The woman is young, but she looks feeble. Long, dark hair with hazel-green eyes. Her frame is small, petite. She could be pretty, I think to myself. If she knew how to let loose a little. I take notice to the clipboard she so tightly holds against her lap, as if her life depended on it.

Her eyes soften as she looks at me,
"Your mother and your grandmother will share a funeral. It's expected to take place next week." I stare at her blankly. "Thought you'd like to know."

"I'd like to know where we're going," I say sharply, to my surprise. "I'm sorry, pardon the tone, Miss...." I pause, searching for a name tag.
"Charlene," she says, "Charlene Hills."
"Ah, Miss Hills. I'd appreciate if you told me where we're heading." She smiles kindly.
"As I'm sure you would, Sage. We're going there." She points at a building in the near distance. "That's our orphanage over there."

We soon arrive and I step out of the car cautiously. Miss Hills beckons for me to follow.

The building is big, beautifully painted and intricately decorated. The walls splattered with all different types of cultural artwork. The floors-some carpeted, in other areas wooden- are impeccably clean. This place seems warm and inviting. She shows me one room with a long table and an endless amount of chairs. There's a kitchen twice the size of what my bedroom was and there's a big closet near the wash room. Four bathrooms, all of which are nicely put together. All this space, but no children or adults besides Miss Hills and myself.

"Where are the other children?" I ask numbly.
"Why, they're upstairs. See, the children aren't to be down here unless they are eating, doing laundry, helping cook, going outside, or using the bathroom if the others are occupied." Then she adds, "There are about 117 other girls, and about 98 boys. Would you like to go and meet some of them?" She asks. I shrug.
"Sure."

We walk up a long, spiral set of stairs and immediately, I catch a glimpse of one of the girls. She's staring at me. She's got short, burgundy hair, and her features are full. She looks around my age, maybe a year older. Pretty. Sitting around her are three other girls, two of which look alike, and the other a shy looking girl. They glare, I turn around to see if somebody's behind me that those looks were directed at, but I find no one and assume they were for me. I smile slightly, and in return they smirk.

Miss Hill takes me over to a small playing table where two boys sit. I can feel everyone's eyes inspecting me, but these two are oblivious to my presence until she "clears her throat" to catch their attention. The boys turn, one with a genuine smile and the other draws his lips into a flat line.

"This is Sage," Miss Hill says, "Sage, this is Adam and Joel." She points at either boy, indicating which is which.
"Hello." Says Joel. Adam just nods in my direction and resumes his activities.

The upstairs is just as expensive and delicate as the downstairs was. It's much bigger up here as well. There are ten bedrooms on this level, which hold varied amounts of boys. The bedrooms on this level are specifically made for males, the rest of it is a play area, a lounging area and a gaming area for both genders of all ages. There's also three bedrooms on this level.

We make our way up the last flight of stairs which is where the girls stay at night. Here, there are fourteen bedrooms that-like the boys ones- hold various amounts of girls. She shows me where I'll be staying, which is in a room with three other girls. There's two bunk beds, both of the top ones are taken, so I get the bottom portion of the bed, closest to the door. There's a girl sitting up in the top of the bunk and she smiles and waves at me.
"Hi, I'm Sunny." She says brightly, I introduce myself as well.

"Well, I'm going to let you get aqquainted with some of these people and get a feel of the place." Says Miss Hill. I thank her and she walks out of the room.