Bless the Children: The Orphan's Cry

Reads: 211 | Likes: 2 | Shelves: 1 | Comments: 0

Bless the Children: The Orphan's Cry by Matthew Fornieri is a dark and haunting psychological horror novel that delves into the lives of abandoned children in a mysterious orphanage. The story follows several young orphans as they navigate an eerie and oppressive environment where a sinister presence looms over them.

Set in a forgotten town surrounded by dense, foreboding woods, the orphanage is a decaying structure that hides more than just its deteriorating walls. The children, each with their own troubled pasts, are bound together by shared trauma and the desire to escape the suffocating grip of their caregivers, who seem to have a dark connection to the supernatural forces that plague the institution.

The protagonist, a young boy named Elias, is the most perceptive of the group. He begins to uncover unsettling truths about the orphanage and its secretive founders, who performed strange rituals in an attempt to 'bless' the children with a mysterious power. As Elias becomes more entwined with the orphanage's dark history, he is haunted by visions of spirits, unsettling cries, and the creeping sensation that something ancient and malevolent is watching them all.

Throughout the novel, Elias and his fellow orphans form a reluctant alliance, determined to escape their tormentors and uncover the truth. They soon realize that the true danger is not just the twisted figures who run the orphanage, but something far more dangerous: the evil that resides within the children themselves.

As the orphanage's chilling secrets are revealed, Elias and the others must confront not only their own traumas but the terrifying realization that they are part of something far bigger and more dangerous than they could ever have imagined. The line between the living and the dead blurs, and the children must fight not only for their survival but to prevent an ancient evil from escaping into the world.

The novel’s atmosphere is thick with dread, and Fornieri skillfully builds tension through complex character development and a plot that weaves together horror, mystery, and psychological suspense. The orphanage, as much a character as the children themselves, becomes a labyrinth of horror where the past and present collide, and where every corner holds the potential for both terror and revelation.
In the end, Bless the Children: The Orphan's Cry is a chilling exploration of fear, loss, and the haunting legacy of forgotten children. It is a reminder that sometimes, the most terrifying horrors are those that come from within.

Horror blessthechildren-theorphanscry

Chapter 1

The Call of the Forgotten

In the first chapter of Bless the Children: The Orphan’s Cry, readers are introduced to Elias, a quiet and introspective child living in a seemingly desolate orphanage. Unlike the other children,
Elias feels a deep connection to the dark and forgotten corners of the building. The orphanage, which is full of life in the daytime, takes on a sinister atmosphere after nightfall, with strange
whispers and eerie occurrences. Elias is drawn to the attic, a place that no one dares visit, where the cries of forgotten souls seem to call out to him. In the shadows of the attic, he encounters
a mysterious, sorrowful figure—a being that seems to be seeking his help. This moment sets the stage for Elias’s journey into a world far darker and more dangerous than he could have ever imagined.
Read Chapter

Chapter 2

Into the Shadows

Chapter 2 delves deeper into Elias’s newfound journey. He follows the mysterious figure through the dim hallways of the orphanage, entering places he’s never dared to before. They arrive at an
ancient, hidden door in the basement of the orphanage that leads to an underground realm. As the figure explains more about the dark forces at play, Elias begins to understand the depth of the
orphanage’s haunting and the cursed history behind it. The figure reveals that Elias has been chosen not only to uncover these secrets but also to protect the forgotten souls trapped within the
orphanage from a dark entity known only as "The Warden." This entity feeds on the pain and suffering of lost children, growing stronger as time passes. The figure warns Elias that he must act
quickly before the entity fully awakens.
Read Chapter

Chapter 3

The Forgotten Path

Chapter 3 begins with Elias's return to the orphanage, feeling a deep sense of dread despite having banished The Warden for now. The figure that helped him reveals that the curse of the orphanage
has roots deeper than Elias could have ever imagined. It is tied to a dark history that stretches back hundreds of years—an ancient pact made by the very founders of the orphanage. Elias is tasked
with uncovering the truth behind this pact and finding the remaining pieces of the Book of Forgotten Souls, which were scattered long ago to prevent the curse from ever being broken. As Elias
learns more about the orphanage’s secrets, he is forced to confront the terrifying reality that the souls trapped within the walls are not the only entities at play. Something far darker and older
still waits for him, and it will stop at nothing to claim him.
Read Chapter

Chapter 4

Whispers in the Walls

Elias begins hearing voices whispering through the walls of the orphanage, calling for his help. When he touches the walls, he experiences a vision of a chained iron door with a keyhole, hinting at
something crucial hidden deep within the orphanage. The voices guide him toward the dreaded playroom—an eerie place where children have mysteriously disappeared. Despite his fear, Elias knows he
must enter if he wants to uncover the truth and break the orphanage’s curse.
Read Chapter

Chapter 5

The Locked Door

Elias follows the whispers to the orphanage’s basement, where he finds the iron door from his vision. Using the key, he unlocks the door and enters a hidden chamber—a mass grave filled with the
skeletal remains of children. The whispers reveal the horrifying truth: the orphanage was built on a dark ritual, one that trapped the children's souls in suffering. Before Elias can process the
full horror, a masked figure emerges from the shadows—the entity responsible for the orphanage’s dark past. The figure, cloaked in darkness, attacks Elias, and the chapter ends as the battle for
the orphanage’s fate begins.
Read Chapter

Chapter 6

The Keeper’s Grasp

As Elias faces the masked entity known as The Keeper, the orphanage’s deepest horrors come to life. The shadows twist around the chamber, forming grotesque shapes that lash out at him. The Keeper,
a towering figure shrouded in darkness, moves with unnatural speed, its skeletal mask concealing whatever monstrous face lies beneath. Elias fights to keep his footing as the whispers guide him,
their desperate voices urging him to resist. The lantern he carries flickers, its glow barely holding back the encroaching darkness. The Keeper speaks in a voice that is both many and none,
taunting Elias, telling him he does not belong here—that he is trespassing where the dead should rest. But Elias refuses to back down. As the fight intensifies, Elias realizes that The Keeper is
not merely a spirit—it is the guardian of the orphanage’s terrible secrets, bound to the place by the rituals performed long ago. The more Elias resists, the more the entity’s grasp tightens,
attempting to pull him into the abyss that swallowed the children before him.

Just when it seems as though he will be consumed by the darkness, Elias remembers the key—the same key that unlocked the basement door. Clutching it tightly, he drives it into the symbols carved
into the walls. The reaction is immediate. The entire chamber trembles as the spirits of the lost children push back against their captor, their whispers turning into a deafening cry of defiance.

The Keeper recoils, its form beginning to unravel. The shadows flicker violently as the entity loses its hold on the orphanage. With one final surge of strength, Elias plunges the key into the
altar at the room’s center—shattering the last link that binds The Keeper to this world.

The entity lets out an unearthly wail as the darkness collapses inward, dragging The Keeper into the void. The chamber erupts with light, and the whispers—no longer tormented, but free—fade into
silence. Elias collapses to the ground, exhausted but victorious. The orphanage is no longer under The Keeper’s grasp. But even as the chamber settles into stillness, Elias knows the orphanage is
far from safe. The truth has been uncovered, but there are still more secrets waiting to be unearthed.

And The Keeper’s final words still echo in his mind:

"You are not finished yet."
Read Chapter

Chapter 7

The Forgotten Ones

After escaping the underground chamber, Elias encounters a silent, ghostly girl who leads him to a hidden door in the orphanage. Despite his fear, he follows her inside, only for the door to slam
shut behind him. Inside, he discovers a room filled with the spirits of the orphanage’s forgotten children, who reveal that they were locked away and erased from history. Before Elias can react,
something far darker emerges from the shadows—something that has been watching him all along.
Read Chapter

Chapter 8

Beneath the Floorboards

Elias finds himself trapped in the hidden room with the spirits of the forgotten children, who reveal that they were sealed away by the orphanage’s headmaster to cover up his crimes. As Elias
struggles to escape, the dark entity lurking in the shadows—something far older than the orphanage—begins to manifest. The floor beneath him gives way, sending him plummeting into a buried chamber.
There, he uncovers the horrifying truth: the headmaster made a pact with an ancient force, sacrificing the children to feed the darkness. As Elias fights to survive, the entity attempts to claim
him as its next offering. With the spirits’ help, Elias finds the key to severing the curse, but doing so will force him to face the orphanage’s darkest secret yet.
Read Chapter

Chapter 9

The Last Child

After barely surviving the entity’s wrath, Elias makes his way back upstairs, believing the curse has been lifted. But the orphanage still holds one final secret—the spirit of a child who never
left. As Elias searches, he begins seeing cryptic messages scrawled in blood along the walls, leading him to the headmaster’s private quarters. Inside, he discovers a hidden passage that takes him
deep into the orphanage’s past, revealing the truth about the last missing child—and a fate worse than death.
Read Chapter

Chapter 10

The Orphan’s Cry

Elias faces the last and most powerful spirit—the orphanage’s first victim, the one who had been forgotten even by the dead. As he fights against the spirit’s grasp, he learns the final secret: the
orphanage itself is alive, feeding off sorrow, trapping all who enter. With the walls closing in and his escape fading, Elias is forced to make the ultimate sacrifice—destroying the orphanage
completely. But doing so means risking his own soul. In a final, desperate act, he must decide: free the last child or be trapped forever.
Read Chapter

Start Reading