A gift of magic

The trip to Grand-Ma and Grand-Pa: Part 4

Vio’s house

Vio was sitting outside at the balcony starring outside. Beatrice had knocked. But she was not answering. She figured she had to be in her room. She got in and went upstairs and into to her room but she couldn’t find her. She started yelling her name but there was no answer. She decided to go to Henry’s room and found her sitting outside his room, on the balcony.
“Vio.” She said as soon as she found her
“You startled me.” She exhaled after turning around to stare at Bea.
“Sorry. What are you doing out here?” she asked
“Getting some air.” She said
Beatrice noticed something about Vio. She looked wretched. When Bea asked, Vio said she was fine. By the way she answered she could tell she was lying. Beatrice wondered if Vio already knows about the dreadful game Henry was playing, and if that’s what is making her sad. She felt the impulsion to ask if it was about Henry. But Vio asked her why she would think so. Bea didn’t know what to say. What if that wasn’t the reason she was sad. Vio wondered why Beatrice was taking so long to answer.
“Beatrice?” Asked Vio.
But there was still no answer.
“I can tell you already know Grand-pa is playing a dreadful game with Garry today. That’s why you aren’t answering. Right?”  asked Vio
Bea nodded with sympathy and relieve that she figured it out.
“Can you believe him? He’s risking his life just for a damn company” Said Vio. Her heart was already beating fast just by the thought of losing her grand pa. Bea sat on the chair beside Vio.
“Tell me more about this sport. Why is it deadly?” Bea asked curiously
“It was the sport that was used to settle an argument of land between the red Indians and blue Indians more than fifty decades ago. Almost all the Indians died by playing this sport.  It’s called pajankhel. Pajan is derived from the Hindi word aapatti janak meaning dangerous and khel is the Hindi word for sport. That would make pajankhel to mean dangerous sport. This game involves lots of dangerous things such as fires, knives, snakes, and crocodiles that each team is going to face, racing to get a stone that’s at the end of this challenge. The first team or person to get to the stone is the winner”
“Why would they choose to play a sport like that? It’s the most deadliest I’ve ever heard in my life.”
“Garry is a daredevil. He likes danger a lot. For him, this sport isn’t deadly. It’s fun.” Said Vio
“But Henry shouldn’t have accepted it. I mean, wasn’t he thinking about the consequences of his actions. This sport will kill him” 
“I know. Grandpa is only thinking about what Garry will say if he refuses. He will think he’s weak.”

Beatrice tried to stay out of all this madness, but she just couldn’t. She kept on feeling the impulsion to do something. There just has to be something she could do. She thought about what Carly told her the first day she arrived at Huston Texas, that she must take the trip as if it were an adventure and to make something out of it. She thought about the reason the trip happened in the first place. Maybe the main reason was not for her to know more about her Grandparents. Maybe the main reason was for her to stop Henry and Garry. Maybe Adam wanted her to save his last wish.
“Vio, we’ve got to stop this. Do you want your Gran-pa to die?” she asked
“No, off cause not” Vio said automatically with a high pitched voice
  “Then we’ve got to stop them. Are you with me?” Said Bea
“Definitely” replied Vio with a slight smile

They knew that Henry had left already, so they decided to rush to Garry’s house to see if he hadn’t left yet. His house was at the end of the street. It was the same house he grew up in since he was born. It was the same house Adam grew up in as well. When they arrived, they took a look to see if his car was still packed outside. There wasn’t any sign of it. They decided to knock to be sure. There wasn’t any answer
“He’s gone.” Vio exhaled
They turned around to sit down on the stoop, with their heads bowed down. 
“He has been gone for thirty minutes.” Said an unknown voice
When they raised their head, they saw an old man.
“Where did he come from?” asked Vio in a scared tone
“I haven’t got the slightest clue.” Replied Bea
The man was wearing black pans with a sweater, along with a coat and a scarf around his neck. It was really surprising for both Bea and Vio to see a man wearing winter clothes when the temperature was thirty one degrees hot. He had wrinkles on his skin, grey eyes, and grey hair.
“I remember the man that used to live in this house” Said the old man “Adam. That’s his name. I also remember how he made friends with a little boy named Henry. His son Garry began to feel envy towards Henry and started to become aggressive. He started to hate Henry. Henry started to hate him back since he was so mean to him. But Adam didn’t love Henry more than Garry. He loved them both equally. This is all leading to them playing the most deadly sport, at the game reserve all because of something very small. I remember the special place Garry used to go when he was feeling depressed, right there.” He said pointing at the roof of the house. They both turned to look at the direction.
“But how do you….” said Bea before she turned to look back at where the man was standing. But she couldn’t finish her sentence because he was gone. He just mysteriously vanished.
“Okay. That’s really freaky. He’s gone.” Said Vio with ecstatic shock
“I know.” Said Bea staring at where she knew the man had been standing. “Do any of the books you’ve read about have anything to do about people vanishing all of a sudden?”
“No.” Vio said still sounding freaked out. “But one thing is for sure. No normal person just mysteriously vanishes all of a sudden.”
“But we know where they are!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Didn’t you hear him? They went to the game reserve.” She said
Vio had heard the man’s voice, but her thoughts had been roaming. The sudden appearance of the old man had been so eerie to her. Now that he had disappeared all of the sudden, it became eerier.
“I know where that is. It’s next to my school. But it’s very far. I’m pretty sure they’ve already started playing. And if not, they are close to. We can’t get there in time.” She said with despair
“No. we just have got to find a way to get there quickly. Please don’t lose hope Vio.”  She emboldened. “Let’s go to my house to see if perhaps Grand-ma can give us a ride.”
“She’s going to tell us not to get involved in something that does not involve us.”
“Didn’t you hear the old man? The reason why Garry hates Henry so much is because he thought that his father loved Henry more than him. We are the only ones that know that isn’t true. I keep on getting this impulsion to do something. I keep on getting this feeling that I am here to stop this tragedy. I’m going to need your help to find out if that’s true.” said Bea.
“Okay. Let’s just hurry before is too late.”