Kapitel 6: Grandfather Galen’s Sacred Promise

Looking at his daughter, Grandpa Galen's eyes start to moisten as his head tilts downward slightly. In a dejected tone, he says, "I know what you have been through, and I know that I can't make it up to you; however,–" With his head tilted back up, " I will do the best in my power to never let your son down, like how I left you down. I promise you that."

Tears filled up, Mrs. Cardona's eyes as she goes to hug her father from behind, saying in a hoarse voice, " Father, you know that I don't blame you. Please stop putting the blame all on yourself, I love you, and Jacob loves you too."

Nodding his head, Grandpa Galen looks back at his son that has stopped foaming from his mouth. Propping his son up from the closet, he looks back to his daughter that is still hugging him tightly with a gentle smile on his face. "Can you let go of your old father? I'm starting to get back pains, and I don't want it to get worse."

Releasing her grasp on her father, Mrs. Cardona walks to the back of the room to open the stairway that leads the attic to Jacobs room. Turning around, Mrs. Cardona waits for her father to finish helping her unconscious brother.

"The bead is made from a new type of combination of chemicals. It's made from hydrogen and nitrogen as the base, as for the other chemicals, it is outside my jurisdiction, so I don't know myself; however, I do know that it's completely safe and even helps unconscious people or someone that experiences any sort of trauma. It turns into a syrupy texture once it comes in contact with any moisture and the medicinal effects start to work." Said, Grandpa Galen, as he gently lifts his son's body up from the closet floor.

Turning back around, Grandpa Galen slowly walks to the stairway in a series of steady steps with his son in his arms, unconscious.

Waiting for her father to finish walking downstairs, Mrs. Cardona stretches her waist in the meantime.

Looking at her father from above, Mrs. Cardona gives an approving nod with a touch of moisture in her eyes. Wiping her eyes, Mrs. Cardona starts to follow behind her father with silent footsteps.

In a whisper, Grandpa Galen tells Mrs. Cardona to put a blanket on her son when he finally reached the floor. Without waiting for a response, Grandpa Galen leaves the room with his son still in his grasp and disappears without a trace.

Shaking her head, Mrs. Cardona rolls her son in the blankets and rolls him to the middle of the bed, then stuffs him with pillows, resembling an overstuffed sushi roll, with the main ingredient being a soon-to-be 16-year-old boy.

Wiping the non-existent sweat off her forehead, Mrs. Cardona wears a pleasant smile on her face. Mumbling some inspirational quotes, she walks out of Jacobs room before closing the door behind her, quietly.

Walking through the dark corridor, Mrs. Cardona feels the railing that connects to the stairs leading downstairs. Nostalgic, tears unconsciously start to fall down her face as she continues to slowly and quietly walk through the hall.

Recalling her sad past, Mrs. Cardona looks at her room door nearing the end of the hallway and the big painting next to it. Sighing, she stops just beneath the big exquisite painting. The art shows an old man kneeling down on a grassy plain, looking very similar to Grandpa Galen but in his older 30's. There are also five young children sitting right in front of him, two girls and three boys; however, there appear several rips, extending from several cms to a couple of inches in length.

One of the most noticeable rips looks very similar to a tear, hiding a boys face, Mrs. Cardona tippy-toes to touch that same rip. Looking saddened, she starts to hug her knees, back facing the wall, weeping.

...

6:35 Am

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Startled by his alarm, Jacob struggles to get out of bed.

"Why can't I get out of this—wait, where am I? Why am I rolled in my own sheet, and why is my neck so stiff? Did someone steal my—oh, nevermind the pillows are in the blanket." Growing restless, Jacob continues to struggle on.

Bang!

Getting more restless, he starts to roll over onto the floor." Why is my luck so bad?!? First, it was school, and now my own bed is treating me like trash." Said, Jacob, as he rolls over to his still-open-door.

Struggling to get through the door, Jacob decides to yell for his mom. With tears in his eyes, he yells out, " Mom, mom; I really need to go to the bathroom. Mom, please help me."

After a couple of moment of yelling and jumping around, resembling a fish out of the water, he hears footsteps coming from the corridor. Ecstatic, Jacob jumps even higher than before, all-the-while crying tears of joy, " Mom, mom, I see you—no, I hear you!"

Clank.

Opening the door, Mrs. Cardona appears to be outfitted with a robe and a shower cap. Looking down the hall, she notices her son's door is still open, and there is a lot of noise coming from that same room.

Walking toward Jacobs room, Mrs. Cardona hears the inaudible noise better now. From random sounds, the noise started turning into a language. When she finally reached halfway down the hall, the noise started turning into, "Mom, mom..." before returning inaudible again.

Knowing that her son wouldn't call for help, for just anything, she starts bolting towards the door, finally reaching the door in a matter of seconds. Only to find her son trying to leap over the dragon's gate as a...sushi.

Wondering how he got himself into that mess, she thinks back toward last night. Suddenly realization hits her; she was the one who did that to him. Kneeling down, Mrs. Cardona looks at her son as she tries to help him, "Hold still, I didn't mean for you to be stuck. Last night, I saw you outside of your blanket, exhausted and decided to help make you more comfortable... or at least try."

Exasperated, Jacob looks at his mom from down below, " I am going to be late for my second day of school."

Surprised, Mrs. Cardona looks at her son and stops helping him, "The reason why your uncle Henry came by was that he wanted to tell you that the Sage Sect was closed suddenly yesterday for unknown reasons and the entrance ceremony was moved toward the next day, which is today." After she was done talking, Mrs. Cardona resumes her earlier actions of helping to unravel Jacob's blanket roll.