V for Vaya Con Dios

Image Source by Janis Katlaps

She felt sad, so sad. Friends left her alone after the party and mingled among themselves. She cried in silence as she walked back home from the party venue, teary-eyed with balloons in her hands.

Annie, a 9-year-old girl, is an orphan. But her childhood friends would always invite her when there were parties for kids, more out of respect for their teacher, Mrs. Morales, Annie’s Mom. But more than that, Annie is just an ordinary girl for them with her plain looks, cheap dress, not rich, no parents and a resident in an orphan home. Father had died in a car accident when she was barely 2 years old and her mother, a teacher in a nearby public school succumbed to cancer a year ago.

It was two months later when one day Annie came to school in a swanky car accompanied by a well-dressed gentleman. She had come to bid good-bye to her classmates as she was moving to her adopted parent’s home in the town. Her mom's distant rich cousin took Annie under his fold. She had come in finest clothes to distribute chocolates and cookies. 

"It pains me, but I have to go, leave you now. My Uncle Tom was too kind enough to take me in his custody and will send me to the finest school in town til college. I know I will miss you for sure, but I have to go," she said on the verge of tears now. 

"I will leave you now but promise, I will come back again," she added with warmth in her hoarse voice. "Thank you for the good friendship and the love you have shown me in spite of my poor situation," she said with all honesty in her heart. 

All the kids swarmed around her, each one hugging her and pleading with her not to go away from their midst. 

Is true friendship based on riches, a well settled home and loving parents? It should not be but it is so sadly, a reality. 

~*~*~*~

Written for Thursday Tales

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This post has been published as part of Leo's Z to A Challenge for the month of November.