to adopt in this orphanage? The condition of the children here may not be passable to your standard." A man around the age of forty said as he looked at the worn out house with little malnourished children running around from yard.

"That's why I wanted to adopt one of them and donate to this orphanage, people should care for those who are really unfortunate." The old man gently said to his assistant.

"You have a big heart master." The assistant slightly bowed.

The old man walked and entered through then open wooden gate along with his assistant.

The children looked at them full of curiosity for a brief second but then turned around and played again.

"The children here are really oblivious to the world, if this was in other orphanages, they would have crowded the visitors to curry favours for them to be adopted."

The assistant thought to himself as he gazed upon the children until he saw a girl in white under the apple tree looking like a little fairy reading a book.

"Master…" The assistant called out to the old man.

"Hmm?" The old master saw that his assistant stopped on his tracks and stared at a distance.

He followed the gaze of his assistant and also saw the little fairy reading a book.

He looked at her eyes focusing on her book without care in the world. It was pure and innocent but there was also a void of everything.

It was quite contrasting to see such a young girl with the age of around seven or eight looking like a grown lady.

He found her.

The one the will be his granddaughter.

Seeing his old master smile, the assistant knew they found their new young miss.

Both of them hurriedly went inside to talk to people in-charge of this orphanage, they can't wait to introduce their new young miss to everyone.

___

"Angel..." Eric came up to me and called out my name. He was smiling ear to ear, both reluctance and happiness can be seen in his eyes.

"What is it Brother Eric?" I asked.

"Someone wants to meet you, let's go inside." He said as he signalled me to follow him, so I got up and followed him inside.

As soon as we went to the office of Ma'am Nilfa, I saw two men talking with her while all three of them are smiling.

*Knock* *Knock* Eric knocked the door that was wide open twice to let the people inside know of our presence.

Little did I know, the next words totally changed my life.

"Oh here she is, Angel meet your new family." Ma'am Nilfa said as she pointed with both hands to the Old man wearing a suit.

"Hi Angel, I'll be your grandpa from now on, I'm Mr Wilfred Patterson." He beamed

"Your name now is Angel Patterson, welcome to the family."

Warmth that was unknown to me flown across the room like a hurricane.

I'll have a family?