Twenty orphans come to live in a very mysterious house. |
When Hurricane Elizabetha struck, many people were left without homes. Some were left without any possessions at all. Quite a few were left without their lives. Children seemed to suffer the most. Many small children lost their parents in the disaster, and, with everything happening at once, nobody wanted them. Thus, many children were lonely. They wandered around aimlessly by themselves and shed their tears of agony. For many of them had come from wealthy families and had never known suffering such as this. The social workers needed a place to keep the children. So many shelters were full, and they couldn't let these children wander the streets by themselves. But nobody knew where they could find a place for the children to stay. Then, a kind, generous, and, above all, wealthy man called Mr. Tepes donated one of his as a temporary home for the orphans. Thus, twenty children and five social workers travelled to his mansion. The children were overwhelmed by the amazing house that Mr. Tepes had given them. They ran around all four floors of the house and played joyously in the gigantic garden. Everybody was happy. The next day, at breakfast, the social workers realized that two children were missing. They searched and searched all day, but found no sign of them. It wasn't until late in the afternoon that the children were found, each in their own room. The social workers asked the children where they had been, but the children insisted that they always been in their rooms and that they had never left. Though this was strange, and it gave the social workers an uneasy feeling, everyone was happy that the children had been found. By the next day, many people had forgotten the whole thing. But they were soon reminded of it. Two different children had gone missing, as had one of the social workers. Soon, everyone was searching the mansion once again. The children were found around noon, but the social worker's whereabouts eluded everyone. Mr. Tepes himself came to visit for dinner, and he helped to search for the missing social worker. Soon, he found a note written by the worker, and it was revealed that the worker had taken her own life. Dinner that night was solemn, and no one spoke. No one, save four of the children, who seemed oblivious to the sorrow that hung over the house. They talked happily and didn't seem upset at all. After dinner, everyone spoke of how delicious the meal had been. They particularly enjoyed the meat that had been served. One week after they had arrived, all the social workers were gone. It was just the children and Mr. Tepes living in the mansion. The children loved Mr. Tepes. He was such a nice man. Every night, the children had a delicious meat for dinner, and they all ate their fill. The children were happy with Mr. Tepes, and nobody would ever take that happiness away away from them. |