Chapter 6 Where are you?

After an hour of driving, Diana and her parents were in front of grandma's house. She was waiting for them at the entrance. After the greetings, they went inside with Diana's hand-held luggage. After lunch, her parents left.

Diana was quiet and her grandma noticed this. She was way too quiet for her usual self.

"Hey, girlie. What happened to you? By now you'd already be gone out the house and running around the village to see your old friends. Is everything ok between you and that snake-boy? Why hasn't he come with you? He always did so far..."

"Grandma, stop!"

"Why? Did I say something wrong? Did you two have a lover's quarrel?"

"Grandma, stop! It's not that! He's dead! And yesterday he was buried."

"Oh! That explains it then!"

"Explains what?"

"Why he's not here. Well, that's too bad, girlie. But don't worry, there'll be others to take his place..."

"Grandma, how could you be so cold-hearted? My best friend just died. And you're talking nonsense about others taking his place. I'm not like that..."

"Like that, girlie? Let me tell you something. Life is not fair. You need to get back up on your feet and keep going ahead. Life doesn't stop because your friend died. Stopped for him, true, but the rest of the world keeps going forward. You need to continue your life, not mope over a boy's death. I've lost my husband of thirty years and what did I do? Have you seen me moping around all day? No. I went back to my life. And remember, I've known that man for fifty years. So don't give me this kind of shit. What happened to you while you were with your parents? When did you turned to be such a sissy? I raised you different than that."

Diana was looking at her grandma flabbergasted. It was the first time she saw her so much fired up. She'd always been stern, true, but never ranted like that in front of her.

She went back to her room and flopped on the bed, closing her eyes. Thinking about this more, she started finding some truth in what her grandma said. Even though it would be hard, she decided to return to her life and walk forward. After all, the dead are dead and can't return from the grave. Even though she will miss him, she decided to move on with her life.

And, who knows? She'll be in highschool in a month. Certainly she'll find new friends there. They won't be the same, but that's life. You must settle with the best available at the time.

She got up and walked back to the kitchen, where her grandma was sitting looking out the window. She went to her and embraced her from behind, putting her head on her grandma's shoulder. But her grandma jumped. In the air, yelped and shouted.

"Jesus, girlie! Don't do that! You scared the living shit out of me!"

Diana, for the first time in almost a week, smiled and started laughing.

"Sorry grandma! I didn't know you're such a scaredy-cat. I didn't want to give you a scare. I wanted only to thank you for opening my eyes. Can I hug you now?"

"Sure, girlie... Remember to remind me to get you some bells."

"Bells? What for?"

"So you wouldn't sneak up on me ever again! What else?"

Then the both of them laughed, hugging each other.

Soon, it was time for dinner and they ate while talking and laughing about past events. And soon the sun set. And it was time for them to go to bed.

After the sunset, in a certain basement some bodies started moving. The teen's eyes opened and the red pupils flickered in the darkness. Slowly, he rose on his feet, stretching his body.

"Mom, dad, wake up!"

He prodded the other two with his foot. They raised their heads and quickly shot up on their feet. Then, they knelt, putting their heads under his palms.

"Master, we're hungry! Food, we need food!"

"Stop that! Mom, dad, it's me, Florin! Not your master!"

The other two kept mewling like two kittens begging for food. Finally, unable to contain them, he gave up.

"Fine! Go catch something! But remember: don't hurt anyone! You can hunt animals, but not people!"

Getting his permission, the two dashed out of the cellar and the house and began wondering the streets. Florin shook his head and muttered to himself.

"I shouldn't have done that. But I couldn't control my thirst. Sorry for my curse, mom! Sorry, dad! But why am I here? I should be in my grave now, dead. What happened for me to be like this?" A soft sigh came from his lips. "I miss Diana so much! I wonder how she's dealing with my death... Yesterday I didn't have a chance to talk to her. She ran so fast! But now, I can go and tell her I'm back."

A blur of movement could be seen on the dark streets. The light bulbs burned out one after another.

Florin's silhouette stopped in front of Diana's house. But it was dark inside. No sound came from the house. He was dumbfounded. Where could she be?