Chapter 1
I had always been alone in this world. I have never felt loved before because I didn’t have anyone who loved me. My parents had died in a fire, I would have as well but I had been saved by a kind young woman. She took me with her since I had no one to go to. I later found out that she runs an orphanage. That’s what I was...an orphan. Christmas was around the corner when I could almost smell the warm, hot chocolate warming my hands with sticky marshmallows melting in the heat. Every year during the holidays us orphans would be given gifts as we would go caroling in the neighborhood but not this year…
The pandemic hit, millions of lives lost and more orphans joined us. I could almost feel their pain as some of the new kids talked about their parents or grandparents dying, leaving them in an uncertain world to face alone. I never had any trouble with the emotional side of my life...my parent’s dying. I don’t even remember what they looked like. I had only been a toddler when they died so it wasn’t that hard for me to overcome their deaths but for kids who had lived with their parents for so many years...well, it’s like a part of you is missing. My best friend Elsie who had lost her mother when she was eight years old and her father during the beginning stage of the pandemic was always talking about how she had missed their kind, caring faces of her parents. How her father made her laugh when her mom died or how her mother had thrown a birthday party for her. I would listen eagerly as she would list all those blissful memories...the only memories she ever had of them. I had to admit, I was kinda jealous of Elsie. She at least got to be with her parents, even if it didn’t last long. I on the other hand have not had those memorable moments in my life that helped me through challenges that life throws at me.
But in my heart, the world...I consider my family. No matter, color, race or gender. Aren’t we all human?
Don’t we all have a heart and breath oxygen to live? Sure we might have people who are closer to us than others but still...we all need to get together to solve things. All the kids at the orphanage in my opinion are... my family. Sure, I don’t quite know everyone here but doesn’t mean I won’t.
Ever since the virus had disrupted the whole world, us orphans haven’t been able to go outside frequently. The nuns have ordered us to be in pairs and live separately so we won’t hopefully spread the virus.
