Mansion Of The Dead

Aftermath

The day ended for the both of them, but as they were laying in bed with eyes wide open yet still not talking to each other, Grandma Lala broke the silence.

"Victor?" She asks, still in a bit of a stern tone.

"Yes, Lala?" Victor replies in a timid voice.

"You know I don't want you to do that again, so I might have to give you new rules." She says, maintaining her stern tone.

Victor didn't reply, and the room was silent for a few seconds. The night was getting darker and deeper, and the crickets were already making sounds outside.

"I'll talk to you about them tomorrow. You should sleep for now." She says as she closes her eyes and turns in bed.

"Okay..." Victor's tone faded into quietness, and they soon slept.

Well, that's what they thought. They thought that the other was already asleep, as it was already late. Victor then burst into soundless tears.

Grandma Lala noticed Victor's noiseless sobbing. She wanted to comfort Victor, but she was too afraid she would make it worse for Victor. So she laid in bed, not knowing what to do. She felt burdened, but the fear of not making things right held her back. She was distraught at the fact that she couldn't help, but she couldn't do anything else but cry too.

She also burst into quiet tears, and they both spent the night with a heavy heart. They couldn't sleep that well either for thoughts filled their minds unendlessly.

They soon got to rest with their tear filled eyes and wandering hearts, as their weary bodies gave in to sleep.

Morning greeted them, yet they didn't talk that much. They both went to do their daily chores, and it was extremely awkward for them to eat together. They both tried to lessen this feeling by talking to each other, but they both held back their words as they were too scared to repeat the same mistakes they did.

"So, uhm, Victor, should we talk about your new rules?" Grandma Lala asks.

"Uh, sure, Grandma." Victor replies as his head was bowed and he couldn't look at Grandma Lala in the eyes.

"I won't be alowing you to use your bike for now, not until you learn your lesson." She states in a strict tone.

Victor bowed his head more and nodded as a response.

"What do I have to learn anyway?" He questions in his mind.

Victor wanted to say no but he didn't want to make the situation worse, so he kept his mouth shut.

"Also, you must ask me first if you want to do something or go somewhere." She continues.

Victor nodded again.

"Understood?" She questions.

"Yes, Lala." He replies.

He ate for a few more minutes, but he didn't have that much appetite today so he ate lesser than usual. He finished and thanked his grandma for the meal. He was about to leave with his plate but his grandma wouldn't let him.

"Go back, eat what you have on your plate." She commands.

"But I'm already full, Lala" He tries to defend himself, but this came out as rude as he didn't change his tone into a soft one.

"So now you're going to fight back?" His Grandma yells.

Victor couldn't answer in fear, but instead he burst in tears and ran upstairs to their room. He cried as he ran and he locked the doors.

On the other hand, his grandma who was left downstairs was feeling guilty once again.

"Why? Why did I do that? How could I?" She questions herself.

She runs her hands through her gray hair and falls into self blaming.

Victor was alone upstairs, crying as he leans against the door.

"Does she not love me anymore? Am I too much of a burden?" He confused himself more with these thoughts.

It was as if only a few days ago that it was all bliss, and now he's filled with sorrow.

"Do bad things happen after everytime I'm happy?" He asks himself.

After a lot of thinking, he concluded that if he wouldn't get too happy, he wouldn't feel to sad. He came up with a fantastic idea.

"So, I should just live without that much happiness so that bad things like these won't happen again!" His idea brightened him up.

"Oops, I was happy, something must balance that out right?" He thought.

Victor was careful with his emotions from then on, he tried to cut out happiness because of his mindset. Little did he know he was already developing Cherophobia, or the fear that after being happy something bad must happen to balance it out.

After being stuck for a couple of minutes in the room, he gathered the courage to get out. His purpose was to take a bath for he didn't want to stink.

He sneaked out and tip toed to the bathroom, only to hear his grandma Lala crying there.

Victor dropped his clothes in shock, and tears rolled down his cheeks without his permission.

"Lala, are you okay?" He asks timidly.

His Grandma heard Victor's words, and wiped her tears sway.

"Yes, Dear. Lala's fine." She tries to comfort Victor.

Strangely, this moment wasn't awkward. It was purely full of emotion and care. This was when they both realized that having each other was so important. Just the presence of each other was oddly comforting for them.

Victor picked up his dropped clothes and stood patiently at the bathroom door as he waited for his grandma to go out. The moment came when his grandma finally opened the door. Without any hesitation, he dropped his clothes once again and gave his grandma a warm, tight and loving hug.

His Grandma was shocked but she soon felt this warmth that made her put her arms around Victor too. They embraced each other for quite some time, feeling the forgiveness of each other.

"Lala, I'm sorry." Victor utters.

"I'm sorry too dear." Grandma Lala replies.

They then let each other go, and they understood that it was all forgiven. They were back to their usual communication, as if nothing had happened. The day went well in terms of their relationship with each other, and this happening had made them closer to each other.

Though they were already in good terms, poor Victor still hadn't let go of his newly developed fear. He didn't tell Grandma Lala about it, for he thought he'd make her worry.