Clouds River Valley

It was an afternoon on a rainy day of late December that Miya first arrived in the orphanage. Surprisingly, it hadn’t snowed yet, the rain just stopped not a while ago, you could tell the withered grass not far away was still wet with some fallen leaves scattered on top of it. Suddenly, a gust blew one of the leaves and sent it to the air, the leaf flew to about 10 feet high and then hit to a dark brown wall and got attached to the wall for a while. The wall was taller than a grown-up man, about 8 feet tall, there was also fence installed through the wall, you could see the giant mansion located deep far in the yard through the fence. Looking over the other side of the wall, there were some words carved on it: “Clouds River Valley Orphanage”.

It was an old looking orphanage, located on a plain close to Clouds River. Looking from outside of the fence and wall, you could only see the dark brown two floor mansion, which has the same color with the wall out of the yard, if you had good eye sight, you could also peek the dark green roof and a whole row of the always closed windows on the second floor. In the center of the building, a four to five floors bell tower was standing on top of the mansion, the ring from the bell every hour kept the whole Clouds River Valley awake.

‘Mia, look at this house, isn’t it much bigger than the last one?’ Mandy got off from the car, she turned over and talked to Mia stepped off from the car following her. This should be the last time Mandy came to Clouds River Orphanage this year, it was also the fourth time this year. She was a little bit excited, maybe more relieved. It was not easy to find an ideal place for those orphans to like, she had selected a handful of orphanages and decided this one was the best fit for Mia. She was appreciated the orphanage could make time and arrange Mia to enroll before the holiday season started.

Mia looked like an Asian, she looked younger than her real age: 10 years old. Her hair was long enough to lie on her shoulder and they were brushed deliberately, her bangs laid on her forehead of her round face, she looked like a very smart kid, especially when she looked around, you could almost see her eyes shining.

“Yes, what a big house!” Mia answered. Mandy couldn’t tell if she was happy or not, Mia’s answer kind of disappointed her. She pressed the door bell next to the huge metal bar gate.

“Hello, who is this?” It was a lady’s voice.

“Hi, this is Mandy from Orphan Care Org, I had an appointment with Mr. Richard about Mia.”

“Oh, Mandy, come on in!” It seems like the lady already knew Mandy would come today.

The door clicked, and then opened. As soon as Mandy and Mia got in, it then closed automatically behind them automatically.

It took them almost 5 minutes until they walked through the front yard and came to the front door of the house, a man who seemed like in his fifties opened the door even before they were going to knock.

“Hey Mandy, perfect time, we are about to have dinner in half an hour!”

“Hi Richard, sorry I have an appointment tonight so I am afraid I can’t stay for dinner. But it’s good for Mia so she gets a chance to meet everyone on her first day.”

“That’s all right, you know you are welcome to join us anytime. Hey Mia, I am Richard, I’m the head of the orphanage, it’s my pleasure to finally meet you!”

“Likewise!” Mia didn’t seem like she was shy or afraid, she didn’t know why she felt so comfortable and relaxed talking to Richard.

Now they were standing in the lobby, which located in the middle of the building. A huge wooden spiral staircase sat behind the lobby, there were corridors on both sides of the lobby. Richard started talking to a lady sitting behind a desk placed in front of the right corrido, Mia couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but she was almost certain it was the same lady who answered the door bell. Richard then waved at Mandy and asked her to go over for a quick talk.

“Please stay here Mia, I will be right back.” Mandy told Mia before she walked to Richard.

Mia nodded at her, she was staring at the seemed endless spiral staircase right now with her mouth widely open.

“The staircase goes to the bell tower on top of the building, and you can see the whole Clouds River valley from there.”

Mia looked over along the voice, she could see a boy standing by the hallway next to staircase on the 2nd floor, he wore a pair of glasses and was holding an open book, he seemed like a little bit older than Mia.

“My name is Mia, what’s your name?” Mia asked.

“I am Leo, are you new here? Are you going to stay?” The boy asked more questions.

“Yes I am, and I think I will stay.” Mia answered and pointed at Mandy. ”How long have you been here, Leo?” She asked.

“I don’t remember, it seems like a long time.”

“So I can ask you questions in the future? You seem to know a lot of things.” Mia looked at him and asked.

“Sure, do you want to go to the bell tower?” Leo seemed excited and asked.

Meanwhile, Mandy waved at Mia, Mia ran toward to Mandy immediately without answering Leo’s question. Richard already took over the thick file folder and Mia’s suitcase, it was not big but all of Mia’s stuff were in it. They just finished talking when Mia came close.

“Look, how behave she is, can you believe she is only eleven?” Mandy talked to Richard, she looked at Mia with smile on her face.

Immediately, then she said, “Mia, Richard and other teachers here will take good care of you, if you need anything, feel free to ask Mr. Richard and he will let me know. Ok?”

Mia nodded.

After a long hug, Mandy walked out of the building. Mia may have only known Mandy for a few months, but she still felt sad when Mandy left, she felt she was by herself again.

“Hi Mia, I am Susan, I am the secretary of the orphanage and you can ask me any questions whenever you have one.” The lady sitting behind the desk smiled at and talked to her. Mia smiled back, she thought, I already knew Richard, Susan and Leo, this place is not strange anymore.

Richard then brought Susan walk around on the first floor to check on some rooms, including the offices of his and other teachers’. Richard introduced Mia to some of the teachers who were still in their office rooms, they all seemed friendly, at least Mia felt so. She also visited their classrooms, toys rooms and library. Surprisingly, there was no one in all these rooms. At the end of the hallway, there was one room that Richard told her not to go inside without permission, he said it was an employee’s dorm room.

When they walked to the 2nd floor, Leo who she just talked with had gone. Richard stopped by the entrance of the staircase to the 2nd floor, he looked at Mia seriously and said, “Mia, the 2nd floor is the highest you should go, don’t ever go above 2nd floor, can you do that?” Mia didn’t understand, Leo just asked her if she wanted to go to the bell tower with him a few minutes ago, she looked up and noticed there was a door that blocked the way going up on the 2nd floor.

The layout of the 2nd floor was simple, standing in the middle of the hallway, you could see a long hallway through the whole floor and rooms on both sides. The boys’ rooms were on the left side while the girls’ rooms were on the right side, Richard told Mia that his room was also on the left side, which was the first room next to the entrance of the 2nd floor, and the first room from girl’s side belonged to Jen, another teacher who lived in the orphanage, she and Richard were the only two teachers that lived here while a few employees living on the first floor, but they were not teachers. Richard took Mia out of Jen’s room and knocked.

The door opened, a lady who looked like around the same age with Richard opened the door and smiled at them.

“Hi, you must be Mia, nice to meet you.” She looked at Mia with a big smile, her glasses were hanging by her neck, she had long hair laying on the back, there were a few freckles on her high cheekbones. She must be pretty when she was young, Mia was thinking.

“Hi Miss Jen, nice to meet you too.” Mia seemed like her. Jen and Richard chit chatted a little bit and then talked to Mia, “Come, let me show you your room.”, then she took over the suitcase from Richard and then walked to the end of the hallway.

Mia couldn’t believe this, “Do I have my own room?!”

“Of course, every kid older than 10 years old has their own room here, see, this one is yours.” Jen pointed at a room in front of them. This room was about the 4th or 5th starting from Jen’s room. It was not a big room but big enough, what surprised Mia more was that it was a bright room, you could even see the whole front yard of the orphanage. The room was decorated simply but made Mia feel very cozy, one bed, a set of desk and chair, and a standing wardrobe. Mia started to like this place.

Then Jen showed her the girl’s bathroom, which was at the end of the hallway. Mia was curious, she didn’t see a single person on the way to the bathroom, even though all of the bedrooms’ doors were open. She could even see the boys’ rooms with doors open and quiet like girls’ side.

“Don’t worry, they are all playing in the back yard,” Jen seemed to know what Mia was thinking, “Here, this is a schedule of our normal days, take a look and let me know if you have any questions.” Jen told Mia while handing over a piece of paper to her.

Mia was still surprised there was a back yard since the front yard was already enormous, she hesitated for a second and started reading the piece of paper:

Morning:

6~7: Get up, shower and get ready for the day

7~8: Breakfast

8~12: Class time

Afternoon:

12~1: Lunch

1~3: Class time

3~5: Activities (Outdoor and indoor, only inside the orphanage)

Evening:

5~6: Dinner

6~8: Reading time & tv time in the library

8~9: Get ready for bed

9: Bedtime

Jen asked Mia if she has any questions, Mia figured it was almost the same with all of the other places she used to stay, so she just shook her head and told Jen no.

“That’s good”, Jen looked at her watch and said, “it will be dinner time soon, let me bring you downstairs to the dining room. You came at the perfect time.”

“Dining room?” Mia just realized she has never seen a dining room here.

“Oh, Mr. Richard must have forgotten, have you seen the classroom, toys room and library?” Jen asked.

“Yes, they are on the sides of the hallway on the first floor.” Mia answered.

When they came to the first floor, Mia just found out there was a big door behind the spiral staircase. Jen opened the door and here it was the bright and huge dining room with a long dining table, the table is so long that it could fit almost at least 30 people. Mia stared at the big chandelier in the middle of the room, she felt like she was in a palace instead of an orphanage. Right now, there are two ladies working around the dining table, they were placing the utensils for each seat, one of the ladies was standing next to Mia, she smiled at her and talked to her, “Nice to meet you Mia, welcome to Clouds River”, and she winked at Mia immediately, Mia didn’t think Jen noticed it. She smiled back to the lady, maybe not only smile, she almost laughed when the lady winked at her.

“This is Emily,” Jen introduced her to Mia, “she oversees maintenance of orphanage.”

“Hi Emily,” Mia said, “Nice to meet you.” She then winked at Emily.

Emily looked a little bit younger than Jen; her hair was not long; it was even shorter than Mia’s. She moved very fast when she was working, which kind of amazed Mia since she was thin and looked small. Mia liked her red apron that was waving in the air while Emily was working, it looked pretty on her.

Suddenly, the other door on the other side of dining room was open, the whole dining room sounded like a bustling market with noise and excitement, the laughter and scream from the numerous kids sounded like could break the glass windows. Mia could smell the food now, her stomach started to make noise to remind her it was time to eat.