LUTHYIA CARE HOME
Ruby, Mary, Margaret and I follow Evalyn back to town. She leads us to a building we saw on our way to the town hall but paid no attention to.
We enter the red-bricked building to see a hallway with stairs leading to different places. There are people sitting on the floor waiting to be attended to.
"Why is this place in such a terrible condition?"
I ask Vivian as we go up the stairs leading to another hallway.
"This is the best we can do. We have no money and the little we get sometimes is used on medication and food for the people who come here which is basically the entire village."
"I and the staffs always try to clean the place and contribute the little we can to fix anything broken here."
Evalyn says opening the door to a room with storage written on it. The room that's supposed to be filled with food and medicine has a small bag of rice that I don't think can feed 15 people.
"We're running out of money and the staff are decreasing since no one wants to work without getting paid. As our resources decrease, more people come by for food and medical help."
"I'm very happy that we at least have you and the other girls helping out from now on."
We leave the room and head back down to the hallway from earlier.
"You should get going for today, we're closing in an hour since it's Sunday. You can come here at 8:30 tomor..."
Evalyn's words are cut in the middle by a high-pitched voice that I slightly recognize. We all look back to see the woman distributing the food earlier.
"Sorry I didn't recognize you earlier, you must be the Sullivan girl right?"
"I'm Mrs. Dandy, the village head of Tarrin."
The woman holds my hands tighter as I try to wriggle out of her grip. She smiles and drags me away a little from the others.
"Count Sullivan has always been providing support for the people in need. It's a blessing to know it's our turn to benefit from his good grace."
Her lips are curled up in a twisted way but I think she's trying to smile at me. Is this woman by chance expecting me to give her money? I mean, Father did ask me to hand her some money to help the people but that doesn't seem like a good choice right now.
"You're right. The Count decided that offering money is not always the best way to help but by having people around to work together."
"That's why he sent me, Vivian Sullivan to assist the people who need help in Tarrin."
The village head lets go of my hands immediately, sort of throwing it back at me. An obvious frown has now dominated her face and anyone can tell she's angry.
"Oh, I see. Well, keep being the humanitarian that you are."
She turns around and leaves the room with her shoes making clacking noises with every step she takes.
Evalyn and Ruby walk toward me as they see Mrs. Dandy leaving the building.
"What happened? Did you upset her, my lady?"
Ruby asks curiously.
"It seems she was expecting money but I obviously got none to offer her so she angrily stomped away."
Evalyn chuckles a little and walks I and Ruby to the door where Margaret and Mary are waiting.
"I'll see you again tomorrow morning at 8:30."
~~~~~
The girls and I say goodbye to Evelyn and make our back to the Guest house after fumbling around trying not to get our feet and clothes dirty in the mud.
Thank goodness we followed Margaret's idea of bringing some food with us in case we get hungry on the way here. We have some food to eat since we packed a lot.
The girls fell asleep quickly leaving me alone with my thoughts. The issue of who to give the money my father had given me is bothering me.
"That village head is obviously greedy and won't spend the money the way she's supposed to."
I turn around to lie on my back.
"I'll give some of the money to Evelyn tomorrow and the way she spends it will determine if I'll give her the rest."
After moving about for a while I finally fall asleep.
~~~~~
"I think this is the place."
"TARRIN GUEST HOUSE"
Leon reads out in a frustrated tone pointing at the sign. He and Dexter have been traveling for over a week to Tarrin and they finally find a resting place but Dexter is skeptical about staying there.
They got a hint that the man they are looking for is in Gerin city but was last seen in Tarrin village.
"You can go somewhere else if you don't like this place but nothing is taking me away from here."
Dexter looks at the ginger-haired man whining and succumbs to him. Leon opens the door and enters the building with Dexter following at the back.
"Is this what they call a guest house? Let's find somewhere else."
Dexter says going heading back towards the door but is stopped by Leon. Leon makes a shushing noise to Dexter who keeps quiet immediately to listen to the loud growling coming from one of the rooms.
"That doesn't sound like an animal more like someone...Snoring?"
Dexter walks to the door where the noise is coming from and opens it to see 4 women sleeping and snoring. Leon takes a peek at them and starts laughing.
"Were they plowing the ground yesterday for the to snore this loud?"
Dexter starts to close the door but stops when he sees familiar faces.
"Isn't that the lady who got robbed and the child who robbed her? When did they become friends?"
Dexter closes the door and goes to the table, pulling out a chair and sitting on it.
"I'll close my eyes for a while."
Leon nods looking at Dexter putting his legs on the table and closing his eyes. Leon decides to explore the house and opens another door which he quickly closes after a bad smell is thrown at him.
He opens the last door to see a few cockroaches running around and decides to take the room since it's the better of the two. Bad mistake.
"AHHHHH"
Leon finds himself hiding behind Dexter who's now up on his feet due to his screaming. Another door opens and the ladies come out with confused looks on their sleepy faces.
"Who are you? What happened? Who screamed?"
Vivian asks this question all at once rubbing her eyes.
"There was a rat who resembles my grandfather in there and it ran towards me."
It even made eye contact with me!"
Leon says looking like he's going to pass out. The ladies all look in the direction of the room and see the door open.
"If the rat ran after you that means it's no longer in the room..."
"It's not here so...WHERE'S THE RAT?!!!"
Panic set off at Mary's words and everyone huddles together scared that the rat might pop up anywhere.
Vivian pauses for a minute and takes a look at the silver-haired man trying to remember where she's seen him from.....That's right!
"You're the guy who helped me that day, right?"
"I thought I'll never see you again but we meet here. Isn't that amazing."
Dexter rolls his eyes and wriggles out of Leon's hands that has a tight grip around him.
"It seems you've become friends with your supposed attacker. I shouldn't have wasted my time saving you."
Vivian scoffs and holds Margret's hand.
"She wasn't the one who attacked me and you didn't only save me but her who was been used by that felon."
Dexter goes by to the chair taking his former position again.
"What was I expecting from a jobless person who wakes up when the sun is soo far up in the sky?"
The ladies look out through the window to see the sun shining brightly already. Could the day get any worse, they're already late on their first day.