New York City, December 15th 2001
The Brownstone that was Mrs. Brown House for Children in 9034 Crestfield St. Alfield Heights Brooklyn was a half-way run down of a building. The orphanage wasn't too bad. All the windows were still in tact and it was relatively clean, with the garden looked like it was maintained. However, the paint clinging to the bricks, that was once would have been a bright red, turned into fading shades of brown. The wooden front door was chipped and the doorknob was rusty.
Such a building did not seem out of place in the neighbourhood. Many of the buildings there were all derelict. Some were even worse than the orphanage. The locals would even say the orphanage might had been a grandeur compared to them. One thing that seemed out place was a sharp-dressed man carrying an umbrella. Mrs. Copperfield, the florist across the street watched as the man came up to the door and rang the bell. Ms. Bertha Brown came out and greeted the man with a huge smile on her lovely face.
"Mr. Hargreeves! Good Morning! You came earlier than we thought. Do come in."
Mr. Hargreeves looked like what she pictured him to be. Cold and calculating just like his voice on the phone three days ago. He was dressed impeccably with his monocle in place. The man walked beside her with a movement akin to a robot. Measured, with a purpose. Her doubts of having this man adopting one of her precious children doubled. The man didn't look like he would have made a good guardian, let alone a parent. But he was willing to pay the orphanage more than what was necessary, that she would have had the extra money for not only the upkeep of the orphanage but to repaint the whole building and more. On one condition of course, that the only child he would want to adopt was her.
She led him into a small room with a table in the centre and two chairs on the opposite end. A child no older than 12, who was sitting on one of the chair, looked up and gave them a huge toothy grin. Ms. Bertha couldn't help but to smile back at the girl. She sneaked a look at Mr. Hargreeves and was utterly unnerved to find the man's demeanour did not change one bit. The girl's smile was infectious that everyone would have melt at the sight of it. She felt uneasy that the man beside her hadn't exhibit any emotions to establish that he is in fact human.
"Hi there! You must be Mr. Hargreeves." The girl greeted, not at all taken aback by Mr. Hargeeves unfriendly manner.
Ms. Bertha watched as the man took the empty chair. His eyes never leave the girl. The girl, bless her soul, didn't stop smiling and not at all creeped out. If it wasn't the calculative look Mr. Hargeeves gave the girl, Ms. Bertha was afraid that the stares meant something lecherous.
"My name is Elora Alcott, Mr. Hargreeves." Elora said to him. If he wasn't going to talk then perhaps she should start. A lot of people said she was really good when it comes to breaking the ice. She had that sunny disposition that endeared people.
"It was nice to meet you, Mr. Hargeeves. I was really happy to hear you are really interested in adopting me. I'm not here very long but I was interviewed by a potential parents a week ago, so I know that usually this is where you ask me questions to get to know me. Do you want to ask any?" Elora hoped that if she asked him a question, he would talk.
He continued to watch her. It felt like he was assessing her, looking for something out of the ordinary. Elora was afraid that she might exhibit anything that indicated she had the thing. Finally, to the relieves of both Elora and Ms. Bertha, Mr. Hargreeves spoke. He asked her to describe herself. Where and when she was born and who her biological parents were.
"I was born in Paris, October 1st 1989." She proudly said. Before she continued, Mr. Hargreeves cut her off.
"Parlez-vous français?" He asked.
"Oui. Ma mère était française. Nous parlions français tous les jours." Elora beamed. Although she only met her mother's side of the family once, she was proud of being half-french.
Mr. Hargreeves eyes narrowed and he gestured her to continue. Elora didn't know whether to continue in English or French. She looked to the side and saw Ms. Bertha mouthed 'English' at her, and so, she continued in English.
"My parents were Eric and Celine Alcott. My father was a banker and mother was a ballet dancer. We used to live in Brooklyn Heights before the accident three months ago." Her smile was dimmer as she thought of her parents.
"Was your father you true biological father?" Mr. Hargeeves asked, followed by an indignant "Mr. Hargreeves!" that came from Ms. Bertha.
Elora narrowed her eyes at him. She was suspicious of his motivation to adopt her. The circumstances around her birth was unusual. Her parents were childless for many years and so, when she was born, however odd it was, she was deemed a miracle. It was later proven how much of a miracle it was when her abilities shown up. It didn't diminish her parents love for her. It didn't make them want to send her to an institution where she would be tested and examined. It made them even more protective, not wanting their child to be taken away.
"Why would you ask me that question, Mr. Hargreeves?"
"My reason is my own. Although, I'm starting to think you already know."
"Mr. Hargreeves!" Both the man in question and Elora turned to Ms. Bertha as she spoke. "I am afraid I have to stop you right here. Given the way you were acting, I think that you aren't quite suitable—"
"I will pay you double the amount we agreed on if you let us continue and you leave the room as we do."
As Ms. Bertha was about to protest, Elora turned to her and asked her to leave the room. She knew how much this man would pay just to adopt her. From the very beginning, Elora was willing to be adopted by this man, even though she had met a nice couple before him and was supposed to be adopted by them instead. The money provided by this man could help Ms. Bertha. She could repaint the building and maybe fixed the 3rd floor bathroom that had been out of order way before she was sent there. Ms. Bertha had been kind to her. She deserved the money.
As Ms. Bertha complied, Elora turned to Mr. Hargreeves. "My mother gave birth to me on October 1st 1989 without being pregnant for 9 months before. It's weird but it gets weirder when I grew up and started to show my… powers. Was that what you wanted to hear, Mr. Hargreeves?"
"Perhaps, a proper demonstration is in order."
She nodded, hesitating a bit. Mr. Hargreeves was unnerving but he seemed to know that she was special and so, wouldn't be shocked and wouldn't hurl insults such as "demon-spawn" like her extended family did the one time she met them. She closed her eyes and concentrated. When she opened them, both the irises and the pupils turned icy blue, almost white. Frost trail made a path from the corner of her eyes to her temple. The temperature of the room they were in dropped significantly low.
Mr. Hargreeves face turned from evaluating to that of fascination. She even saw a bit of smile on his face. It was a look of victory, she supposed. It was rather odd to her that Mr. Hargreeves didn't flinch when it was really cold in the room. Perhaps he could stand the cold, she reckoned.
She closed her eyes again, and everything went back to normal. The room was warm again. And when she opened her eyes, they were the usual hazel with black pupils in the middle. Elora hoped the cold stayed in the room. She didn't want to freak out Ms. Bertha. None of the residents in the orphanage knew anything about her more distinctive features. And she would like to keep it that way.
Mr. Hargreeves took out a red leather journal with 'R.H.' initial on the cover. He turned quite a lot of pages before writing something down. Elora guessed that he had options of children he wanted to adopt and supposedly the book was to keep in track of all the children and their specialties before choosing which he would adopt. Mr. Hargreeves seemed to be delighted of her demonstration, or close to it, so she was quite confident he would write something nice about her and chose her to be adopted.
She was immediately disheartened however, for he stood up and left the room soon after he closed his book and tucked it back into his coat. Never was she wanted to be adopted by him more. Other than the money he offered, Elora wanted a parent who would understand her unique circumstances and accepted her for it. Mr. Hargreeves wasn't really giving out 'warm and parental' vibes but she was positive he would warm up to her sooner or later. People are like that in the books anyways. She guessed the previous couple would do. She hoped they wouldn't freak out and immediately called the government on her when she accidentally let loose her powers.
Ms. Bertha came in shortly with an uneasy smile on her face. Elora knew immediately that she wasn't going to be adopted by him. However, she soon smiled to what Ms. Bertha said next.
"Mr. Hargreeves said he will come pick you up tomorrow afternoon at 2. He said you should be ready outside by that time."
"Really? He wanted to adopt me? I thought for sure I botched the interview. He didn't show any sign that he wanted to adopt me."
Ms. Bertha nervously chuckled, "He didn't show any sign that he was an excited parent-to-be meeting his kid." Or the fact that he was a freaking human-being that could emote, Ms. Bertha thought. "Which reminds me, are you sure you wanted to be adopted by him? He didn't seem very…" Human. "… friendly."
Elora smiled warmly at Ms. Bertha. "I'm sure. He understood an aspect of me that I think no other potential parent would. I'll be fine, Ms. Bertha. Who knows? Maybe when I visit you in the future, he'll warm up to me and he'll smile a lot more. I have that effect on people."
"Alright then, if you're really sure."
"Positively sure!" Elora beamed at her.
Ms. Bertha's uneasy smile came back. Sometimes Elora was too naive for her own good. Perhaps it was the optimistic side of her that caused it. She was unsure of Mr. Hargreeves and was afraid for the girl. The way he was acting was a big red flag. But Elora wanted to be adopted by him. She hoped that the girl knew what she was doing.