Grandfather (5 page)

“What do you mean?” Edgar
asked. “How can you –”

“
Edgar,” Belladonna said
quietly. “Please.”

He obeyed her. Man, I was
enjoying seeing him like that.

“I don’t see myself
anywhere,” I repeated.

“Edgar,” Belladonna
started. “Robert. You two will never understand what it’s like to
come from an orphanage these days. Children who stay in these
orphanages have nobody: no family, nobody. They can stay until
they’re seventeen. Then they’re kicked out to go . . . to go
where?”

Edgar and Robert stayed
silent. Edgar glanced at me and then back at Belladonna. Robert
kept his eyes on the table.

“To go nowhere,” I
replied.

“Nowhere,” Belladonna
repeated, shaking her head with disappointment. “You see, Carsyn. I
understand. You feel as if you’ll be like every other orphan out
there. They go their entire childhood, stuck in a terrible
orphanage, not knowing anybody from the outside. Then they’re
forced to leave at seventeen with nowhere to go but the streets.
The system is far from perfect.”

I nodded my head. She had
nailed it on the spot. I’d seen it many times. When I’d go outside
the orphanage, I would sometimes see a familiar face begging for
bitcoin
. . .
a
familiar face of somebody who used to be in the orphanage. I
remembered one of the older guys who actually defended me when I
was seven. Three kids had been picking on me, making fun of my
hair. Jim fought all three of them off. Of course he got in some
big trouble and wasn’t allowed to do anything for a few weeks. But
he still defended me. I remembered that I was going to try and make
friends with him since he seemed like the only one that mattered.
But a few days later, he turned seventeen and was kicked out. It
was only a year later when I heard some of the older guys talking
about how they saw him lying dead on the street.

“Carsyn,” Belladonna said
quietly and slowly. “You feel as if you have no future. That’s why
you don’t care.”

I said nothing. I had
never talked to anybody about it. I certainly wouldn’t have talked
to the houseladies about it. I didn’t even think about it. I forced
the thought out of my mind and told myself to worry about it when
that time came.

“You can’t think that way,
Carsyn,” Belladonna said. “I understand why you would. I did the
same thing when I was in my orphanage.”

Man, I still couldn’t
believe that she was an orphan. I tried to picture her living in
some old building, cramped up with a bunch of poor, deprived girls.
I tried imagining her on the streets, but I couldn’t do that
either, just as I couldn’t picture Edgar in a suit. She was too
beautiful and dressed too nicely to have been from the
streets.

“
I was kicked out at
seventeen and lived on the streets for about a year.”

“You?” I asked, still in
disbelief. I looked at Edgar and Robert. They listened to her but
didn’t seem as shocked as I was. I assumed they already
knew.

“Yes,” Belladonna said.
“Every orphan had the same future of ending up on the streets. But
one day, I decided I was going to change that.”

“That easy?” I
asked.

“Easy?” she asked, quietly
chuckling. “Not at all. I mean, we have nothing when we’re kicked
out.
Nothing
. It
was hard getting myself to believe that I even had a
chance.”

I looked at her appearance
again. “You don’t look like you were an orphan,” I told
her.

“Everyone has potential,
Carsyn. But not everyone can get there. You have to want it badly.”
She extended an arm and opened her hand, revealing a silver key.
“Hold it.”

I did so. “What is this
for?” I asked, examining it. It was cold and dirty. The end of it
was bent pretty badly. I wondered if the old key would even work
again.

“I was given this on my
first day of work,” she said. “Some rich man built his stables
outside of the wall.”

“
Why out here?” I asked. “I
didn’t think they liked to do much outside of the wall.”

“
I don’t know,” Belladonna
answered. “But he gave me the key to the stables so I could take
care of his horses.” She reached for the key again. I handed it
back to her.” This key is where it all started for me,’ she
said.

I was silent for a few
seconds. Edgar and Robert were staring at me. It was weird. I
didn’t want to be looked at. I glanced back at Belladonna, trying
to ignore them. “I wouldn’t even know where to start,” I told her.
I thought of the day I’d be kicked out. I knew nobody from the
city. I’d be lost right away, not knowing where to start. I would
end up like Jim.

“The starting point is
right here in front of you,” she said, standing up. She walked to
my side, appearing as if she was gliding. She placed a hand on my
shoulder. “Your key is right here. Of course it’s your choice
whether you stay or not. You can choose to believe or not believe
in Grandfather. You can choose to believe that you’re not in
danger. But believe that the three of us can help you get to where
you want to be. I know you have a future, and I know you have it in
you to do anything you set your mind to.”

The only thing that was
going through my mind was if any of it was true. Could these people
really help me stay off of the streets after I was kicked out? I
tried to picture what my future could be if they were telling the
truth, but nothing came to mind. It was really strange. I guess I’d
never thought about what I would like to do with my life. How could
these lunatics help me? I actually believed Belladonna. Sure, I
only knew her for a few minutes, but I believed her. “I don’t even
know what I want to do,” I confessed.

“Not everyone knows what
they want to do,” she said. “That’s something you have to figure
out on your own. It may take time, yes. But that time will be well
worth it.”

I nodded at Belladonna.
Perhaps she was right.

“
I’ll
never understand,” Edgar said. For the first time since I had met
him, he didn’t sound like his usual angry self. He continued. “I’ll
never understand what it feels like to be an orphan
. . .
to feel like ya
have no future. I know you’re not completely with us on
Grandfather’s return. Definitely know that you have lots of
questions. Figured that out on our way over
here.”

I snickered.

“
But if you decide to stay
here, we can answer those questions for you. We can keep you safe,
and you can see for yourself whether or not we’re
right.”

“And more importantly,”
Belladonna said. “We can help you stay off the streets.”

Robert wouldn’t take his
eyes off of me, waiting for an answer. It was kind of annoying.
Edgar still looked like a sad puppy. But not a cute one. Definitely
not a cute one.

Belladonna moved away from
my side and sat back down. “This is your decision,” she said. “We
have connections and Edgar has plenty of bitcoin from his
investments. We can help you.”

I pictured myself going
back to the orphanage. By the time I would make it back, it would
be late. Who knew what the houseladies would say or make me do. I
could try telling the houseladies where I was, but they wouldn’t
believe me. They would probably laugh at me and make me complete my
chores and homework. Then I’d go to bed, wake up, do more chores
and homework, and then go to bed again. My days would be the same
until I turned seventeen and was kicked out. I had no doubt I’d end
up on the streets. I’d probably starve or freeze to death within
the year. Many died that way. There was no way I could do
that.

Belladonna beamed at me,
waiting for an answer. I still couldn’t believe she had been an
orphan. She knew exactly what I was going through. I had never
talked to anybody like that. I didn’t even talk to the other
orphans about it, even though they were to meet the same fate as
me.

“Like I said,” I started
slowly, still getting my mind wrapped around things. “I don’t
really think Grandfather has returned. I don’t understand why you
guys think I’m in danger. I’m still confused as to how you know my
name. But I do know that I don’t want to go back to that
orphanage.” Belladonna nodded in satisfaction. “I don’t know if you
can actually help me, but I have to take a chance. I’ll
stay.”

Edgar leaned over and
patted me on the shoulder. “Glad to hear it,” he said. “All
questions will get answered. You’ll learn what we’re all
about.”

“But there’s something
else I want,” I said.

They all went silent. “You
name it and we’ll try our best,” Belladonna said.

“You say that you go out
on missions or something, trying to get information?” I
asked.

“Yeah,” Edgar
replied.

“And you said they need
me.”

“
That’s right,” Edgar said,
his eyes brimmed with curiosity.

“
On the off chance that
somebody actually needs me for whatever reason, I want to go with
you guys to hear the information myself . . . my own eyes and ears.
I want to learn for myself if and why I’m in danger.”

Edgar didn’t like the idea
at all. Robert didn’t either. They immediately started arguing with
me, spit flying from Edgar’s mouth, Robert waving his arms all
about.

“Too dangerous,” Edgar
snapped. “Terrible idea.”

“Then I’m not staying,” I
snapped back, standing up. “I need to hear this stuff for myself so
that I can make my own opinion.”

“
Edgar’s
right,” Robert said. “It’s too dangerous. Who knows why Grandfather
wants you. If you could help him somehow…we can’t risk it.”

Edgar looked at Belladonna
for help. But she didn’t give him any. She didn’t seem bothered by
my request. She said, “Okay.” Simple as that.

Edgar and Robert were
dumbfounded.

“
If he wants to go, let him
go,” she continued. “We’ll just be extra careful.”

“
Belladonna,” Edgar and
Robert pleaded together.

“
It’s too dangerous!”
Robert yelled.

“
We want him to understand
Grandfather,” she started. “The best way to do that isn’t to hear
it from other people, but hear it or see it for yourself, just as
he said.”

I nodded. “I need to do
this,” I said. “I can’t just stay here listening to you talk about
this Grand Imperial and how he wants me. I can’t just believe
something that big, especially when I don’t know you guys. If I’m
staying here, I’m gonna see for myself.”

Edgar and Robert said
nothing. Edgar threw a hand into the air in defeat “Okay,” he said.
“But you’re going to be careful and do everything we tell
you.”

“
Fine,” I said to
Belladonna.

“
He’s curious,” she said.
“I was like that too.”

I don’t know if it was
curiosity. I did know that it was worth a shot. And I was no longer
afraid of them. Sure, they were odd. I had no idea who they were
and what they were about. They were living underground! They were
definitely an odd group. But if they meant me harm, I think they
would have already made their move; unless for some reason they
were making me wait. I didn’t think that was the case.

“
Yeah, yeah,” Edgar said.
“Take him to his damn room. I’m sure he’s tired as
hell.”

Belladonna agreed. “We
have several people hiding here with us,” she said. “You’ll meet
others.

“There are others?” I
asked in disbelief.

“Yeah,” Edgar said, still
annoyed. “Don’t think there are other orphans. But we got other
people who will help us fight the Grand Imperial and his
followers.

“Can we just quit this
Grandfather talk?” I asked, getting really annoyed.

Edgar shrugged his
shoulders. Robert nodded.

“We have a room waiting
for you,” Belladonna said.

I nodded. “I
would
like to think
everything through.” I mainly just wanted to get away from
them.

“I understand,” Belladonna
said, taking out a flashlight and turning it on. “Come.”

I followed Belladonna out
of the room, to the left, and down the hall. It seemed as if the
underground facility was made up of mostly tunnels. Occasionally,
we would pass up an old wooden door. They also seemed as if they
hadn’t been touched for quite some time. Rust built up all around
the doorknobs. I wondered if they would even open if I tried. We
turned a corner and Belladonna led me down another
tunnel.

“I found this place a
couple of years ago,” She said.

“
What is this place?” I
asked.

“Well, we think it was
used as a shelter during World War II.”

Whoa. Nobody knew about
World War II. Heck, nobody knew anything about what came before the
2
^nd
civil war.

“Wow,” I said. “Then it’s
ancient.”

“Yeah,” she said. “I don’t
think anybody else knows about it. If so, they would have likely
found it by now.”