ORPHANS

Chapter 5

Beyoncé had finally decided to leave the room later that evening to find Onika in the living room surrounded by all the kids.

She looked to be telling them stories by moonlight. Fake made up nonsense that the children were feeding into.

They were clapping their hands and asking her to go on with bright smiles on their faces one completely different from the bored expressions they usually had when Ms Eden told them stories of her childhood filled with boring old tales.

"Oh hey Bey!" Onika smiles waving over at her enthusiastically when she'd caught her eye.

The children looking over to mirror Onika's actions.

Beyoncé who stood at the last step on the stairs just smiled a small, barely there smile walking past them and into the kitchen.

There she met Ms Eden preparing dinner for the kids, supposedly she'd dismissed Onika's offer to help and instead gave her another job to keep the kids quiet and orderly while she cooked.

Beyoncé hadn't even bothered offering her services seeing as she'd already burnt one too many dinners here at the orphanage.

At this point she was basically banned from cooking anything in the house lest she burnt it down.

She took her bottle of water, greeting Ms Eden on her way out and had then gone to take a seat on the living room couch furthest away from where the story telling was going on.

Onika looked over at her with a little indulgent smile to which she didn't reply back but instead goes to bury her head into a book she'd seen lying on the couch.

"What happened next? Did she die?"

"Was he able to save her?"

"Tell us!"

"Calm down. calm down." She soon hears Onika's voice over the anticipating children's voices "No she didn't die..

The prince had come to save her. It took him three days and three nights to get there by foot.. And when he got there the evil King had already hurt his princess, she was on the verge of death..."

"No!" She hears one of the younger kids say in distraught but Onika just chuckles carrying on with her story "The evil King had made a deal with him to spare his princess if only he could win in a sword fight with him and the prince had accepted, he was a well known swordsman anyways.. The two men fought long and hard and finally a sword was struck down—"

"Kids dinner time!" They all heard Ms Eden's voice call out from the kitchen doorway which made them all groan out collectively.

"We're gonna finish the story after dinner right?" Cody asks to which Onika nods, "Sure."

____

The dinner was different today. Not as quiet as it usually was. It felt lively actually.

Onika chatted on and on with the kids who seemed more indulgent in the conversation than their food.

They joked and laughed heartily, even Ms Eden who was most of the time keen on not talking while eating.

Beyoncé didn't join in on their conversation although she would let out a little smile here and there when she actually found something Onika was saying.. funny.

It was on night's like this they forgot that they all didn't have families, they were all they had, not like other children who had loving parents and a nice warm place to lay their heads.

Most of the kids in the orphanage didn't think to much on the fact that they had no family maybe except the few inquisitive questions here and there.

But Beyoncé thought about it.

Every single day for her was a reminder of just how lost she was.

Ms Eden could only do so much and by this time the year after she'd have to move out of the orphanage. She had no support and no guidance either.

Onika was the only one who noticed Beyoncé's sudden change of mood. Although she wasn't technically smiling before but at least she didn't look this downcast.

"Please excuse me." Beyoncé says excusing herself from the dining table, her plate of food barely touched.

Mrs Eden just nods for her to go already used to Beyoncé's sudden mood swings.

Onika stays awhile with the children downstairs finishing up her dinner, helping Mrs Eden with the dishes along with Maxine and then she goes to finish up the story before grabbing Beyoncé's left over plate of food and going up the stairs to their room.

There she meets Beyoncé on her bed staring blankly at the ceiling.

"You didn't finish your dinner.." Onika starts walking up slowly to her bed but Beyoncé doesn't reply back to her.

Coughing a little she finishes up her sentence, "..So I uh brought your dinner up here."

Onika wasn't exactly sure why she always felt a little nervous when talking to Beyoncé. The little fear of Beyoncé looking at her in disapproval always made her filter out her words or stutter a little when talking to her.

"I'm not hungry." Beyoncé says rolling over to face the wall and away from her.

"But you didn't e—"

"Goodnight Onika."

Onika just stands there for awhile with the plate of food in her hands sighing out a soft, "Goodnight." 

She wasn't going to press her to eat the food but she was going to leave it in the room just in case she woke up hungry in the night.

She drops the food on Beyoncé's study table— which was basically the only one in the room— that was expected to be for both of them but seeing as all of Beyoncé's things had already occupied it she just let it be.

Plus she had nothing to put on it anyways..

She slowly gets in to her own mattress staring at Beyoncé's back, who she was sure hadn't fallen asleep just yet.

She could tell Beyoncé's walls had already been placed high up but that wasn't going to deter her from trying to break it down.. even if it was just a little.

____

Thoughts?

Beyoncé?

Onika?

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