Change || The Promised Neverland

✼ Chapter Nine: Family ✼

<< What is this family to you? >>

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

<< Date: October 12, 2045 (7 Year Timeskip) >>

At 6 A.M. sharp, the sound of a church bell rang throughout the orphanage, signaling the beginning of a new day. Emma blinked her eyes open, stretching as she got out of her bed.

It had been seven years since she and [Name] had met. Now they were 11 years old, and the eldest of the children in Grace Field. Emma scanned the room, pouting when she saw the empty bed by the window, sheets folded neatly.

"[Name] got up early again..." she mumbled.

The (h/c)-haired girl in question had begun to wake up hours before the usual time to help out Mama with chores. She'd done that ever since Marin got adopted. Emma reasoned that without her best friend, [Name] had gotten bored and the chores kept her busy.

The ginger smiled. Now wasn't the time to think about that. She jumped off her bed to wake the rest of her sleeping siblings.

"Everyone, wake up!" she shouted. "You'll be late for breakfast!"

Groans and muffled yawns filled the room as her brethren finally awoke from their slumber. Some shot out of their beds like rockets to cause as much chaos as possible (Gilda had to drag them by their collars to get them properly dressed), while others denied their fates and hid under the covers.

Phil, a young 4-year-old tan boy with bright blue eyes, was among the first to wake, running up to her with Marnya (a redhead with pigtails) with teary eyes.

"Emma, I can't get my shoes on," he cried, Marnya expressing the same problem. Emma smiled. She had taken the role of older sister long ago.

"Okay, wait a minute," she said kindly. "Don't cry, I'll get to you in a bit."

"Emma?" Jemima, a young girl with curly black hair pulled into a bun, trotted up to her older sibling. "Where's [Name]? I want to show her something."

Emma looked away from buttoning up Jasper's shirt to ruffle Jemima's hair. "I think she's fixing up breakfast. If you get dressed quickly, you can show her sooner."

Jemima nodded. "Okay!" she chimed, walking off to her bed.

Off in the kitchen, [Name] was cooking porridge while Norman and Ray made the main dishes for breakfast in a pot. Today, they had scrambled eggs in the middle with sausages, small potatoes, and steamed vegetables on the side, along with a small bowl of porridge.

"Anna, can you take these out?" [Name] called from the stove, a ladle in her hands as she nodded to the baskets of bread, condiments (syrup, butter, jam) and plates. "Get Nat and Don to help out too."

Anna, a girl with blonde braided pigtails, nodded happily as she and Nat (a redhead boy) began to take the plates and disperse them evenly among the tables. Don was most likely taking care of Conny, [Name] realized, shaking her head.

Even from inside the kitchen, [Name] could hear the younger ones itching to help out. She laughed softly.

"If they want to help," she called, "they can take the baskets and bowls out."

Almost immediately after she finished speaking, 10 kids burst into the kitchen to grab the baskets of bread by the counter. [Name] giggled as they tried to grab two baskets (each of which, were the bigger than most of their heads) at the same time.

"Be careful! Take one at a time," Ray snapped, rolling his eyes as [Name] nudged him with her foot.

"I'm gonna eat you!" Emma's voice echoed in the hallway, followed by the cackles of Thoma and Lani.