8 Anna's Worries

1st July 1987, London

(Anna POV)

I woke up at 6:00 as everyday thanks to my alarm clock. The day in the orphanage starts early for me. It was hard at first, when I just started working here, but I slowly got used to it during the nine years that I have been here. I am already twenty-seven years old. The time sure flies.

"I am already almost thirty, but still no potential husband in sight." I sighed to myself.

The work in the orphanage is hard and requires a lot of my time and concentration, but It's a very fulfilling job that I come to love. I don't regret my past choice to work here, as I found a new reason to live in this place. My life was not easy after the unfortunate early death of my parents. It was a car accident. Some truck driver was driving while being drunk and my parents were unfortunately the victims of his irresponsibility.

My family was not wealthy, so I had to drop from the University and try to find a job, so I have something to eat. Fortunately, I met Mrs. Williams and she was kind enough to offer me work in her orphanage. I feel really indebted to her. I don't know where I would have ended up without meeting her.

I got out of my bed and did my morning stretching. Then I took clean clothes and went to the bathroom next to my room. There I undressed from my favorite purple pajama dress and took a quick shower. After my morning hygiene, I wore the dark blue long-sleeved dress that I had to wear while I work. It's a rather bland dress, but It's comfortable. When I got out from the bathroom, Melissa was already there waiting for her turn.

"Good morning Melissa."

"Good morning Anna." She said and give me a quick peck on my cheek with a teasing look on her face and went into the bathroom.

I could feel the blush on my face. That teasing vixen! She knows that I am not like that. That one night that we spent together was only an accident because of alcohol. There was nothing else to it.

I composed myself and ignored that my heart was pounding fast because of her and her teasing look.

Melissa Williams. She is the daughter of the Director and my close friend, despite her rather peculiar tastes when it comes to the choice of her partners. She is a year older than me and she has been working here for a longer time than me. She really helped me with a lot of things when I just got here.

She has been teasing me for a long time, but I mostly ignored it and didn't think much of it. In some cases I even found her flirting quite funny. But it changed since that night. Now every time she teases me, I become a blushing mess. I don't know what to do with my new feelings, but I decided to ignore them for now. We are both women. Nothing will come of this.

I ignored the slight discomfort that came after my thoughts and went to check on the babies. After seeing that they are all still sleeping, I went to the kitchen to get myself something to eat and help the kids that have the cooking shift today. On my way, I found a few of the oldest kids that were already awake too and were preparing to go to their summer part-time jobs. Really hardworking kids.

After another busy morning, I went back to my room to get the present for little Suou. I knitted her a woolen green scarf, as the green color is seemingly her favorite. Funny when her surname is Green.

Although this orphanage is doing good financially, we can't really gift the children with a lot of things. Most of the funds go into the food, clothing, and schooling of the kids. So most of the gifts that we give the children are handmade by us. We don't really celebrate birthdays. But we do throw a celebration when the kids have their third, sixth, eleventh, and eighteenth birthdays.

The third birthday, because they stop being babies. The sixth, because they will be going into Primary school. The eleventh, because they will be going into Secondary school, and the eighteenth, because that is their last year in the orphanage.

Today is Suou's seventh birthday. It has been already six years since I found her before the door of our orphanage. She was such a cute baby and I have never seen a person with crimson hair similar to hers.

I took the green scarf and went to look for her. She has a few favorite spots so it's quite easy to find her. I first went to her room but inside I only found Jessica and Rebecca. The twins were playing some card game.

"Girls, do you know where Suou is?" I asked them, If they know where she was, since it would speed up my search for her."

They looked at each other and Rebecca then replied to me. "We don't know. Have not seen her since breakfast. Good luck finding the 'Little Ghost'."

'Little Ghost'. The nickname she gained for her talent to hide and be inconspicuous. Sometimes it seems like she can just disappear. I am starting to believe that she can actually become invisible or something. And I think she is the one who steals the snacks from the kitchen. But I don't have any proof yet.

She used this talent of hers to scare other children and even me a few times. If I am, to be honest, that nickname fits her. She really is like a ghost sometimes. A quiet ghost that sometimes scares people for fun.

When the kids started to call her by that nickname, I was worried that she would be dejected as she was still a small kid. But when she heard the nickname, she looked quite amused by it. It was one of the few times, that I saw her smile. She should smile more as she has a beautiful smile.

I looked out of the window. It was raining cats and dogs today, so she won't be sitting under her favorite oak tree in the garden. She usually sat there and meditated. I don't know where she learned about meditation or what she enjoys about it. She can sit quietly in one place and be like that even for hours. Strange hobby, that's for sure. She must have a lot of patience which is good. Patience is something that most of the children her age lack.

I went to the small library in the corner of the common room. It was another place where she is often. And here I found her. She was sitting in one of the armchairs and reading a book. She wore a grey shirt and dark blue pants. It's such a shame that she doesn't want to wear skirts or dresses. She is a really pretty girl.

When I came closer I could see the title of the book. She was reading 'The Hobbit'. She noticed me coming to her and laid the book away after she put a bookmark in it.

"There you are, little Suou. I came to wish you a happy birthday. Here you go." I give her the scarf. "This is something I knitted for you as you like to be outside even when it's cold outside. And I know that you like the green colour. It matches your eyes."

"Thanks. I like it" She looked over her new scarf in her hand and ran her hand across the wool fabric. Despite her blank expression, I could feel that she really liked it. I got used to her blank expression and I can somehow tell what she is feeling sometimes.

She is quite a peculiar child. She is usually quiet and doesn't talk much. She only talks when she wants something or if she has no other choice than to talk. She can also be boyish sometimes. I don't know why she has that much aversion to female clothing and why she dresses like a boy.

And there is also her ability to somehow disappear. And I swear, that I saw things moving around her while she is meditating. A few times I even saw how the shoelaces on her shoes tied themselves after she has put them on. There was also one time when she was bothered by a fly and that fly then burst into a small flame.

I think that she is a witch. I am not accusing her of witchcraft or satanism. I think that she can use magic. I know of the magical world from my father. My father was a Squib, a non-magical child born to magical parents. He left the magical world when he grew up and could live by himself. He told me that he left because the magical world wasn't kind to Squibs. He only told me about magic as there is a small chance, but still a chance, that my children could be magical.

"Can I ask a question?" Suou asked me and disturbed me from my thoughts. How unusual. She doesn't ask questions often.

"You can ask anything."

"How are things going between you and Melissa?"

"What?"

How does she know that something happened between us? Did Melissa tell her something? No that's impossible. She didn't even tell her mother about her sexual preference, so it couldn't be her. Had she seen how Melissa teases me sometimes? It could be possible as Suou can be very sneaky if she wants.

I looked at Suou. She had an innocent expression but I could see the amusement hidden in her pale green eyes.

This brat.

No, this little witch.