Chelmeinvac

         ...Chelmeinvac...

         “Torraine. Torraine, are you okay?”
         Torraine woke up with a jolt and clutched at her mother, sobbing. Her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest and she could feel the sweat on her palms and dripping down her face from the run.
         ...Chelmeinvac...
         She clutched at her mother tighter and buried her face in her mothers’ shoulder, “I'm so scared.” she whispered, her voice shaking.
         “What baby? What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare? Tell me.” Michelle lifted her daughters face to better look at her, and in hope that she would stop thinking about her dark nightmares.
         Torraine gulped turned her face back into her mother's shoulder and continued to sob. For some reason, she felt like she couldn't tell her mother about this nightmare, it felt too real. She didn't want her mother to dismiss it as just some nightmare. Torraine sniffed, “Can I come sleep with you and dad?”
         “You know you're father's sick,” Michelle gently patted her daughters back, it had been a long time since Torraine had asked to sleep with them and she felt bad for telling her no, “How about I sleep in here with you? I shouldn't be in there anyway, he could get me sick, and then I would get you sick and neither one of us wants to be sick, do we?” Torraine shook her head, still hiding her face, “Okay then, let’s just cover up and we'll sleep together, okay?” Michelle laid down under the covers first and pulled Torraine close to her, wrapping her arms protectively around her small frame.  Gently she stroked her daughters’ hair while talking of things she hoped would distract her daughter from her nightmare.
         “I was thinking of baking cookies tomorrow.” Michelle whispered, “Snicker doodle cookies, in fact. Would you like to help me bake them?” At Torraine’s small nod her mother continued, “Great, I'll go to the store while you're at school tomorrow and then when you get home we can bake them, maybe even eat some of the cookie dough, but not too much, okay? And when we wake up tomorrow, I'll do your hair and you can wear that new outfit like you've been wanting too. Does that sound good? Then maybe, if I hear you've been good at school, I'll have something for you from the store.” Michelle continued to talk about how great their day was going to be and how they would bake the cookies as a surprise for daddy, because they were his favorite too, until Torraine finally fell back into a peaceful sleep. For the rest of the night, Michelle laid with her daughter, stroking her hair gently and thinking back to how she had adopted this precious little girl.

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Michelle Laoruu was quietly humming to herself as she made dinner for her family. It was to be her famous steak with corn and fried potatoes sautéed with onions and special spices. The radio was playing in the background, only she wasn't really paying any attention to it. She had only turned it on to have background noise as she cooked. She was adding butter to the pan for her fried potatoes when she heard the beginnings of her favorite song. Michelle made a delighted noise while clapping her hands a few times. As her song started she began to sing and dance to it, using her spatula as a microphone. Her happiness spread throughout the kitchen and through the house as only a mothers’ voice could.
When the song ended she continued to hum it to herself as she stirred the fried potatoes paying only a little more attention to the radio than she had before, and because she was still humming, it took her a minute to fully register what the talk show hosts were saying.
“—she was found on a cargo ship coming from India and is being held at St. Mercy’s Adoption Center—”
“Honey! Come listen to this!” Michelle yelled as she yanked up the radio volume so that it could be heard all throughout the house.
         “Alright! Alright!” Her husband laughed from the other end of the house, “Ok, I’m here, it needn’t be so loud Hun.” Thomas reached over and turned down the radio volume to a volume that wouldn’t blast his eardrums out.
         Michelle slapped his hand away from the volume, “Shh…Listen!”
         “We still don’t know what caused the accident of the cargo ship; searchers are still looking for any other survivors. As of now there is only one known survivor, a baby girl. We’re not sure of her origins, or even that she’s a United States resident, but the authorities are assuming that she’s not due to it being a cargo ship that she was found on.”
         “I don’t know about you Jack, but this is starting to sound a little shifty to me. A little girl is the only known survivor to a cargo ship accident? No other bodies found at all? How does that happen? Where did all the workers go? Did they jump ship in a life boat and leave the baby home by accident? Someone doesn’t just forget their kid like that Jack.”
         “Susi, I’m sure there’s some poor mother out there wondering about her missing baby and crying over it, but you have to realize that if a ship is sinking, things are rather hectic, anyone will think that someone else grabbed the baby, when in fact, no one else did.”
         “You sound so insensitive about it; this is a baby we’re talking about here Jack!”
         “Oh come on, stop bantering with each other!” Michelle exclaimed hitting her hand on the counter in frustration.
         Jacks laughter sounded out over the radio, “Why does the male always have to be insensitive when he says something like that? It’s simple fact.”
         Susi sighed irritably, “Well, anyway, for those of you just tuning in, we’re talking about a baby girl found in the wreck of a Cargo ship that had been reported missing for quite some time after it had departed from India.. As of yet there are no other survivors. The police are still unsure about what to do with little girl and until any decision can be made, they’re going to hold her at St. Mercy’s Adoption Center in downtown New York City. The word on the street is that they’re willing to consider putting her up for adoption since they don’t know if she belongs to the united states or not. I have a picture here of her, and let me tell you folks, this is the cutest baby girl, if you’re thinking about adopting sometime soon, maybe you should stop by St. Mercy’s and give this little girl a home---what’s that? What?! Okay, folks, this is just in, hot off the press, there have been bodies found, but no survivors, and, oh, god…”
         “What is it Susi? Susi? Oh, give me that paper! Oh…well, it seems that the entire crew has been found, if there had been any others besides the baby and the crew, they haven’t been found. But…it says here that their bodies are…were mutilated. They still don’t know exactly what could have caused the deaths of the crew, but they’re looking into it. Now it’s time for a break, keep that little girl in your thoughts and pray she makes it home safe. Here’s a little song dedicated to her.”
Michelle turned down the radio and looked at her husband with pleading eyes, “Honey...let’s adopt this baby girl. Please, baby?”
“Michelle, this is too soon.” He said softly, pain radiating in his voice, “I think we should wait before adopting, we have our own kids to look after and we’re still trying to pull together after…”
Michelle wiped a tear from her cheek, and turned into her husbands’ arms to lay her head on his shoulder and wrap her arms around his back, “I want this. I think it will be good for us, and just think of that poor baby girl, she has no one; nothing.”
Her husband became quiet as he held her and gently rocked her back and forth, “Alright, I’ll go to the adoption center and inquire. We’ll see what we can do, don’t get too excited though, Hun. There may be plenty of other couples wanting to adopt her, and we may have to pay a hefty fine. We might have to cut back on a few things, to make it through, alright?”
Michelle wiped at her cheeks, “I don’t care, do whatever you can, that girl deserves a good home.”
         “I just…” Thomas paused, “I’m worried you want to adopt her for the wrong reasons. To replace our stillborn child and I know how much you were looking forward to having another baby in the house but maybe we should wait. I’m sure she’ll make it into a good home.”
         “Is that so wrong? We were ready for another baby in the house and we lost that, it’s already been months since that happened; I’m ready for a baby to be in my life like it was supposed to be. I want to take care of another child and this little girl has no one. We’re perfect for each other.”
         Thomas sighed and affectionately said, “Okay, Hun.”
         Michelle gasped and quickly hugged her husband and placed a kiss on his cheek, “Thank you.”



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         When Torraine rose the next morning she could still feel the after affects of her dream. She couldn't even really remember her dream anymore, but she could feel it, and felt that there was something wrong.  Torraine went to the kitchen to find her mom and sat on a stool at the kitchen bar counter.
         “Well good morning Honey! I'm surprised you're up so early, you don't need to be out of bed for another 20 minutes. Oh, and guess what? I'm making pancakes for breakfast!” Torraine gave a small smile and laid her head down on the counter. Michelle watched Torraine worriedly, “You alright baby?” Torraine nodded sleepily, “Alright, well, why don't you go and wake up your sister and brother.”
         Torraine sluggishly shoved herself off the stool and padded barefoot back to her and her sisters’ room. She shook her sister a few times until she begrudgingly threw her covers off and then proceeded to her older brothers’ room. She knocked lightly, just so she could say that she did and wouldn't get into trouble for just walking in. She sneaked open the door and peaked her head in, his room was a mess, as always, mom always tried to get him to clean it, but by the next day it was always a mess again. He would say that just because it looked messy didn't mean it was. It was organized to how he liked it, he knew where everything was. Usually, after he cleaned his room, you'd hear random yelling every once in a while asking no one in particular where something was and throwing stuff around the room looking for it. Forgetting her current woe, Torraine tip-toed over some dirty clothes and made it to his bed without waking him. Before he woke up to realize she was there she stuck her finger in her mouth and then squiggled it in his ear. He came awake with a roar and Torraine bolted out of the room with a squeal, laughter trailing after her.
         “Torraine!!” Her older brother yelled. She could hear him stumbling around in his room as he got up to chase after her. She rushed to the bathroom, because that door locked and her bedroom didn't, and slammed the door in his face, barely locking it in time. “Torraine! I'm gonna get you, you little brat!”
         “Kids! That's enough! Breakfast is ready!”
         Torraine heard her brother yell, “Coming mom!” and waited a few more minutes to be sure he wasn't lingering outside the door waiting for her. When she was positive he wouldn't be there anymore she quickly opened the door and rushed out without looking. Before she was halfway down the hall, her brother had her lifted up in his arms and into the air, then back on the ground, tickling her. Torraine let out a loud surprised squeal.
         “That's enough! Come get breakfast!”
         Reluctantly, her brother let her go, “I’m gonna get you one of these days!”
         Torraine giggled and rushed to sit down at the table, barely missing his sad attempt at a last tickle. Her brother rubbed at his tired face as he sleepily pulled out a chair to sit down, “Mmm…sure smells good. Love pancakes.
         Torraine, now past the initial excitement of waking her brother, began to feel as she had felt only moments before. The feeling of her unremembered dream still lurking in her mind, it was as if there was something missing. There seemed to be this huge hole that inserted itself into her life over night. Torraine picked at her food, hardly eating the delicious yummy goodness that is her pancakes. Torraine slumped back in her chair, staring at her food. What was it?
         “Torraine, honey, are you ok?” Her mother asked her worriedly. Torraines' father came into the kitchen in his black sharp business suite and sat down at the table.  He had short cropped brown hair, cut marine military style—he always insisted that it looked professional.
         Torraine continued to stab at her pancakes wishing her mother would stop asking her what was wrong when she didn't really know it herself. Melancholy settling further into her mind, with a doleful look on her face she—once again—only nodded to her mother. This time she acquired a worried look from her father in addition to her mothers already persisting frown. Michelle shared a private look with her husband, she hadn't had time to tell him about Torraine's nightmare the other night, or that she had been acting strange all morning. She only hoped he would get the hint to not ask about it.