project.utopia

Chapter 5 - Back Home

After about three hours of walking, which tired Aditya a lot, they made it to the beautiful, blue orphanage Nera called "home". Smiling widely, Nera turned around to face Aditya, who was sluggishly walking behind her, as he huffed and puffed deeply.

"This is my home, Malotas!" Nera said as she pointed to the sign which stated, "The Orphanage of Wasa."

Aditya straightened his back and took the whole building in carefully. Finally, he asked, "You live in an orphanage?"

Nera nodded, her grin fading slightly, leaving a slight smile on her face. Aditya noticed this and quickly said, "It's beautiful! Magnificent, actually. Can we go inside?"

Nera nodded and she knocked on the front door. Then, the two of them heard loud clicks, as if someone was unlocking a hundred locks.So enough, the door opened ever so slightly and a woman, with bright red hair,'s face appeared from the small opening. She looked at Aditya with suspicious eyes. Then she saw Nera. The red-haired woman's eyes widened in shock and she, immediately, opened the door, so that it was completely open. She opened her arms out wide and hugged Nera, tightly.

The red-haired woman started kissing Nera on the top of her head, when Nera pushed her off gently. "I'm fine, Aunt Alani! I'm fine!"

Alani moved away from Nera and started asking questions."Where have you been? We've been worried sick about you, sweetie! You've been gone for nearly two days! Wait, let me get Andrea, she'll be so happy!"

Quickly Alani rushed back inside of the house, leaving the door wide open.

"C'mon Aditya, let's go inside," Nera whispered to Aditya as she made her way into her home through the front door. Aditya followed en suite and the two of them stood awkwardly in the foyer of the house, until Alani came back with a young girl. The girl, who had brown hair and bright green eyes, immediately ran to Nera and hugged her tightly. She was quite tall for her age, making her almost Nera's height. Finally, the girl, Andrea, let go of Nera and stared at her, her green eyes glazed over.

"We've been worried sick about you! You didn't come back yesterday, Nera, and we were so worried!" Andrea exclaimed at her sister.

Slowly, Nera bent down and held Andrea's face in her hands. "I'm sorry, love. I was coming, but...something happened."

"What happened, Nera and who is this boy?" Alani asked as she glared at Aditya, who was trying his best to look as polite and naive as possible.

For a long moment, Nera didn't say anything, until finally, she responded. "His name is Aditya Malotas and he helped me get out of there."

"Get out of where, Nera? Get out of where? And Malotas? Like the Malotas? Since when have you been so close with the Malotas family?" Alani questioned once again.

Nera took a deep breath in and said, "We don't have that kind of time right now. He is losing more and more blood by the second."

Aditya widened his eyes and looked down at his hand. Blood was leaking through the shawl Nera had wrapped and down his fingertips, dropping to the ground. He'd completely forgotten he was even hurt. Alani and Andrea looked at Aditya's hand and finally, Alani said, stiffly, "Bring him in."

The four of them sat in the dining room, a little candle being the only source of light in the whole house. Alani, slowly, pressed a piece of cotton on Aditya's wound as he winced loudly in pain. Andrea was sitting next to him, watching patiently.

"You gotta stop overreacting, kid." Alani said as she took the cotton off his hand and put some kind of liquid on top of the cotton.

"But it's painful!" Aditya complained.