Monstrous Mountain

Chapter 2 - Mitchel

This is dedicated to zebra28 because she encourage me and commented and asked me to update soon.

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"WAAAAAH!" The cry of a baby pierced the silent night air. Mitchel woke up slowly, then sleepily stood up and headed towards the crying baby. He knew that he had to silence the baby soon, or he would not get breakfast in the morning. Mrs. Delhia, the owner and manager of the orphanage, did not take kindly to her beauty sleep being disturbed.

Mitchel drowsily picked the now whimpering baby up, and absentmindedly started patting the baby's back. Not for the first time, he wished that his parents had kept him, not just leaving him outside the orphanage door, like one might do to an unwanted pet. Then he firmly reminded himself that he was not supposed to think 'what if.' It only made it worse, because reality has a way of waking you up.

Once the baby had quieted down - Mitchel figured it was probably just a nightmare - he headed back to his bedroom. One of the benefits of being the oldest, and having been in the orphanage the longest time. He actually got his own room, unlike the others who had share.

Although, he reflected gloomily, one of the downsides of being the oldest was being expected to take care of the other, younger children, as this night's rest was broken once more when a young one woke him up to tell him that she had wet the bed. Grumpily, Mitchel got up and stripped the bed of it's sheets, placing them in the wash bin - which he knew he would have to wash later - and put new sheets on the bed.

The bed's occupant thanked him, and, after nodding, headed back to bed, hoping that there would be no more interuptions that night. He managed to fall asleep quickly, and was not disturbed again, until his alarm rang several hours later, at 7:30. Following his shower, he had a busy time as he tried to get the other children of the orphanage awake and ready to go to school.

There was Mattie, a 6-year-old girl, with brown hair and glasses. Bill was a 9-year-old boy, who loved hockey and soccer. Connor was a klutz, always managing to knock things over at the most inopportune times. She had been the one to wake him last night, he noted.

There were many others, but Mitchel had made himself not get attached. They would always end up getting adopted, and would leave, just like everyone else in his life.

After their breakfast, which consisted of toast and jam, with either milk of juice, Mitchel helped the younger ones get dressed. The older ones, those that still went to school, were able to get dressed by themselves.

Meanwhile, the next to oldest, under Mitchel, were getting the babies up and fed. They had dropped out of school, as had Mitchel, in Grade 8, so that they could stay home, if you can call it that, and take care of those too young for school. The extras were working at a nearby factory, earing money that was supposed to be pocket money, but usually ended up in Mrs. Delhia's pocket.

After a short, but intense battle about wearing raincoats, Mitchel finally managed to herd the small group of school kids out the door and towards the bus bench.

Exhausted, Mitchel sat down for a moment before going to wake Mrs. Delhia. She couldn't stand children, and never wake up before they were gone. After trudging back to the children's area, he thought to himself, trying to cheer himself up, At least I don't have to cook meals around here.

They had a cook for that, amd that made Mitchel happy, because this way he had more free time, as well as more time to do his chores. Also, Mrs. Delhia is very fussy about her food. Often, it is possible to hear her screaming from the other side of the orphanage at the unfortunate cook.