Once Upon A Time

Chapter 38

When Elkis brought the kids home the first thing she did was scold them for being near that mine and forbade them from ever going near it again. After that she immediately insisted that Nasha and Nakku take a bath and wash off all the dirt they were covered in. Nasha took her bath first and then Nakku took his, while they were getting cleaned up Elkis got started on dinner. She had just finished setting the table when she heard a familiar voice humming a tune. She followed it to Nakku's closet and found Greige sitting inside, clutching his book and humming. It was just like that night when he and Nasha had gotten into an argument about Greige's mother.

"Now why are you upset?" She asked as she moved to sit next to him. "Both Nasha and Nakku got out the mine alright. They're not hurt or have black lung or anything."

"I know but they could have died."

"But they didn't."

"But they could have and...And it would have been all my fault."

"What are you talking about? It's not your fault they fell down that shaft. They fell because the entrance collapsed. It's not like you pushed them."

"I did push them. I didn't touch them when I did it and I didn't mean to but somehow I pushed them. And I made the entrance collapse."

"Greige that doesn't make any sense. For one thing you couldn't possibly have the strength to push two grown adults down like that and second how on earth could you push something without touching it?"

"I don't know but I know I did it because I was very mad and bad things always happen when I get mad. Someone always gets hurt."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't explain it but ever since I was little, if I ever got really angry bad stuff would happen and sometimes people would get hurt. I'm not a normal kid and I think there's something really bad inside of me."

"Greige is this some kind of joke? Because it's not really fun. You're scaring me a little."

"It's not a joke." He said. "Do you know why I was transferred?"

"Yes because your former foster father was discovered to be ill equipped to the job."

"He wasn't ill equipped but they thought he was so they locked him away."

"Locked him away? You mean they sent him to jail?"

"Not jail. A place for crazy people. He didn't hurt me but he knew what was wrong with me and when he told people they thought he was crazy. That's why they took him away. I ruined his life, I didn't mean to but that doesn't change the fact that it happened because of me."

Elkis was unsettled about these news. In fact it bothered her so much that the next day after work, she looked through Greige's file and read that his foster father had been sent to a mental institution. However no matter how many times she re read the file she couldn't find anything explaining the reasons why he was sent there. Eventually she found the phone number for the institution and requested a phone visit with the man. She hoped to figure out what this was all about.

"Hello?" The voice on the other line sounded raspy. 

"Hello, is this Mark Desange?" 

"Who's askin?"

"My name is Elkis Scarlet. I apologize for disturbing you but I want to know why it was you were institutionalized?"

"Hold on is this some kind of test? Are you my therapist trying to figure out if I'm deemed sane or not?"

"No it's not. I live in Edolas and I've been charged with taking care of your former foster child Greige. I just wanted to know what happened when he was in your care. What it was that led to this outcome for you."