I slowly walk up to two sisters, Sarah and Lily. Sarah is an eleven year old girl who has been forced to grow up and abandon her normal childhood. Her long brown hair and mysterious brown eyes make her one of the prettiest girl in the orphanage. She has a six year old, blue eyed, blond haired little sister, whose excitement and cheerfulness light up the whole adoption center. These two girls couldn’t have been more different from each other, in looks and in character. I, Brain, have gotten to know them over the last year of working in this dingy orphanage. I am sad that I have to bring them the news that tore my own life apart.
“Hey Sarah, how’s your day going?” I ask.
“It’s been ok I guess.” As she says this her words completely contradict the sadness and pain shown in her broken face. I don’t blame her, living in a gloomy place like this. The rooms they stay in looked bland and lifeless. They can hold anywhere from 30-50 girls, with so many bunk beds it was like a sardine can, and there were no comforts of home to be found.
“Well, I have some good news! We’ve found a home for you.” As I tell her this, in my heart I know that this will be the worst thing she has ever heard. What comes out of her mouth next shows that she has gone through this before.
“Will my sister and I be together?” she says, her voice shaking.
“That’s the thing Sarah, we have been unable to find a home that is willing to take both of you.  But you know as well as I do that opportunities like this don’t come along every day.“
“You can’t make me go! You don’t understand; nobody understands.” Tears began to form in her eyes, ”I can’t leave her. I promised my parents I would never leave her!” She sobs, takes a breath and continues, “I just don’t understand. Why do they just want one, why can’t they take both of us? It’s not fair Brian, it's never fair.”
I hold her trembling hand and look her in the eyes. “Life isn’t fair Sarah. I know as well as you do that life is not fair. You know my story, about my parents, and the life I’ve lived. I don’t know your story, I don’t know why you cry at night, and I don’t know this promise that you have made. Please Sarah, tell me.”
With tears still running down her freckled cheeks, she hesitated, then began. “It started out as a normal day. Me and my sister were staying with my grandparents. My mom and dad took a plane to Hawaii for their anniversary. They were scheduled to arrive at 9:00 AM, and said they would call. We did received a call, but it was not from my parents. The person on the phone told us that there had been a plane crash and my parent’s bodies had been found.” She looked down, lost in thought. “Who knew that a five minute phone call could completely change my life.”
“After the overwhelming reality hit me and my grandparents, the decision of what to do with us kids needed solving. Unfortunately, we did not know of any family members that were still alive. Thus, we were put in this orphanage until someone finds any of our family or someone who is willing to take us. My grandparents would have taken us but their health would not allow it. And so the cycle of not being wanted began.”
“We were placed in this “holding tank” they call an adoption center. We didn’t know anyone and nobody seemed to care that our life had just crumbled to pieces. Over the years we have been given a couple of chances to be adopted, but not together.”
“You know why I didn’t go? You know why I didn’t get out of this jail cell? It’s because of what I told my parents before they left that morning. I told them that I would look after Lily and would not let anything bad happen to her.”
“I can’t break that promise, I just can’t.” Tears began to form again.
I hugged her, sympathetically, for I too had lived in the same “jail” with my older brother. He had been adopted out by force, and I had been left here all alone. “Sarah,” I said, ”I have grown up, gone to school, and now I’ve returned. I’ve returned to be one of those volunteers who cares and listens to your story. All I ask is that you think about the adoption, please.”
As I drove home, the thought of these two girls circled in my head. I longed to give these wonderful girls a better life, one where they could live together. I pondered what I could do for them. Was there anything I could do? Maybe there was. Maybe I could be that person who was the hero at the end of the story. I had made up my mind. I was going to be that person, the person that I had dreamt about every night when I was a young kid. I would adopt them.