After the Church of Saint Lucien, the Children of Lux orphanage was the oldest building in the small town of Pendle. The four-story Victorian mansion was built about a hundred years ago by Sir Geoffrey Davis in the middle of the woods east of Pendle as a getaway resort for people who were tired of city noise and sought the serenity of nature. It had been in business for ten years and bankrupted the Davis household until the property was taken away as collateral for their humongous debts. The building was then bought and sold a few times over the next forty years until the church of the Lux won it in an auction and decided to use it as an orphanage. By then the building was in a miserable condition and required many renovations to be livable. The poor Sir Davis would have had another heart attack if he had seen the state of his lovely resort given that he was still alive (Rest assured, he died peacefully in his bed surrounded by loved ones who hated his guts for losing all that money).

Out of the twenty-five carefully decorated bedrooms, five cozy living rooms and three luxurious dining rooms, only ten destitute bedrooms, one ruined living room and a sprawling dining room were usable. The rest was too damaged over the years to be used safely. Instead of renovating the whole building, the church decided to do some touch-ups to the east wing and close the rest of the building for the safety of its residents.

The remaining sections were still spacious enough to house around fifty children without any problem, but they rarely had more than twenty at a given time. At the moment around ten children were staying at the house and from the light coming out of the dining room, you could venture a guess, they all had gathered for supper. All but one. If you paid closer attention to the building, you could see a very small light coming out from the farthest top room in the east wing where a young boy was bawling his eyes out under his thin polyester blanket.

Nyla stopped at the closed door and listened. She could hear a small sobbing coming from inside. The sobbing stopped for a moment when she opened the door and then continued. The room was covered in a blanket of darkness. From the sliver of light coming from the hallway, she could see two single beds. The one on the left was neatly made, waiting for its owner, while the one on the right was already in use. The occupant was no one except Billy who was sent to bed without supper. She walked to the bed, placed the tray she was holding on the nightstand and turned on the lamp. The room was filled with warm yellow light pushing the darkness to the corners of the room and displaying an old tan wallpaper with tiny cowboy hats on it. She walked back to the door and closed it then returned to Billy’s bedside. She gently patted the bundle hiding under the blanket.

* “Billy, are you still crying?”

She asked softly.

* “G... Go aw...way!”

He wept and stuttered.

* “You’re sure you want me to go away? I snuck out lots of chocolate pudding and was looking to share it with someone…Well, I guess I can have it all to myself…”

She tried luring him with his favourite dessert and to her success, the sobbing stopped, and a small face peeked out from under the blanket.

* “W... with whipped c… cream?”

He asked with a tinge of hope in his voice.

* “Lots of it”

She assured him with a smile and with her confirmation, Billy pushed the blanket aside and sat up. His golden blond hair was dishevelled, and his brown eyes and nose were red from all the crying. She took out a tissue from her pocket and sat on the bed to wipe the tears and snot from his face. Then she placed the tray with a couple of sandwiches and a bowl of chocolate pudding covered with whipped cream over his knees. He picked up a sandwich and ravished it in a few large bites. As he went for the second one, she decided that it was a good time to start.

* “What happened out there, Billy?”

She tried asking as gently as possible. She didn’t want him to think that he was being accused of anything. He stared at his sandwich in silence as if he was not sure if he could trust her or not. Nyla waited patiently. Less than an hour ago, returning after shovelling the snow out of the driveway – she hated shovelling snow, but someone had to do it – she had heard Maryam– she had been the director of the orphanage ever since Nyla remembered- punishing Billy for something. Maryam explained to her what had happened while preparing supper and asked her to check on him. She was always too sweet on Billy- Probably because he reminded her too much of her son Matthew- and couldn’t bring herself for the child to go to sleep without supper.

* “I... I was playing with T…tommy… and… I th...throw the ball at him…”

Finally, he decided to confide in her. She noticed that His stutter was getting better compared to before. Billy came to the orphanage around one year ago after losing his entire family to a demon attack. In the beginning, No one could understand a word the poor boy was saying but Now he only stuttered once or twice in each sentence unless he was nervous. He stopped, not sure whether to continue or not.

* “Then what happened?”

Nyla nudged him to continue.

* “H... He couldn’t ca... atch the ball and it hit the p... plates over the fireplace and b... broke them, but i..it wasn’t my f... fault! It was T... T… Tommy’s fault for not c... catching the ball! and then M... Mrs. Gordon got v... very angry and started y…yelling at me. For just some s... stupid ugly p..p..plates…”

He started speaking quickly as if he feared he would be stopped otherwise. He looked down with fresh tears in his eyes and focused on his sandwich again by nibbling tiny bites. When children played inside, things tend to break. Both Nyla and Maryam knew that and generally as long as no one was hurt she wouldn’t get mad or punish the children. And He was right. Those plates were the ugliest things in the world. But they were important to Maryam. probably the most precious treasure that she had. Nyla contemplated for a second whether to share Maryam’s reason with him or not. Finally, she decided to tell him the story behind the plates. Maryam probably wouldn’t mind.

* “Do you know what those plates are, Billy?”

she asked calmly.

* “S… Some old ugly p… plates…”

he heard something in her voice and responded hesitantly.

* “Well, yeah. But they are also gifts from Mrs. Gordon’s son. You see He made them for her when he was around your age.”

She said with a sad smile as she brushed a few strands of the hair off his brows.

* “So, w… what?! H… He can make her s… some more!”

He responded bitterly. She sighed and continued.

* “The thing is, Billy, her son passed away about four years ago… he died fighting a demon.”

She explained in a quiet voice. She didn’t like talking about Matt. The memories of his passing and funeral with an empty casket still made her heart wrench. He and Maryam were like a real family to her and losing him was the most difficult thing in her life and she was not too unfamiliar with a difficult life to begin with.

You see Nyla was herself an orphan. In fact, she was left at the doorsteps of this very orphanage. At the time people called it “House of Joy” but around ten years ago Father Francis changed its name to “Children of Lux”. He found that was more appropriate. Apparently, orphans needed religion more than joy. Anyways, she was left at the doorstep in the middle of a cold winter night with nothing except a blanket covering her. Whoever left her didn’t bother to ring the bell – most likely afraid of being discovered before they could leave the woods surrounding the house - so no one knew she was out there. In the morning when Matt came out to check on his snowman, he found her looking half-blue. He took her inside to Maryam and she rushed the tiny baby to the hospital. Everyone was sure that she wouldn’t make it. But by some miracle she did and after that day Matt always remained by her side like a guardian angel.

She looked into Billy’s eyes hoping to see a hint of realization. After all, he was one of the few that had a personal encounter with a demon and knew the disaster that followed them.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

* “I’ll ap… pologize to Mrs. Gordon t… tomorrow…”

He said in a shy voice.

* “I’m sure she will appreciate it, love.”

She replied gladly. Billy usually acted spoiled and could be stubborn. So, she couldn’t help feeling proud when he acted so maturely. Feeling better Billy pulled the bowl of chocolate pudding towards himself and started gulping it down in big spoonsful. Nyla helped him to clean his mouth with a napkin between every few spoons and they started talking about the charity event where they were to build a huge snowman in the front yard to fund their summer trip to the lake as Billy continued working on his pudding.

* “Phew, that hit the sp…pot!”

he said lazily as he pushed back the tray.

* “don’t forget to brush your teeth”

She reminded him while taking the tray back to the kitchen. He got up and walked toward the bathroom with a groan. By the time Nyla came back, he was already done and ready for bed. She helped him to get into bed and raised her hand to turn off the light.

* “Can you tell me the hero’s story again?”

He suddenly asked with anticipation. Her hand stopped in mid-air and dropped slowly in hesitation. The story he was asking for was not a story she liked to tell a lot. The story was about how demons attacked this world and how a legendary hero and his twelve companions fought against them, and it went against anything that the church taught to these children. She wasn’t supposed to know the story in the first place and was asked to keep it a secret by the teller.

Over the years many children came to stay at the house. Some had lost their parents and some others couldn’t stay with theirs for different reasons. Either way, their stay was temporary. And unlike Nyla after a few months, their parents or relative came to pick up them. Among those children, there was a boy named Alvin whom Nyla remembered vividly. They both were in the same grade, so Maryam had asked her to keep an eye on him, especially during school hours.

To be honest, Nyla didn’t like the school at the time. At first, she was happy about going to school since she went to the same school as Matt. Imagine her disappointment when she found out he was in a different grade from hers. During break times, she would run to find him, but he was always surrounded by lots of other children his age. He was outgoing and very considerate, so she wasn’t surprised. He even tried to include her among his school friends, but she was too young and shy and never fitted in. Eventually, Nyla gave up on Matt during school time and became satisfied to have him all to herself at home.

But Alvin was more like her. He was quiet and always sat in some corner by himself. After a while, the two got closer and that was when he told her this story making her promise to not tell it to anyone. Now that she thought about it, he probably meant to protect her. But she made the mistake of telling the story to Father Francis. He was one of her favourite people at the time, always coming around and handing out candies and giving her compliments. To her surprise he was furious. He locked her up in the basement without food or water as a punishment and would visit her every day screaming at her to repent. “The sadistic son of the bitch” she shuddered as she recalled the sting of switch on her calves. She still couldn’t go to basements comfortably. She was dangerously dehydrated when he finally let her out.

Later she found out that Maryam begged and pleaded with him and finally threatened to report him to the authorities. The Church of Lux was the main religion of the continent and believed that demons were the manifestation of people’s sin and were sent by Lux the god of light to punish them so as sinners they should accept the punishment and not fight it. Therefore anything that was against this ideology or supported fighting the demons was dealt with harshly, even a small stupid story like hers. Especially in Pendle. The people of Pendel were quite religious and followed the church’s instructions strictly. This was mostly because after the church in the middle of town was built- around a hundred years ago- there was no more demon attack happening in the area. As the years went by their belief grow stronger. They even banned the ADA -Anti Demon Association- branch from having an office in the town and exiled them to the woods on the west. But even in this type of town people would not tolerate an innocent child dying because of repeating a stupid story. With most of the population being elderly, the children were too precious in the whole country. So Father Francis who was new to his parish and still seeking the trust and respect of the people to establish himself as a permanent priest in Pendel decided to let her go with the promise to forget about the story and never repeat it again.

After the whole debacle, Nyla’s relationship with Father Francis never went back to what it was before. It wasn’t only her. Matt stopped attending the church altogether and even Maryam only attended the minimum required time. Sometimes she thought that maybe Matt joined the ADA after graduation because of that incident and couldn’t help feeling guilty. So, she never told the story again.

Until Billy came along. He had just lost all his family and kept crying and weeping all the time. He couldn’t play or communicate with other children and screamed at the adults. The poor thing didn’t even have the relief of sleep and woke up screaming because of nightmares. Even though his behaviour was understood, it didn’t make life easier for the rest of the residents. So, one day as a last resort she told him the story, making him promise to not tell anyone. After that suddenly all the crying, screaming and nightmares stopped, and a cute and lovely Billy came along. He asked her to repeat the story occasionally at first, but he hadn’t done that in the past six months. She looked down at his enthusiastic eyes trying to find the strength within her to say no but finally gave in.

* “All right, but you know the deal, right?”

She asked as she gently patted his head.

* “Don’t t… tell anyone.”

He said with a wide smile.

* “And?”

She asked returning his smile with one of her own.

* “Sp… pecially, not to F… Father F… Francis.”

He replies quickly, happy to show that he understood this was a secret only between the two of them.

* “Good boy!”

she returned his smile and pat him on the head. Then she sat on the bed once more and straighten his bedsheets as she gathered her thoughts. She started telling him about the magical world where demons came from and how it was always night and full of darkness and how they discover this warm and beautiful world. Felling jealous they attack the new world to take it all for themselves and being mighty and strong they almost succeeded. She told him about the oracle saying that in times of crisis, a hero will rise to unite humans against demons and take back the world and how a small useless boy became that renowned hero. She told him about the epic story of the war against demons and as she started talking about the celebration after defeating demons, she noticed Billy’s eyes starting to close and finally he fell to sleep. She made sure that he was covered nicely under the blanket and turned off the light and quietly walked out the door and closed the door behind her.

As she started to turn around, she suddenly felt a strange, ominous energy from the room. She instantly reached out to open the door and check on Billy but stopped instinctively. “Don’t open the door” a scared voice screamed in her head. But she was worried about Billy. As she struggled between logic and instinct, the ominous feeling grew stronger. Now she could feel it on the tip of her tongue and in the air around her. Even the hallway seemed darker than before. The cold sweat slid on her back and the hair on the back of her neck straightened while her hand was frozen on the doorknob. Suddenly someone tugged at the back of her sweater and as If a spell was broken, the feeling vanished. Nyla swallowed her saliva through her dried mouth and released the air trapped in her lungs. She had not noticed that she was holding her breath. She turned around to see Luke a new addition to the orphanage.

* “Are you all, right?”

He asked with a cold and unconcerned voice while looking at her with even colder green eyes under his jet-black hair. He looked to be ten but his behaviour and manner made him look much older. He came to the orphanage about two months ago by himself and refused to say who he or his parents were. He only told them his name and age and ignored all the other questions. Maryam was still trying to figure out what to do with him. She swallowed one more time and tried to smile.

* “Yes, Luke. I just had a dizzy spell”

She said nervously. Any other kid would buy it, but she didn’t think he did. She let go of the doorknob and tried to dry her sweating palms by robbing them inside her pocket without him seeing it. More children started entering the hallway and walking towards various rooms while laughing and screaming with three young nuns in their tails. Seeing her with Luke, they simply nodded and left him in her care.

* “Are you done with supper?”

She tried to change the subject, but he still kept staring at her. He looked as if he was going to ask something but then stopped and nodded slowly.

* “so, you must be tired, here you go, off to bed”

She opened the door and rushed him inside. Before she closed the door, she peeked at Billy’s bed guiltily and breathed out in relief. He was sleeping like an angel. The feeling she had was probably an imagination. A trick of the mind or something happening because she was too tired.

* “good night, Luke”

She closed the door with a pair of green eyes and memories of the awful feeling she had still following her.