Chapter 5
Gerda and Rollan were discharged from the hospital and stood together out in their old outfit, which had been washed and finished for them to use when they would leave.
„Oh Rollan, there you are!" Gerda called watching Rollan come downstairs with a few apples on his hands making Gerda drop her jaw. „Did you just steal them?"
„They were at the waiting room and it said free for everyone," Rollan defended. „I'm keeping some, cause I don't know, when will be the next time I eat something,"
„Okay, but….what did the man say to you?" Questioned Gerda. „I have seen you're not going to stay with me like I convinced the man to do,"
„He said as I am young he offered me the chance to repeat the 12th grade again and I accepted it,"
„That's good. This means we would be able to see each other at the school, right?"
„Maybe…..Additionally, I will receive at the school extra help, so I'm able to catch up with subjects I haven't had yet or never was present. He said the most important thing for me would be to pass the exam at the end of the school year. His second comment was he could put me in something they call it Au-Pair. You clean the house, cook, help anywhere in the house of a foreign family for free. The only payment you receive is you're allowed to sleep there, eat there and eventually in some cases you also get an allowance depending on the family,"
„And how long will this take? The entire school year?"
„Si. He told me, this was the best offer he could find for me. From now on this is better than the previous idea, or my idea of leaving the hospital earlier,"
„But the last exams weren't as worse as the other ones you complained about," Questioned the blonde making Rollan shrug his shoulders.
„They were okay, I just hope to not have to go through all this again," Mentioned the Spaniard making Gerda chuckle. The social worker, a man in the forties came down from the hospital along with a light-blonde younger man and met the two teens at the sidewalk.
„Rollan, I'd like to introduce you to Arthur Hemming. You're going to stay in his household as we discussed in our meeting," The social worker said making Rollan nod, which reached his hand out to shake. „Arthur works at the office of the airport and his wife works at the other side of Paris in a hospital as well." Explained the man making Rollan gulp. „But don't worry, she won't do you any tests. I've heard you weren't really liking that,"
„Everything is new here to me," Rollan confessed scratching his neck, rolling his eyes at Gerda, which chuckled.
„Alright, don't worry. You two will learn how to move on in this new life," Commented the social worker and took from the inside of his jacket an envelope and held it out at Rollan. „I could arrange you an emergency note, you could show in case you're getting a routine control by the police or anyone else until your identification card is delivered and the same to you, Gerda,"
„Thank you," Gerda replied watching the man take out a second envelope to hand it to the girl.
Rollan was looking into his envelope and took out a small, electronic device and took a look at it and pressed the button on the ground to lighten up the display to see the time and the date on it.
„What's this?" Questioned Rollan, then Gerda took a closer look at it and the social worker took out his to show it.
„That's a communication device we call it a smartphone. You're able to phone with people, text people, make photos, videos, and so on. I organized you two an easier brand, so you wouldn't have it hard to figure it out. And in case you don't have anyone else around, that can help you press on the button until a line pops up speaking up to you like this.
„How can I help you?"
„Lyra, call Gerda," Ordered the man, followed by the smartphone making a beeping sound.
„Calling Gerda," The smartphone replied, then inside Gerda's envelope it started to ring, then Gerda opened it to take out her smartphone and see a number calling him.
„Cool," Commented Gerda, then the man unlocked Rollan's smartphone and pressed the green call icon to show him Gerda's smartphone number along with the social work institute.
„So I've given you two the two most important things to survive in your new life. Don't worry, you'll two get the hand out of it in no time,"
„Sure," Rollan said returning his new smartphone into the couvert.
„So Rollan, Gerda…..we now have all to go and see, what's waiting for us...well you. Rollan will have to go with Mr. Hemming to meet his family," The social worker told Gerda which nodded and looked at Rollan a little sad.
„Looks like we won't see each other for a little while," Mentioned Gerda, then the social worker pointed at her envelope.
„You've both got each other's cellphone numbers. If you ever need to talk to each other you can phone call each other. You can as well make up to meet somewhere, whatever your heart desires at the moment,"
„That's actually better," Mentioned the Spaniard earning a nod from the social worker, then Rollan took a step closer to Gerda. „What do you think? Shall I call you tonight so we can both check on each other?"
„I'd love to be able to talk to you about all this. From now on we only have each other as a friend,"
„Then we'll do it, certo?" Asked Rollan making Gerda smile and embrace the tall boy.
„Yes," Gerda replied making Rollan chuckle and pat the girl's back.
„Okay you two, we better get going, we're got a few more things to do and so does Mr. Hemming," Warned the social worker, then both got away from each other a little sad.
„We will see us soon, don't worry little man," Commented Arthur making Rollan nod, then the duos left in opposite directions, and Gerda took one last look back at Rollan, which was facing forward along with the man heading to a parking spot.
„We're going now home?" Questioned Gerda making the social worker shake his head.
„First I'm taking you to a second-hand shop and I'll give you 50 euros, which you can use to buy you a few new articles of clothing. Like everyone else at the week you receive there a bit of money for the tasks you do there along with the others, you all got there a plan, which you need to follow and all that, but it will be explained to you,"
„And I'm going into a youth home you say?"
„Yours is a child and youth home. Technically the plan was to put you in a youth home, but due to fear of not being able to cope with your well-being, we decided to put you in a children and youth home instead,"
„Is the youth home so bad?"
„No, the reason is, most of the teens there are in puberty and compared to you…..they're a little naive,"
„Are teens at my age usually like that?"
„You know life for the kids from today got easier, they have more free time than usual and hence not all teachers are available to see, what happens outside of the home,"
„They could get out all the time when they wanted?"
„They still had their tasks, but if they're done with it, they could go out as long as they were back at 10 pm. Whoever caused mess or disrespected any supervisor would get grounded for an estimated time,"
„Okay,"
„Yours different, don't worry. The youth social welfare office works tight together with all homes and is prompt to switch kids and teens from places if necessary," Commented the social worker making the blonde girl nod and the two arrived at the crossroad at a line with parked cars and he showed the girl a minivan. „You've seen a car before?"
„I've seen them on very thin plastic books with them on the front," Responded Gerda making the man nod.
„I think those books there are called magazines. Many girls around your age like to read it,"
„What are they usually about?" Asked Gerda watching the man pick up his car keys and unlock the vehicle and open the co-driver door, then held his hand out, so the girl would enter into his car.
„They are a lot of variations. Some are informative and teach you something about cars, animals or foods. Some talk about famous people's lives, others are for amusement that could contain jokes, poems, or reviews of anything,"
„Okay and they don't have stories like in the books too?" Asked Gerda watching the man sit in the car beside her, then put on his seatbelt.
„Well there are illustrated magazines, which people call comic. They usually contain shorter stories," Commented the social worker. „Now that we're here, that thing there next to the door is a seat belt. You pull it down and insert it into this red slit until it clicks," The man told watching Gerda pull it down over her to insert it making it click.
„It's in," Gerda commented earning a thumb up from the man.
„Very well. In case you're getting too warm, you can grab that handle down there and crank the window down," Explained the social worker making Gerda nod, which looked over the windshield at the street, then recognized Rollan sitting along with Arthur inside an SUV passing by them and Gerda lifted her hand at the boy, which mirrored her back with a smile and she moved her head back trying to look across the van seeing the SUV disappear into the dead angle of the van she was in.
Orm was walking on his own through a foreign village he doesn't remember to have seen and took a look at the small buildings, that were around the road he was walking on.
„Can't believe the only two persons I found until now ran away in fear I would eat them," Complained Orm to himself moving on, then his stomach started to growl making him sigh. „And I haven't eaten anything for no idea how long now," Mentioned the troll looking at the place and in the middle of the road was a water fountain, then he turned the direction to the fountain to see under the long tap of the fontaine the year 1995, making him furrow his eyebrows curious. „Man, have I been frozen for almost 100 years," Orm held his hands under the tap to fill it with water, then reached them to his mouth so he could drink from it and repeated it again. „Mmh this is so good," Commented Orm before taking a third time his hands full of water again, then he passed his hand in front of his mouth and looked at the houses again.
One of the houses he spotted, which was a flower shop he took a closer look at it and encountered at the reception a metal box with various cookies designed on it, making Orm lick his lips and his stomach growl louder at the sight of the pastries. Orm walked at the door, then moved on the door handle, which was closed and he saw at the door a shield stating, that the flower shop was closed. Orm frowned, then noticed down on the door a small pet door and got down on his knees, then tried to crawl throught the door and got stuck with his butt. Orm tried to pull himself out by placing his hands on the ground, trying to move forward, but he wasn't managing to get through.
„Ugh…." Sighed Orm, then dropped his head on the ground, then moved his ear as he heard claws tapping on the wooden floor and moved his head up to look from where the noise came, then spotted a white, middle-sized dog, which spotted Orm and began to bark frightening Orm as the dog seemed to be in alert, then tried to pull himself back. The dog approached Orm, then began to shake his rear and bark at Orm's presence hoping the troll would join him.
„Finn! I'm on my way!" Warned the voice shrieking Orm, then the dog began to lick Orm on his face making him feel disgusted, then from behind the counter appeared a senior man, which got surprised to see the dog along with Orm. The dog gave a bark and spun around in excitement and the man walked towards the two to spot the troll, which was looking up at the man.
„What do we got here?" Asked the man, then Orm tried again to get into the building but it didn't work.
„I'm sorry. It's not, what you think it is. I'm very hungry and looking for something to eat," Commented Orm making the man wide his eyes surprised.
„You….t...talk?" Asked the senior surprised making Orm nod.
„Isn't that normal?" Questioned Orm making the senior shrug his shoulders.
„I suppose….or I am starting to lose my mind since my daughter moved out with her family to Denmark," Mentioned the man making Orm sad.
„Well you're not the only one, who's alone," Orm mentioned. „I have been frozen for almost a hundred years inside the lake Gao and I got thawed by somebody,"
„Wow that's a lot of years," Commented the senior. „How did you end up there"
„Something terrible was going on. The Snow Queen and the Fire Demon took over the bodies of two friends of mines and attacked the kingdom. The only way to defeat them was to drown them in the lake, which we did and through that I and other friends of mine ended up in the lake and got frozen by the Snow Queen, which luckily through one of my reflexes fell along with me into the water as well freezing herself too,"
„So you're actually…..a troll I think, right?" Questioned the man earning a nod from Orm. „What's your name?"
„My name is Orm," Responded the troll, then the senior held his arm down. „Hendrick, but you can call me Henry if you want," Introduced the senior shaking his hand with Orm. „Oh…..sorry, are you stuck?" Questioned the senior making Orm nod.
„Yeah it would be really great if someone would lean me a hand," Commented Orm, then Hendrick grabbed Orm under his arms trying to pull Orm out of it causing him to yelp in pain, then the senior fell on his back, but managed to free Orm from the dog door.
„Thanks!" Thanked Orm, then Finn barked and licked Orm on his face making him frown and push the dog away, which returned and placed his front paws on Orm's shoulder to lick his face.
„So you were hungry you said?" Asked Hendrick making Orm nod, then the senior helped Orm up, which accompanied the troll to the side room of the flower shop, which was a corridor, then showed Orm the kitchen and on the table, the man had in the middle a bread. On the side, the senior had a plate, where he had two slices with butter and jam coated.
„I can offer you right now freshly baked bread with butter and jam," Said the senior making Orm nod, then he sat down on the table, then the senior walked to a bookshelf to search for something in there and Orm cut for himself a large piece of bread, which he used to prepare it before he could consume it.
„You know I had a great-aunt, which was a florist and a magician. She could manipulate the genes of her plants, but she wasn't quite good at keeping them alive or healthy for a long time. This was her only issue," Explained the senior. „I remember I read once the only day she had her flowers bloom and grow beautifully was on the day a young girl showed up along with a troll like you," Commented the senior catching Orm's attention as he bit on the slice of bread he had put butter on it.
„Was the girl's name Gerda?" Questioned Orm making the senior shrug his shoulders.
„I don't remember, what her name was. I remember she had blonde, short hair,"
„That's Gerda. At least when she was a child, she had short blonde hair. She and I met that lady before, when we were on our way to the Snow Queen," Mentioned Orm.
„That's interesting to know," Mentioned Hendrick. „So this means you're both magicians as well?"
„Not really. Sure we trolls are considered as magical beings, but we….we don't have the magic inside us. Gerda I don't know if she has magic or not, I know her parents were, but I think I never saw she using them, or if she knows she has them or…..if she knows she is one,"
„She does know that she's related with magicians, so far she hasn't found out what powers she had…..well during the time she was alive," Orm said sinking his head down, then the senior felt bad for the troll and sat down on the chair vice versa to him.
„What happened to her?"
„Have you ever heard of the wishing stone?" Questioned Orm making the man shake his head. „Oh….well inside that stone was the spirit of the Snow Queen and the Fire Demon captured. Gerda along with a boy I had met a few days ago had gotten into their tomb and somehow got their hands on it and got enslaved by them. When they told me what happened I tried to help them out, but in the end, when they returned to retrieve it, they lost their control over to the spirits and their bodies became the Snow Queen and the Fire Demon. The rest is….well...told,"
„I'm really sorry for your loss," Apologized Hendrick watching Orm take a big bite of his bread slice. „You know….. I've heard about that with the defeat of the two spirits from a book my daughter-in-law once read. I assumed it wasn't the real ending," Commented the senior, then looked at the bookshelf again. „I think I've just found it right now," Commented the senior, then stared at the bookshelf and a dark-blue book flew out across the room and landed on the table in front of Orm, which widened his eyes in surprise.
„You do magic?" Mumbled Orm with food in his mouth.
„Yeah well it's just telepathy, it's not the most powerful magic in the world, but sometimes you can use it in many greater ways, you can't possibly imagine," Hendrick told the troll, then Orm widened his eyes as he had a flash of thought.
„Henry! You're a genius!" Orm announced getting up from his chair, shrieking the dog at the sudden reaction of the troll.
„Yes, I am. I have a bachelor's degree after all," Commented the man making Orm shrug his shoulders unaware of what the meaning of the comment was.
„Do you think it's possible for you to help me with your telepathy my friends out of the lake?" Questioned Orm.
„Hmm I could give it a try. I just have to be able to see them, so I can pull them out," Mentioned Hendrick. „If we need a plan B we could arrange a rope or anything else to put it on them and use it to bring them up," Suggested the man.
„Yes, as long it works. We can also list things, that could help better than other things. Important for me is to get them out and hopefully we manage to unfreeze them. If it worked on me it should work on them as well,"
„But were they frozen naturally or by the magic of the Snow Queen?"
„The Snow Queen mostly," Responded Orm. „I think during the time we're frozen we're like in a sort of break or something. You feel like the time isn't passing by, but it is,"
„Yes, I believe that. So Orm, finish your slice and eat one or two more. Then if you'd like, we go to that lake you talked about and give it a try," Hendrick stated using his telepathy to bring the plate to him to pick his bread and finish it along with Orm.