The Family

'Honey, come to have a look at your mom!’ a soft voice said.
The little girl obeyed reluctantly, not aware of what was happening around her, not knowing that this look would be the last one in her life. She rubbed her eyelids with her small right hand and looked at the corpse pensively.
'Where will she go?' she asked innocently.
'To Heaven my dear,' said the 50-year-old woman, lovingly stroking the girl's golden hair. 'She will relax and wait for us until we join her,' she added softly.
'Why can't we go with her now?'
'Because we still have some tasks to do.'
'And why can't she wait until we go together?'
'She will prepare the place for us there and she will be happy to receive us.'
'I will miss her a lot. I can't stand living away from her. She is everything for me. I will stay alone,' the little girl started crying and tears covered her beautiful blue eyes. The features of her face might break the might of stones and invade the heart of ruthlessness, and invite the rivers of sympathy and empathy to flow and move and pray for mercy. Her fate looked like a small boat in a rough sea longing to reach the shore.
'Don't say that. We are with you and you will never be alone. We love you princess,' said the woman in a voice overwhelmed by sadness and sympathy, striving to remain strong in front of the little girl.
The girl went beside the corpse of her mom and looked at her sadly, expecting her to react, to move, to talk, always keeping hope to see her alive again. Children do believe in the unimaginable and live it to the full. They don’t set borders, they fly in their imagination and make the impossible possible and beautiful.She was unable to apprehend what was happening, unaware of where her fate was leading her. Time had no meaning for her, all that she could understand was the tangible, what she was able to perceive by sight and touch.
The feeling of loneliness and loss had already swamped her. If adults usually show fear and cowardice to the unknown of the future, what can a poor child like Emily do?
Despite her very young age, the five-year-old girl had gone through a series of tragedies that had started by the death of her father, followed by the daily hardship her mother had experienced in order to earn her living. Lately, her mom had spent a two - week period under intensive care before she passed away and left her alone.
Few people attended the funeral ceremony, no family members showed up, no friends, only their close neighbors: Mr. Graig and his wife who behaved as if they were her closest relatives. They had shown some unbelievable sympathy for the deceased and her daughter. They had looked after the little girl while her mother had been lying in her bed in hospital.
Time for Emily to farewell her refuge in life and face the horror of loss at an early age. She was oppressed by the mercilessness of fate; she was at the mercy of the unknown. Mountains could collapse of the depth of her sorrow.

- - -

The little girl was entrusted to an orphanage where she would pass the very first phase of the unknown after the death of her mother. She felt terrified when she set foot in the institution and sensed the coming separation from her lovely neighbors, a horrible transition from the sky of their love and empathy to the imprisonment behind the walls of the orphanage building that looked dark and gloomy. She was crying silently and her look was fixedon the neighbors as though every side were going to follow a different distant path and without return. The headmistress was so gentle, received her warmly, and reassured the neighbors of the secure family Emily would be delighted to discover inside the orphanage; yet, Emily was oblivious of her words and promise. After 15 minutes in the office of the headmistress, the couple thanked the lady for her lovely reception and kissed Emily and promised to visit her as often as they could set aside the time, then left. The little angel didn’t utter a word in complete obedience to their choice.

- - -

In the courtyard of the orphanage, while the couple was walking towards the door of the institution, the woman burst into tears, seemingly feeling guilty for something wrong she hadn’t done. She said in a faint voice,‘I love the poor girl and I wish we could keep her in our small family.’
‘I share the same wish, honey, but we can’t assume this sensitive responsibility, so hard and we don’t know what will happen in the future. We can’t build a decision on momentary sympathy. I love her, too. I was moved by her looks; I am not a stone,’ he seemed sunk in regret.
‘What on earth did she commit to deserve such fate? Did you see how the poor girl was looking at us when we were in the office of the headmistress? She was begging our rescue without saying a word; herlook was tearing my heart out.’
‘Enough. I can’t stand it. It is utterly beyond our powers. We already discussed this topic and I think we fulfilled our mission,’ the husband said with troubled eyes, quickening his pace to the outside to put an end to the conversation and convince himself that he accomplished his moral duty. The sky outside the orphanage was cloudy and some drops of rain started to fall shyly.It seemed that the grey of the sky manifested the unknown the little girl was going to plunge into.

- - -

Emily faced some difficulty to get used to the life of the orphanage despite the good standards of living inside the institution. She psychologically rejected the idea of dwelling the orphanage; she yearned for safety and love whose dimensions exceeded the conception of places. She tended to isolate herself and kept distance from her peers. She was usually absent-minded, didn’t talk too much, and wasn’t responsive to the effort of the headmistress who did her best to help her live a normal life inside her institution. She didn’t manifest the qualities children show at her age, she was living her own world that no one seemed to have been able to comprehend. Even the sessions with a psychiatrist didn’t serve their purpose. Her refusal of the idea of living in the institution was definite and firm, no room to negotiate it. After 2 months inside the orphanage, Emily ran away to the second phase of the unknown, but this time, to the wild, the outside world.

- - -

A state of panic hit the orphanage since such an event never occurred before. The escape of little girl would raise many questions, and have an impact on her peers, and might invite others to follow the same path.Emily was brave to do the unthinkable and own her decision. She ran away to make her presence effective and remarkably felt.
The headmistress informed the police and called the neighbors who were horrifiedby the bad news. It was very difficult to absorb it, and it deepened their feeling of guilt.
What made things more complicated was that they had moved to another flat and the situation darkened more since her only possible refuge had changed its location: her lovely neighbors.
While receiving the Craigs in her office, the headmistress looked disappointed and helpless, unable to apprehend what had happened, she had never lived such an experience, and she regarded herself the first person to blame because she had failed in making Emily feel secured inside the institution.
‘To tell the truth, I was too astonished by her escape. I never expected she would think of fleeing this institution. In truth, she showed some signs but I didn’t take them seriously,’ she confessed with a tone of defeat.
‘Emily is so sensitive and her character tends to be enigmatic; therefore, it is very difficult to read her ideas,’ Mrs Graig said, softening her facial features, and showing understanding to the headmistress.
‘She didn’t give me the opportunity to help her. I have to say that she was polite and self-disciplined but implicitly rejecting the whole conception of living here, her presence was almost imperceptible and her mind and soul were somewhere else.’
The last sentence of the headmistress was so painful that Mr. Graig felt obliged to state something and save his wife from falling in the deep remorse the sentence carried. He said boldly, ‘I am aware of the efforts you made, Madame, and I feel responsible of what happened. We should have kept her with us, among our two children, but the sense of responsibility intensified our reluctance,’ his tone was dominated by bitterness and regret.
‘Anyway, we made all the necessary arrangements and the police are doing their job now. I hope they will find her as soon as possible and I trust them. Her disappearance shook the feelings of children, I am worried about their psychology as well, and her reappearance will relieve them from doubt and restore their self-confidence.’
‘We hope so, Madame,’ Mr. Graig said.

- - -

The police led their investigation and failed to find her. They strongly believed in the awful possibility that the little girl was a prey for the gangs of beggars and there was a serious risk of being abducted by them. The little fragile girl was at the mercy of the merciless world outside.
She had never had the opportunity to live in a secure shelter under the protection of her lovely parents. She had always lived in abnormal circumstances, like a refugee, moving from a place to place.
- - -

One week went by and the situation was getting gloomy. Emily didn’t come back to the orphanage and didn’t leave any trace that might help reach her. The little angel had been very mysterious and hadn’t released any clues to her peers or staff in the institution. The only people she knew in the city were the Graigs.
Few witnesses saw her in some streets in the city and didn’t provide further information that could have led to her new destination. The police were convinced that Emily had fallen into the hands of gangs. They had raced time to save her but they had reached nothing. Emily wouldn’t have vanished if she had found someone who could have understood her. She had been entrusted to the orphanage without her consent; no one had asked her opinion, she had just received a promise to be well looked after. Certainly, she was very young and fragile and her psychological desire mattered. The little helpless girl had had the courage to say no and dictate her own will.

- - -

Mr. Graig and his wifealmost lost hope and felt dejected. They were experiencing a deep state of remorse and guilt. The fire of blame was burning their hearts. If they had kept her, the whole harsh situation would have been avoided, but they didn’t. Certainly, they weren’t responsible and there was nothing to blame them for. Yet, her love and attachment to them morally transferred the responsibility to them because they hadn’t been faithful to her pure love. She had chosen them and they had let her down. They had never thought that the events would have taken such a saddening turn becausethey believed they had done their best by entrusting the girl to a safe haven. They shared her picture on social media maybe someone would come across her and give a hand. They stayed collaborative with the police and the orphanage. They were expecting some miracle to happen.
It was Saturday evening and the atmosphere at home was somber. They were sitting in the kitchen talking about many pointless things and turning now and again to the same main topic: Emily.
Her presence was so palpable in her absence,her eyes with their deep look, her golden hair, her angelic smile, and her powerful unspoken. Her unconditional love invaded their souls and kept them chained to her memory.Mr. Graig said, ‘tomorrow morning we should resume our journey to the garden; we haven’t been there for three weeks, we need to breathe some fresh air to restore our concentration and liveliness.’
‘I can’t go, there is no mood!’
‘I know, but we have to struggle, and never give in.’
‘The face of the girl doesn’t leave my mind, doesn’t let me see anything else.’
‘I know and we have to try and keep hope; my spirit is always filled with hope. Something inside me tells that she is safe somewhere.’
‘I hope so!’
- - -
The day after, the couple was on their way to the garden where they were used to going every week on the same day. It was one of the habits they had built together during their conjugal life. It was their customary relief.
They were walking hand in hand, towards the same bench; longing for the enjoyment they usually drew from the place, especially during this tough period, maybe spending some moments in the garden would lessen their deep sadness and helplessness. The public park was still empty and cold; few people were sitting inside its green space yearning to catch some rays. The sun was beginning to shine, disclosing the good omen of a beautiful shining day.
When they reached the bench, they found it busy, which was strange at that early moment in the morning. A small body was sleeping there, wrapped in blanket and sleeping peacefully despite the cold weather,and a dog was sitting beside the bench. When they got some five meters from to the bench, the dog started to growl, sending its warning to the couple not to cross that distance. Hearing the snarl of the dog, the small body moved and uncovered the head whose yellow color shone more than the light of the rays. She was Emily who cast a look at them and threw her magic smile to their faces, a smile full of hope and security that inducetheir faces to brighten up. What she had predicted to happen came true; once she had come with them to their favorite place of relaxation, and had never forgotten it. She had already absorbed some of their rituals.
The three faces shone allowing the third phase of the unknown of her life to start ….