17 A Journey To Heaven

Ai walked inside to wake the children up. She did not know how to tell them about Leko's death.

"Kids, wake up…"

"It's morning…", she called out to them as she entered the orphanage.

Everyone was in deep sleep and didn't want to get up. Of course, this was an everyday occurrence. They would want to sleep more despite being asked to wake up. But today, Ai was indeed a bit early.

"Chi-"

"Children, wake up. There is something I want to tell you…", she gently placed her hands on them and tried to wake them up by shaking them.

The children lying on the grounds had no intention of getting up.

"Please…"

"Wake up…", her eyes were filled with tears and her voice was wavy.

The kids who were asleep wouldn't be able to recognize the changes. They hugged to the torn blankets as and pinned their bodies against the ground in order to prevent Ai from pulling them or shaking them.

*drip drip*

But as she continued to call out to them, a few drops of tears fell on the second eldest of the orphanage.

He was a well-behaved boy, just like Leo. Although he would be naughty at times, he would take care of everyone during Leo's absence.

Yes, at times, Leo would be preoccupied with other kids or would be helping Leko and Ai with certain things, at those times, the second eldest would look after others.

The tears woke him up from his sleep. The moment he opened his eyes, he found Ai crying and her face is drenched with tears.

He rubbed his eyes to check if he was hallucinating or seeing things wrong, but even after doing that, he could see her tired and drenched face and could hear her shaky and lifeless voice.

"Auntie, what's wrong?", he immediately asked as he grabbed her right hand.

"Nova…", she mumbled.

His name was Nova. This name was given by Ai instead of Leko as she had found him this time when he was left in front of the orphanage doors.

"Your father is no more…", she said as she broke down in tears.

"Father is… no more?", Noa seemed rather confused.

He failed to understand at first but after hearing her say the next words, he realized what she meant.

"Sir Leko…"

"He is no longer alive…", she raised her voice a bit which soon lowered as she cried further.

"Huh?", that was all that Nova could say as tears left his eyes unknowingly.

"Auntie…"

"This…"

"This joke is not funny…", he said as he looked at her.

Oftentimes, Ai would joke around with kids. She would even tell them ghost tales and many more things. Pranking was common too. So Nova thought that she was joking around, but after seeing her entire body tremble and the dead expression in her eyes, he realized that what she said was the truth.

This time, she held his right hand after standing up and then walked outside to show Leko's body.

"F-"

"Father!", the moment Nova laid his eyes on the blood-covered body of Leko, he dashed towards him only to trip and fall.

As he fell, his left hand touched Leko's cold face.

"Cold…"

Instead of shouting in pain because of falling and instead of crying, all he blurted out was the word cold.

After gently moving his hands on Leko's face, he could no longer control his tears and started to cry, without making any sound of course.

Ai was whimpering so she couldn't console Nova. She had still stuff to do – inform other children.

She turned back to go and inform the children. She had just entered the orphanage again only to find the eldest girl, and the third eldest among the children, Enma, walking towards her while rubbing her eyes.

She too noticed Ai crying and it didn't take long for her to figure out what happened after she heard the explanation from Ai.

This time, it was different. Instead of walking toward Leko and crying as she was in pain, she hugged Ai and said, "It's fine Auntie…"

"No need to cry.", it was as if she was trying to console Ai. But well, she was a kid too. She failed to control her tears as well.

It didn't take much longer for Ai to wake others and inform them about what had happened to Leko. All of them ran outside only to find the blood-covered body.

They all started to cry out loud as they all felt a weird pain. It was as if their hearts were being pierced.

'If Leo was here, he would have handled the situation better than me…', Ai thought as she too cried in her attempt to console all of them.

They were being noisy. The people who were sleeping in the houses nearby walked out in a rage.

"Why are the kids being so damn noisy in the morning!?", a woman, who was a bit fat, walked out while rubbing her eyes as she had woken up from sleep just a few seconds ago.

The same was true with the rest of the men and women who came charging toward the orphanage. But before they entered, they found Leko's blood-covered body and paused.

They realized what had happened. All their anger vanished into thin air and all they could show was sympathy and feel pity for the children.

Leko wasn't everyone's favorite in the village. He wasn't exactly liked by everyone nor was he particularly hated. He was just respected by everyone.

Yes, he would sometimes solve various issues. He was a righteous man and when he would reveal the crime of a culprit, he would become the victim's favorite and the culprit's enemy. But that didn't mean the culprit hated him.

Deep down, the culprit too respected the man because of his wisdom.

Regardless, after seeing his dead body or hearing the news of his death, everyone mourned. Although not to the extreme, they did pray for his safe journey to heaven.