Healing

Chapter 10

Anna

I was struggling to stay awake as I drove to work the next day. Christmas was coming, not a word from anyone from home. I missed home more than anything and then today I had an entrance exam to worry and study for. The worst part about her morning was that she forgot her coffee on the counter. Oh glory, now I get to be grumpy till I wake up. Cue the rolling eyes, now please. I parked my car into one of the few employee parking spaces and locked my car walking in as quickly as I could. Everything was a bustle. Some of the older kids running around, cleaning up last nights mess and some of them trying to figure out what to do for breakfast. I searched for Mrs. Betty, who  was on her way to the bedrooms, looking quite tired still but she smiled at me softly.

"Good morning Anna. There's some coffee in the kitchen. Oh and do you think you can make some breakfast for the kids? We have twenty one now. A three year girl came last night after you left." I nodded and rushed off to get my coffee and then off to the kitchen, thankful that I remembered how to get to both places. I looked through the cabinets to see what I had to work with and decided to make some pancakes. After making a mountain of  pancakes, the last bit of the mix, and having some of the older kids to set the tables, breakfast of pancakes, bacon- which Janie dropped by with juice and eggs when I texted her saying the kids didn't have much to really eat.The kids faces brightened as soon as they saw the feast in front of them and they wouldn't stop smiling. Anna watched as each kid say down in their seats, according to age, and waited for either Mrs. Betty or Anna, to put food onto their plates.

Mrs. Betty and I sat down at the small table that was set aside for the adults. We talked quietly about what needed to be down for the day that was ahead of them, sipping another cup of coffee. The two of us decided that since most of the kids had not had a doctors or medical check up in a while, that I should do as much as she could to check on all of the kids after they feed the two babies. I had told Mrs. Betty that I had changed my major to pre-med and wanted to become a doctor. Mrs. Betty and I got up and went to feed the kids knowing that the children would be safe at the moment and they both got of the little ones and feed them. Afterwards they walked downstairs again and, Mrs. Betty introduced me to the kids and told them that she was going to be the new nurse from now on. All of the kids cheered and lined up and one by one gave me a big hug, thanking me with a big smile.

~*~

As the day went on I did all I could to get every kid in for their check ups. It wasn't the easiest thing to do but I knew had to do it. An young man came in and sat down, who was trying his best to look like he was mad and mean. Anna looked up at him and tried her best to smile at him and he glared at her. She recognized that he was the only person that didn't hug her but she didn't say anything about that.

"Hello."

"Hi." Anna cringed inside at the cold distant voice that responded to her.

"I'm going to do my best to get this over with as fast as I can, okay? However, I will need you to help me out. How does that sound?" He nodded curtly and slouched more into the chair that Mrs. Betty had put in the room that they were now using as the nurses office. The room was small and a little crowded but it would do for it's purpose.

"Can you please tell me your name?"

"Davis Smith." The answer came back yet again curt and cold.

"How old are you?"

"16"

"Okay. What is your date of birth?"

"March 6th, 1996" she cringed a little bit. Cassie's birthday. She bit the inside of her lip and continued.

"Okay now can you come over to this scale? I need to get you weight and your height. Don't forget to take off your shoes." He stood up obeying her slowly and stepped into the scale. Even though this was an older scale it still worked and looked new, almost like it had not been used. She straightened up his back and ignored the huff from David and smiled a little bit. 135 lbs. That's really low for a young man like him but most of the kids here were under weight but not as much as he was. She frowned and wrote the number and wrote down that he was pretty tall for his age. Almost six feet tall, to be exact. She eyed him from her peripheral vision, and saw that he was a tall, lanky, and very skinny young man and Anna was a little surprised that he looked very sad. Davis must've realized that she was watching him and she was done and he scowled again.