another side ➳ phan

childhood.

Dan's mom nods and stands up. She waves goodbye to the young boy before turning around and getting into the car.

Dan waves goodbye to his mom, not leaving his spot. And he stays right there as the car drives away until he could no longer see it.

-

So far, Dan has spent the whole day doing nothing except staring at walls and eating whatever food they made him. They don't have a TV except for one really bad one that barely even works, and all of their books are either too big or too boring. The only thing even remotely entertaining was the fireplace in the living room. The way the flames looked and moved, Dan thought was the most beautiful thing. He hoped that when he grows old he could have this house for the sole purpose of the fireplace.

But unfortunately the fireplace wasn't enough for the boy, so he decided that he was going to take himself on a tour of the house, desperately looking for some other type of entertainment.

He walks down the hallway, his fingers tracing the pattern carved into the mahogany wall as he walks. Everything was completely silent. He didn't know where his grandparents were at the moment, he assumed they were in the kitchen or taking a nap or something. The only sounds to be heard were the creaks of the floorboards everytime Dan took a step and his quiet breathing.

He made a turn and decided to walk up the stairs. With every step up Dan looks at the pictures on the wall. They were all very old and basically the same thing. Just pictures of grandma and granddad, then at the very end there was an old picture of the house. Nothing that caught Dan's interest.

Finishing walking up the stairs, he looks down both ends of the hallway, wondering which one to go down first. And after a quick game of eenie meenie minie moe he started walking down the left side.

Dan was only halfway down the hallway before stopping in his tracks as he hears the squeaky noise of a door opening behind him.

Turning around he sees a door at the very end of the hallway opening. Dan furrows his eyebrows as he stands confused.

He watches as someone slowly moves from a room next to it and into the room that just opened.

Dan couldn't really make out who the person was, just that they were dressed in very dark clothing. It looked like a woman but Dan wasn't too sure.

"Grandma?" Dan calls. No response.

The sound of the floor creaking becomes a little annoying to the boy as he begins to walk towards the room. "Granddad?"

No response.

Almost there, Dan thinks to himself as he takes another step.

Maybe it's mom. Maybe she wanted to surprise me.

The thought of that made the boy happy and eager to see who it was.

The small boy rests his hand on the doorknob , getting ready to push open the door wider and step in to reveal the person.

"Daniel!"

Dan stops and turns around at the person who called his name.

His grandma walks over to Dan from the staircase, she picks him up and holds Dan up in her arms. Slamming the door shut with her other hand, walking away from the room immediately after that.

"Why were you going in there?" She asks, scolding him. "You shouldn't be just snooping around like that ." They walk downstairs.

"Grandma, I saw someone!" Dan exclaims. He was disappointed that she took him away from the room because he wanted to see who it was. But he figured if he told his grandma, she would let him go back up.