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Lucy was glad for the company of her daughter.

 

She was certain that she could have died of silence if Arizona had not been with her in that haunted house.

 

The sound of eerie music playing inside her head that night sounded like it was echoing from several corners of the building, but she knew that it was just her head messing with her.

 

“Just a few hours in this place, and it already feels like my entire world is about to crash,” Lucy muttered, and then she turned to look at her daughter who was already asleep.

 

Initially, she was worried that Arizona was going to demand something to eat, but from the look of things, they both lost their appetites as a result of the cold demeanor of Gregory.

 

“How am I going to survive this? Save me, Lord.” Lucy prayed silently, and then she took a deep breath.

 

Mr. Jones had assured her that Gregory was going to come around, but it didn’t look like that was ever going to happen.

 

Twice, they had started on a very wrong foot, and she was convinced that it was going to take a miracle for things to get better between them.

 

Suddenly, the sound of glasses crashing caused Lucy to fidget, sending her off the bed.

 

The noise was loud enough to disturb Arizona’s sleep, but she slowly shut her eyes after Lucy smiled at her and gestured to her that everything was okay.

 

Lucy wanted to ignore the sound, but it was too loud, and she knew that she was going to have to deal with the thoughts about it for a very long time if she didn’t check.

 

Slowly, she walked to the door and grabbed it with both hands. But no matter how gentle she was with her push, she couldn’t get to eliminate the creaking sound.

 

The idea was to be as silent as possible just in case the sound was from someone who was trying to break into the house or was already inside.

 

From the look of things, the mansion was an easy target for poachers, and there could be a lot of treasurable items that anyone could cart away with.

 

It was hard to tell where the sound had come from, since it had almost displaced her, and she didn’t have the time to figure out where it had come from.

 

As she sauntered along the hallway, she slowed her pace, counting a few seconds alongside her tromping heartbeat before taking the next step.

 

To make matters worse, one of the lights above her was flickering, causing her to worry that there could be a ghost in the house.

 

There was no better explanation for the eerie sound that her mind had continued to make up.

 

She had already walked to the end of the hallway, listening while she looked at every door she came across, but the sound didn’t come back.

 

“Maybe this was a bad idea,” She thought to herself, but it wasn’t long before she heard the sound of heavy and strained grunting.

 

It was coming from downstairs, and there could be no other person with that kind of baritone except Gregory.

 

“Is he okay?” Lucy muttered. She thought of going down, but it was almost impossible for her to forget everything that the Master of the house had said after he agreed for her to stay with her daughter.

 

“I am sure he can be able to take care of himself. This is none of your business, Lucy.” She tried to find the perfect excuse to help her ignore the sound even though she was convinced that she was not going to be able to help it.

 

“Go back to bed, Lucy.” She cautioned herself and started marching back to her bedroom.

 

But a loud grunt stopped her just when she was about to grab the handle of the door in front of her. She took down her hand and turned slowly, looking down where the sound had come from.

 

“My leg!” Gregory’s voice rang through the walls, creeping into her ears with an intense urgency.

 

“My leg!” Gregory yelled again, and then the sound of breaking ceramics followed.

 

Again, Lucy wanted to ignore, but she didn’t know the type of force that made her turn at once.

 

On her way to the staircase, she sighted an axe hanging on the wall and he grabbed it at once.

 

Even though she had never swung it and didn’t know how to, she thought that it could come in handy.

 

With each step she thudded, it sounded almost the same as her heartbeat. But she continued moving until she discovered that the sound had come from the kitchen.

 

Lucy stood at the door for a while, and when she saw that there was no way she could see what all the corners of the kitchen no matter how she peeped, she had to brace up to walk in.

 

It was tough at first, but not when she heard Gregory grunt again, and then another ceramic crashed to the ground.

 

Lucy hurried into the large kitchen and met him lying helplessly on the floor. 

 

Broken pieces of ceramics were scattered all over the place, and tiny drops of blood were splattered all over as well.

 

“Are you okay?” Lucy asked, lowering the axe as she stared at Gregory.

 

 

“What are you doing here?” Gregory seemed like he had said the wrong words, or so Lucy thought.

 

She saw the blood on the floor, and that meant that Gregory must have been injured.

 

From the look of things, he had been struggling to get the food on the cabinet in the kitchen, but someone must have kept it beyond his reach, causing him to trip and fall.

 

But Lucy couldn’t explain the reason for the broken ceramics. More were still heaped by the corner, ready for Gregory to pick them one after the other and haul them at anything he wished.

 

For him, that was the best way to handle his temper, passing his aggression on those wares who knew nothing about his predicament and pain.

 

Lucy watched as Gregory struggled with strained efforts to get to his crutch which was several meters away from him. It must have fallen when Gregory landed on the floor, but how it got so far away from him was unexplainable.  

 

“What are you looking at?!” He yelled, and then he continued reaching for the crutch.

 

Lucy saw that he was not going to get to it no matter how hard he tried. She dropped the axe on the floor and leaned it against one of the cabinets in the kitchen.

 

“Can I help?” She offered, but Gregory frowned at her.

 

“Stay in your lane! I am sure you remember that!” His voice was laced with so much displeasure, and the only thought that came to Lucy’s mind was to do as she was told.

 

But he was helpless, and even if he wanted to remain stubborn and cold, it was going to be at his detriment.

 

“You need my help whether you want it or not. That wound you have will bleed out in no time.”

 

“I will be fine. Go back to your room!” Gregory yelled, and Lucy sighed heavily.

 

“Fine!” She grunted, and then she turned to leave, picking up the axe and walking slowly.