Chapter Text
The day was a regular Friday. The time was around ten in the morning, in the small town in Ebott Valley. Life was poor. Hard to manage, around these parts. A family of two, a father and son were having it especially difficult lately. The Juga household was very quiet... devoid of life almost. The father and the son always had a rather complicated relationship. It was the mother of the household that kept everything together. Kept everyone attached. Like a glue.
But the mother has not been in this house for at least two years now.
Just a couple months ago, the father has learned that his dear wife will never return to their house. He could no longer take care of his four years old son. Work was hard, not paying well. Not to mention the loss of the love of his life took a great toll on him. He just could not take it any longer.
Said father was walking down the stairs, to his four year old's room. He slightly opened the door, looking in the child's bedroom. The room had blue wallpaper, toys scattered all about, drawings glued on the walls. Just about how you'd imagine a child's room. The father spoke up, looking at his son who was drawing, sitting on the carpet. "Fortune, have you finished packing your things yet?"
The child, Fortune had shimmering red eyes, tan skin, dirty blonde hair and he was wearing an oversized blue and purple striped shirt along with similarly oversized black pants. He lowered his pencil, looking up at his father, his expression turning bored, unamused. "No, Daddy... do we really gotta go now?"
"Yes, we have to leave soon. Pack your things and I'll wait for you in the living room."
"Okay Daddy." The young child nodded. Mr. Juga left the room and little Fortune stood up, getting his gray backpack ready that was overly big for him. His father got it for him a few days ago. The boy stood in his bedroom for a while, looking around.
Wherever they are going... they will probably come back soon. So, he probably doesn't have to take much with him. He took his favorite toys, playing cards, a toy car, his teddy and his favorite drawings and put them in the massive bag. The mentioned drawings were mostly the same. A small toddler holding hands with a woman. The woman had bright blue eyes, and similar dirty blond hair and tanned skin like the toddler. Fortune really missed his mother a lot. He wondered when she would be back home. It has been years since she's been here. Well, they did visit her in the hospital a lot. But his Daddy didn't take him back to see his Mommy in two months. Maybe they will finally go now?
Fortune, having finished getting his most precious belongings, put on some striped socks and headed out to the living room to see his dad. Mr. Juga was a tall man with brown hair and shining orange eyes. He was now wearing a black coat with dark pants and shoes. He looked at his child when he entered. "Alright, you ready?"
"Yes, Daddy!" Fortune nodded. His dad helped him put on his coat, then they went to their very old car. Mr. Juga helped Fortune get into the kid seat and they were off. Fortune idly looked out at the trees and buildings they passed by. It was mostly quiet, until he spoke up. "Daddy, are we going to see Mommy?"
His dad glanced back at him from the front seat for a moment. "No, no, Mommy is... not well. She needs her rest." He shook his head, pinning his eyes back on the road.
Fortune frowned, gripping his teddy. "Aww... we haven't seen her in so long... when can we go next?"
"I don't know."
"... I miss Mommy..."
"I miss her too, Fortune..." The Father's hands trembled on the steering wheel for a moment before he regained composure.
"But then, where are we going Daddy?" The young boy tilted his head with curiosity, his red eyes glowing in the sunlight like rubies.
"We are going someplace very nice, son. Don't worry."
"Okay!" He smiled.
The silence returned. Indeed, they will not see Mom any time soon. Not soon, not again, not ever. The memories of the horrible day in the hospital were resurfacing, flashing before the Mr. Juga's eyes like images. It was all so clear. The pain was still heavy. The wound was still fresh...
'"Hi Daddy!" Fortune waved to his father, sitting on the white chair in the hospital hallway, just in front of the door that lead to his mother's room. His father gave a tired smile. "Hello, Fortune. I hope you had a nice day with Mommy."
The child frowned a little. "Dr. Kyle told me to stay out here and wait for you. He said Mommy needs to rest now... I was sitting here for a lot."
The man's eyebrows furrowed slightly. "Ah... I see..."
"Mommy didn't say hi at all today... she didn't even open her eyes." Fortune's frown grew bigger as he looked down at the floor, hugging his beloved teddy. "Not even to look at the new lilies we brought her. She must be really sleepy."
The Mr Juga's expression grew more and more unsettled. "Yes... she must be..." He mumbled. "I will go see her, stay here." He opened the door to enter a hospital room. On the bed, was lying a woman. A woman with dirty blond hair. Her skin was paler than it should be, and her eyes were closed. She was hooked on a life support system. The heart rate monitor next to her bed was...
It... it wasn't beeping...
Flat line.
No... that... that couldn't have been...
A man with dark brown hair, purple eyes and glasses was sitting at his desk, his expression clearly distressed. As the Mr. Juga entered, he stood up. The Father felt his voice sore as he
spoke up. "Dr. Kyle... please... tell me she is alright..." His voice was almost begging.
"I am... terribly sorry, Mr. Juga. We tried everything, but her heart remained unresponsive and... we lost her." The doctor readjusted his glasses, looking into the other man's orange eyes.
Mr. Juga stared down at the white floor beneath his feet. It felt like a knife pierced it's way into his heart. Not even to break it, but to make it bleed. Until his heart bleeds out in pain. Dr. Kyle put a hand on his shoulder. "My condolences... I am very sorry for our failure."
"So my wife is dead?" Mr. Juga looked into Dr. Kyle's eyes. For the first time, his voice was the most devoid of emotion. He received no vocal response, but only a slow, miserable nod from the doctor. There were no other words spoken in the room. Mr. Juga just walked to his dear wife's bed, sitting on it, holding her cold, white hand. He lightly stroked her hand. Even when there was no more life in her body, her skin remained just as soft as he had remembered. He felt his eyes fill with tears. He squeezed his eyes shut, his tears dropping on the bed sheets. The knowledge that his dearly beloved was no longer alive was very difficult to accept.
He could no longer listen to her sweet voice. No longer spend happy moments with her. No longer share a smile, a laugh, or perhaps even a cry. Fortune will have to grow up without his mother. His mother, was truly an irreplaceable soul. The perfect mother any child could ever have. A few minutes after he somewhat regained composure, Mr. Juga stood up. "Thank you... for your efforts, Dr. Kyle. I will let Fortune say goodbye to her, then we will be on our way home."
Dr. Kyle nodded, standing by his desk. "Alright."
Mr. Juga walked to the door. His legs felt numb. His entire body felt numb. He wanted to collapse here by this door. He wanted the pain to cease. He wanted all of this to be a bad dream. He wanted to collapse and then wake up six years ago, when his wife was still healthy and happy. When there was still hope left for their family. But four years ago, his dear wife was diagnosed with a severe disease that she fought on her own for two years. But after two years, she had to be rushed to the hospital and she has been staying here since.
Considering how long she had been here, it seemed very likely she would recover soon.
But fate just had to be cruel.
Take her away, mere weeks before his child's fourth birthday.
Mr. Juga took a deep breath in front of the door, wiping his face. He didn't want to tell Fortune the dreading news. Maybe... it was not the wisest choice. But he was still so young... so innocent. There is still time for him to face the cruel reality of the situation. For now, he should just life his life with the belief that his mother will someday return home and play with him again, day in and day out. He put a cold, shaky hand on the door handle and exited the room to face his young son.
"Fortune, come say goodbye to your mother. We will be going home now."
"What did Dr. Kyle say? Is she better?"
Mr. Juga paused for a second before slowly nodding. "Yes. Of course. She ... she is just fine."
A wide smile made it's way to young Fortune's face. "Yay!"
"Now... come say bye, then we'll go home." He opened the door wider. Fortune hopped off his chair, entering the room and running to his mom, kissing her in the cheek. "Bye Mommy! See you tomorrow!"
Mr. Juga walked to her bed again, looking at her. Fortune stopped at the door. "Daddy, are we going then?"
"Yes, yes just... wait outside for me for a moment, alright?"
"Okay!" Fortune nodded with a smile. With the door closing behind him, Mr. Juga placed a hand on his wife's forehead, running his hand through her blond strands of hair. "Goodbye... my dear Lynette. I promise, I will take good care of Fortune for you... for us." With that, he kissed his wife's forehead and left the room, leaving the hospital with his boy by his side.'
In the end, he failed to keep that promise. The pain, the grief, it was getting worse and worse as the weeks went by. The finances were getting worse and worse. It was already not great at all, considering the price of the medical bills were terribly high during the time Lynette was still at home and stopped working. Mr. Juga's poor salary was never going to be enough in the long run. He did not have a chance to get a new job, either. He just couldn't afford to take care of poor Fortune anymore, no matter how much he wanted to.
No matter how much it pained him to have to abandon his child like this.
Mr. Juga's brain was operating like a machine and he did not even realize that it has been at least ten minutes since he has parked the car. It was Fortune's voice that snapped him out of his train of thought.
"Daddy, are we here?"
Mr. Juga looked out the window. Ah, yes... they were here. They arrived.
'Ebott City Orphanage'
It was time... to say goodbye.
"We're here, Fortune. Let me help you get out." Mr. Juga stood up, helping Fortune get out of the kid seat. After they both got out of the car, they walked to the front gates, where a gray haired lady greeted them. "Good afternoon, Mr. Juga and, oh you must be Fortune." She smiled down at the small child.
"Fortune, say hi." Mr. Juga looked at his son.
The little boy waved. "Hi, Miss!"
There was silence for a few moments. "Well... if you need a few moments to say goodbye to him..."
Mr. Juga nodded. "Yes, thank you..." They both turned away and Mr. Juga knelt down to his son's eye level. "Alright Fortune. You will be staying here for a little while. They will take good care of you here, okay?"
Fortune tilted his head a little. "But... why? Aren't you staying, Daddy?"
A sad smile crossed his father's face. "No... I am afraid I cannot stay."
Fortune frowned. "But... you will visit... right?"
Mr. Juga frowned too. "I am ... not sure, Fortune."
"Daddy... please... promise you'll visit!"
The man let out an inaudible sigh. There was silence for a few moments, then he nodded. "I... I will try. I promise."
Fortune wrapped his small arms around his father, Mr. Juga returning his embrace. After a few minutes, they pulled away and Mr. Juga placed a hand on his boy's shoulder. "Never forget. You are my Fortune. Our Fortune. You understand?"
The little boy nodded. "Yes Daddy."
His Father nodded back. "Good... I will miss you. Goodbye, Fortune."
"Bye... Daddy..."
Mr. Juga stood up and walked off. Little Fortune looked behind him, clinging to his teddy. After a few silent minutes, the lady at the gates approached the small child. "Well, hi there, Fortune. I will be your caretaker. You can call me Miss Weaver."
"Oh okay." Fortune nodded slowly. He was still visibly under the effects of the parting, but Miss Weaver tried her best to stay reassuring. "Let us go find you a room, alright?"
"Alright." Fortune nodded again. Miss Weaver gently took his hand and they walked inside the building. As they went inside, they were greeted by a long, dimly lit hall, with doors leading to different rooms. There was a staircase at the end of the hall. From behind the door, came the sounds of a lot of other children. Downstairs, there was a cafeteria, and a back door leading to the yard. Fortune was looking around curiously before looking up at Miss Weaver. "Miss Weaver... what's this place?" He asked away.
The kind lady looked down at him. "This is the Ebott City Orphanage, Fortune. Children who do not have a home of their own are staying here."
Fortune furrowed his tiny eyebrows. "Whaaa... but I have a home! I have a Mommy and a Daddy!"
"Of course, Fortune. Of course." She nodded dismissively. The two walked up the staircase and Miss Weaver led Fortune to an empty bedroom. There was a bunk bed, a desk, a dust old carpet, a giant wardrobe and a tiny shelf filled with old toys and children's books. There was also a window looking out at the sunny sky. All things considered, the room didn't look too bad, but it was very dull and boring compared to Fortune's room at home. Miss Weaver and Fortune walked in.
"This is your room, Fortune. Lunch will be ready soon in the cafeteria. You can unpack your things until then. If you get lost, I am sure the other children can help you." She smiled.
Fortune smiled back. "Okay!"
Miss Weaver left and closed the door. Fortune went to sit at the bottom bed, putting his teddy in the corner of the bed next to him. The bed felt old and dusty. He put his bag on the floor and lied on in. It was just as old and dusty as it was when he was sitting. Nowhere near as comfortable as his bed at home. Well, it was what it was.
Fortune opened his giant bag and pulled out his drawings that he tried sticking on the wall above the bed. But they wouldn't stick, so he put them on the desk instead. The desk was cold and also dusty. Then he pulled out his toys and left them on the small shelf. Looking at the shelf, he could see some of the toys there. There were a lot of card games and board games.
He also peeked at the children's books, but he didn't recognize any of the titles. Except for 'Peek-a-boo with a Fluffy Bunny' that one, he had back home. After he finished organizing his belongings, he lie on the bed once more. Staring at the bottom of the other bed above him. It was pretty boring.
Fortune started to wonder what he usually did back at home. Well, he played with his toys. Or he drew. He wanted to finish his drawing he started back at home, but then remembered he left it at home. Same with his drawing pencils. Fortune frowned. He stood up again and walked to the desk again. There were a few colored pencils and a few pieces of paper on the desk. There was only really red, green, blue and yellow, no other. But no matter, he can work with this.
Fortune climbed on the wooden chair in front of the desk. Just as everything else in the room, it was cold and dusty. Fortune started wondering how much cleaning they did in these rooms. He grabbed a piece of paper, grabbed a few pencils and started drawing. He started drawing himself at first. He was going to draw himself, holding his mother's hand as usual but... this time, he decided to draw something else.
His drawn self was frowning, curled in a ball. His mommy and daddy were far away from him, also frowning. Unlike his other drawings, he was alone. Without a mom or dad.
And he wasn't only alone in the drawing, he was alone in reality, too.
Before Fortune could continue his drawing, a loud, ear piercing bell sounded across the halls, followed by the sounds of countless children and feet running down the halls. Fortune curiously peeked outside his room to see what was happening. All of the other doors were opened and army of children started storming down the stairs. Fortune decided to also walk downstairs. It must have been lunch time by now, as Miss Weaver mentioned before.
As Fortune walked among the crowed, he was being pushed around by a lot of children running around. He could barely keep himself from falling to the floor. Fortune also started running, until he reached the stairs. He went slow on the stairs once again. Following the crowds of children, he made his way to the cafeteria where there were a lot of kids standing in line for lunch. Fortune also stood in line.
Now, he could observe all the other children a little closer. Some were younger, some were older, some where about the same age. Lot of them had different colored eyes green, blue, yellow, orange and so on. More and more children came in the cafeteria. After a few minutes, Fortune noticed one particular person entering. It was a boy. A boy with black hair and purple eyes, wearing a purple sweater that seemed to be a few sizes too big for him. He looked older than all the other children. He was taller and less skinny. Fortune couldn't observe the newcomer for much longer as the line moved again.
When he was finally first in line, he looked at the selection of foods for lunch. Well, it wasn't much. It was just some soup with bread. Fortune clumsily poured himself some soup and sat at one of the long tables. He took a sip of the soup. It tasted... alright. Not great, not awful just... alright. As Fortune kept sipping the soup, he looked up to notice that the boy he was observing moments ago was looking at him now. However when Fortune looked up at him, the dark haired boy turned his attention back to his food. Fortune just shrugged it off, continuing with lunch. After he finished he stood up and went back to his room.
He continued that same drawing he left off. But after he finished, he found he wasn't exactly in the mood for drawing. It wasn't that long since his daddy brought him here and yet, it felt like he has been here for hours. The time went by very slow. Fortune leaned on his desk and sighed, walking to the window. The sun was shining brightly. It was late august after all. There were almost no clouds in the sky. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming. It was also very hot in the room, Fortune only just realized. As he was staring out the window, he heard the laughter of other children.
Looking down, he saw that there were a lot of children playing tag, hide and seek or playing with a ball. Fortune wanted to go down to play with them. Excited, he rushed out of his room and managed to find the back door, leading to the yard. Indeed, the groups of children were there, playing all kinds of games. However there was one thing that caught Fortune's attention. The same boy with black hair in the purple sweater was not playing. He was just standing in the shade of a tree, folding his arms, looking at the others.
Maybe Fortune could ask him to play.
"Hi! Do you want to play with me?" Fortune walked up to him, greeting him cheerily. The boy looked at him for a minute, then looked back at the other kids. "No thanks. Not in the mood."
"Oh... okay!" Fortune sat in the shade of the tree and looked at the other children too. His attention was fixated on a group playing catch with a ball.
"You're the new kid, right?" The older boy spoke up after a few silent minutes.
"Wha?" Fortune looked up at him.
"You are the new kid. Right?" The dark haired boy repeated, looking down at him.
"Yeah! My Daddy brought me here today!" He smiled brightly.
The boy raised a brow. "Your Daddy?" He then looked away and hummed. "I never had parents. I grew up here."
"Ohhhh... why?"
"I dunno."
"Well I won't stay here long! My Daddy will come back for me! He promised!" Well he only really promised to visit, but it's not like he'd really leave him here all alone, right? Fortune was sure, once his mommy finally recovered, they can go back home again.
The stranger boy raised a brow. He could tell Fortune didn't really have an idea why he was even here. But he just shrugged it off. "Sure, kid. I bet." There was silence again for a few moments. "Anyways, what's your name?"
"I'm Fortune!" He stood up, still wearing the same bright smile.
"... Fortune, huh... my name's Vade."
"Hi!" Fortune waved. Vade just looked away in response. "Well, good luck getting adopted." He said.
"Adopted?" Fortune tilted his head, confused.
Vade nodded. "Yeah. That's why we're all here. We're waiting to get taken by parents."
"Oh! Well, I know my Daddy will come back for me after Mommy recovered from being sick! Then we'll all go home and be happy again!" Fortune kept being his cheery and positive self. Vade furrowed his brows. Then his expression slightly softened. "Sorry 'bout your Mom."
"It's okay! She will get better!"
"Sure." Vade responded absentmindedly.
There was no more exchange between the two. After a while, Fortune went back to his bedroom once more, a little sad. Sad, because none of the other kids wanted to play with him. They all just... ignored him. He didn't understand why. So he just went upstairs to his bedroom and continued drawing, playing with his toys, resting on the old bed.
His first day in the orphanage felt... strange. He felt so alone without his Daddy. He just hoped he wouldn't have to stay here too long. That his mommy would soon recover, then his daddy would come back for him and the three of them would be back home, together again.
Happy.
Like years ago when Fortune was nothing but just a toddler.