Psalms 127 vs 3- "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward."

This chapter is dedicated to every writer who is making an attempt to enlighten the world with the gift God has bestowed them with. Just want you to know that you are loved and appreciated for that. Don't keep this treasure hidden in your room, home or heart, but rather show it forth and help the world know more about Jesus, real life situations, mental illnesses, bullying, love, and lots more.

This message is not for writers only, but to every one who has been blessed with a special and unique talent by God. Your opinion matters and you are worth more than gold, therefore bring it out and shine like the Queens and Kings that you are.

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Today was Saturday which meant free day, relief day, rest day, or whatever day you could call it. But even at that, I couldn't avoid doing the house chores as this led to severe back and waist pain.

I planned on going to the store to buy new winter clothes, since the ones I had were either loose or worn out. And my very best skirt was the one Thomas ruined recently. As always, I have to use my savings for it because my dad never cared, and even for my feeding, he left nothing.

I can't remember the last time he bought clothes for me, or made me feel like his daughter. If it's not drinking, then it's shouting or nagging, or something else that turns me up.

I checked my mail to see if I was approved by EasyPen; an online writing course. I dropped an article on 'Lost in this world' and haven't gotten a reply ever since.

I loved to write; it was my way of showing the world the greatness in me. I didn't want to conceal this gift behind the borders of my room, rather, I wanted what came out from the deeper me to be insightful and imparting.

I had various writing apps on my phone that helped me at most also.

After several hours of doing nothing, I decided to pay the orphanage home a visit. I haven't been there in two weeks.

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The security man and I exchanged greetings before he gained me entry. 'Loving Abode Orphanage Home' was very special to me, it was a place I could drown my worries. I come when I'm less busy, but mostly on weekends and that's whether or not I'm on holidays.

This place held memories of my childhood days. Each of the kids here reminded me of my broken self, so I gave them the love I was denied of. How cruel was it to feel worthless and hopeless at such tender age!

The walkway to the main building was a five minutes one, the view was splendid and a bit different than the way it used to be years back. The surroundings had evergreen trees and colourful flowers with a waterfall by the mini bridge.

The structure of the house didn't change-it was the same two storey bricked building with the circular logo at the middle top of the house. The logo had three lines drawn across it and each represented an image. A kid on the left, the cross sign at the middle and a mother carrying her child at the extreme end. The only changes I could note were the roofs being replaced from brown to grey and a white opened window that were in all rooms. Every other things, even the inside were still the same.

I had bought snacks from a store on my way coming. There was no day I visited without bringing something for them, despite how small.

My phone vibrated in my purse as I stopped walking and made to answer it, but was interrupted by a voice.

"Hey look, It's Emma!" I smiled and looked up, already knowing who that was.

Short, brown skinned girl with brown eyes ran over to meet me. She wore a blue apron to her green T-shirt and light blue trousers, this had stains all over. She opened her arms with smiles as I did my part by bending down to receive her. We stayed this way for some period.

"Mona, get back here. Mo..." Ms. Helen stopped talking when she saw the reason she had ran. I offered her my best smile as she nodded her head and went back inside.

"I've missed you, why didn't you come since?" Her voice was soft and sad as this made me regret not visiting. I've missed everything about her, she was very dear to me since the time she came here.

"Why do you smell of cake?" I sniffed up and broke our hug. The guilt of not answering her question came to me, but I brushed it off in an instant. As much as I loved seeing her, it was hard for me to come by every weekend because of school's stress.

She gave her warmest smile and showed me her messed-up hands as we both laughed.

"Don't tell me you stained my back with that?" I enquired but she only closed her eyes in a playful manner and smiled brightly. It's good to see her this happy.

"Is Nanny Cherry giving you a hard time?" She gave a negative nod in response.

"No, she isn't. In fact, she taught us how to bake."

"Really?" I widened my eyes. "She did?" She nodded again. "No wonder you're messed up this way." I played with her cheek as she giggled. "So you wanna tell me what you learnt, Mona?" I asked with a grin and pretended not to be affected by my squatting position.

"No, and that's because I was not interested."

"So why not drawings? Were there no lessons on that?"

"Nope, not at all. Lady Cherry decided to bake for us by herself today, so when I saw those older than a seven year old me interested in learning, I decided to join them for no other reason but fun," she added with a vigorous laugh. "I preferred when it's baked, so I can eat it without stressing myself out."

I smiled in agreement. Baking could sap one's energy out.

"Are you not affected by that position of yours?" she asked suddenly. This was one of the many reasons I loved her.

She has concerns for me and could point out when I'm not okay. Mona reminded me of my sister and had been my heart's delight since she came here two years ago as an abused victim. This made her withdrawn, scared and antisocial as she refused any interrogation and therapy, but cried most of the time.

As a kid, she was forced to witness her father's beating on her mother and whenever she stepped in to defend her mum, her dad dealt with her also. The marks on her body were heartbreaking two years ago as this caused her to be fragile, it was too much for a five year old girl like her then to have gone through. I also made an attempt of talking to her, but she didn't respond at all. She only communicated through drawings and it was when Nanny Cherry brought that to my notice that I understood her better. With time, we cliched and became so close that it was impossible to break us apart.

"No I'm not." I gave her a convincing smile. "So about your baking lessons?" I diverted from her question, but Mona had her attention elsewhere. My eyes.

She stared till water began dropping from hers also. I held her hand when she brought it to my face and felt warmth, it was soothing and relaxing.

"Is that person still hurting you?" I knew what she meant, but pretended not to understand.

The time she noticed my depression was during her last birthday. I was fed up of Thomas's intense bullying, but still came for her special day. She noticed how reserved I was, even though I tried to hide it, as she said nothing. When I took an excuse to the restroom, she had followed me there without me noticing as watched how I cried in frustration. It was until I heard whimpers that I turned and saw her standing before me pained.

"Tell me who the person is so that I could beg them not to harm you again. It reminds me of my Mama." She cried profusely. "This was how she was before she left me, please, I don't want to lose you also." Tears came to the brink of my eyes as I knelt down fully and drew her into a warm embrace.

Yesterday Thomas and his friends derived satisfaction from making my day miserable. After school was over, they ensured I partook the punishment and left me no breathing space. They made it hard for me and put back dirt in the place I had cleaned, and not only that, they insulted my courage as this made me despise them the more.

When they left me alone, I rechecked the trash for my stuffs and found it there to my happiness. Even though most contents had been ripped off page by page, it was still manageable to be glued back. So I packed them all and stuffed them into my bag, determined to have them sorted out before Monday or Tuesday.

I snipped up and wiped the tears that fell. "I'm here for you always, Mona and won't ever leave your side." I patted her hair and implanted a kiss there to comfort her. It has been long she had mentioned her mum, and I hate being the reason for that.

"But should I tell you something?" I continued.

"What is that?" It's good she was ready to listen so I smiled.

"First look at me," I insisted and freed her myself when she refused. Gently, I felt her swollen eyes with my fingers, and it held no glint of happiness nor delight.

"There is someone that can make it easy, you know?" I whispered but she didn't change her features.

"Who?" she asked solemnly.

"Wanna do a guess on that and I'm gonna give you a brush as a present?" At the mention of that, she brightened up her face as this spread warmth in my heart.

"But Emma, you know I'm not good at guesses," she complained.

"Ok, an hint. He is here right now and with us always, do you now know the answer?"

This caused a deeper smile curl up as I persuaded her to say it with my eyes. "God!" she answered, elevated.

"Correct!" I cheered her on. "You see Mona, God is the only one who can make it easy. He can..." A throat was cleared followed by a voice as this caused us both to look up and saw Nanny Cherry. She was dressed in red twin sets with a grey sew misses skirt which had flowery designs on it, a pearl necklace and earrings matched her hazel eyes and no-wrinkled diamond shaped face with an apron cap to her white Bob hair. Her smile was brief, but still heartfelt as this made her look a bit younger than her age. Compared to Mona who had stains all over, she had none.

"I knew it must be you seeing how Mona had ran outside," she spoke as I stood straight with a bit of difficulty, I had even forgotten the position we were in.

"Good day, Nanny Cherry," I greeted her in my sweetest voice and tried to form a puppy face, but knew I had failed at that.

"What's with the emotional act between you two?" she asked frankly and looked between the both of us. "I stood there." She pointed to the entrance. "Watching your display of affection as this had led to curiosity among the kids. Did you miss her that much, Mona?" she completed and turned to Mona who hid her face behind my legs.

"Very," she replied quietly.

"Well if you don't go back in and have Lady Helen clean you up instead of running away, I would ensure Emma leaves this instant!" Nanny Cherry with her disciplinary acts, would she ever change? I smiled to myself at that thought.

"No, not Emma." She stopped hiding. "Please don't let her go," she pleaded.

"Then go back in to tidy yourself up!" she warned sternly yet again as this caused Mona to be frightened.

"Yes Lady C." She sulked and made to leave but was called back.

"Take this." A chocolate bar was pointed to her as Mona received it and beamed with joy. "You could eat this while she cleans you up so it won't hurt," she joked with a more subtle tone.

"Thank you." Mona hugged her in ecstasy before she ran off, chanting 'chocolates' as she did so.

"Kids!" Nanny C laughed before she faced me. "How is Daniel?" She was talking about my dad. "Won't he come around to see me or the kids?" she further enquired.

"He's been working so hard lately," I replied.

"Does this mean he doesn't have time for you anymore? Is he ignoring his fatherly role again?" I bit my lips hard when she said 'again,' why does she have to remind me of the past?

"No he isn't. In fact, he made us dinner last night and we talked about a lot of things." I tried to appear brave when I said so without her finding out I was lying. Whatever happens between my father and I remains inside, and even though Nanny Cherry was my second mum, I couldn't bring myself to tell her about our problems. I know that someday somehow, he would change and treat me better.

She tried to search through me to confirm my answer, but happened to shrug it off. "Alright then, why don't we go in now? The kids would be pleased to have you with them." With that we both entered, as the kids were jubilating, just as they do when someone important arrives.

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I left the orphanage home by past eight and it felt like a part of me remained there. How I would so much miss the kids, their noise, laughter, words, literally everything about them!

My duty today was stressful, but I was still grateful I was given such opportunity to help the children. The first thing I did when I entered was to share the sweets, chocolates, biscuits, cookies I had bought for them. I then assisted them in baking and feeding, babysitting a few till they slept, read stories to those interested, helped most that were sick and cleaned up vomits. And throughout, Mona stood by my side like some side chick, and showed me some new drawings of hers.

Mona slept early, thus making it easier for me to leave without missing her too much-I know she would be down by my departure, but I had no other choice. If next weekend works in my favour, I would come. Nanny C gave me a reward as always for my hard work and diligence, and this time, it was an enveloped money with some chocolates. I appreciated this and promised to inform my dad on what she said before I finally left.

I checked our evangelism group on WhatsApp to see if I could get Maddie's number and call her, but none were familiar. The ones I saw that kept me guessing were those with no names and no profile picture, but then I decided I was going to speak with her tomorrow.

I hummed one of my favourite songs when I got to my neighbourhood, with many ideas and inspirations popping up in my mind-all I wanted now was to get to my room and pen them down before I forget.

I ensured that after that incident, I was with my key always instead of putting it in the vase. So when I got to the door, I inserted it in and was about opening it when a strong hold was felt on my arms as this caused me to shriek in fright.

"It's okay, it's okay. It's me." The grip on my hand loosened till I felt a rough movement behind.

"Dad?" I questioned and looked back, the sight unbearable and tormenting. "Dad." I moved close to where he laid on the floor as different thoughts flooded my mind. Why was looking so tired and unkempt? Why was his shirt torn in pieces? Why was he without a slippers on? Why were there blood all over his face? No bags or anything with him, where on earth did he go to?

He panted heavily. "Robbers, two to four surrounded me on my way back," he managed to say with an intake of breath that he took due to a pain he felt. "They took everything and left me half beaten and lifeless."

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Who else here loves Mona?

Thanks for joining me through this lengthy chapter, I deeply appreciate it. And yes, her father is back for now. The story is just about beginning and you need to prepare yourself for the next phase/stage.

I guess that's all for now so I'm out of here and off to edit the next chapter so I could update pretty soon.

Much Love,

Mary.