Song of life

chapter 1 the orphanage

~2 years later~
Song-Two build a home by the cinematic orchestra

A seven year old blond boy ran up the orphanage stair case, tripping every few steps. Once at the top, he sprinted down on the right side of the hall to the third door. He swung the door open and skipped into the room.

“Leon!” He yelled at the boy whose bedroom he had just entered. Still skipping, he made it over to the bed in the far back corner. The head of the bed resting against the same side as the window. “Leon!” He yelled again, but with more emphasis and force.

The boy on the bed groggy sat up. Shaking his head to rid himself of his dreams.

“What the fuck, Tommy?” He said the 7 year old. “Why are you in my room?”

“Becaussssee,” the kid drew out his words. “I want to go outside and play!”

“Then why don’t you play with the other kids? You know the ones that actually get sleep and are already awake?” Leon’s voice was dry and deep. His words hard to understand as they bleed together.

“I wanted to play with you,” Tommy stated, swaying back and forth on his feet.

“Okay, you can play with me,” Tommy bounced up and down(a habit he learned from Leon). He was about to thank him when the older boy cut in “If,” he held up for effect. “You can drag me out of bed.” He flopped down onto the mattress and pulled the blankets over his head.

Tommy didn’t hesitate. He grabbed Leon green pajama shirt and tugged. Leon moved ever so slightly toward the edge. Tommy continued to tug until a hard thwap! Sounded throughout the room.

Grumbling, Leon stood stretching out his muscles in the process.

“I’ll get dressed and meet you in the kitchen. Got it?” Tommy nodded his head and ran out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Leon clad himself in a black binder, deep blue short sleeve shirt, baggy faded blue jeans, black long socks, and a light fitting black zip-up jacket. He pulled on his pair of red high top vans, that where more black gray. Mainly because of use and age.
Leon opened his room door and leaned on the frame. Two hole years. He thought. Two years in this place. Two years of no ‘real family’ Two fucking years of shit. Better shit than before. Lot better.

He stepped away from his room. The walls where covered with drawings a pictures. His guitar, ukulele, and skateboard rested at the foot of his bed. Art supply and books where left all around.  Floor, desk, chair, even the window seal. He tromped down the stair steps jumping at the last three steps. He hit the floor and began walking toward the kitchen.

He passed the old, wooden piano in the common area. The common area was basically just a giant room where the front door was. It also was the access point to the rest of the building. It had old, worn coaches, books, the piano. A ‘Harry Potter’ closest under the stairs, and an old TV that really only ever played cartoons unless one of the three oldest kids got there had on the remote.

Leon stepped into the kitchen and made his way to the coffee pots. He climbed up onto the counter and sat on his knees. He reached up and grabbed a cup then turned to face the rest of the kitchen. He sat on the counter and filled his cup with coffee.

Tommy stood in the kitchen waiting for him to finish his coffee. He rambled about something that Leon wasn’t actually paying attention to. Instead he let his mind wander aimlessly. Tommy kept talking.

Tommy had arrived at the orphanage 4 months prior. His parents had died in a car vs. semi truck accident. No one in his family had the money to take him in so he was sent here. Dropped of with his belongings and left to grieve. He was not sad though. He was a happy kid that could turn anything into a positive situation. Leon was glad that he didn’t turn out like most of the others.

Many of them either hated there family and stopped caring about them, or they cared to much and it ate them up. The others who didn’t fall into those two categories just lived. They didn’t feel a need for biological family. Leon was one of them. He didn’t need a bio/‘real family’. He had the other kids at the orphanage. He had his friends at school. He had work, he had music, and he had art. He had stopped caring about having a ‘real family’ even before he was kicked out.

Many would say that they where sorry. But sorry meant nothing. You can’t sorry sorry for these things. You can’t really say anything. All you can really do is show up and care. You don’t need to feel bad because someone had a short straw. Leon lived to his best. He was tuff, strong, and relatively independent. He had his way in life, and people always tried to apologize for his problems. He understood that they just felt bad that he lived a different life, but you can’t make something better by words.
Leon had seen so much in his life that the words sorry meant nothing anymore. Someone could say sorry and he didn’t believe it. ‘Sorry’ was just a word.

He finished his coffee and hoped off the counter.

“Come on Tommy.” He started for the front doors and out to the courtyard in front of the large, stone building. Tommy tromped alone behind him. “So, what do you wanna play?”

The gears in head where visibly turning. His eyes lit up. “Can we play pirates?!”

“Sure,” So the two played. They spent around 2 hours outside running around. The orphanage’s owner(Nancy) had got the play ground built when she first took over. She was now almost 85. Her grand daughter, Ashley, was basically the owner at this point though. Ashley had grown up in this town and with her family at the orphanage. She kept things going along with Nancy. The two where probably the kindest people any of them had met. Leon was grateful he had ended up here than anywhere else.

                             ***

Leon sat in his room, headphones on, blasting music. He sat on a stool and painted. Because of the days earlier events, he was painting a pirate ship in a storm. His music loud and rhythmic. He tapped his food and bobbed his head. The paint brushes glided on the canvas smoothly.

His peace was interrupted by his phone going off.

A.N. hope you liked it. There will be another update soon, and let me know if you want me to post drawings of what the orphanage looks like :)

-Nico