Elements: Rise of The Destruction (Book 1)

Love and Care the Orphanage (Chapter 10)

"You're...an orphan?" Alex asks as clarification. He thought he maybe heard wrong.

"Yup. And Tyler and Carol raised me. The kids here are my little siblings. I'm the oldest so I'm their big brother," Brenton looks over at the two adults. "But that's not the point here, I'm worried about you."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Alex narrows his eyes at him.

"Enough about me. You're the one hurting...you'll share my room since it has two beds," Brenton replies.

"Brenton. Tell me. Why didn't you tell us? And if you're still here that means you're still not adopted.." a look of pity shines in his golden-blue eyes.

"That's why. I don't want you guy's pity, I don't need it. I don't want anyone to look at me any differently," Brenton replies, then turns around and walks away.

Tyler walks over to Alex a puts a hand on his shoulder. "Brenton...tries really hard to make the most of being here. I know we can't give him everything he deserves...and he helps us so much. He cares for every one of the kids and even us," Tyler begins.

"If you look through the door..you can see that he's started cleaning," Carol points. Alex looks through and sure enough, Brenton's cleaning up the place.

"The older you get...the fewer chances of you being adopted by someone. Brenton always brushes it off when we try to talk to him about it but...I know it's troubling him," Carol sighs.

"That's why he didn't want anyone to know? Because he thought that if they knew...they would make fun of him or look at him differently?" Alex questions.

"Spot on...orphans aren't treated well, if someone knows about it then, well, everyone just looks at you differently," Tyler answers. "But that's not the point right now, we're worried about you."

"You must be tired, I'll take you over to the room," Carol says, then leads the way.

--

"Guys...the police were at Alex's house," Ava speaks into the phone, looking out her window.

"The police? How do you know that?" Urana questions.

"I saw them. Well, heading towards his house anyway..." Ava answers, biting her lip.

"I asked Coach and she said that Sensei is trying to become Alex's guardian since his parents were arrested. Also, Alex and Brenton are at the Love and Care Orphanage," Owen speaks, after a while.

"Okay. How the heck does she know that?" Urana asks.

"Coach and Sensei talk a lot," Owen clarifies.

"At least Brenton's with him...but we should be there too," Ava brings up.

"Ava's right. Let's go," Urana replies.

"I'll meet you two there in ten," Owen then ends the call.

"Don't worry Ava," Urana says then closes the call. Ava listens to the beep for a moment, then leaves.

--

The trio reaches the orphanage. They walk inside and the sweet smell of who knows what fills their nostrils.

"This place looks nice," Ava comments, looking around at the colorful place. Owen pulls his hood, making his face invisible.

"Dude, the kids here are gonna think you're some bad guy," Urana sighs.

"Hello. Can I help you?" A smiling blonde, Carol, stands behind the counter.

"Hi! I'm Ava, the girl here is Urana, and the one with the hood is Owen. We wanna meet our friends Alex and Brenton," Ava smiles.