Chapter 4

"How long have you been standing there?" I asked my nosy uncle.

It seems that nosiness runs in the blood of the Alcantara. My uncle is grinning at me while standing behind the sister who called me. Like the fool he is. I walked past him and went straight to my room to, as the sister said, pack my things.

I mostly packed my notebooks, drawing books, and books that the librarian gave me on my birthday for the past ten years. Most of the books have been fiction, but no one would think that they are suitable for kids my age when they were given to me. Now that I think about it, if my uncle's men became priests just to protect me from the mafia, does that also mean that the sisters here are also trained?

As I cocked my head to side, I heard footsteps outside my door, ones that I am not familiar with. I took out one of the forks I took from the dining hall during breakfast from my pockets before standing up and opened the door. Thankfully, I stopped before I could stab one of my uncle's men. How I knew that? He immediately put his hands up in the air, as if he were giving up. I raised an eyebrow at him before asking,

"What do you want? I'm not done packing yet."

He did not put his hands down while he answered. "Sir Gabriel just wanted to inform you that he will be waiting outside with the car while you pack. And I will be here to carry your bags to the car."

Once I deemed that he is not going to harm me, I lowered the fork but did not let go of it. I told him to wait for me outside the door and to not come inside unless I say so. He nodded and I unapologetically slammed the door in his face. I continued to pack my things. After I secured my books, I started to pack my clothes and other stuff.

Once I was done with everything, I called the guy standing outside of my room and told him that I am done and that he can come in to take my bags to the car.

"I'll follow after I finish saying my goodbyes to everybody here. Thank you!" I said to him while he just bowed before leaving me to finish my business. I nodded my head and went to the twins' room and told them that I would be leaving the orphanage today. These twins are the most mischievous kids of the orphanage, so I expected them to say that they do not believe me and that I should stop lying. Instead, they burst into tears and immediately went to hug me as tightly as they could. I have never seen these two cry like babies, howling and throwing tantrums.

I pushed them at arms length and both looked them in the eye. They immediately stopped wailing but were still sniffling their noses while containing their sobs. I seriously looked at them before asking,

"Are you guys okay? You were never this way before."

They both looked at each other and smiled before saying,

"We will miss you a lot. Don't forget to send us art supplies and snacks. Promise?"

I sighed deeply and just shook my head at what they said before smiling at them.

"Now I am seeing the twins that I know. You guys take care of the younger kids, okay? I'll make sure to send you all the art supplies that you could ever need."

They smiled at each other before pushing me out of their room and said "Bye!" in unison.

I laughed at them and went my merry way to the door that leads to the courtyard where the car of my uncle is waiting for me. I am going to miss those two, annoying they may be.

When I opened the door, my uncle was leaning on a black Bentley while his guards were standing on each side with their arms folded in front of them. I could see from where I am standing an assortment of guns on each of the guards.

When I looked up to where my uncle was, I could see a smirk forming on his face. I rolled my eyes before strutting towards him. I stopped just before my uncle and looked at him until he got the hint to move so I could get in the car. Thankfully, he was not that dense. He stood straight and got out of the way. I opened the car, got in, and slammed the door shut.

He just shook his head and went to the other side of the car. He got in beside me and immediately told me,

"My guard told me that you almost stabbed him with a fork. For you to be that alert, are you always in danger?"

I shook my head, but said, "I once found someone following me when I was getting groceries with Sister Nina once. I was 14 when that happened. I also see a few people from time to time looking in."

I wasn't looking at my uncle when I said that because I was trying to fasten my seatbelt, so I was weirded out when I did not hear a single word come out of him. I looked up and saw him just staring at me. I looked at his guards and they were also just staring at me. I looked back at them and widened my eyes at them before asking,

"What? What's wrong?"

"When did that happen?", my uncle asked.

"Umm, maybe every other day since the day I went with Sister Nina? I'm not too sure. But they are always different people. And I know that it could just be a coincidence, but the way they moved was so similar, so I have reason to believe that they have the same goal." I replied.

"What do they look like?" a guard asked.

"Uh, let me try to remember. There was one that was as tall as you, uncle. He had a beard, a buzz cut, and a high nose bridge. He had a medium build with a developing beer belly. Oh, that was the one who I caught following us during grocery day. Then there was..."

I listed several more descriptions of the people stalking the orphanage to them and added one last description for them.

"Before I forget, they were all foreigners. Of different races and descent. So if the Spanish mafia is comprised of people with different races and descent, then bada bing, bada boom, they're your guys. Did you guys get all of that? Because I didn't see any of you taking notes."

I playfully asked them and I regretted it.

"We might need to evacuate everybody in the orphanage, right now. Go to John and tell him to evacuate everybody to Bunk number ten. ASAP."