Snakes and Ladders

A man could be seen climbing into bed, the room was dimly lit and only his silhouette could be seen, he looked to the right and saw a feminine figure supposedly sleeping.

Sapiens looked at Elora, she had her back turned to him, he moved closer and hugged her from behind.

"Sapiens not now... I'm too tired, maybe tomorrow" said Elora as she kept her eyes closed, but she received no reply from Sapiens.

"I am sorry" he said as it was barely a whisper.

"What?" asked Elora as she did not hear him.

"I said, I am sorry" he said once again but louder this time.

"Oh" said Elora to herself, for all the years that she had been married to him, she had never heard him say the words "I am sorry" once, he had never opened his mouth to apologize, but now he was? what happened to him? thought Elora to herself.

But her sudden surprise was concealed and she replied him with a "Mhmm" it was something he was fond of doing, and she was just paying him back in his own coin.

"Goodnight" said Elora as she moved further away from Sapiens and closed her eyes.

Sapiens didn't reply, he knew that she did not acknowledge his apology, and who would blame her? it was all his fault, and he had to find a way to fix it and repay her for all the years she had wasted with him.

The Next morning

"Okay, what's wrong with you two? you both have ben acting strange since I saw you guys yesterday" said Annie as she ate some scrambled eggs.

Annie, Maddie and Curtis were together in the dining room having breakfast and there seemed to be a silent war going on between Maddie and Curtis.

Maddie and Curtis looked at Annie and then at each other "Nothing" they said in a chorus.

"Mhmm, I don't believe the both of you" said Annie

"Fine" said Maddie as she sighed

"Is it not Curtis, he's a sore loser and does not accept defeat" said Maddie as she stink eyed Curtis

"Oh am I now?? because I am sure that you cheated" said Curtis

"I told you I did not cheat" said Maddie as she looked at Curtis

"Of course you did, you must have done something to the dice and that's why I kept on loosing after I had won 3 games in a row" said Curtis

"That's just how games work, you stupid book, instead of whining accept defeat with the remaining dignity that you have" said Maddie

"Okay wait, excuse me, hold up?? what's going on here?" asked Annie as she was utterly confused, she was just sitting there watching Curtis and Maddie throw insults at each other.

"Annie, I will explain" said Maddie

"Yesterday when you were in your lesson, I was bored so I asked Curtis to play snaked and ladders with me" explained Maddie but she was interrupted by Annie's laughing

"Wait?? so you are telling me that you both are fighting about snakes and ladders?? a bored game" said Annie as she could not contain her laughter.

"Stop laughing Annie, this is a very serious matter at hand" said Curtis as he looked at Annie

"Okay wait, give me a minute" said Annie as she continued to laugh.

"Okay phew, carry on" said Annie as she seemed to calm herself down.

"As I was saying, before you rudely interrupted me" said Maddie as she looked at Annie

"Me and Curtis were playing snakes and ladders, he won the first time and then I asked for a rematch and then he won the other two matches, but then in the fourth match I won, and he keeps on saying that I cheated even though I won fair and square" explained Maddie

"Ahhh I see" said Annie

"I am sure she cheated, how does that work?? that beats logic, I had been wining and then she suddenly won" said Curtis

"Excuse me Curtis but that's called luck, and also it's the way games work, You are just acting like this because you have never lost before" said Maddie

"Well I beg to differ, because right before you supposedly won you held the dice in your hands for more than 10 seconds and believe me I was counting, those 10 seconds were more than enough for you to cast a spell of the dice" explained Curtis.

"The fact that you think so little of me" said Maddie as she scoffed

"Okay okay, you both time out" said Annie as she finally interfered or else things would become worse.

"Firstly Curtis, Maddie didn't cheat, that's just how games work, you loose some and you win some" explained Annie

"And Secondly, can you both stop being childish, like I said it was just a game" said Annie

"Now, Curtis apologize to Maddie for calling her a cheat" said Annie, but Curtis ignored her.

"Curtis" called Annie in a stern voice, sheesh it was like she was a mother to two big toddlers.

"I am sorry, Maddison for calling you a cheat" said Curtis

"Good, now Maddie apologize to Curtis" said Annie

"What??? for what???" asked Maddie

"For arguing with him" said Annie

"But-" said Maddie

"But nothing" said Annie

"Fine, Sorry Curtis for telling the truth" said Maddie

"Okay that's enough, there you have made up" said Annie

"Oh what is happening here?" asked Stella as she walked into the dining room.

"Ahh Good Morning Aunt Stella, haha nothing is happening here" said Annie

"Good Morning Aunt Stella" said Maddie

"Good Morning girl" said Stella as she pulled out a chair and sat down.

"Curtis" she said

"Stella" replied Curtis with a nod.

"Oh is that so? I was hearing some noises from outside" said Stella

"Ahh that was because Maddie and Curtis were discussing something but it's been resolved now" said Annie

"Ahh I see" said Stella

"Ahhh I have to get going, for my lesson with Professor Sapiens" said Annie as she smiled, but in reality she was dreading going back to that Office after what happened yesterday, she was sure that Sapiens would make her life terrible from now on.

"Oh, that's what I actually came to tell you dear" said Stella as he poured herself some tea

"Sapiens informed me that he would not be available for the next few days, so all your lessons with him are cancelled" said Stella

"Really??" asked Annie with joy evident in her eyes, she forgot to hide her happiness.

"Ahh I mean, really??" she asked again but this time seriously and a little bit sadly.

"Yes really" said Stella a she stirred her tea" she was observant enough to notice the glee in Annie's first reply.

"Ahh what a bummer and I was really looking forward to today's lesson" said Annie as she lied.

"I see" said Stella as she drank her tea.

"Hey Annie, what's going on? we both know that you don't like Professor Sapiens" said Maddie as she talked to Annie in her mind.

"Ahhh, don't worry Maddie, I will tell you later" replied Annie

"Oh okay?" said Annie

"Annie tell me, does Professor Sapiens treat you well?" asked Stella

"Ahh" said Annie, as this question was unexpected.

"Haha well he's very serious Aunt Stella but he teaches well" said Annie

"Really?" asked Stella

"Yes Really" said Annie as she laughed.

"Good Morning Everyone" said Lisa as he and John walked into the room.

"Good Morning Mom, Good Morning dad" said Annie

"Good Morning Uncle and Aunt" said Maddie

"Good Morning John and Lisa" said Stella

"So how was your trip to Sunset Village?" asked Stella

"It was very good, thank you for asking" said John as he smiled and Stella smiled back.

"And Mira, was she helpful?" asked Stella

"Yes she was very helpful, please thank her for us" said John

"Oh I will, I also need to see her today" said Stella as she smiled.

"Ahh well I'm done now, and I have some studying to do, so see you all later" said Annie as she smiled.

"Oh Okay dear, see you" smiled Stella

"Bye dear" said Lisa as she smiled.

"Ahh I am also full, so I am going with Annie, Bye everyone" said Maddie

"Bye Maddie" said Stella

"Ahh I forgot to ask Aunt Stella about Adrian" thought Annie to herself as she walked to her room.

"Hey Annie, wait up, now that we are alone, you have to tell me what happened" said Maddie as she ran to catch up to Annie

"Ahh okay, first let's go to our room" said Annie

"Okay" said Maddie

Meanwhile in Sapiens House

Sapiens had woken up early today, he had informed Stella that he would not be available for the next few days, and he was now in his home office.

He seemed to be focused on something as he was writing, what was he writing you ask?

Well he was writing a list of things that he needed to make up to Elora, he was serious when he said that he was sorry, he wanted to make things right and amend his ways, he could only hope that she would forgive him.

Sapiens stopped writing and walked out of his office to the dining room, a he joined everyone for Breakfast.

"Good Morning Professor Sapiens" said Sophie as she was the first to notice his presence.

"Good Morning Father" said Lucinda as she bowed her head

"Good Morning Professor" said Lucas as he knew that he did not have a place to address Sapiens casually.

"Good Morning Grandfather" said the children

"Good Morning everyone" said Sapiens as he smiled and replied.

His eyes went to Elora, who was serving the children waffles with Sophie, she was the only on who didn't greet him.

"Good Morning Elora" said Sapiens as he smiled

Elora looked up and her eyes met Sapiens "Good Morning" she said as she went back to what she was doing.

"Here are some waffles my child" she said as she smiled and put waffles on Levi's plate.

"Thank you Grandma" said Levi as he smiled

"You are welcome my dear" said Elora as she patted him on his head.

"Lucinda how did you sleep?" asked Sapiens as he took a seat at the head of the dining table.

"I slept well Father, thank you for asking how did you sleep?" asked Lucinda

"Well" replied Sapiens

"How did you sleep children?" asked Sapiens

"Very well" said Matt

"I dreamt of rainbows" said Ellie

"It was awesome" said Levi as all of the Sundew children narrated how they slept.

"That's nice" said Sapiens as Sophie served him his food.

"Matt, can you hear me?" asked Sapiens in Matt's mind

"Huh?? Grandfather?" asked Matt in his head.

"Yes it's me Matt, I need you to gather your siblings and meet me in my Office after breakfast can you do that?" he asked

"Okay Grandfather??" said Matt as he was curious to why he wanted to see all of them.

Meanwhile back at the Palace.

"Okay now we are alone, tell me what happened" said Maddie as Annie closed their room door.

"Ahhh okay, so, I may or may not have, asked Professor Sapiens about my grandmother and I also may or may not have told him that he valued her memory more than that of his own wife" said Annie

"You did what???" asked Maddie as she gasped.

"I know" said Annie

"He angrily sent me out of his office, I am sure that If I stayed there any long he would have killed me" said Annie

"My gosh, how are you going to fix this??" asked Maddie

"If not because he's taken leave, you would be in soup, and not the cold kind, you would be in hot boiling soup" said Maddie

"Yeah geee Thanks Maddie for pointing out the obvious" said Annie sarcastically

"You are welcome" said Maddie as she smiled.

"But serious what do I do?? he's going to be back soon" said Annie

"Well I still suggest that you tell Aunt Stella about it, she can do something" said Maddie

"No I have gone too deep" said Annie

"All we can do is wait and hope that he's mature and forgets what I said... or at least he never mentions it again" said Annie

"Well Annie, I wish you goodluck because I don't know why? but I am sure he won't" said Maddie plainly