Griselda

Chapter 2

Griselda’s POV

Through the night, Bernard stayed with me and walked around the mansion to keep me surrounded in which I am grateful because I am still haunted by the event this afternoon.

“I hope the size of the mansion helped you to forget about what happened yesterday even for a short while.”

I tried to smile but I am already sleepy, and the sun was rising already when we finished our mini tour.

“You said I can wait for my parents inside the bedroom you told me, right?”

“You must be sleepy now.” He giggled for a moment and then he walked me through the mansion to the bedroom where I can stay.

“Thank you, Bernard.”

“Of course.”

I went in and closed the door behind me.

I was not able to examine the room already for I was pulled by the bed to sleep. I was so tired and I think I will be able to sleep soundly since Bernard made it a point that it is indeed safe here.

And I never felt so safe that I was able to sleep for the whole day.

It was already evening when I woke up and I am not sure if they are still awake by this time and I was hungry so I stood up to check if there are any food to eat left in the kitchen.

“What the— you scared me!”

Well I guess this is what Bernard’s talking about when he said that Brian gets hungry in the middle of the night.

“I’m sorry. I’m going to the kitchen to eat.”

“Yeah, Bernard made sure you have your meal ready once you wake up.”

I nodded and made my way to the kitchen and I am sure Brian was behind me to get his own too.

“Have you always looked like that?”

“Scary? Yes.”

“Does it run in the family? It must be creepy—”

“It’s the opposite of what you’re thinking. My parents are perfect. Ma looks like a goddess, and Pa is really handsome, he doesn’t seem like married if you’ll first see him at the street.”

Truth be told, I am the only one who looks different.

And I do not have any idea what happened that I ended up looking like this but nonetheless, my parents never treated me like anything near what the people do.

“Then what happened to you?”

“According to our neighbors, I was adopted. A daughter of a witch whom my parents killed, and because of their conscience they’ve decided to take me as their own to stop me from becoming like my real mother.”

We were sitting face to face at the largest table in the dining room and he must be very interested about my life out in the woods.

“How about your parents? How did they explained your case?”

“They said I came from Ma. And that they are my real parents it just happened that I got the face of our great grand mother who died of sickness but they said I’m nothing like her and that I am fine as I am and they love me no matter how I look.”

And a tear fell down from my eye.

I miss them. And I hope they made it through the incident yesterday.

“It must be hard living like that.”

“You tell me. I’ve always dreamed that one day I will wake up to a face similar to my Ma and lesser like my great grand mother but as you can see, I haven’t had enough dreams and prayers prayed.” I laughed at my own thought and finished my food.

“I promise to be more careful in addressing you from now on, Griselda.”

“No worries, I’m already used to every word you have in mind. Be comfortable around me. I might hang around for a bit longer than I thought.”

Or maybe forever. No one knows.

I again volunteered to wash our plates. And then the next morning after I cooked breakfast for the three of us, I began cleaning the mansion to ease the boredom that I feel of just waiting in vain for my parents to come for me.

At first Bernard was reluctant to allow me do those tasks but I made it a point that igf they will let me stay in their mansion, and feed me well, I must do something for them too to balance our generosity.

In which Brian very much agreed.

“You cooked so well. You must be well-taught at home?” I smiled upon Bernard’s words.

“Ma used to teach me how to cook, as much as she also taught me how to be grateful to people who helps me.”

“Your parents must be so proud of you.”

“That’s what they always say.”

Since people in our neighborhood do not approve of me going out as much as they do, my parents made sure that I know everything that I need to know to live comfortably in life because basically I will be alone for the longest time that I know and I must know how to survive.

Ma was in charge of teaching me everything that I need to know about house chores, values and Pa basically taught me as his student. So I am quite intelligent in terms of everything.

“Brian, I’ll go out today to get our groceries, do you want to have anything off the list?”

And practically, Bernard is in charge of the family while Brian right here, he just goofs around his brother from time to time.

“Ah yeah, I’d like you to get the schedule of my class next month, the teacher said she ‘ll email me everything but I haven’t received any updates yet.”

So he is driven to his studies as well? That is nice for his age.

Children around our age back in the neighborhood despise schools. They hate it so much that I often hear from the neighbors that they are forced to drop their children out from school because they would rather play than study their lessons.

In which I thought was normal to their kind. I mean, they all think the same. That is why they cannot get away with how they were living.