Night Disease

Chapter 47

Enya stays at my side as more people begin to fill the halls. Keeping a steady grip on her hand I take the back halls to ease her mind. As the desk comes into view I wave to the receptionist "hi we are here to register Enya into the base."

The receptionist raises her head from the computer smiling "of course give me a second to pull up her information." We stand patiently waiting for the receptionist to finish her work. "Yes Enya ten years old born July 3rd no known family...everything's here we just need to find a family to take her in-"

"I want to stay with Kaindra," Enya's quiet voice stops the receptionist.

The receptionist looks down at Enya "honey Kaindra is not old enough to adopt you she is only a teen you need to be adopted and taken care of by an adult."

Tears gather in the corners of Enya's eyes she garbs at my waist attaching herself to my side. Resting a hand on her head I look at the receptionist with pleading eyes. "Isn't there something you can do I am the only one she knows here and she went through a tragic experience? Can't I be her guardian or something I am like a big sister to her doesn't that count for something?"

Enya raises her tear-filled eyes to the receptionist nodding her head rapidly. The receptionist sighs "I will see what I can do." She returns to her computer typing rapidly as we stand again waiting on the balls of our feet.

Agonizing minutes later she turns back to us. "I can make you her temporary guardian till she finds a family to take her in, would that do?"

I look down at Enya raising an eyebrow. She nods rapidly jumping up and down and squealing silently. Chuckling I return my attention to the receptionist "that will do just fine thank you."

She nods typing again. As we wait it's not impatient or tense like the ones before. A printer goes off and the receptionist hands some papers to me. "You should know what those papers are I will leave the rest for you to figure out."

Saying our final goodbye Enya grabs my hand letting me lead her. "Are you hungry little one?" Enya jumps at my voice squeezing my hand in her fright.

"Yes Kaindra, " her whisper is barely audible to the human ears.

"Well let's make a pit stop at the mess hall, shall we? It shouldn't be busy at this time lunch isn't for another hour." Attempting to keep my voice light it's harder than I thought.

People smile at us in the halls waving to Enya when they see her. She hides as much as she can behind me whenever someone looks in her direction. I keep a firm but soft hold on her hand as reassurance hoping to calm her down.

The mess hall I guessed is empty most people don't come around when lunch is close by. Walking over to the tables of food I bend down to Enya's level. "Do you know what a buffet is?" She nods "well this is set up like a buffet I can help you get anything you need. Everything here is free for you to get if you want something I can check what they are making for lunch in the kitchen."

Enya looks at the food grabs a plate she begins to pick different food. Some of the choices for lunch are laid out for early comers. Following her lead, I get some food for myself. She never asks for anything in the kitchen filling her plate with salad, bread, and the meat laid out.

Silently she looks at me her eyes haunted with hidden darkness. Nodding to the tables I let her go first choosing a table closest to us. Sliding into the seat beside her we eat in silence. "Anything you want to drink?"

Putting her fork down she nods "water" standing up I stay in her line of sight as I get us two cups of water re-filling my water bottle on the way. Sliding her a cup of water I sip silently from my own "thank you."

"You're a welcome little one," silence follows once again, giving her time I remain silent. I finish my food before she leans back on the bench I wait patiently as she finishes. A familiar silhouette enters the mess hall. Watching him out of the corner of my eye I wait patiently as he gets his food. Enya's heart picks up a little now just noticing the man coming to our table. Putting a hand on her shoulder I squeeze it "it's okay little one he's a friend."

My reassurance does little to settle her down. She leans into my side as he sits down. Laying an arm around her shoulders I smile at my group leader "what brings you to me today Kevin?"

He smiles softly taking a bite of his food before giving me his full attention. "A few things Kaindra a few things, my condolences for your loss first I know you were close with them, how are you doing?"

Adverting my eyes from his face I take a deep breath, I can feel Enya's eyes on me at the mention of my lost friends. squeezing her a little tighter I return my attention to Kevin "I am doing okay just going to take it day by day," trying my best to seem unbothered my mind flips to the image of their bodies. Pushing the image away I refocus. "What was the other reason you stopped by?"

He clears his throat not taking my word. "Well since the loss of your friends the base commander came to me with a new room for you and your friend Samantha to change to. He thought it might be better for you two and the room you were in is meant for four, not three. This is your new room, it's a double room so one of you will have to go through the other to make it to the other room." Taking the paper from him I check the room, I remember seeing these rooms the commanders have them for their offices and bedrooms to take up less space, and some people have them with friends.

"It's fine thanks, Kevin."

"Good your stuff has already been moved. We are just waiting for a bed for Enya here two beds won't fit and the bunk bed from your old room is too big-"

"I will take care of that for you we still have a few more stops to make," raising my hand he stops taking in my words.

"Okay well, that matter is set. Lastly, it's about our new member, you are gone for most of the day like most people who are going to look after Enya?"

"I was going to introduce her to one of the school teachers. I come back before the other parents and guardians plus she would be getting her schooling done when I am gone that way I know where she is."

He nods thinking over my words "that works, you seem to have this all planned out don't you."

I shrug "what can I say I like having a plan." He chuckles we chat for a little as he eats his lunch Enya calms down a little after he introduces himself. "It has been lovely talking with you Kevin but we have some stuff we still need to do. Have a nice rest of your day." He waves continuing his meal.

Dropping our dirty dishes into the wash bin I grab Enya's hand leading her out of the mess hall. First stop clothing, entering the storage room full of rows of clothing I lead Enya to the kid's section. I let Enya pick a new winter jacket ski pants and boots. We get four new shirts, three pairs of pants, some new shorts for summer, and two sweaters as well as new pyjamas.

Our time in the clothing storage room was short and we are quickly moved to the furniture room. Opening the doors a small gasp comes from the small child at my side. Furniture is stacked in rafters sorted by use but looks unsorted in the chaos of it all. Pulling Enya along we find the storage clerk "excuse me could you help us find a small dresser and a bed?"

The clerk's head perks up "of course follow me." We follow behind taking in the area of furniture. "These are all the small dressers we have, have your pick we will bring it to your room."

I look at the small dressers on the floor in front of us "go ahead little one take your pick." Enya slowly walks forward observing the different dressers.

She stops in front of a faded blue dresser "can I have this one?" She whispers.

"Of course, you can" I nod to the clerk. He moves to the dresser marking it with a red sticker. Enya returns to my side clutching my hand in hers. We continue onto bed checking all the different sizes. We decided on a smaller one as the roofs in our room tend to be smaller.

Giving the clerk the room number we leave, stopping outside of the door I bend down to Enya's level "we have one more stop left are you okay or do you want to go somewhere else?"

She shakes her head "no it's okay Kaindra we can go to the last place." Smiling I ruffle her hair grab her hand again and lead her off to our last stop.

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