I Have To

"What do you mean you want to close the orphanage down? You can't do that." said the woman in a loud high pitched voice, clearly enraged at the man in front of her. "Of course I can, it was my land to begin with, the only reason why I allowed this non-profit in the first place was that the government granted me tax exemption for this, now that the country is at war, an ammunition factory is not only provided with an exemption but will also earn profits." said the man with a sign of guilt on his face. The woman, Alice, knew how greedy this fat bastard was, if the business meant him gaining more money, he would gladly sell his own soul, but it wasn't the time for personal feelings, the children's future was in question, so she pleaded for his mercy kneeling down, but in the end, the man was unwilling to continue the facility that brought him no profit, in his eyes, all it did was bring a few government issued funds, majority of which would go in the children's welfare and education. "I've had enough of your whining, this was meant to be an order, not a discussion." saying this, the man left the facility.

"Is the orphanage really shutting down Miss?" said the boy, as he walked into the room, helping Alice to get on her feet. "So you heard it all, huh, Chase?" she asked. "I mean… you were pretty loud. I don't think the others did though, since you were late I already made sure they went to bed." Chase replied, Alice could hear the worry in his voice, he was concerned about the place being shut down, she always made sure to not seem weak in front of the kids, but today of all days she could not find the strength to cease his worries. "You don't have to act strong you know, if it's just in front of me, it's okay to be weak, I won't tell anyone." said Chase as his eyes teared up looking at the state of the woman in front of him. The woman who raised him when his parents left him in front of her door, the woman who cared for him all these years, never showed a weak side even in the toughest times.

"Oh Chase, I wonder how you grew up so fast, sometimes it worries me that a child of your age is able to say things like these, it makes me wonder if I made you go through things a normal child never should have," she said with a frown. "I was lucky enough to end up at your doorstep, I had clothes on my body, food on my plate, and a roof on my head, it's all I needed. I told you that I would work, we'll pay off the fat bastard in installments," said Chase.

"NO! A boy your age should be studying, learning new things, I cannot and will not allow a 12-year-old boy to sell his childhood just for my sake!" she exclaimed, Chase knew that she'd react in this manner, no matter how many times he brought this up in the past, she would always shut him down, "It's not for your sake, the other kids are involved in this now, if the orphanage shuts down, I could manage somehow, but they won't." he replied. Usually, she would have kept arguing till Chase yielded, but the thought of the other kids frightened her, to the point that she hesitated to refute Chase.

"Your earning would ease our problems but when I think about other facilities like us, where the children are still too young if only this fucking war would meet an end. The majority of the children in the facilities are war orphans. Every king wants to rule the world, in this world where there isn't someone who's the "strongest", wars to determine the strongest will continue." she said looking at the innocent boy in front of her, realizing that a boy his age wouldn't get it.

"You said a swear word."

"What?"

"You said fucki-" Alice covered his mouth, stopping him from completing his sentence, "I most certainly did not," she replied and couldn't contain her laughter, Chase somehow managed to ease the tense situation and also managed to gain her approval to work even though she was still against it.

After his reaction to her thoughts on war Alice was to think that Chase was only still a 12-year-old, but what it did, was plant a dream in the boy's head.

"I want to… No! I HAVE TO become the strongest in the world."