I Work At An Orphanage, And A 5-year-old Boy Just Walked In Who Is The Spitting Image Of My Deceased Son. I Investigated His Family History And Uncovered A 15-year-old Lie. What Should I Do?
Charlotte Brown started working at an orphanage when she was already a rather old and wise woman. She did it partly because she was feeling lonely and hopeless, and partly because she loved children who always felt the same way about her. It pained Charlotte to look at the unfortunate kiddos who ended up growing up without their parents for one reason or another.
The woman became sort of a grandmother for all the kiddos at the orphanage; she sincerely loved every single child there. Charlotte read the kiddos fairy tales at bedtime, played educational games with them, and simply treated them as if they were her own grandchildren. Few people knew that the woman’s life was far from a happy one, and there were several reasons for it.
Charlotte’s husband died in a car accident many years ago, and her only son went missing at the age of 15. Kevin was a late child whom the couple had been waiting for their whole lives. He was born when his parents were already over 40 and was seen as the gift that helped make their childless family so much stronger.
Kevin was growing up as a smart and obedient boy who never ceased to amaze his parents. The teenager’s life was planned out for years to come, and there wasn’t even the slightest sign of trouble. It was like that until one fateful day when 15-year-old Kevin went canoeing and fishing on a river with some of his friends.
The only thing that the teenagers didn’t take into account was the strong current, which capsized the boat with a powerful gust and plunged the kiddos into the cold water. Kevin was the least fortunate. The current picked him up, swirled him into a stormy whirlpool, and carried him straight to the rocky rapids.
Kevin’s friends managed to get to the shore, but the ruthless elements didn’t let Kevin out and carried him downstream. Despite the extensive search by the police and rangers, the teenager’s body was never found. The search parties went down the river for miles trying to find any sign of Kevin, but the rangers never managed to find anything apart from one of his sneakers which washed ashore two days later.
“The current is very strong here, so the body could have easily ended up outside the state,” the head of the search party said, lowering his eyes uncomfortably.
Charlotte had already lost her husband in an accident two years earlier, and now her son’s disappearance came as yet another extremely painful blow which she found very difficult to recover from. It was for this reason that the woman, tired of feeling lonely and hopeless, decided to get a job in an orphanage, disregarding her rather advanced age.
Looking at the little students, Charlotte recalled the years when her son Kevin was the same little daredevil who valued fun above everything else. “Where are you, my son?” the woman thought sadly, remembering that about 15 years had passed since Kevin’s tragic death.
Of course, Charlotte had long gotten used to the fact that her son and husband were gone, and therefore she tried not to dwell on it, giving all her love and affection to the kiddos at the orphanage. The woman tried her best to provide them with parental care, which they were deprived of. The students loved Charlotte and sometimes even called her grandmother.
One day, a new student named Lewis came to the orphanage. The boy was only five years old, and many of the caregivers were shocked that the poor boy had lost his parents at such a young age. But that wasn’t the only thing that surprised Charlotte, who loved all of her students without exception and never singled any one of them out.
But this boy was rather special; at least for sure he was when she saw him for the first time. The woman simply couldn’t believe her eyes. “God, that’s just impossible,” the old woman whispered, clutching her heart.
Charlotte was so surprised because Lewis was the spitting image of her son who disappeared many years ago. “God, he looks just like my Kevin did at that age of five,” the woman thought, taking the boy by the hand.
Having met Lewis, Charlotte couldn’t help herself; she immediately started paying him more attention than the rest of the kiddos. She felt like she got transported into her past, to the time when she was still a mother and was raising her five-year-old son Kevin.
“How is it even possible that they look so much alike? I wonder who the boy’s parents are,” Charlotte thought, getting increasingly interested in the boy’s past.
Trying to figure out what was going on, the old woman turned to the director of the orphanage who had a lot more information about the kiddos than anyone else. Benjamin Gray was very surprised by the old woman’s questions, as she suddenly got very interested in the life of just one of her students. After reviewing the boy’s documents, the man quickly found the registration entry made on the day that the boy arrived at the orphanage.
As it turned out, Lewis was brought in by a woman named Samantha Ramirez. “Did she really bring her own son to the orphanage?” Charlotte exclaimed.
“According to Samantha, she isn’t the boy’s mother. Apparently, she was facing some financial problems, so she couldn’t take care of the boy anymore,” Mr. Gray said.
Something clicked in Charlotte’s head. The woman realized that in order to figure everything out, she needed to find out who the boy’s biological parents were. Having thanked the director of the orphanage for his help, Charlotte immediately got down to business.
