The Orphanage, Sariel's Children 2: The Orphanage, #2

By Laura Pérez Caballero

Continuation of The Orphanage, Sariel's Children.

Tristan arrives at the village where the orphanage where his ghosts seem to guide him is located. There, with the help of a girl, he will begin to discover all of the history that lies behind the crumbling walls of the orphanage.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Victor Morcillo Sevilla
• Release date: Nov 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201228187

Book preview

1.

First, he took a bus, then what they called a coach, and got off at Cuñera. As soon as he sat down in the seat of the first one, the ghosts disappeared as if by magic.

When he got off the coach at Cuñera, it was about eight o'clock in the evening, and there was a chill in the air. Tristán left his backpack on the ground and put on his jacket while a group of older women in wool shawls watched him without any dissimulation.

Tristan slung his backpack back over his shoulders and walked over to the group of ladies.

-Good afternoon," he murmured.

The ladies replied in kind, some just nodded their heads in greeting, but none of them took their eyes off him.

-I'm looking for the old orphanage," Tristan continued.

The ladies' expressions turned from expectation to surprise, and one of them crossed herself.

-The old orphanage? -she asked, as if she didn't understand what Tristan was referring to.

-Yes, Sons of Sariel, I think it was called.

The only older woman who had opened her mouth nodded her head affirmatively.

-Yes, I know which orphanage you're referring to. But, that place burned down many years ago, there are hardly any ruins left. Why do you want to go there?

Tristan pointed to his backpack. -Oh! I'm studying at the university, I have to do a paper on some abandoned place whose history is fascinating to me, and this orphanage caught my attention.

The older woman pointed to the right side of the road to the astonished gaze of her fellow countrywomen.

-You have to follow the road straight ahead. After about five hundred meters, there is a detour to the right, a path that soon ends in a small forest. You have to go through the woods, and you'll soon see the building.

Tristan gave an old-fashioned bow.

-Thank you very much, ladies, you've been very kind.

As he was about to set off, the same older woman stopped him.

-Do you intend to go now? There's hardly any light, and it'll be dark before you get there, and there's no electricity in that area. I don't think it's a good idea.

Tristan pointed to his backpack again.

-Don't worry, I'm prepared; I've got a flashlight.

The older women looked at him in horror. Some of them had stood up, and one of them crossed herself again.

-Poor son," Tristan heard him whisper. The boy began to walk away, feeling the stares of the old women on him. He fastened his jacket and quickened his pace. It didn't take him long to reach the exit of the village. There the cold was even more noticeable, and Tristan rubbed his hands together and walked into the shadows of twilight. As the old women had predicted, the darkness was almost complete when he reached the turn-off that led to a forest. There was not even a moon to shine its white light on him. Tristan stopped and reached into his backpack for his flashlight. He noticed that his hands were shaking, and not from the cold.

He had no idea what he was going to encounter in that place. Since he had taken the bus, the ghosts had stopped accompanying him, and it was almost more terrifying after their continuous company for so many years.

Neither had Joshua given any sign of life.

He walked into the grove and stopped to listen. The silence was absolute, as if there was not a single animal living among the trees and bushes. Nor was the air flowing, yet the cold was bone-chilling. With the help of the flashlight, he was weaving through the trees until the number of trees became fewer and fewer, and a narrow dirt path appeared again. Tristan pointed the flashlight in front of him and paid attention to the ground so as not to trip, until he could see that he had arrived at a black iron gate closed with a chain.

He cursed aloud and began to walk along the stone wall that made it impossible to see the building inside. When he had gone about three hundred meters, he discovered that the wall had half-collapsed in one of its sections and that as soon as he could jump, he would be able to climb to the top to jump to the other side.

He held the flashlight in his mouth and jumped as the backpack hit him in the head, preventing him from reaching the top of the wall and causing him to fall backwards.

He thought he heard a laugh, and for a moment he stayed on the ground. Fear was beginning to grip him. He was so close to the place where all those ghosts seemed to want to take him....

He stood up and dusted off his clothes. He took off his backpack and in a fit of rage threw it over the wall. Nothing and no one would stop him now that he was so close. He wasn't going to let those ghosts keep ruining his life. Did they want him there? Well, they would have him there.

He jumped again, and this time, he managed to grab hold of the top and climbed up the wall to sit on the edge without his backpack.

There was no light, but he could guess the shape of the building. It was at least two stories high and rectangular, but on one side, the roof had caved in, taking part of the walls with it.

Tristan jumped to the ground and picked up his backpack. He would have time to see the outside in the morning, when it was light. He approached the front door, a huge two-paneled wooden door, thinking that this too would be locked, but to his surprise he discovered that it was not.

A large, square space greeted him with a high ceiling and a staircase in front of the door. On the sides, there were tall, old doors and on the side where the roof had collapsed, there was a huge gap that revealed part of a kitchen and what must have been rooms above.

Tristan felt a shiver as he thought of the children who would sleep in those rooms, possibly the same children who were now appearing to him and whose purpose from the beginning had been to guide him there.

He turned to the other side,