LMK: The Adventures of Macaque and Bei Da

Chapter 37: How To Explain Death To A Child

Bei Da wasn't the same after she found out that her sister was dead. She locked herself in her room only leaving when she needed to go to the restroom. Macaque tried his best to cheer her up, but nothing worked. She wouldn't come out for food! She loves food! How could she not come out for food?! So here was Macaque sitting on the couch, his finger hovering over Chang'E's number on his phone. He sighed as he pressed the number and the phone began to ring.

"Hey, Mac! I was just about to send you your paycheck-"

"HOW DO I MAKE MY KID FEEL BETTER?" The black-furred monkey blurted out.

"Eh? What are you- WAIT YOU CALLED BEI DA YOUR KID!" The moon goddess exclaimed in excitement.

"I know! I know! I-I just need your help with something." He replied nervously.

"With what?"

"So um...after the temp job that we did, Bei Da found her aunt's house and we broke in. I found pictures of her sister and baby photos while she found something not so pleasant."

"What did she find?"

"She...she found a recording of her sister's voice and heard her sister getting mu...murdered at the end of the recording." He explained as he remembered the grim look on Bei Da's face.

"I...I need a minute to take all that in." She replied in a nervous tone.

"I understand."

The six-eared monkey heard the moon goddess taking a long slow sip of a drink.

"Okay, I'm back. So you're telling me that Bei Da's sister is DEAD?!" Chang'E asked, raising her voice at the last part.

"Yeah, and she blamed herself for it. I keep telling her that anything out of her control is not her fault! I don't know if I'm already screwing up as a parent or not. I know that you have some experience with losing someone so I thought you would know how I could help her." Macaque answered back, his leg slightly bouncing.

"Oh, Mihou. I wish I could help you with that, but everyone is different. Everyone goes through their grieving processes differently than others." Chang'E replied.

"So you can't help?"

"Not really, but my advice is to try to relate to her. I know that you lost Grandma Rin Rin and that broke your heart." She added.

"Yeah, but that was before I met you. You didn't see me in my depressing state, only Wukong and DBK did." He chimed in.

"I know that, but I was there when you were acting weird after you visited the West Bridge Woman Empire. You acted like you found out something terrible!"

"I...I remember."

"You still haven't told me what happened back then, you only told Ne Zha what happened." Chang'E stated in a worried tone.

"It was...It's complicated, Chang'E. You wouldn't look at me the same way again." Macaque replied as he tried his best not to remember that day. "This is about Bei Da, not me. I'll go through with your relating to losing someone's idea."

"Alright, talk to you later."

"Bye, Chang'E."

The call was over. Macaque stared at the cold plate of chili cheese fries in front of him as he tried to think of how to bring Grandma Rin Rin up in a conversation with Bei Da. He sighed as he grabbed the chili cheese fries, went into the kitchen, and put them in the microwave for thirty seconds. He watched it spin around until the microwave went off. He grabbed the plate and went to Bei Da's bedroom. Macaque stood in front of the door, hearing muffled sobs beyond the door. Macaque carefully knocked on the door.