Chapter 7 Happy Lily
Peace woke up feeling strong and excited to start her day even though she was more excited to give Lily her coloring book containing Mario Stone's godforsaken autograph. She was a young lady who was fresh out of college. It wasn't like she wasn't able to get a good job but she decided that she was going to help her father with the orphanage home due to the fact that her father was sick and also for her love for the orphanage kids. Although helping out in the orphanage wasn't all that she spent her entire after-school-days doing, part time she worked as a salesperson for a burger store downtown and the rest of the time she would be assisting with the kids.
The Florence Orphanage was something that her father and mother founded before her mother's demise and her father decided to keep it going -- the essence of his late wife's legacy. Her dad had his own share of life's cruelty when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and ever since then, Peace had been trying all she could to keep both her family and the orphanage home together. Life had not been easy but as a girl who had come with the terms that life would always prove that it was both fair and unfair, she took it the way it was and decided to sail the ship of her own destiny.
After preparing herself for the day, she stuffed the color book into one of her small boutique handbags and journeyed to the orphanage which was not so far from their home.
As she reached the orphanage and entered inside the hall, she was welcomed by the hailing screams of the kids. They all loved her dearly. She was like the mother they never had and of course she felt the same -- they were more like her own kids and she treated them as though she was their actual birth mother. The kids at the orphanage had always been many but over the years some of them clocked 18 and decided to find their own life's prospect while some of them were adopted into different homes. The kids that were currently at the Florence Orphanage were not even up to 20 in number but the same old feeling that the place started with was the same way it was, maybe it was the vibe and personality of the kids but whatever it was, Peace McCall was grateful for it.
After settling with the kids, she went in search of Lily, the one that she was more endeared to. Lily was different from the rest. Life hadn't been so gracious to her as her happy days were cut off on time when she and her mother, who was a single mom, got involved in a ghastly motor accident. Lily and her mother were on her way back home from the Amusement Park when a big petrol truck hit them and their car was smashed to an unrecognized state. Fortunately for Lily, she survived the accident but it didn't go without a price as she lost her legs in the process. The same could not be said for her mother who had died at that instant. It was such a tragic event -- an event that happened 5 years ago when Lily was just 5 years old but seemed like it happened yesterday.
Lily had always excommunicated from people since the accident till the present time but Peace and her father was the only person that she truly communicated with as family. There were 3 other staff members working in the orphanage but she wasn't close to them at all. It wasn't like she didn't like her fellow kids, but she was more of an introvert and liked to stay on her own most of the times; one of the reasons why David, Peace's father gave her her own room and one of the reason being that she was the only one in the Orphanage sitting on a wheelchair. They didn't want to give her any room to feel less or depressed and they did everything possible to make sure that she as well as the other kids were treated accordingly.
Peace took the color book to her room where she knew she would obviously find her and there she was, seated on her wheelchair and painting on another book. Painting was like Lily's escape route from reality -- it was like her gateway to happiness and even though she had not been taught by anyone, she was good at it.
"Look who we have here." Said Peace who hid the book behind her.
"Hello, Peace." Peace smiled, closing her book and strolling forward to meet Peace who she wanted to hug. "I thought that I was going to see you last night."
"I am so sorry honey pie. I was so tired." Peace explained and a cute little frown appeared on Lily's face. Peace already knew what the frown was for -- Lily was already thinking that she didn't succeed in getting her Mario Stone's autograph.
"I know why your face is like that but..." She removed the book from behind her and presented to her, "tada! I succeeded in bringing you Mario Stone's autograph."
Lily collected the book excitedly, her eyes all widened in excitement as she stared at both the book and at Peace.
"Oh my God! Are you serious?!" The little girl exclaimed excitedly.
"Yes, and you can find the autograph on the first page of the book."
Lily opened the book and it was just as Peace said - at the front page, and she couldn't be more excited for herself. Mario Stone had always been someone that she loved with all her heart. She first saw him on TV when he was invited for an interview with Vogue. She liked his peaceful nature, his personality, the deep voice, and ofcourse his handsomeness. From that day, she began to watch different videos about him from her laptop and he became her favorite. She already had a few pictures of him and even went as far as painting him in a small picture frame.
Lily was so excited to see his autograph and what made it better was the fact that it had her name just below it.
"Wow! I really can't believe this! This is truly his autograph. My name is there too." Then she screamed in excitement. "Please Peace tell me more about him. I really want to know." Lily said, clapping her hands in excitement and expectancy.
"Well, your favorite guy has some personality disorder issues. Yeah, he is rude."