Ethan's phone buzzed on his workstation just as he was finishing up the day's notes. He glanced at the screen, expecting a message from Marcus or maybe one of his roommates, but the name flashing on the screen stopped him cold: Mrs. Grant - Orphanage Dean.
His heart sank as he picked up the call.
"Hello?"
"Ethan," came the familiar voice of Mrs. Grant, her tone shaky and strained. "It's about Dean Campbell."
"What happened?" Ethan asked, sitting up straight.
"He collapsed this morning," she said, her voice trembling. "They've taken him to the hospital. It's serious."
Ethan's breath caught. Dean Campbell was the heart and soul of the orphanage, the man who had been like a father to every child who passed through its doors.
"I'm coming," Ethan said without hesitation.
The ride back to the orphanage felt both familiar and strange. The bus jolted along the same winding roads Ethan had traveled countless times as a kid, but now the scenery looked different, as if time had dulled its vibrancy.
The faint chatter of passengers filled the air, but Ethan's mind was elsewhere. He kept replaying memories of Dean Campbell in his head—the warm smile, the stern but caring lectures, the way he always seemed to know exactly what each child needed.
"Hang in there, Dean," Ethan whispered to himself.
When Ethan arrived at the orphanage, the place was quieter than he remembered. The laughter of children was absent, replaced by a subdued atmosphere that weighed heavy on his chest.
Mrs. Grant was waiting for him at the gate, her face lined with worry.
"Ethan," she said, pulling him into a brief hug. "Thank you for coming so quickly."
"How is he?" Ethan asked.
"He's stable for now, but the doctors are running tests," Mrs. Grant said. "It's his heart."
Ethan nodded, the words sinking in like a stone.
At the hospital, the smell of antiseptic hung in the air as Ethan followed Mrs. Grant to Dean Campbell's room. The man who had once seemed larger than life now looked small and frail in the hospital bed, his face pale and his breathing shallow.
"Dean," Ethan said softly, pulling up a chair beside the bed.
The older man's eyes fluttered open, and a faint smile crossed his lips. "Ethan... You didn't have to come."
"Of course I did," Ethan said, his voice thick with emotion. "You're family."
Dean chuckled weakly. "Still as stubborn as ever."
They talked for a while, mostly about mundane things—the weather, the orphanage, Ethan's work. But the underlying tension was palpable, neither of them wanting to acknowledge the severity of the situation.
Before leaving, Ethan squeezed Dean's hand. "You'll get through this. You've got to."
Dean smiled faintly but didn't respond.
Ethan stayed the night at the orphanage, crashing on the same worn-out bed he'd slept on as a teenager. The room was just as he'd left it, the walls still adorned with posters of science and space, the bookshelf still overflowing with textbooks and novels.
He sat on the edge of the bed, staring at an old photo on the desk—a picture of him and Dean, taken on the day Ethan had graduated high school.
"You've done so much for me," Ethan whispered to the empty room. "I wish I could do more for you now."
The next morning, Ethan helped Mrs. Grant with the children, stepping into the familiar rhythm of life at the orphanage. He read stories, fixed a broken swing in the yard, and even helped with dinner prep.
The kids were curious about his life in the city, peppering him with questions about his internship and university.
"Are you gonna build robots to take over the world?" one of the younger boys asked, his eyes wide with wonder.
"Not quite," Ethan said with a laugh. "But maybe robots to help people."
"That's cool," the boy said, grinning.
That evening, as he sat in the common room, Ethan felt a pang of guilt. He had been so caught up in his own life—his internship, his struggles, his feelings for Felicity—that he hadn't visited the orphanage in months.
These people, this place—it was his foundation, the reason he had made it this far.
"I need to do better," he thought.
As the sun set outside the window, Ethan resolved to spend more time giving back to the place that had given him everything.