The raven and the duck read at a pretty simultaneous speed, which was noticed by the petrol eyed, which made him look up and listen to what Demuno read."The fox had helped the duck to climb up the tree, as it was taller than them and more experienced.", he mumbled. Schizu now noticed that his friend had a way better posture than him and sat in his chair with a straight back and the feet placed onto the floor.

Schizu put his book aside and sat next to Demuno to listen to his reading. This book seemed familiar. The tiny duck cuddled up to him and asked:"Do you recognize the story Schizu?" The taller creature nodded and said:"The adventures of Teora, right?" The duck read the name of the book on the cover again."Yes. Did your mother read it to you?", the yellow-feathered replied."No. My dad did that. He meant that 'I should learn to help the tinier and weaker if I can'.", Schizu answered.

"What happened to your parents? Sorry...that is not very nice of me.", the duck quickly said:"You don't have to answer." The ravenlamb was curious of why Demuno was here, so he told him about his parents in hopes to get a reply."My mom was sick and didn't wake up anymore. She always said that dad was killed by bad people." The duck looked at Schizu's face, seeing how the tinier one was nearly crying. Schizu remembered his mother as she laid there at the couch, not moving and not breathing. He was scared to loose Demuno too. He was also sick.

"You not die from sickness, right Demuno?", he asked the tinier one, tears in the eyes."No. It's a cold they said. The caretakers told me that it was easy to heal and that I just had to take my medicine. Being sick is nothing bad. It just happens and what happened to your mum was just...bad luck. Normally the diseases heal after some time if you rest and take your medicine, of course.", the older child explained.

"Demuno take medicine now!", Schizu meant, still having tears in his eyes." You are right. Tenoa is probably already searching for me in the whole orphanage. I'm normally exploring rooms or playing with others in the garden, when we have free time. In a few hours is the time the ones being able to learn reading should read to better their reading. It is really cool.", Demuno said, giving Schizu a comforting smile.

The other smiled back and then was scared when the door of the library had opened with a loud bang and there was stomping on the wooden floor."Demuno! You take your medicine right now!", the female voice yelled through the library and came nearer. Schizu had cuddled up to Demuno and was pretty scared of the creature coming their way. He didn't like yelling.

As the caretaker arrived she seemed pretty mad after seeing the two children of which one was really clinging on the other, so she grabbed Schizu by his neck and sat him onto the floor next to her, but the raven was really scared, so it let out a loud scream, which sounded like a mix between guineapig, howling of a wolf and a human, as he squeaked a few times inbetween and also howled inbetween. The scream of a raven, recognizable as ever. It had it's origin in the war times and is a raven instinct since then.

For Schizu it was a horrifying situation. This caretaker was not only yelling around, but had also just stomped around and lifted him up by his neck, which hurt now. He was unsure if it was from the actual grabbing or because of his fear of touch. Mental or physical pain. One of the two definitely. Now he sat on the ground, unable to soothen his crying.

The owl did not even care about his feelings, she just put the medicine in the duck's mouth and went away or atleast wanted to. As she wanted to leave, Tinaya stood in the door and asked:"What happened here Tenoa? Why would you leave when one child is crying?", she confronted the older caretaker."He's just being too sensitive.", she meant, while the pigeon went to the ravenlamb to make sure he wasn't hurt.

"Calm down Schizu. What made him cry Demuno?" The blonde-haired asked him and hugged the tiny kūki."Tenoa came in stomping and that scared Schizu, then she grabbed him and sat him aside.", the duck reported. The pigeon looked at her coleague with disgust and anger."Why would you mistreat a child like this?"

"Such ugly mixes shouldn't be permitted to exist! This is unnatural.", the owl replied, before the pigeon said:" I can't believe you. I'll report this to the boss." Now the owl seemed a little scared."N-No. You won't! We're coworkers! You wouldn't get me fired, right?"

"If you hurt children and discriminate them, then yes. Come with me boys, we are going to Damuā to tell him what happened." Tinaya lifted Schizu and Demuno up, who took their books with them, the blu jumping after the pigeon to see where his keeper went.

Schizu was fascinated by the room they ended up sitting in. There were colorful paintings at the walls and the dark wood was a great contrast to the white carpet and the pastell yellow walls this room had. The red cloth on the big desk and the red from the big chairs also fit in perfectly somehow.

"This room is beautiful.", he said and still looked at the colours around him."Thanks little one. Why did you bring them to me now Tinaya?", the duck that was sitting behind the desk answered, which startled Schizu quite a bit. He hadn't noticed him sitting there."No need to be scared. I won't hurt you, alright?" The ravenlamb simply nodded. The grey-blue-ish eyes of the man held warmth and friendliness in them despite their cold colour.

Schizu somehow trusted this man for now. Ducks were normally friendly, Demuno being one of the best examples for that fact."Big owl come in library. She was loud and angry.", Schizu started to tell the man what happened."Tenoā grabbed him by the neck and put him aside without a reason.", Tinaya continued."Which hurt...", Schizu added and rubbed his neck a little.

"Tenoā again hm? She has done that one time before and I decided to give her a second chance, but now I will fire her. I am so sorry that this happened to you. You are the new kid, Schizu Ama right?", the boss of the orphanage said. Schizu nodded slightly." I have read your file and the owl that found you wrote in that she suspects you to have a fear of touch.", he continued to speak and Schizu needed a little second to process the said things.

"He has been cuddling with Demuno all day, but I noticed that he backs off a little if the touch comes suddenly or in general without him starting it. What do you feel, when someone touches you without you allowing it Schizu?", Tinaya stated and then all three pairs of eyes looked at the youngest of the people in the room.

"When friend touches me...like Demuno, I feel okay. If someone else does...I feel pain or shake...", Schizu meant, unsure what to say, summing up simple memories of Tinaya, Demuno, his Mum, his Dad, Lia and Liu, everyone he has met in his life until that day. It were rather happy memories instead of unhappy ones to be honest and Schizu has felt save in those happy moments.

"Sounds like a very light case of haphephobia to me. We cannot heal that, but you can live with it I am sure. If you ask me, it could also be a sign of extreme trust issues towards the world like some ravens have it and in your case it goes into the direction of haphephobia. It will be fine, I promise.", Tenoā explained to the tiny child for which this was too complicated for now.

"I am sick?", the ravenlamb mumbled more to himself then really saying it out loud, but Demuno heard it, despite the low volume."I am sure that you are not sick, Schizu.", he calmed the other and Tinaya said:" Well, it can be considered a sickness, but it cannot cause you to die, don't worry about that."

Eventhough he trusted Tinaya, the little kid still felt a little scared. He was sick and what if another time this 'bad luck' would happen which Demuno mentioned in the library? Would he die then?

"Are you sure? No bad luck happen? I no die?", the kid asked the caretakers infront of him."No, Schizu. We are sure. This sickness cannot harm you, don't worry, okay?" Schizu nodded.

-Schizu Ama
6.7.-30.12.2023
1502 words

Happy new year to all of you, eventhough it is a little early.