The Gods are Always Wtaching

A Lucky Encounter

Adam followed the old man inside the house.

The old man gave him a tour of the house. "This is the kitchen, this is where we sit to eat, this is the bathroom...."

Adam stopped and looked at the old man with a complicated expression.

"Why are you telling me that?" Adam asked.

"Well, as long as you get along with my wife, I thought you could stay with us for a bit. Don't worry, we'll feed you more than what Layla gave you haha. Anyway follow me, this here is Layla's room..." The old man said with a genuinely nice voice, but Adam didn't follow him. He kept standing there without moving.

"Wh...why should I stay here?" Adam asked while looking at the ground.

The old man looked at Adam with pity, before turning away and saying:

"We're good honest people. And you sound like an honest kid yourself. So you can stay with us and eat your fill for a bit before going wherever you need to go. You can leave if you want. I'd feel a bit sorry for you but that's all really. Without me and my wife, Layla and Salma would have been left alone, so we get it. Even though you're not family, you're welcome if you want to stay with us."

He turned back towards Adam and asked "What will you do....?"

Before the old man had finished his speech, Adam was already crying silently while struggling to wipe his tears. His face was red as a tomato.

"I'll...I....I'll stay...for a bit...please..." Adam said, struggling with all the fluids going out of his face.

'Poor kid' the old man thought before handing Adam some tissues.

Adam took them and started wiping his face.

"Let's resume the tour then." The old man said with a sincere smile.

....

The old man took an extra matress he had and put it on the ground next to the kitchen. He then put on top of it a warm blanket and a pillow for Adam.

All Adam could do was look at the ground, as the old man was doing and giving him so much.

"I'll go wake up Salma, my other granddaughter. I'll let you make yourself at home. I'll make breakfast right after that." The old man said as he walked away.

Adam looked up.

"I..I can do it." He said quietly.

"Do what?"

"I..I can cook for you.It's...the least I can do." Adam answered.

The old man smiled. He liked people who pulled their own weight, or at least tried to.

"Sure. There are eggs in the fridge, some vegetables and bread. Make enough for 5 people and make it tasty!"

"Of course!" Adam said excitedly. It was the first time the old man saw a smile on Adam's face.

Adam immediately jumped into the kitchen. Took all the ingredients he felt would make for a great breakfast and started cooking.

'A bit more salt here, some pepper would be good there too.'

He added a dash of spice here, some salt there. Since his family was poor, he had learned to make simple things taste good using cheap ingredients and spices. Plus, he always cooked things to perfection. The meals he cooked were never over cooked nor undercooked. That was because he always cooked for people he loved. Therefore when cooking, he was focused on that task only. This time was not different from any other time he cooked for others.

While Adam was cooking, the old man made his way to his grandaughter's bedroom.

"Salma? Are you awake?" He asked softly.

Salma was hiding under her blanket. The old man could hear her crying.

"Did you have a nightmare again?" he gently pulled the blanket that she was hiding under.

Salma's head popped out. Unlike her sister's, her hair was dark blonde. She had the same freckles though. She also had a kinder expression than Layla.

She nodded quietly.

"The same nightmare?"

"Yes, but this time it was worse..."

Ever since Salma's parents had left to enter a Dungeon, she had nightmares of them never coming back. Every night since they left, she would dream that as soon as they entered the Dungeon, they found themselves in a dark dark place and were ambushed by wolves. In her dream, she always stood behind her parents. She was stuck in place like some kind of statue, but she could move her mouth. So she screamed at them, but, no matter how much she told them to step back and run away, they never listenned to her. She usually woke up right after the wolves showed up.

"...this time, even when the...the ...the wolves came and surrounded us, the nightmare didn't stop. I...I..I  saw them struggling against them. Only after dad's arm was...was... his arm was bitten. Only  then did I wake up. Grandpa, imagine..imagine if it's true. Imagine if they never come back, what will..."

The old man put his hand over his granddaughter's head. With a sad smile, he started comforting his daughter.

"Don't worry. I'm sure they're okay. Once they will be back, everything will go back to normal. You don't need to worry, the nightmares will stop too. Okay?"

She nodded.

"Come there's someone you have to meet. And maybe, we'll even eat breakfast. If he doesn't burn the house down before that of course ." He said jokingly.

His granddaughter grabbed him by the hand and they made their way to Layla's room.

"Layla, let's go eat." Salma said kindly to her sister.

"You know if grandpa was the one to talk I would've told him to go away." Layla answered.

"Haha your grandpa knows you so well. That's why I went to get Salma first.

Salma and her granddad laughed out loud while Layla smiled and she scratched her head.

Although Layla was difficult sometimes,their grandparents knew she loved them.

When the three approached the kitchen, they smelt an amazing fragrance coming from there.

Adam had just finished setting up the table. They all sat except Adam.

"How does this smell so good?" Salma asked.

"Well, am not sure but, Layla aren't you glad he's here now? We're eating a breakfast made by a chef I'd say." The old man said with a wide smile.

"I'll eat, but am not really glad. His clothes are still dirty." Layla answered.

"Please eat your fill! If you need or want some more, I can make it right away." Adam said, still standing while holding his hands together.

"What are you talking about boy? Sit down and eat. Out of the four of us, you're the hungriest." The old man told Adam as he pointed at the chair in front of Adam.

"Thank you..." Adam said awkwardly as he sat and started eating.

All four of them ate together. One plate was at the empty seat between the old man and Adam.

"This is amazing! Grandpa how come you don't cook like this person?" Salma said with shinning eyes.

"It's not 'this person', his name is Adam. And I have no idea. Why do these eggs taste so good?" Her grandpa too, had shinning eyes.

Adam started explaining how he cooked the breakfast.

"Well, I used some of this and some of that on there. I cooked the food until it looked this way...."

The three of them were taking mental notes of all the things he said, although Layla acted uninterested. She still liked the food a lot.

"How come you know so much about cooking? Do you cook a lot?" Layla asked without lifting her eyes from her plate.

"I used to cook a lot for my family. Breakfast is my speciality as I always cooked for my siblings in the morning. We were pretty poor, but I always tried to make the best tasting meal possible with whatever ingredients I had on hand. " Adam said looking at his plate with a contemplative smile.

"You used to? Where are they now? Do you not cook for them anymore?" Layla asked with an interrogative look.

"Well..." Adam scratched his head while thinking about what to say.

Just as Adam was about to say something, the front door of the house was openned. An old woman came in. She was wearing typical farmer's clothing. Her hair was covered with a head scarf.

The old man jumped up towards the door to talk to the woman before she came inside.

"HEY! Hey dear... Ummm... don't be suprised, we have a guest. Umm..."

"Oh really! It's been a while since we've had guest. Who is it?" She pushed the old man to the side and went towards the table where Adam, Layla and Salma were sitting.

As soon as Adam saw her, he stood up and looked at the ground.

"Hello madam. I'd like to thank you too for the hospitality your...." Adam stopped mid-sentence.

The old woman was standing just in front of Adam. She had a stunned look on her face. Her mouth was wide open. She looked at Adam up and down for a couple of seconds.

"Umm..." Adam stood there awkwardly.

Her eyes started tearing up and she suddenly grabbed Adam in her arms.

Adam was startled, but the sudden embrace awakened feelings he had forgotten. He remembered the gentle embrace of his mother and the energetic hugs his siblings used to give him. 

'Huh?'

Without realising it, his eyes teared up a bit. 

"It must have been hard right? And at such a young age, my god." She hugged him even tighter.

Adam was very confused by the situation, but he silently stood there.

The old woman let go of Adam's body and held his shoulders with her hands.

"You're so tall and yet you still have the face of a child. I can't even imagine what you went through." The old woman started wiping Adam's tears away.

"What..what do you mean?" Adam asked weakly.

"How come you went into one of those portals when you're so young? Did you enter one by mistake? Thank god you could make it out okay young boy. Where are your parents? They must be worried sick!" She started wiping her own tears.

"How? How do you know that I got out of one?" Adam's emotionnal expression turned into a suprised one.

"What? Really?" Both Salma and Layla said loudly at the same time.

The old man chuckled a bit.

"Well you weren't really trying hard to hide it, were you boy?. You appear out of nowhere in a wheat field, wearing weird boots and an even weirder coat. You're extremely dirty. You even have a knife hanging by your side. That's exactly how the criminals who went out of the gates are described on the news. If you weren't crying like a baby when I saw you, I probably would have run away! Haha." The old man smiled.

"Oh..is that so?" He looked down at his military knife still in it's sheath and at his Old Assassin's Boots. He raised his gaze towards the old man. "If criminals look like this, you shouldn't have talked to me, let alone invited me in. That's very irresponsable you know? What if....?"

He stopped talking as the old man and Layla started laughing. It was the first time he had expressed to them any real sign of how he was feeling.

"Yes yes, tell us,what if?" The old man said jokingly.

"You looked more like an abandonned dog than anything really." Layla said while covering her mouth with her right hand. She was laughing at him too.

"Stop laughing at the poor boy." The old woman looked at the two of them reproachfuly.

"That's right! Don't laugh at this person! Otherwise we're going to have to eat grandpa's cooking again!" Salma added.

Adam, seeing this sort of jovial and familiar scene, couldn't help but feel nostalgic.

"Oh you even made the poor guest cook? Are you serious Calvin?" The old woman looked at the old man. His name was Calvin.

"Well, he wanted to help so..." Calvin looked away.

"Well then, let's sit, eat and listen to your story young man." The old woman made her way to the table. "You can call me Elizabeth, or grandma, or madam like you did before. I'd rather it be one of the first two, but whatever you feel like calling me by is fine. Come. Sit." 

They all sat and started eating. 

"This really is tasty!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"I knooow right?? Grandma can he stay and cook forever?" Salma was begging her grandmother.

"What do you mean stay forever? Is he staying here?" Elizabeth was suprised. She thought Adam was just passing by.

"Well, he said he had problems. He doesn't want to talk about his family and stuff so I figured he could stay here for a bit?"  Calvin looked at his wife in a way that was asking for forgiveness.

"Of course, if he wants to I guess he can stay. So tell me young man, what's your name? You must be at least 15, how are you this shy? Eat! You're the one who cooked!" Elizabeth turned towards Adam.

"I'm...My name is Adam. Am 12 but I am a bit tall. Um..thank you for the food." He felt very awkward. He was afraid of the question that he was sure was coming next.

He started eating.

But the question didn't come.

He kept eating.

Even when he had cleared his plate, the question still wasn't asked.

He looked at Elizabeth with an innocent look full of suprise but also relief.

She noticed his gaze.

"Listen boy. Soryy, I mean listen Adam. I'm not going to ask about things that you do not want to talk about. I won't ask about your parents, nor will I ask about how you survived inside those portals. Am sure horrible things happened in there. So, if you want, our housecan be a place where you get toforget about those things. You are safe here." Elizabeth patted Adam's head gently.

Adam looked at his plate, with his fists squeezed over his thighs. He did his best to hold back his tears.

He didn't answer Elizabeth.

Once they all finished eating, each person brought their plate, silverware and glass to Elizabeth. She was standing in front of the kitchen's sink and washed everything they gave her right away. 

Once Adam's turn came, he handed everything to her before saying quietly

"Please, I'll..I will do it next time." He was still looking at the ground.

'Such a nice boy.I'm really curious about where his parents are.' Elizabeth thought as she nodded.

"There's no more water."  Layla said to no one in particular.

"Alright. Let's all go bring some then, we'll show Adam where the well is. Will you come?" Calvin, the old man asked Adam.

"Sure." 

They went out of the house.

The well was about 20meters behind the house.

Once they arrived, Calvin grabbed one of the many buckets that were on the ground, near the well and attached it to a rope. He then slowly lowered it inside the well. When he pulled it back up, it was full of clean water.

While Calvin was filling up multiple buckets of water, the girls and Elizabeth were talking. Elizabeth was seated on the well's edge while the sisters were sitting at her sides. Adam was standing in front of them, a bit far from where they were. Obviously, he wasn't too comfortable.

"I had a nightmare! Again!" Salma said pulling on her grandmother's clothes.

"Really? I couldn't guess at all. Did Adam's cooking help you feel better?" Elizabeth smiled in Adam's way.

"They are only nightmares after all. That's what grandpa says. But I think his cooking really helped! I felt a lot better after eating the tasty food!" She waved her hand towards Adam.

Adam, looking at the scene couldn't help but let out a weak smile.

"Whatever. Even if they were still alive, do you think they would come back for us? They always talked about money this money that. Now that they have plenty of it..." Layla stopped talking once she saw Salma's red face. The latter looked very angry and was crying a bit.

Salma ran into the house.

Layla looked annoyed, but she still followed her sister to apologize. She knew she was being mean to her sister as she knew this was a touchy subject for Salma especially so because of the nightmares she was having every night.

Shortly after, Layla entered the house.

"She's such a lovely child, but sometimes she can be so difficult." Elizabeth muttered.

"Adam, come and sit, don't be shy." She had a beautiful smile. The kind of smile only mothers and grandmothers had.

Adam couldn't say to such a smile.

He approached the well and sat. He was between Elizabeth and Calvin.

As he prepared to talk, his breathing got faster and his legs started trembling.

"I...I..."

Elizabeth put her hand on his thigh to calm him down.

"If you're not ready to talk, you don't have to tell us anything you know." She didn't want to pressure him in anyway.

"I think... I think I need to."

Adam looked at her and took a deep breath. He stopped trembling and his breathing got more stable.

Since the kids were gone, he started talking about everything.

He spared no details.

He talked about how the soldiers entered his house to get him, his mother and his siblings to the Dungeon Gate.

He talked about how they were pressured to enter the Dungeon. He said he felt like he was being sacrificed, just like all the death row convicts that were obliged to go in different dungeons.

He talked about his father's cowardice inside and outside the Dungeon.

He talked about his father's greed once he saw the Experience Points and Gold coins he was receiving.

He talked about how Dungeons worked, he described the Goblins he saw.

He talked about how dumb and weak the monsters were.

He talked about how they ran towards the cliff.

How his father had fallen down from it to his death.

He skipped a part of the story.

"I did okay really, I defeated a lot of those Goblins. I even got Hidden Artefacts. they're basically really good things to find in there. I had a bunch of bonuses at the of the Dungeon." He said.

But it wasn't just any part. It wasn't a part he could omit. It wasn't something he could run away from anymore. He continued

"And yet..and yet...when it really counted...I....I...." The words stopped coming out of his mouth.

He looked at Elizabeth's face, before turning towards Calvin. They both looked at him with great pity. 

Elizabeth looked at him with tender and teary eyes.

'Stop...Stop looking at me like that. If you keep looking at me like that...I'll....I'll...' Adam's lips curled inwards, before he broke down crying. Tears flowed everywhere, snot came out of his nose, he covered his face with both his hands. 

Elizabeth put her hand on his back. 

"When it really counted I... I couldn't do anything!!! THEY ALL CAME AT ONCE!!! We...we were circled by the...the monsters. They had weapons and...and... they threw at Mika a spear. He screamed. He screamed so loudly! And yet...and yet he still held onto mom. He was so strong! Even though he felt an unimaginable amount of pain, he held onto her. He didn't fall on the ground. He...he didn't roll on the ground. He didn't put us in danger. God knows he wanted to fall on the ground and scream so badly am sure. But he stayed up for us. For us he endured the pain. When Mina saw him hurt, she screamed just as hard as he did. She was the most compassionate person in the world. While I...while I...I was trying to dodge the monster's knives. I couldn't even look their way. I couldn't protect them! I couldn't do anything! And then...then...there was.... the monsters were in front, and the cliff was behind . And.. and... mom held us all together.... and...and she apologised. She apologised as if any of this was her fault. She said...she said that she was sorry for everything."

The more Adam talked, the harder he cryed. He couldn't talk properly. His sentences were broken by sudden sharp breaths.

The two listenners were also crying at his words.

'At such a young age...' Calvin thought.

'And he's blaming himself for this...' Elizabeth thought.

"We jumped right after that. We were all holding onto each other but..I..I..somehow I....I must have hit my head while falling. I was seperated from them. Once I woke up, they were... they were all... lying on the...on the...on the ground. They looked like they did....on those lazy sunday evenings, when they would all nap together in a single small bed. Their gold...gold...golden hair spread everywhere. Except...except..it was...it was" Adam's breathing got a lot heavier. "Their hair, their golden hair that I liked looking at so much...it was...it was covered....it was covered in..in...in blood. It was dyed red. They were swimming in a poo...poo...pool of blood. Who knows how long...how long they were lying there until they took their...their last breath.  And while they were suffering, bleeding and dying, I was....I was...hahahha I was napping on a bush! Can you believe that? Isn't that funny? While they were dying, I was probably having sweet dreams. Dreaming about...."

Elizabeth stopped him as she gently pulled his head towards her torso and held him tightly.

This time, Adam held her tightly too. He continued crying.

"They must have...they must have suffered so much. It must have hurt. My mother, my little sister, my little brother. They were all bleeding there! They were all... they were... And then..and then...        I shook them like I did when I I was waking them up for school. I asked them to wake up like I did when they overslept. I begged them to wake up. But...but...once they didn't I... I ran away. I ran as far as I could. I RAN AWAY FROM THEM." He screamed at the top of his lungs.

Adam suddenly stopped crying. He let go of Elizabeth and looked at the ground. He had a dark dark expression. His face did not look like that of a child.

"I ran away! I tried to forget! I tried to forget what happenned! Not only that, but I did! I forgot them! For a moment, I completely forgot about them! Not only that but, but it actually felt good! It felt really good to forget about all that! What kind of person does that? What kind of person am I?? How could I try to forget my own family? Am not even sure I deserve this life? It shouldn't have been me who survived. Back then...back then..yes. That day, when I took the dagger close to my neck, maybe I should have... maybe I should have..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Elizabeth turned his head towards her and slapped him as strongly as she could.

Adam fell into a daze. He thought about what he had been saying. He thought about the day he spent swinging his sword. He thought about the time he had spent praying for his family. He thought about the promise he made to them while he was praying. He had promised them that he would live a good life, he promised that he would make all of them proud. And now...once again he was...thinking about....

His face became that of a child again. His lips curled inwards, his eyes full of tears he was trying to hold back.

He was looking at Elizabeth.

She extended both her arms towards him.

He let himself fall between her arms and she held him tenderly.

After a minute, he was fast asleep between her arms.

Salma got out of the house "What? What? What happenned? I heard screaming?"

Only then did Calvin and Elizabeth raise their gaze towards the house. Someone was standing right before them.

Layla was standing in front of them, with a red face and tears going down her cheeks.

She had been standing there for a while.

It was the first time her grandparents saw her cry.