Hope

Past

After a few steps, Sigrid turns around to find that the woman already left. There was no other choice than to walk into the house.
She walked up to the old wooden door and pushed it open. Suddenly, noise flooded her ears. Children screaming, crying, and wanting to know where their parents are. Sigrid wondered if this really was like her nightmare because it seemed like she was not the only child who woke up to find their parents gone.

She decided to look for a grown-up who can answer her questions. Even though, the woman told her not to ask any questions this did not stop her. In another room, she heard older women talking. They were discussing what to do with all of these children. They said they were not prepared for something like this.
Sigrid stepped into the large room.
“Do you know where my parents are?” she asks and all the women turn towards her in disbelief. “What are you doing here? You should be waiting in the other room!” the oldest one said. Sigrid did not want to let this sit and kept asking questions until one of the women grabbed her and sat her down in the other room where all the other children were crying after their parents. She did not feel like she belonged in that place. As far as she knew her parents only left to do some chores. Maybe when she heard her mother screaming it was only a nightmare. Maybe she imagined it all.

They waited for hours until something finally happened. Boys and girls were separated and brought to different rooms. The rooms were large and not filled with any personality. On the floor were makeshift beds. The food they got could not be compared to the fresh vegetables from the garden or anything she has ever tried. The portions were small so that every other child also got a little bit of food in their stomach.
The girls had to help with cooking and other similar chores over the next few days. After a very exhausting week, Sigrid finally had the chance to sleep a bit more than a couple of hours.

Suddenly somebody she heard somebody trying to wake her up. She was happy that she fell asleep, but she asked herself why she needed to wake up already. It seemed like she only had an hour to sleep. Quickly she got dressed and asked as many questions as she could in one breath but as usual, everyone ignored her. Sigrid was told that she needed to go outside.
“Did my parents come back?” she asked happily.
“They have come back haven’t they?” still nobody answered her, and she tried to straighten her dress as good as she could. It was stained with unidentifiable things, but there was not any time when she could have cleaned it. Sigrid was at the door quicker than anybody else, expecting her parents on the other side. She was brimming with questions about where they were or why she had to spend an entire week in that dreadful children’s home. Sigrid opened the door with a grunt and it creaked open.

On the other side were people she did not recognize.