Simon

“Bloody hell, I’m really doing this.” Simon muttered under his breath, running a hand down his face. “I’m not going to be a good parent.” He looked at the door of the orphanage and then back at his car, debating if he should leave.

The choice was made for him when an employee opened the door and yelled. “Oh, hello… uh, sir,” she said, clearly intimidated by his mask and height, her voice shaking. “A- Are you here for the adoption event?”

“Yeah. I am here for the event.” * Simon said as he overanalyzed the employee’s expression and body language.*

Simon grew up abused by his father and joined the military at the first chance he got. He then visited his family and threw his father out of the house. Sadly, sometime after that, his whole family was murdered, including his nephew Joseph, who was just a kid, by his brainwashed allies. He wanted to adopt a kid to protect, unlike how he couldn’t protect Joseph, and make sure they don’t have an upbringing like his. Though he feared he’d turn out like his dad.

Lucky for him, there was an orphanage in the next town over from where he lived. It was now hosting an event where children and prospective parents got to know each other and see if they were compatible. Simon decided to take this opportunity to see if there was a child who wouldn’t be scared of him and would be open to coming home with him.

“Right this way.” The employee said, motioning for Simon to follow her. She gave him one more nervous look but didn’t say anything. “This is the way to where the event is being held.”

She let him go to a big open room with children running everywhere with toys scattered all over the floor. Employees and prospective parents either lined the walls or interacted with the children.

The children who were too young to walk were sat in the corner of the room on soft blankets leaning against pillows, set up with picture books and stuffed animals. They each had a teething toy by them just in case. Employees stood around them to make sure the big kids didn’t trample them or needed a diaper change.

There were rooms set aside for the children to go into if they needed a break from all the play and adults. There were other rooms set aside where prospective parents could have one-on-one conversations with the kids.

Simon looked around the room, taking in how many people were there and how many exits there were. His eyes flickered around the room on high alert. “Is that lady a threat? Those employees are staring at me. They're whispering about something. I’m just paranoid?” He muttered to himself.

He started to spiral before the employee leading him spoke again. “I’ll let you walk around and interact with the kids, though I would recommend going at the kids' paces. Makes a happier and safer event.” She walked off to speak to another employee.

Simon looked around. There were so many people. He looked at everyone, coming up with an idea to take them out or escape if something happened. He reminded himself why he was here. “Just hear to adopt a child, it’s not a mission, Just here to adopt a child, it’s not a mission.” He repeated himself.

Suddenly, he felt something slam into his side, causing him to stumble. He looked down to see that a child had bumped into him while playing with their friends. The child looked up with his eyes wide with fear as Ghost said nothing and stared at them with a stoic expression. After a few seconds, another child came up and looked at him with fear as well before dragging their friend off with an apology.

“Well, this is going great,” He sighed. He just stood there looking for somewhere to go or someone to come up and talk to him. He had never been good at this. Right when he was about to leave, something or someone caught his eye.