Have you ever been through an image of you're being in an apocalyptic travel with some zombies and this kinda think of and did you have an imagination or a dream that you're fighting your way through to find a cure out of it and make your own story...
It's not a long walk to Griffin's home; not as long as the walk from Ofelia's house to town, but it's a good enough amount of time for Griffin to loosen up and me to start talking again. I'm still tired, but I bite my wagging tongue for the time being, as I know it's not right to try and crack jokes when someone is obviously struggling with emotion, as Griffin is at the moment.
We reach the apartment, on the corner of 5th and Main, right as the factory clock tower rings eleven. I'm shocked to see what time it is, considering I left home around eight. Griffin pushes open the front door into a small lobby where a scruffy looking man sits asleep at the minuscule office desk. I've only seen him once before, as Griffin's only brought me to their apartment once, but I suddenly remember that his name is Bob.
"Does he always sleep like that?" I ask.
"Yeah," Griffin snorts. "He doesn't have a bed."
"Yes, he does," I contradict. "That chair is obviously quite suitable."
"True."
We walk up nine flights of stairs, the elevator having been out of use for over ten years, until we reach the final landing and go to room 129. Griffin gets out a key and I grab his arm in a rougher fashion then he did earlier.
"What have you done?" I hiss through my teeth. He turns and looks at me, all too guiltily. I'm not an idiot and I know there is only one key to their apartment. "Don't tell me you..." He cuts me off.
"I had to!" Griffin yells back, then looks around hurriedly and lowers his voice. "You haven't seen her. I had to bring you here because I can't calm her down. She's - I- don't look at me like that!"
I release his arm and grab the key from his hand, pushing it into the lock and turning it, heat rising to my face as I feel his eyes burning into the back of my skull. When the door's clicks to, I kick it open with my foot and wince. Light is streaming in through the windows and I see dust floating everywhere and furniture is all over turned. I cringe at how dirty everything is.
"Where is she?" I say through clenched teeth. I'm just now remembering how much I hate Griffin.
"Let me go first," he says, pushing me aside to step through and clear a path as he goes. It's so small in here that even the shortest stack of papers or books makes everything appeared cluttered. And the dust...the dust and dirt and grime; definitely unacceptable.
"Mother?" Griffin whispers through the house. "Mother? I've brought someone to see you. It's Adler. She wants to see you."
We move into the sitting room and I run my finger along the windowsill and come away unable to look at my finger but wipe it on my pants instead. I notice the blinds are heaped on the ground and I realize that's why it's so bright. Griffin goes off looking into the bedrooms and I stand, uncomfortably, in this house that feels so foreign to me even though the only person I've ever become close with lives in it. I wrap my arms around my body and start to pray feverishly that Griffins' mother is alright. I hear him curse in one of the back rooms and I turn to go find him when I come face to face with a woman who has pain and loss written all over her tear-stained face.
"Mrs. Wells?" I say, cautiously. She looks like a wild animal, and I've never seen her this way before; it frightens me.
"Adler? I can't take it."
"I know, Mrs. Wells, I know." I step forward and reach for her hand but she pulls it away.
"Have you seen her? Have you seen my Feira?"
"No, I..." I hesitate. What should I say to this woman? This poor heartbroken woman struck with insanity? "I-I did, actually." I feel as if I'm making the worst decision possible, but I continue anyway. "I saw her only moments ago, by the candy store in town, looking in the window as usual." I try and smile, but it's half-hearted.
"Tell her to come home. Please. I need her."
"I know, Mrs. Wells, I know."
Suddenly, Griffin comes around the corner and I see his mother tense up and step behind me slightly.
"You see that man?" She asks. I'm not sure who she's talking to but all of a sudden I realize it's me. I can't speak.
"He's the one who's locked me in here. All alone. I know he took my Feira!" I tremble slightly and stare at Griffin who doesn't even look at his Mother but stares straight back at me. This time his eyes fill with tears and spill over, like a river finally letting the floodgates go. His face does not change, however. It is ever impassive and expressionless.
"It's your Son," I say, still not taking my eyes off him. "It's Griffin."
"I want my Feira."
And that's when I lose it. I start to cry but unlike Griffin, I can't remain still and I can't keep my face poised. I can feel it begin to become distorted with pain and I wipe hurriedly at the water streaming down my cheeks.
"She's not coming back!" Griffin yells and knocks the sole lamp off a cardboard box as it hits a picture off the wall. I then feel sorry for Mrs. Wells, if this is what she's been dealing with.
"Griffin." I hear a different voice and I wonder where it's coming from when all of a sudden I turn and see Mrs. Wells, standing upright; eyes clear unlike before. I'm confused and don't move.
"What was that for?" She continues, and turns to me with a sad smile. "Well, hello Adler. When did you get here?"
"I-I, that is..." I'm speechless.
"Never mind, dear. Sorry you have to see this mess. We're just taking care of everything after..." she bites her lip.
"Have you taken care of Feira's things, Griffin? I put them in boxes for you to take to the pawn shop."
"I haven't been able to yet, Mother."
"Well, please hurry. Then Miss Adler here won't have to see us in such an awful state." She begins to walk away and pick things up, including the broken lamp and picture frame from Griffin's rampage.
I come to my senses and bend down on the floor with her. "I can help, if you want," I suggest, picking up pieces of glass as I do so.
"No, that's fine. You two should leave and have some time together, since we've been so tied up. You never get to see each other anymore."
I'm about to say no when Griffin puts his arm around my shoulders and starts to lead me away.
"I'll be right back, Mother, after I talk to Adler."
"No rush, dear, but take those boxes with you."
I'm still staring after her when Griffin pushes me out into the hall and shuts the door behind us. The minute he does so, I'm on him.
"You idiot!" I say, turning and pushing him in the chest with the sweaty palm of my hands. "How obtuse can you be? Locking her in; what on earth were you thinking?" I can't control myself. The idea was so stupid!
"You can't possibly understand what we've been through!" Griffin yells back and I see anger rising to his face; his beautiful, calm face that never shows emotion.
"Can't I? You never tell me so how am I even supposed to begin to understand?"
"No?" Griffin attacks. I see him trying not to lose control, but it's pointless. "Well, why would I tell you? You weren't there when we realized Feira was getting sick! You weren't there when she was on her death bed! You weren't there when she died and you weren't there after!"
I bite my lip. I try not to think of Feira, only eleven years old; the apple of her mother's eye and the joy of her brother's life. I knew her little, but I knew her family well enough to know she's was everything to them and the wound her death brought can never be healed.
I hate Ash, I hate the sickness and I hate death. More than that I tell myself I hate me. I wish I were dead and not her if only to cure this family from their pain.
Why wasn't I there for them?
Griffin takes the key from my hand, which until now I never realized I was clutching this whole time, and locks the door again.
"No!" I say.
"She's mad," He hisses at me. "A nutcase, do you hear? I can tell her time is coming and when she's in the state you saw her in, she can't be trusted! I don't want her to get out and throw herself in front of a train! You saw for yourself what she's done just in our own home. The place is trashed, broken, worthless."
"Then why aren't you just there taking care of her?" I ask, furious to the tips of my fingers. "She obviously needs you!"
"You call me obtuse? I'm the stupid one, who never thinks, am I?" Griffin is now disgusted, and I might even say disappointed, with what I've done; what I'm doing.
He continues, "I have not abandoned her entirely. I've been working for her, spending every spare moment I have doing whatever I can to earn money. And I spend that money on food, clothing and medicine to keep her well. I don't want what happened to Feira to happen to her! We thought she'd be the first to go. She's almost forty, Adler, good as dead. And all you think about is my so called cruelty to her?"
I fight back tears, but it's no use.
"I always wondered why you never talked much," he finishes, "Now I know. You just don't have anything good to say."
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Well that's it all for today's chapters on Sun of fiction stories and I hope you guys liked it and enjoyed it, and if you did don't forget to hit that Vote Button at the top right corner. Leave some comments down below of what you think about this story and tell me if you'd liking it but without further a do, thank you all guys for reading and as always what I said, oh bye there...
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