"How do you… How could you…" I was flabbergasted.
"Master… I didn't expect to see you as soon as I opened my eyes, I'm so happy to be with you again." He smiled, I couldn't recall if I'd ever seen Carl smile before.
"Carl… What is going on? How and why do you know who I am?"
"I've been given the liberty of becoming your 2nd Archangel, on the day you decide to ascend to paradise is the day we Archangels too will ascend as servants of God. I am grateful to be able to serve you again." Carl tried to stand up, I gently ushered him back down, worried about his wounds.
"Don't move like that, I'm not sure if I was able to heal you fully. Tell me if anything hurts, lie back down I'll go get you some soup, let's talk more after you get some food into your system." I said as I tucked Carl back into the bed and turned to walk out.
"Master… I'm sorry I left you first, I knew you…" Carl's words started tumbling out, we were all far too clumsy with words.
"Stop… Don't apologize for dying, don't do that…" I walked out with a heavy heart.
I walked into the kitchen where Reuben and Rein were now standing around trying to create lunch following a recipe from a cookbook.
"How's the kid that woke up? Are they alright?" Asked Rein, slowly sneaking away from Reuben and sitting down.
"Yh for the most part he's alright." I sighed.
"Is he still in pain? Was he scared? Do you want me to go and talk to him with you?" Reuben asked while taking out different ingredients and trying to find a recipe that included them.
"No that's not it… It's a personal issue. Can you look up a recipe for a light soup? I think we should have some soup on standby if any more of the kids from section B wake up."
Reuben looked up from the recipe book, grabbed Rein who was sitting around, and told him to go get water from the well outside, I started cutting all the vegetables and Reuben started the fire using a spell I taught him.
Within minutes a warm savory pot of vegetable soup was created, I grabbed a bowl and some bread and headed back to where Carl was. Upon opening the doors I saw that 2 other children had woken up and Carl was trying to calm them down.
I put the bowl of soup down on Carl's nightstand and walked over to the 2 girls who were sitting on the floor tucked away in the corner of the room, visibly afraid.
"Hey… My name is Vee, can you tell me your names?" I spoke in a soft whisper, worried that if I spoke too loudly they would be spooked and try to dig themselves into the ground.
"No…" they replied back while glaring at me, they reminded me of when you drive a rabbit into the corner. Instead of going down without a fight, it'll try to take at least one bite out of your arm.
"It's okay… you don't have to tell me anything you don't want to, I just want you to know that it's safe now… It must've hurt a lot, tell me if it still hurts. I'll go get you some bowls of soup to eat, okay?" I spoke slowly, not sure if these children could even understand what I was saying.
'I highly doubt the director who tortured them would've taught them how to communicate with others. One step at a time, let's take one step at a time.' I thought.
I slowly stood up and moved backwards towards Carl.
"Carl, eat the soup before it gets cold, it's vegetable soup I thought meat soup would be too hard on the stomach. Once you start feeling better we can go hunting and get some meat on those bones." I spoke out, the condition of these children was far worse than most of the children in this orphanage, they were skinnier than slaves I've seen in the past.
"Master, I'll help too… I'm feeling better now." He spoke trying to become a helping hand already.
"No, sit back down and eat the soup, eat as much as you can… and don't call me that anymore, I'm not your master in fact, I was never your master… We're friends… family." I smiled thinking about how foolish I was in the past.
"But…"
"No more buts, I'll feel upset if you keep trying to get up. I'll be right back and leave those two there, I don't want them to be afraid we can always help them up once they feel safer." I said as I walked out the door again.
I returned with more bowls of soup and the girls were still highly guarded. I rolled in a trolley with bowls of soup and a basket of fresh bread that Rein and Reuben had made.
"I'm back with food, aren't you two hungry?"
"No…" They spoke.
"It's alright, it's safe now… You must be hungry come let's eat" I spoke and outstretched my hand waiting for them to come to me first.
"No…" they were still in high alert and I decided to grab a bowl of soup with bread, dip the bread into the soup and take a bite to show them it was completely safe to consume.
"Mmmhmm, it's so tasty you sure you don't want some? There's plenty more to go around." I spoke while pointing at the trolley.
"Give…" the girl in the back spoke while the girl in the front tried to stop her.
"Okay, here… it's still hot so be careful okay?" I handed her a bowl of soup and tore off pieces of the bread and gave her one piece at a time, afraid she'd choke if the pieces were too big.
The girl in the front who simply watched on started salivating at the mouth, the aroma finally reaching her nose and her stomach started to grumble.
"Here you can have a bowl too and I'll give you bread." I pushed another bowl towards her and she instantly yanked it towards her mouth, they were almost like feral rabbits filling their stomachs while on high alert.
The girls finished their soup and looked towards the trolley for more.
"Do you want more?" I asked, wanting the girls to communicate their needs.
"Give…" they both said while pointing towards the trolley with their fingers, their body language finally started to open up which told me that they felt even a little safe.
"If you want more can you do one thing for me?" I asked while standing up slowly.
"Here…" They brought forward their arms and pointed their wrists upwards while looking away, flinching when I looked at their wrists.
"Why are you showing me your wrists?" I was confused.
"They think you wanted to take their blood… They have a unique blood type that attracts monsters, making it easier to hunt for monster cores." My spine ran cold and my emotions dried, it felt like every time I felt an immense amount of anger I switched back to my past self.
"I don't need your blood… What I wanted was for the two of you to sit on the bed, the floor is cold you might get sick from sitting on the cold floor…" I spoke in a low voice, trying to swallow my anger, anger towards the adults that failed us in the past and now.