CHAPTER ONE: 18

"All endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it all the time."

- Mitch Albom

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19th of July 2015

I've never done this before so please do excuse my handwriting and my poor descriptions of my insanely boring adventures as the oldest orphan in this orphanage. My psychiatrist told Mrs. Rethers that it was important that I learned how to express my feelings one way or another. I hated the idea but I had to do it if I wanted to keep my allowance and not get kicked out of the only place I knew I was safe.

Euno promised he would help me with my History homework because I needed to do extra work for extra credit before school started. He said he'd come right over once his shift at Greeny's diner ended. Ugh. He's taking forever! Well, I guess I gotta start reading ahead so at least I could be a little more productive than I was currently. I wonder what was for sup-

"Kids! Supper's ready!"

As soon as I heard those heavenly words, I placed my pen and journal back in my closet and slid down the railing and into the dining area. Everyone was quite cheery today and it was a little weird. The other kids were usually arguing about whose butt looked more masculine: Captain America's ass or Spiderman's booty. Other than that, I can say I'm really lucky I've lived in this orphanage with decent fellow orphans as well. While everyone else were finding their seats, I sat down at my usual spot and brought out my phone. Euno still hadn't texted me if he was done with work or if he was on his way.

Mrs. Rethers appeared from the kitchen a few minutes later with freshly baked loaves of bread, baked mac 'n' cheese, spicy buffalo wings, tempura veggies and gimbap. The smell was so delicious! I felt my mouth watering instantly. This orphanage just has the best owner, caregiver and chef all in one person. Mrs. Rethers was just so awesome and perfect that any orphan would choose to grow up here than to be adopted. This was just heaven. I may still wish to know my real family but as far as home gets, there was no place like Mrs. Rethers's Orphanage.

*.*.*.*

One spoonful after the other, I filled my mouth with the mac 'n' cheese. It was just the perfect combination of creamy goodness and savory taste. The cheese was perfect. The macaroni, divine! The kids really loved Mrs. Rethers's tempura veggies. She really knows how to make eating vegetables less disgusting. The buffalo wings were devoured instantly, leaving the bowls empty less than a minute!

Still no sign of Euno and I was starting to get really annoyed. It was almost 8 PM and his shift should've ended two hours ago. If he had other plans he could've just texted me. I would understand. After all, we were best friends and best friends should understand one another.

Me:

dude, where r u?

I sent him a quick text and continued eating my tempura veggies. Mrs. Rethers seemed to be in a very jolly mood. I wonder what happened today? How come everyone's so cheery and smiling from ear to ear?

I was starting to feel a little nervous and weirded out at the constant stares I got from the other kids while I was happily biting through my bread with strawberry jelly on it. Walter seemed a little odd for such a grumpy kid. He was usually frowning so much that his frown reaches the Earth's core. Seeing him actually smiling and looking at me is already enough to get me worried that something was so fishy.

*ring*

egg:

Lyr, im on my way now. sorry, got caught up with overtime today. the diner was a lot busier than I expected it to be.

Cool, so he didn't ditch me and my History homework for some random chic he probably met at the diner. I knew I could count on him.

I continued to scroll through my social media feed when the other kids suddenly went to the kitchen all at the same time. I didn't mind going after them because I was so caught up with the dancing duck video I was watching on my phone. The video was about to come to an end when the lights suddenly turned off and the only source of light I had was the one coming from my screen. I was so confused that I didn't move for a few seconds. When I came to my senses, I stood up and started looking for the others and headed straight for the kitchen. If this was another prank of Tiff's I'm going to prank her back so hard that she never thinks of pranking me ever again.

I stood up and slowly made my way to the kitchen calling out everyone's name but none of them replied. My heart was beating so fast but I needed to stay calm because I might faint anytime soon.

As I approached the kitchen counters, I called out for Mrs. Rethers when I felt somebody lay their hand on my shoulder. I screamed when the lights were suddenly turned back on and everyone jumped up in front of me.

"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LYR!"

Tiffany was in the middle, holding out her phone and taking a video of me, still terrified after being surprised for my birthday. So that was why everyone was so cheerful. They really didn't need to go through all this trouble for me because I didn't even remember it was my birthday. Mrs. Rethers walked towards me, reaching out to give me a big bear hug. We pulled apart and she gave me a small but perfectly wrapped box. I opened it and there was a shiny silver necklace with a shooting star pendant in the middle. I slowly took it out and just stared at it. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. The shooting star's tail had little crystals on it and they were shimmering under the light. I wore it and just couldn't stop smiling and touching it like it was the most fragile thing in the world. And I think it was because it was something from the woman I loved and treasured the most even though I've been this rebellious gal and been given "The Fastest Running Away from Foster Family" award.

I was still so shocked about the surprise and the necklace that I forgot there was a hand still resting on my shoulder. I sighed.

"Josh, you can stop with the creepy jump scare thi-"

I stopped mid-sentence when I turned around to see whose hand scared the hell out of me. Euno said he was on his way. How on earth was he standing here holding out another present for me? Does he know how to teleport or something?

"Surprise! Happy Birthday, Lyr!", he said while ruffling the top of my head with his free hand.

My smile turned into a scowl and I swat his hand away from my head and stomped so hard on his left foot that he started to jump up and down on one leg. He was groaning in pain and mumbling curses under his breath. He said one curse word after another like he wasn't taking any breaths in between that it was too fast for me to understand what he was saying.

"Maybe you shouldn't sneak up on me like that again, you weasel. You deserve that stomp."

I smirked and starting laughing again because of the stupid face he had on while still holding onto his foot. He kept bouncing like those in cartoons and everyone started laughing along too. It was so hilarious to watch I actually started tearing up. When the laughter died out, Euno was already glaring at me and shoved his present towards me.

"Umph! Hey! You could just give it nicely, you know," I replied while opening his present. It was a medium box and it was quite heavy.

"If you weren't such a scaredy-cat then you wouldn't have needed to stomp on my foot so hard. I think you made it bleed, Lyr."

"Oh, quite whining, bozo."

Euno sat down at the dining table while Mrs. Rethers was bringing more food and invited him to have dinner with us too. The kids started piling up their presents near the piano then went back to the dining table to eat dessert.

I was having a hard time trying to untie the messy ribbon and elastic-like wrapping paper around the box. Unlike Mrs. Rethers's present, this was done very messily. After what felt like decades of tearing through the wrapping paper, I was finally left with the plain brown medium-sized box. I was really excited and opened it slowly. Everyone had their eyes on me while I was opening my present. When I took the lid off, my excitement instantly turned into irritation when I realized why the box was so freaking heavy.

"YOU FILLED THE BOX UP WITH ROCKS?! ARE YOU BEING SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?!"

Everyone started giggling when I threw the lid towards Euno and he fell backwards and off his seat. The laughter got louder and he looked like a giant tomato after falling. I went to Euno and started punching him on the arm and he was laughing at my expression. That got me more annoyed and I hit him harder.

"Ow! That's just a joke. Here. This is the real thing."

He reached out in his pocket and brought out a small box. I stopped hitting him and got up. When I opened it up, there was a key. You could probably imagine how confused I looked right now. I looked over to Euno and raised an eyebrow. He smiled and stood up.

"It's a key to another surprise. A bigger and better surprise. Something we've always talked up having someday."

"So, are you gonna show me where I should be using this key?"

"I will show you after dinner."

"Fine."

The kids were all done eating and were now playing around the fireplace waiting for me to open all their presents. I quickly went up to my room to put away Euno's gift in my cabinet so I don't loose it 'coz I'm quite forgetful. I ran down the stairs and sat on the sofa. Tiffany and Josh were sitting on either side of me, watching me with intent. I reached out for the biggest box first so that I had a place to store the other smaller gifts after I opened them up. It would also be easier to carry them all up to my room.

The biggest gift was from Denver who was three years younger than me and had a passion for arts and crafts. He looked at me and smiled sweetly, obviously excited for me to unwrap his gift. I opened the box and found a huge stuffed elephant. He was really good at sewing and his works were just always so impressive. It was soft when I picked it up and I hugged it immediately. I kept it beside me while I opened up the other gifts.

The night was spent with laughter, singing and instruments playing sweet songs. The kids sang for me and I played the violin when we started to have a group jamming. Euno was staying the night that's why he didn't head home after dinner. Mrs. Rethers prepared the spare bedroom on the 3rd floor. Everyone was smiling and singing. They were swaying to the slow but steady beat of the songs and laughed while others were singing off key or telling jokes to one another.

I've never had this much fun in my entire life here in the orphanage. Spending these 18 years with everyone here will never make me regret running away from the 50+ families I ran away from. Indeed, I was one lucky rebellious 18-year-old orphan gal.