1941 - Fuddy-Duddy Death (1 on 1)

[PuddingPalGal]

Sophie Mendalin sat in her room for the third hour reading intensely. Her mind more at ease then the hours past. Her only solitude for the time is her room and her books. The children down stairs of Little Luna Orphanage were being rowdy again. They were full of excitement for the annual city parade the upcoming week. The only one not excited was Sophie herself. She disliked large loud crowds. Despite that, she volunteered to take the children to the parade this year for the first time. "Just because I don't enjoy something, that doesn't mean everyone else shouldn't either." she would say. She wanted the children she new for years to be happy. Even if it meant she had to endure the flaws of the city for a few hours.

 

[Rich]

Dinner time was drawing near as Otis finished helping the Orphanage's head cook, Mrs Helert, with tonight's meal. Otis ran up the stairs to signal the other kids of the fact dinner was soon to be served. After tunning down the hallway banging on every door with his usual enthusiast he reached the door to Sophie's room which was situated at the end of the first floor's corridor. He slowly walked up to his friend's door, in an almost intimidated manner, before gently knocking and saying,

-Sophie ? It's almost dinner time. Yous hould come downstairs or your plate might get cold.

Otis was a usually loudmouth and careless person but he always acted very different around Sophie and it had been the case ever since she was admitted to the estblishement.

 

[PuddingPalGal]

The sudden knock on Sophie's door made her jump. Hearing Otis's voice calmed her down as she said "I'll be there in a minute." before carefully putting down her book on her bedside table. She headed to the door, opened it and greeted Otis politely. "I'm happy you are helping Mrs Helert more often now. Dinner always tastes better with your expertise." she said.

 

[Rich]

Otis smiled back at Sophie before thanking her.

"It's nothing really. Im just trying to help the old woman out. She's done a lot for this place and i'll miss when she retires."
Otis was so busy with his chatter that he didn't notice bumping another orphan running around in the hallway. Billy Severn who, might've been half of Otis's size and a year younger than him but he sure was at least twice as mean and bitter as the big man.

"Watch were you're going fat ass !" Yelled Billy as angrily crossing his arm while sitting on the ground he'd fallen onto. Otis, confused, turned around to see that the little man was adressing him.

Realising his mistake, Otis, offered his hand to the younger man who slapped it away before getting himself back up.

"Im sorry, man. Are you okay ?" Otis said trying to be considerate and save face in front of Sophie while deep down he was boiling. Billy's immature attitude never sat right with Otis.
"Whatever ! Push me one more time and i'll tell Miss Rose again." Said Billie before storming off.

 

[PuddingPalGal]

Sophie always felt sorry for Billy. His anger felt forced. She knew the young lad would never leave the orphanage if he kept acting like that. She decided she would have another talk with him just like many times before. "He's probably just hungry. Don't let him get to you like last time." she said to distract Otis from his inner boiling emotions. "Let's go down and eat." she said smiling. Sophie headed down the old creaking steps for the thousandth time in her life. Entering the dinning room, she took in the sights and smells of the food prepared for everyone. It was better than she expected.

 

[Rich]

As the pair reached the dining room, Otis spotted Mrs Helert placing down the plates and cuttlery for everyone. He hurried on to help her ou with the setting of the table.

A couple of minutes passed as all the kids sat and quiet down for the evening prayer.
The sound of a baton hitting the spare wooden chairs in front of the doorway broke the soothing silence.
In came Mrs Rose, the orphanage's director, and Paster Louis. Both of them got up on the small stage in the center of the room and started to discuss the up-coming parade. Apparently the plans for the Orphanage's choral to have a representation in front of the town hall as an opener for the parade were cancelled.

The news was delivered in Mrs Rose's cheery tone and was acompanied by a small grin as the sighs of disapointement filled the air of the room.
Eventually Both Mrs Rose and Paster Louis stepped down from the stage and the children were finnally allowed to it. As the noise in the dining room became progressively more lively, Otis began to feel skeptical about this year's parade.

While he never particularly enjoyed it this year's parade had a lot of plans in place but they all got progressively cancelled over the year. Alot of the kids were looking forward to the choral performing this year and the cancellation made a lot of hard work poitless and bummed out everyone.

Otis alway hated the way Mrs Rose seemed to enjoy making false promises.

 

[PuddingPalGal]

Sophie sat down in her usual chair next to the window. The disappointment of the children held onto her heart. Usually she can see the bright side of things but this time she couldn't. The hard work and excitement everyone had vanished because of the ridiculous breaking of their promised performance. Her face turned to the window. She looked out into the distance; out to the city miles away. She thought of the canceled performance, the parade, the cheers of the city residences, and the confetti thrown from the tall city building's windows.

Her fantasies came to a halt when she noticed something. A tall man-shaped figure standing from the far distance. It stood still like a rock. Her concentration broke as someone sat next to her.

 

[Rich]

Otis was enjoying his meal despised the heavy athmosphere of the room.
His glare brushed around the room only to land on Sophie looking attently towards the doorway ahead. He tried to lean to the right to see what his friend was so intently staring at when he spotted Mrs Rose walking towards the girl's table.

She pulled the chair next to Sophie out and sat next to her. For some strange reason, ever since Mrs Rose was put in charge of the place she always seemed to enjoy Sophie's company alot more than any other residents of the orphanage. On top of that she gave her a lot more responsability than anyone else, even older orphans.

It wasn't an uncommun for her to talk with Sophie but Mrs Rose being a very uptight and proper woman would've never been seen sitting down with the other kids at the dinner table if it wasn't to say something important.

 

[PuddingPalGal]

Sophie realized it was only Mrs Rose. A small breath of relief escaped her lungs. Sophie didn't hate nor dislike Mrs Rose but she always felt a little overwhelmed with her uptight stature and proper attitude. The responsibility's Mrs Rose gave Sophie didn't always settle well with her. Though she is usually accepting of responsibility, there are days where she would rather play with the children and read them stories. "Hello Mrs Rose, may I assist you with something?" she asked the older woman. She expected she was going to be asked to do the dishes after dinner again. Her least favorite chore. Sophie looked outside again, the figure was gone. Her attention switched back to Mrs Rose.

 

[Rich]

Otis's curiosity got the better of him and he decided to try and listen to what was so important for Mrs Rose to take the time to sit down next to Sophie.
Mrs Rose stared deep into Sophie's eyes and her signature smile began to appear on her face. "You have been an incredibly important member of this orphenage. Such an elegant young lady ready to get her hands dirty and take care of such ungrateful tasks. Such a precious soul locked into such an awful place."

Otis was barely able to make out what Miss Rose was whispering to Sophie. The orphanage's director could get quite personal sometimes but this type of conduct was very uncommun even from her.

"I want to be honest with you young lady. You're nearly an adult now and staying in this place won't do much good for you, no one wants to adopt a 17 year old girl. I can get you out of here. You're more than ready to leave this awful place."
Mrs Rose reached into her pocket and slipped a small enveloppe into Sophie's hand. "Consider it." The director quickly stood up making Otis jump. Mrs Rose noticed that Otis had, at least heard part of her conversation with Sophie. Her face tensed up and she nervously glared at Otis before leaving the room.