Family and Protection

Chapter 26: Memory Lane

Evie and Mal were in the girls' dorm once again. They just couldn't help it; they wanted to spend as much time with their daughters as possible. Brelyn sat on the bed as the three of them talked.

Suddenly, Elaina came storming in while holding three boxes. "M-Mail's here," she said while struggling to carry the boxes.

"Need some help?" Brelyn asked.

"That would be nice," Elaina replied. Brelyn grabbed one of the boxes as the placed them. "They're from the orphanage."

"Really?" Brelyn asked. Mal and Evie walked over to the desk as they had become intrigued.

"Why would the orphanage be sending you guys something?" asked Mal.

"Especially something that would take three boxes," Evie added.

"Not sure," Brelyn responded.

"Only one way to find out," Elaina said taking out a pair of scissors. Elaina cut the tape that held the box closed. She and Brelyn opened the flaps. Inside was a bunch of drawings and little art projects. "Oh my gosh," Elaina said with a smile.

"What is it?" Evie asked. She picked up one of the drawings. The drawing had two girls: one had purple hair and the other had blue hair. She flipped it over to reveal writing on the back. It read, "Brelyn Age 6, Elaina Age 5."

"These are all the drawings and arts and crafts we did at the orphanage when we were younger," Brelyn explained happily.

Mal reached into the box and grabbed a drawing of a dragon. It wasn't anything spectacular, but it good for the age that was written on the back. "Your talent must have started at a young age," Mal said. "For a seven-year-old, this is really good."

"Heh, yeah," Brelyn replied.

Elaina continued to dig through the box. She found a drawing that had a castle with a rainbow over it. "I believe we were eight and nine when we did this one."

Brelyn chuckled at the drawing. "I guess we had dreamed of coming to Auradon for a long time."

"A very long time," Elaina added.

"What's in the other box?" Evie asked.

"Not sure," Elaina responded. She grabbed the scissors and opened the box. Inside were more art projects and drawings. "These don't look too familiar," Elaina said. She turned a drawing over. "Oh, that's why."

"What?" Brelyn asked.

"These are Jacey's and Cayla's," Elaina responded. She took out her phone and texted the two other girls.

Hey, come to mine and Brelyn's room. We have something really cool to show you.

It took less than a minute for Jacey and Cayla to show up. They were joined by Jay and Carlos. "What is it?" asked Jacey.

"Look," Brelyn replied.

The two looked at each other in confusion. They approached the box with caution. When they saw what was inside, happiness and joy overtook them.

"Are these all of our arts and crafts?" asked Cayla.

"Seems to be," Brelyn replied.

Jacey and Cayla dug through the box as they reminisced about their childhood at the orphanage. Jay and Carlos watched from behind as they adored every piece that was thrown out of the box. There was even a picture that Cayla drew when she was eight of what she thought her parents would look like. Surprisingly, they looked so similar to Carlos and Jane that it made Carlos wonder if Cayla had remembered what they looked like even if she was a day old when they gave her up.