A Young Boy's Sorrow

Once they all finished eating, each person brought their plate, silverware and glass to Elizabeth. She was standing in front of the kitchen sink and washed everything they gave her right away.

Once Adam's turn came, he handed everything to her before saying quietly

"Please, I'll...I will do it next time." He was still looking at the ground.

'Such a nice boy. I'm really curious about where his parents are.' Elizabeth thought as she nodded.

"There's no more water." Layla said, to no one in particular.

"Alright. Let's all go bring some then, we'll show Adam where the well is. Will you come?" Calvin, the old man asked Adam.

"Sure."

They went out of the house.

The well was about 20 meters behind the house.

Once they arrived, Calvin grabbed one of the many buckets that were on the ground, near the well and attached it to a rope. He then slowly lowered it inside the well. When he pulled it back up, it was full of clean water.

While Calvin was filling up multiple buckets of water, the girls and Elizabeth were talking. Elizabeth was seated on the well's edge while the sisters were sitting at her sides. Adam was standing in front of them, a bit far from where they were.

Obviously, he wasn't too comfortable.

"I had a nightmare! Again!" Salma said pulling on her grandmother's clothes.

"Really? I couldn't guess at all. Did Adam's cooking help you feel better?" Elizabeth smiled as she turned towards Adam.

"Well, they are only nightmares after all. That's what grandpa says. But I think his cooking really helped! I felt a lot better after eating the tasty food!" She waved her hand towards Adam.

Adam, looking at the scene couldn't help but let out a weak smile.

"Whatever. Why do you even dream about them? Even if they were still alive, do you think they would come back for us? They always talked about money this, money that. Now that they have plenty of it..." Layla stopped talking once she saw Salma's red face. The latter looked angry and was crying a bit.

Salma ran into the house.

Layla looked annoyed, but she still followed her sister to apologize. She knew she was being mean to her sister as this was a touchy subject for Salma especially so because of the nightmares she was having every night.

Shortly after, Layla entered the house.

"She's such a lovely child, but sometimes she can be so difficult." Elizabeth muttered.

"Adam, come and sit, don't be shy." She told Adam while smiling.

She had a beautiful smile. The kind of smile only mothers and grandmothers had.

Adam couldn't say no to such a smile.

He approached the well and sat. He was between Elizabeth and Calvin.

As he prepared to talk, his breathing got faster and his legs started trembling.

"I...I..."

Elizabeth put her hand on his thigh to calm him down.

"You don't have to tell us anything you know." She didn't want to pressure him in any way.

"I think... I think I need to talk."

Adam looked at her and took a deep breath. He stopped trembling and his breathing got more stable.

Since the kids were gone, he started talking about everything.

He described the time he spent inside the Dungeon with great detail.

He talked about how the soldiers entered his house to get him, his mother and his siblings to the Dungeon Gate.

He talked about how they were pressured to enter the Dungeon.

He talked about his father's cowardice inside the Dungeon.

He talked about his father's greed once he saw the Experience Points and Gold coins he was receiving.

He talked about how Dungeons worked, he described the monsters he saw.

He talked about how dumb and weak the monsters were.

He talked about how they ran towards the cliff.

How his father had fallen down from it to his death.

He only skipped one part of the story.

"I did okay really, I defeated a lot of those Goblins. I even got Hidden Artefacts. They're basically really good things to find in there, like this cloak or those boots. I had a bunch of bonuses at the of the Dungeon." He said.

But it wasn't just any part that he skipped.

It was a part that he could not omit.

It wasn't something he could run away from anymore. He continued.

"And yet..and yet...when it really counted...I....I...." The words stopped coming out of his mouth.

He looked at Elizabeth's face, before turning towards Calvin. They both looked at him with great pity.

Elizabeth looked at him with tender and teary eyes.

Adam's lips curled inwards, before he broke down crying. Tears flowed everywhere, snot came out of his nose, he covered his face with both his hands.

Elizabeth put her hand on his back.

"When it really counted I... I couldn't do anything!!! THEY ALL CAME AT ONCE!!! We...we were circled by the...the monsters. They had weapons and...and... they threw at Mika a spear. He screamed. He screamed so loudly! And yet...and yet he still held onto mom. He was so strong! Even though he felt an unimaginable amount of pain, he held onto her. He didn't fall on the ground. He...he didn't roll on the ground. He didn't put us in danger. God knows he wanted to fall on the ground and scream so badly am sure. But he stayed up for us. For us, he endured the pain. When Mina saw him hurt, she screamed just as hard as he did. She was the most compassionate person in the world. While I...while I...I was trying to dodge the monster's knives. I couldn't even look their way. I couldn't protect them! I couldn't do anything! And then...then...there was.... the monsters were in front, and the cliff was behind . And.. and... mom held us all together.... and...and she apologized. She apologized as if any of this was her fault. She said...she said that she was sorry for everything."

The more Adam talked, the harder he cried. He couldn't talk properly. His sentences were broken by sudden sharp breaths.

The two listeners also teared up at his words.

'At such a young age...' Calvin thought.

'And he's blaming himself for this...' Elizabeth thought.

"We jumped right after that. We were all holding onto each other but..I..I..somehow I....I must have hit my head while falling. I was separated from them. Once I woke up, they were... they were all... lying on the...on the...on the ground. They looked... just like they did....on those lazy Sunday evenings, when they would all nap together in a single small bed. Their gold...gold...golden hair spread everywhere. Except...except..it was...it was" Adam's breathing got a lot heavier. "Their hair, their golden hair that I...that I...it was...it was covered....it was covered in..in...in blood. It was dyed red. They were swimming in a poo..pool of blood. Who knows how long...how long they were lying there until they took their...their last breath. And while they were suffering, bleeding and dying, I was....I was...hahahha I was napping on a bush! Can you believe that? While they were dying, I was probably having sweet dreams. Dreaming about...."

Elizabeth stopped him as she gently pulled his head towards her torso and held him tightly.

This time, Adam held her tightly too. He continued crying.

"They must have...they must have suffered so much. It must have hurt. My mother, my little sister, my little brother. They were all bleeding there! They were all... they were... And then..and then... I shook them like I did when I... when I was waking them up for school. I asked them to wake up like I did when they overslept. I begged them to wake up. But...but...once they didn't I... I ran away. I ran as far as I could. I RAN AWAY FROM THEM." He shouted.

Adam suddenly stopped crying. He let go of Elizabeth and looked at the ground. He had a dark dark expression. His face did not look like that of a child.

"I ran away! I tried to forget! I tried to forget what happened! Hahaha! And I did! I forgot about them! For a moment, I completely forgot about them! Not only that but, but it actually felt good! It felt really good to forget about all that! What kind of person does that? What kind of person am I?? How could I forget my own family? Am not even sure I deserve this life? It shouldn't have been me who survived. Back then...back then..yes. That day, when I took the dagger close to my neck, maybe I should have... maybe I should have..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Elizabeth turned his head towards her and slapped him as strongly as she could.

Adam fell into a daze. He thought about what he had been saying. He thought about the day he spent swinging his sword. He thought about the time he had spent praying for his family. He thought about the promise he made to them while he was praying. He had promised that he would live a good life for them, he promised that he would make all of them proud. And now...once again he was...thinking about...

His face became that of a child again. His lips curled inwards, his eyes full of tears he was trying to hold back.

He was looking at Elizabeth.

She extended both her arms towards him.

He let himself fall between her arms and she held him tenderly.

After a minute, he was fast asleep between her arms.

Salma got out of the house "What? What? What happened? I heard screaming?"

Only then did Calvin and Elizabeth raise their gaze towards the house.

Someone was standing right before them.

Layla had been standing there for a while.

She was standing in front of them, with a red face and tears going down her cheeks.

It was the first time her grandparents saw her cry.