10| A Visit to the Orphanage (Part 1)

||KIARA'S POV ||

Sipping the hot aromatic coffee, I looked at Rose, who was talking with her dad at the phone.

"Yeah, dad!! Be assured!!.

"....."

"Yeah, I will ".

"....."

"No, they're here ".

"....."

"Mmmm...you too take care".

"....."

"Love you too", saying so she hung down her phone, rubbing her temples.

Ysabella stays here in NYC after she had completed her high school. She moved out of her house to live here on her own. She worked as a waitress in a cafe, near her apartment. After her dad had married again, she had become quite distant from him. Her stepmother was not a sweet or caring lady but was very self-centred who loves only her own daughter.

" What happened?", I asked her cautiously.

"No..nothing much. Dad said they will not come to visit soon. Tory has an annual function at school, and they will go with her. ", she said with a heavy sigh.

" Ohh...leave them, we will enjoy together", I assured her while keeping my hand on her shoulder. She nodded with a small smile.

Picking up the empty cup, I stood up and headed towards the kitchen. Lia

m and Bella were again immersed in their usual bickering.

" Don't lie!! You have only eaten them ", Bella accused him with a threatening voice.

" Nope, I didn't. Every time it's not me only", he answered back while shaking his head sidewards. I walked towards the sink and opened the faucet. The water gushed down and filled the empty mug while I rubbed the stains of caffeine inside the mug.

"Ohh, really... No one touches my Oreo except for you ", Bella snarled with gritted teeth. I kept the mug back to the rack and headed towards them.

" Both of you!!! Stop now!! We're here to talk about the note, not to argue with each other ", I said in a firm tone while eyeing both of them accused.

" Fine!! You're forgiven this time " Bella said to Liam with a loud huff. Liam's face stretched with a huge grin.

"Yeah yeah... I know... Now Kia, come let's discuss the note", saying so he walked out of the kitchen bumping his shoulder intentionally against a fuming Bella.

I huffed at their childish bickering and headed towards the couch.

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" So, Kia!! I think we should start from the first. Police are so inactive in the whole matter and its time for us to take care of this matter on our hands ", Rose said beginning the discussion.

" Yeah, that's true. I guess the birthday party was the last place she had visited", I said while tapping a finger on my chin.

"Umm...Her birthday party was at the orphanage, right?", Bella asked from beside Rose. I nodded my head.

"So, that's the first place we should visit to know more of the matter", Liam said while looking lost in his intuitions.

" Yeah, that will be right... The day after her birthday party was when the incident occurred so that party must have to do something with this affair", I said while pondering on their words.

"So, let's visit the orphanage. ", Bella said with hopeful eyes as if giving the best notion.

" Yeah, let's go then ", saying so we stood up from the couch and headed outside towards my car.

Slipping into the driver sit, Liam settled himself. I sat in the passenger seat while Bella and Rose at the back.

Putting the seatbelts securely, we drove away to St. Margeret's Home.

--------

Stepping out from the car, I looked around the small white house stood in front of me.

The green flushed lawn somewhat looked the same. The grasses were taller now, which seemed not to have trimmed for long. The loud joyous chattering sound of the small children camouflaged the atmosphere. The laughing sound of a small girl swinging on the swing on the big olive tree sounded like a chord struck in a low strain of music. A girl was pushing her forward to keep the swinging on pace. Some were swirling around a child whose eyes were covered with white lace. The familiar game somewhat struck the oldest chord of memories in my heart. The child was trying so hard to get hold of her friends while circulating her hands around her to catch hold of them, but they were sprinting away while laughing. Some were sliding down from the tall slider beside the huge olive tree while some were waiting for their turns. The chattering and murmuring sounds of the kids filled the air like a thick fog in winter mornings.

The entire scene played in front of me like a movie, flooding back some past memories. I stared at them, while my eyes felt heavy with some new hefty drops of salty tears. The cool, fresh breeze past my face, fluttering some of my black hairs on my pale cheeks and lips. I didn't bother to remove them. The bright and blazing sun rays fell on a small mirror kept on the grass, where my eyes drifted to. Some small kids were looking at it intensely, maybe trying to decipher something.

I paced towards them, with a small smile playing on my lips.

" What are you doing sweethearts?", I asked while crouching down to their levels.

"Umm...actually, Laurie read in a book that using sun rays, we can ignite a fire", he said in a low disappointed voice

I smiled at their small attempts.

" I will help you all, with that. What's say?", I asked with a smile.

"Really!", the boy said whose face lit up like the Christmas fairy lights.

I nodded and all three of them beamed with excitement.

I took hold of the mirror and kept it at a place where the sun rays fall pointedly. The sun rays fell on the mirror and the ray reflected and fell on a paper kept at front.

The scorching intense ray ignites a small spark on the paper front of the mirror kept at an angle.

Their face stretched with a huge grin.

I felt so contented looking at those honey-dripping smiles.

The spark started to ignite a bit more and more and eventually, some of the children started rushing towards this small flame.

Seeing the rising fire, I perished it under my shoes so that it would not spread more and kept the mirror away from the sun.

" Honey, we need to put off the fire otherwise, it will catch fire everywhere", I said while looking at the grinning faces.

"Ohh", they said together in a single voice while I giggled at their antics.

" Now, you shouldn't try this without adult supervision...okay!", I talked slowly to make them understand.

"Why? ", one of the cute voice asked with eagerness.

"Because honey, they're sometimes very dangerous. So, promise me not to try this alone?", I asked sweetly, while extending my palm.

They all kept their small palms on mine and nodded their heads.

"I promise", all of the voices cried together while nodding their heads vigorously.

I smiled at them and engulfed all of them in a hug.

The smiling faces of these adorable kids felt so contented to my soul.

" Kiara!!", a familiar female voice called from behind. Breaking the hug, I looked at the direction of the voice.

Rose was calling me while using her hand to call me towards her. I stood up from my crouched position.

"I need to go now, sweethearts. I will talk later on", I said with a huge grin.

" You're going...", one of a chestnut-haired small boy said in a sad tone.

"I will come back soon honey. Don't be sad", I said with a smile and stroking his hairs.

They smiled and nodded their heads. I walked towards Rose, who was standing with Bella and Liam and Ms Swift.

Ms Swift was the head caretaker of the orphanage. She was a brown-haired lady in her fifties with a pair of beautiful black eyes. She looked after this orphanage, since my Grandma's time. Her love and care towards the children ebb away all the hollowness in their hearts after being left alone. Her motherly smile always showers everyone with utmost love and affection. Her brown hair was neatly held up in a bun, while her long white gown left a few inches below her knees. The silver chained spectacle hanging down her neck adds more prosperous look to her.

I smiled and hugged her tightly.

"After so many days hun. I was missing all of you and so are the children.", she said while pulling from the hug.

We entered into the large white building. The long, gigantic corridor was lit up with the luminous, golden sun rays. The walls were filled with beautiful arts and graffiti, reminding me of the time when I, along with V and other kids used to paint on these walls. The drawings had somewhat faded with time but the tints were still inscribed clearly. I looked around, reminiscing those olden days.

"We were thinking of renovating the orphanage a bit", Ms Swift's words snapped me out from my reverie.

" Ohh!! That will be great", I responded to her with a smile plastered on my face.

"Wow!! That's a great news Charlotte!", Liam said with a huge grin, and putting his hand around her shoulder.

She nodded while chuckling.

"Ms Swift actually, we came to talk about something...", I trailed off while looking at her smiling countenance.

" Yes dear, you may ask anything", She said while holding my hands.

"Actually, we need to know little more details about Viola's birthday party here", I told her in a low voice.

Viola's last birthday, which was on the day before her murder, was celebrated in this orphanage.

The entire place was decorated lavishly with her favourites. We four, along with the orphanage children and Aaron set up the entire birthday party as a surprise for her.

The auditorium of the orphanage was decorated with balloons, banners and streamers. The rainbow-tinted decorations, along with her favourite chocolate cake and some fairy lights plugged the entire surprise.

We spent the entire day, adorning the auditorium and putting up all the gifts on a table and then surprising her.

When our plan was accomplished, the huge grin plastered on her face, satisfied me of our work and making it worthy of the effort.

Those sea-green eyes were glistening with happiness and contentment. Her lips were curved up in a smile with benign seeping from it. I couldn't but was mesmerised at the moment when we shared a warm and firm hug with love radiating from each other.

" Ahh!! Hun, there wasn't much to tell. The party was as you all had planned. ", she said with a sigh and gripping my hand firmly.

" I mean, was there anything bizarre on that day? Like any suspicious thing or person?", I asked her with dreadful feeling tingling in my chest.

She shook her head while drowning in her thoughts.

"No hun, I didn't notice anything suspicious. Everyone was as per your guest list ", she said after a while.

" Thank you, Ms Swift. That was enough info for us", I said her with a grim smile.

Saying so, I gave her the last firm hug and turned around to face Liam.

"Where are Bella and Rose?", I asked him noticing the absence of Bella and Rose.

"They have gone to ask other caretakers", he said while pointing towards the rooms at the end of the hall.

I nodded and grabbing Liam's hand, I pulled him towards the direction of Bella and Rose.

"Kiara!! That day, there was a disruption in electricity for a few minutes, when you had gone to bring your mum and everything had gone black", Charlotte shouted from behind after a while.

I halted on my tracks and looked behind at her.

"Okay Ms Swift, we will keep that in mind", saying so I gave her a last smile and got disappeared in the rooms at the end of the hall.

To be continued...