Love Will Continue - Sequel to Phantom Child

5. You're playing tricks on me!

"Mother! Father! Wouldn't you like to explore the ship?"

Gustave came running in to the room of his parents. I was right after him, trying to stop him from waking up Raoul, who was still sleeping after dinner. And I wasn't willing to risk my safety to see his reaction. Unfortunately I was too late.

"We've been here for three days, Gustave. Haven't you explored the ship already?" The man only growled, rolling on his bed, turning from us to face the wall.

I sighed in relief, that his response wasn't anything more than that. Nevertheless I didn't want to spend any more time than necessary in his presence, so I decided to speak:

"I can go with you Gustave." I volunteered.

Christine looked at me, visibly thankful for taking care of the restless boy. It was really hard to keep up with him. Gustave clapped his hands and exclaimed:

"Excelent! Let's go!" And pulled me behind him, dashing out of the room as fast as he had ran in there.

Before I closed the door, I overheard Raoul:

"Great, that she's taking care of him. I was getting tired."

Normally I would take it as a compliment; after all he was gratefull that I was helping. But the tone of his voice made me feel like I was being used. He was considering me just a help. Even though I had agreed to that; I didn't really want to be considered a child of this family, I had always wanted them to focus on Gustave and leave me be. In span of a second these thoughts plagued my mind, so I shook my head and returned to reality. I immediately thought that I should probably stop listening to conversations that I am not meant to hear. That would make my life way much easier. Even though now, I never intended to spy on anyone and overhearing conversations was usually only by accident.

I was pulled out of my thoughts, quite literally, by the hand. The eager boy grabbed my hand and led me out to the deck before I could even realize it. Gustave was running around like crazy, stopping only to look at places which interested him, and by that I mean practically everywhere; chests and boxes, staircases and generally things that one could look behind or underneath. Every little, hidden spot seemed to amaze him and he kept asking milions of questions per minute. I wasn't always able to provide him with an answer, but nevertheless tried my best. Gustave didn't seem to expect me to give him all the details though, since he always managed to find himself another wonder to admire in next to no time. This little journey lasted for quite a while and was over once we made it back to the place where we had started, after making a whole loop around the ship.

"Maybe let's go and explore your room, Gustave?" I proposed, in hope that he won't mind this change of enviroment.

Gustave seemed to consider pros and cons of my idea. A cute frown was adorning his forehead as he thought. Finally he said:

"Yes, let's go."

And without second thoughts he ran down the stairs, to the part of the ship inhabited by the passengers. Gustave quickly pushed the door to the room number 5, which was where he slept. I ran after him to see the boy standing in the middle, examining his surroundings, wondering was there anything here that he hadn't seen or tested out yet. Finally he looked back at me and said:

"I think I've explored everything. What do I do now?"

I smiled warmly, seeing his sad expression; as if he regretted taking the possibility of further explorations from himself. But he wasn't the one to blame neither for his curiosity, nor for the small amount of interesting places on the ship.

"Surely there is something else we can do." I responded, presenting the idea of doing other things, which seemed to be new to him.

After an few seconds of thinking, Gustave's eyes lit up in a familiar way and that's when I knew that he had an idea.