Cerin got into the now occupied car and said nothing to the crying woman at the back as she started to drive. However before she could leave the neighborhood a frail hand was place on her shoulder and a small whisper drifted from the back.
" My child….she's still in school."
Cerin fell silent and her mind whizzed. If the child was already born then how long had it been since the last Cerin died? still she maintained her calm tone and asked,
" You already have a kid? how old are they?"
The woman put her head further down and began to speak in a weak and wavering voice, tightening her grip on Cerin's shoulder in desperation.
" She is only twelve years old as of this year. Please benefactor... I can't leave without my daughter"
Cerin, turned the car around and began to drive towards the school and waited in the car as she watched the mother run forwards to a child that only looked eight years old, probably from malnutrition.
The child was wrapped in numerous band-aids and more than a few bruises on her showed what types of lifestyle that she had lived thus far. Her mother gently got out of the car and softly explained what was going on, then lead her into the car where she protectively wrapped her arms around her and held her against her heart.
The two stayed like that until they reached the hospital and the woman was taken into intensive care.
At first Cerin tried to hold the hands of the child for fear she would run about but soon realized there was no need to and let go. She was like a cat, with pointed and adorable features contorted together in a suspicious glare, each time Cerin attempted to get closer to the little girl she would edge away. But she never fully went away.
This little dance continued until Cerin stopped for fear of edging her off the row of chairs. The two sat together in silence until the little girl finally turned to Cerin and began to speak in a small voice,
" Who are you? why are you with my mother? Are you from my dad's side of the family?"
Yet even as she said it she didn't believe it because she had seen her dad's side of the family before and did not remember such a beautiful woman among them.
Cerin struggled on how to respond and finally said,
" I'm just someone fulfilling a promise made a long time ago."
The little girl nodded as if she understood and stopped speaking for fear that she would annoy the benefactor and she would leave her mother here and not pay the bills. She anxiously brought out her small coin pouch and frowed when she saw the amount in there,
'I don't think 50 dollars is enough to cover this.'
She did not know the exact costs of things at the hospitals but she knew much more than any other child would due to the all too constant trips to the hospital when ever her mother's mother went to far.
Cerin saw the child anxiously count out the change in her purse and it didn't take a lot to figure out what she was thinking. Cerin internally frowned but externally put up a bright expression and began to talk to the child but the child beat her to it.
She stood up and bowed deeply,
"Thank you for saving my mother. I cannot repay you as of yet but I will do my best to come up with the cost in the future."
Cerin was saddened as she looked at the child who acted more mature than she could even now,
" why…..It's okay. I didn't do it expecting any form of payment anyways."
The child only deepened her bow until her knees were bent and her forehead hit the floor, the most sincere form of a bow, a knowtow. Cerin quickly grabbed the child and with a strength that surprised even herself sat her onto the chair. One because she felt uncomfortable accepting such a thing and two because of the weird looks she got from her surroundings.
Her tone was brusque as she addressed the child again, and she stayed tensed in order to stop her from bowing again.
" Tell me your name. As well as your mother's"
" My mother's name is Serana and my own name is Ryella."
Cerin nodded and filled in the information sheet as she got the information from Ryella and paid for the expense of the emergency room then took the child in to see her mother but soon regretted it.
Serana was hooked up to so many tubes and machines monitoring both her health and the child's and she was also heavily bandaged in all of the places she had been cut by her crazy mother. Ryella ran up to her mother with tears beading in her eyes but did not shed a single one and spoke in a calm tone, thoroughly impressing Cerin.
" Mom are you okay? We don't have to go back there any more right? We can find somewheres else to live ...and I can even work as well. I can pass for fifteen if I need too and can work at some places and-"
Cerin almost laughed at the thought of the small frail child passing for anything older than nine years old.
Serana stopped her with an incredibly stern tone.
" What do you mean you'll work! do you have such little faith in your mother! don't worry we won't go back to that house and you will continue on with school even if i have to work all 24 hours of the day!"
After such a determined statement Cerin found it difficult to speak up but still interjected.
"Rather than that, I already made arrangements for you two to stay with me until you can get onto your feet."
The two froze and turned to the girl who looked like she was barely out of high school and the same thoughts ran through their heads. Serana shook her head as fiercely as she could with the various wires surrounding her,
" please benefactor, I mean no offense by saying this but we couldn't possibly impose on you as you are and,... I doubt your parents would agree to having two strangers in their house."
"I live alone at the moment so that's not a problem and even if i didn't, it would be unkind of me to leave you alone with a small child. There is also the problem that it would be considered me going against my word if i did not see your daughter safe and living through life well. that fetus in there as well"
At this Serana was filled with a sickening suspicion and her thoughts began to whirl. She'd heard multiple stories of rich women that wished to have children or gold diggers that wished to trap their targets with a child but did not wish to go through pregnancy and ruin their body shapes.
It was a common practice for young mothers such as herself to sell their children to these women and even she, when pregnant with Ryella had tried it but could not find a woman she felt comfortable leaving her child with. However for the woman that she was now, selling her children especially Ryella was not an option.
Looking at the young woman who was dressed in slightly expensive but still middle class clothing and was definitely pretty enough to not require such help in securing a man, Serana quickly figured that the purchase was probably not for herself but for her boss.
She drew Ryella further into her grasp and spoke with a desperate voice,
" for saving me I am eternally grateful but my children, neither Ryella nor the one yet to be born are for sale!"
Cerin's face took on an odd expression and she stared at the woman who held her child so protectively,
" I guess jumping to conclusions runs in the family. I've no intention of buying a child and even if I did it would not be under the condition of you living with me. "
Serana looked at Cerin with a blank expression as she processed what had just been said and quickly began to apologize,
" Sorry! I over thought and accused you of such a thing. i mean you kept saying you had a reason to help us and i thought you might be a secretary for one of those ladies that wished to purchase my child. "
It suddenly occurred to Cerin that she never had explained exactly why she wished to help them and because of this their suspicion was perfectly understandable.
" Do you know anything about your father's case?"
Serana nodded but resumed her previously dropped suspicious expression,
" Only that under the advice of a whore of a lawyer, he turned himself in for a crime he didn't do for a large sum of money that my mother wasted on drugs and alcohol. why?"
At the short and terse tone the woman used to speak about The eighth, Cerin was put in an awkward position as she began to explain,
" Well the other clause in their agreement was that that lawyer you mentioned was my….aunt and she promised to ensure that you and your family were well taken care of so she sent a large amount of money… it wasn't until recently, about twelve years ago when she was stabbed by your father that she was made aware of the harsh straights your family had been put into."
Tears beaded in Serana's eyes as she recalled her father telling her mother what had happened the first time as well as her father leaving the house in a drunken rage after telling her mother and herself off and listened to what was apparently the aftermath from the lawyers side.
Serana began to lower her head to Cerin after finding out her relation to that lawyer but was stopped by Cerin.
" Don't bother apologizing to me about it. It won't change the past."
She stopped trying to bow and froze at the cold tone in Cerin's voice. But well it couldn't be helped as the one who was murdered in such a gruesome way now resided in her own consciousness.
" anyways, as she bled out she called my mother and requested for her to come and save you but….my mother was awfully sick and the time and her other sister had no intention of aiding you and so the task fell onto me. As I cannot achieve her original plan of setting you up with your own apartment and life, this'll have to do for now. "
Cerin's phone rang and she was forced to step out of the room in order to answer it.
Serana turned to Ryella and began to discuss it.
" What do you think? would you mind going with her? you'll have to change schools and leave all of your friends"
Ryella quickly shook her head and began to say words that were truly heartbreaking for her mother to hear,
" Honestly I won't mind leaving my school because everyone there is mean and makes fun of you. If it's really okay then I want to go."
Thus the decision was made and Serana informed Cerin of their decision. Cerin still did not smile but quickly made arrangements with the nurses to have her prepared to leave the hospital as well as to have Ryella checked over.