50. Problems
1546 Words
Dipak rubs his eyes. "On your desks. Go now."
Tye pats my butt. "You want to come with me?"
"No, you boys do this part. You might need Tre though."
Tre nods. "Let's do yours first."
"Have fun you 2. Don't leave me here forever. I might kill him next time."
"Alright, the area I marked off will go, library, school, and then the park. The school and park are going in now. Beside the park will go the pool. The inn will go somewhere else. Once we figure out how big and tall it is, we have to find a spot then."
"I'm almost done with it."
Dipak nods. "We are going to add vaults for us. Like the other castle had. The personal vaults. Show of hands, who would want one?"
We all raise our hands.
"Thank you. That's what I needed to see. We can work out a secure location later."
Johen has red eyes like he's been crying.
Omar stands up. "I'm taking that one and that one." He points to Marcus and Johen.
I stand up. "No, I'm taking that one." I point at Johen. "You can have that one." I point at Marcus.
"What?"
"Omar is catching Marcus up, so he doesn't have to restart the teaching 7000 times."
He walks out with Marcus. "Even though I keep restarting."
"Drink the blood. You're low from chasing me around for so long."
I drink and point at Johen. "I'm taking that one."
I take him to Dipak's old office and sit on the couch with him.
"What's going on?"
He shakes his head and sits back.
"I know something is. I can tell your upset." I rub his back.
He puts his head on my knees and starts sobbing. I rub his back and let him get it out. "My dad is sick. The store is failing. My parents are to old to keep working the farm like they do. I have to work constantly to try and keep up with the bills. I don't know what to do. I can't let my parents be homeless. Do the guards make money? Can I join them?"
"No. Johen, you can not join the vampire guard."
He sobs again. "I don't know what to do."
Tre goes by in the hallway. He grabs onto Tye's sleeve and drags him in the room. This doesn't look good. We're kind of cuddly, and I'm rubbing his hair.
"Hi boys, how can I help you?"
Tre gives me a funny look. "What is going on?"
Johen sobs again.
"Money problems. The store isn't doing well. His parents are getting older. His dad is sick. Johen is doing to much to try and fix it on his own."
The boys sit down. Tye shakes his head. "Being human would be horrible. Having to watch your own parents get older."
"My dad won't live much longer." I hug him as best as I can.
"Why don't we make his parents vampires?"
"We can offer. The choice is theirs. Not ours or even Johen's."
"I'll talk to them. I don't want my parents to die." He holds my legs tight and cries into them.
"It's ok. We'll figure this out." I hug him again. "He's been working constantly to pay for things and do everything on his own."
Tre sits back. "Do your parents own the building?"
"Yea."
"Would it help if we bought the building? We could always use it for the door."
"Then I wouldn't have any way to make money."
I don't like this. He's to upset. I rub his hair.
"You don't have to worry about money, Johen. Go talk to your parents about becoming immortal. I can't imagine what you are going through with that alone. Talk to them. Explain that the bodies they have will heal. But will not get younger. I will come later with Omar and probably these 2. We will talk to them some more. We can talk to all of you. Explain what it really means. Do one thing at a time. Parents first. I'll get you 2k for now and you can go back. Tre can check your records later, and he can sort out the money and bill stuff."
Tre nods. "We'll come in an hour before dinner. That'll give you 3 hours to tell them we're vampires. Tell them what you understand so far. We can fill the rest in when we get there."
Tye stands up. "I'll go get the 2k from Dipak's desk."
I rub his hair some more. "Everything will be ok. No matter what. We always figure it out."
He starts sobbing again.
All I can do is rub his hair and tell him it will be alright.
Tye speeds back in with Dipak chasing him.
Dipak stares at me and Johen. He seems to have forgotten he was chasing Tye.
Tre stands up. "Johen's dad isn't doing well. As well as some money problems. We're going to go over before dinner and sort some things out."
Tye helps Johen up. "Here's 2k. Close the store and really talk to your parents. You have 3 hours before we arrive."
Johen wipes his eyes.
Tre makes him a door.
I stare at it. "I hate that he went alone."
Tre smiles at me. "There are some things people have to do on their own. We'll go help him. Don't worry."
Tre releases the magic from the door. Just in time for a servant to run in sobbing.
"I'm sorry, I have to tell you something."
She runs over and sits by me. I put my arm around her, and she lays in my lap too. I rub her short hair. "What is it?"
"My best friend is stealing from you. It was so bad before. She doesn't believe you're nice. She's trying to get money to run away." I rub my eyes. "She says you'll hurt us later too."
"Guard. Summon Mary."
Mary comes in after a full minute of me rubbing my eyes and the boys staring at us.
"Little miss."
"Mary, a servant is stealing money. She is afraid we will hurt her later, after we stop being nice."
Mary nods.
"Deal with it. If it happens again, she will not have a head."
The girl on lap keeps sobbing. "Thank you."
Mary leaves. "Guard, summon more of you. You will search every servant's room."
I rub the girls' hair. "Go help Mary please."
"Thank you." She runs after them.
In runs Dorseti sobbing. I pat the seat beside me. She runs over and puts her head in my lap.
I look at the boys. "Go do whatever you were doing. I'm busy today."
Dipak goes for the door. Thora runs right into him. She's sobbing. "FRODE WON'T GIVE ME HALF THE VAULT."
"I'll give you your own."
"Really?"
"Yes, we'll have plenty."
She hugs him. "Thank you."
"Yea, I'm not staying in here." The boys leave laughing.
"THE MEDICAL AREA IS A MESS. IT'S SO HARD TO WORK THERE NOW. EVERYONE'S MEAN."
"Everyone is probably stressed out because of the mess. Let's go up together. Maybe I can make some changes to the way they are building. Go to one hall at a time or something."
She's not wrong. It's a mess and everyone is stressed out. I make the medical staff and patients move to the 3rd floor. It seems to ease up a little. I check on the lost prince while I'm there. He's doing better. He's got some hair. It's coming in nice. I feel around his stomach, and it seems everything has regrown in there. "You're having a good hair day my lost prince." I comb it for him and go back to Dipak's office.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes, sorry. Dealing with lots of problems today."
"Yea, I caught some of that earlier."
Tre looks at me. "We need to leave in about 15 minutes. I don't know who we should take. GUARD, Summon Omar."
"I don't know either, Tre."
Thora sits up. "What are you doing?"
"Johen's dad isn't well. We're going to offer to turn his parents."
Mary tosses a grape in her mouth. "I was turned from human. I may be able to help with some of the questions they have."
"That would be good."
Omar and Marcus come in. "I've been summoned."
"Yea, need you for a day trip." Tre stands up. Then me and Mary get up.
Dipak stands up. "Kane and Tye you go as well. Give them privacy. Sit outside or something. But Tre will be doing paperwork, he's always so focused. I want security on them."
Tye turns to Dipak. "I don't know if I should."
"Why?"
"Because he was really emotional. I don't think he liked us seeing him like that."
I smile at Tye. "He's young too. He sees you 2 as his friends. I think you're right. I'm not sure if he wants his friends or other men in general to see him cry. But at the same time, friends need to be there for each other. They need to show support. Even when it gets bad. We don't have the answer."
He stands up. "I'll sit outside with Kane."
Tre makes us a door.
- Writer
