The beginning

It was the second week of winter, the fifth day at night there was a loud bang on the door of Saint Louise orphanage. The noise woke the sisters up and sister Ann took a lamp and went to see who it was, she opened the door and a man fell inside, he had already fainted because of the cold, the sisters took him to the fire place to warm up, they took the thin cloth he wrapped himself with and replaced it with a blanket, they found in his arms a small child. The child was a baby girl, she wasn't breathing properly so the sisters took her to the fireplace, they added more wood to the fire and soon after the man woke up and said.

"Please, help me"

" What do you want us to do?"

"My daughter, please can I leave her in your custody, I promise to come back for her"

"How can we take your daughter away, she already has her dad, she wouldn't feel good after knowing the truth"

"I'm well prepared for this, here is the money to take care of her I'll constantly send money so please help me, our lives are in danger"

The sisters took pity on him and collected the child.

"Ok, we will take care of her"

The man kissed his daughter on her forehead and was about to leave then Sr Ann said

"Stay, the cold is too much"

"No, I must leave it isn't safe here and I'll will put you all in danger"

He went back into the cold blizzard. The sisters took the child to one of the rooms and went back to bed.

The next morning during breakfast,Sr Ann brought Alicia and introduced her as a new child in the orphanage. Alicia was one year when her father dropped her at the orphanage, Alicia had blonde hair and green dazzling eyes, she was a cute girl and loved by everyone at the orphanage at times couples would want to adopt her but Sr Ann would always prevent it, Alicia's father always sent money to the sisters to take care of her. Alicia stayed in the orphanage for five years, she read books that she could from the library, Sr Ann taught her to read and write, she was also taught how to pray and resolve argument.

Alicia on her own was a gifted child, she was also intelligent and loved talking to people.

After a few months, her father stopped sending money for her and the sisters budget weren't enough for her soon they weren't able to pay the rent or electricity and water bills. Ruthford was the man who collected due payments in the neighborhood, he was a wicked man, he never spared anyone when their payments were overdue no matter how much they begged. The orphanage was owing a lot of money and Ruthford kept pestering the sisters to pay up or be kicked out , he knew he couldn't do anything because the orphanage was under the church.

Alicia had a friend who always visited the orphanage with his mother, his name was Raymond. He always played with her whenever he came to visit and sometimes they would read books until it was time for him to leave. Raymond came over to the orphanage to tell Alicia some bad news.

"Alicia, I over heard from my mother, that they plan on shutting down the orphanage"

"Why, what could possibly be the reason"

"My mother said something about insufficient funds"

"What is going to be the faith of the children here"

"But more importantly, what about you?"

"I will manage somehow "

"Alli, if something goes wrong my doors are wide open"

"Thanks Ray, your a good friend"

They both embrace each other.

"Ray, I have to go meet Sr Ann , I'll see you later"

"Alicia ran to meet Sr Ann, she saw her sitting in her room reading a book.

"Sr Ann! Sr Ann!!"

"Alli, what's the problem"

"I heard the orphanage will soon be closing!"

"Shhhh!"

Sr Ann stood and closed her room door.

"Alli, where did you here that from"

"Ray, he told me everything, Sr Ann why?"

"Alli, you're not old enough to know about stuff like this"

"Sr Ann, I might be young but I'm capable of doing a lot of things"

"Alli, you shouldn't worry, we have already sent a letter to the bishop, we shall wait for his reply"

"Sr Ann, how long would it take to receive the letter from the bishop"

"It would take about 3-4 days"

"3-4 days! what would we be doing till then"

"We will just wait patiently for his reply"

"No, sister we can do something, we can raise funds, we can beg"

"Alli, it's part of our responsibility to keep the children safe so we can't send you out on the streets to beg"

"Sr Ann, but we ..."

"Alli, it's enough, we just wait for the bishop to reply now go and don't tell anyone"

Sr Ann took Alicia out of her room and locked the door. Alicia was very angry at Sr Ann behavior towards the matter, she decided to raise some money and would ask the children at the orphanage for help. She was about to go to the sitting room where the children stay and overheard some people gossiping, she stood in the hallway to listen to their conversation.

"Did you hear?"

"what happened?"

"The orphanage would soon be closing down because of insufficient funds"

"Why, this never happened before"

"I heard it was because of Alicia"

"Yes, it must be her because on the fifth day of winter last five years, little Johnny went down for a snack and saw the sisters with a man and the man gave them his child and left the next day Alicia was introduced"

"it's her, she's the cause, we'll all be homeless because of her"

Alicia was very angry at what they said about her and decided to confront them.

"Hey, why are guys gossiping about me instead of telling it to my face"

"You little kid get out of here, you're not meant to talk when big kids talk"

"We are all equal at this place, we all lost our parents due to some incident"

"We did but you didn't your dad left you, he abandoned you and doesn't want you anymore"

"Don't say that, it's a lie my father is dead he didn't leave me"

The kids surrounded her dragging her hair and pushing her all together chanting, "He left ! he doesn't want you!"

Alicia felt sad and already started crying and pushed one of the girls, Matilda and shouted.

"My father didn't leave me , he is dead!"

Alicia ran upstairs to her room and sat on her bed crying and wondering whether her father left her or he's dead, Matilda reported Alicia to Sr Ann but instead Sr Ann went to Alicia to know the whole story.