Jumanji: Ancient Ruins § Applyfic

III

Friday / 6:30 pm / Grandparents' House

Delta's POV

Delta D'Angelo lay on the spare bed in her grandparents' house. For her, it was weird being back in the United States, but it was not like she had a say in the matter. Her parents had to go on their business trip around the surrounding countries around Italy for a year and they preferred she finish up her last year of schooling without interruptions. Now she lay on a strange bed, in a strange mansion, in a strange new country, and with family, she only met once.

A small knock came from the bedroom door before the door creaked open. Delta immediately stood up from her bed, out of respect, and opened the door for her Grandmother. "Ciao, Anonn Lehman, is there something that you need?"

Accepting the opened door, her grandmother entered and sat on the edge of the bed. She pats the edge of the bed and Delta takes a seat next to her. "You may just call me Anonn, my dear. No need to be formal here."

"Yes, of course, Anonn."

"I just wanted to finally see my eldest grandchild," she told her, tucking Delta's short hair behind her ear. Seeing her grandmother in person was different than Delta had imagined. She was short, her feet dangling off the bedside, and her black hair was longer than Delta's, almost reaching her waist. Her small eyes were dark but held a warm brown glow that relaxed her in the new environment. Delta began to question why her mother never came to visit, much less talk about her side of the family. They seemed very kind.

"It is nice to finally meet you as well, Anonn. Ma does not speak much about her family, I'm afraid," she stated to her, a small sad smile tugged at her lips for a second before it disappeared. "How is Unonn?"

"Doing well. He is asleep downstairs. He had a long day waiting for you to arrive at the airport this morning." Delta nodded remembering the elder sitting on a bench just outside the gate. The two of them tired for different reasons: timezones and it being two in the morning. Luckily, Delta managed to sleep off most of the jet lag when she arrived, Unonn Lehman not so much.

Delta watched as her grandmother pulled a scrapbook from the bedside table and began flipping through the photos. Curious, she leaned over and asked, "What are you looking for?"

"Oh, just a picture. Ah- here we go," she smoothed out the page and offered the book to Delta. "Your papà brought you over when you were about four. Both of us were overjoyed to finally hold you in our arms. However, it was difficult for us to communicate with a small Italian-speaking toddler. Even more difficult to understand a small two-year-old babbling to an Italian kid."

"Two-year-old?"

"Your younger cousin, of course." Grandmother flipped the page, revealing a mini Shandor and a mini her. The two did not look much different just older with less baby fat and, of course, piercings.

Delta solely nodded. "Right, how could I forget."

"Don't talk like that. She really did love you," she said flipping through old photographs of the family: some with just the two of them, others with their parents.

"We were barely in scuola materna! Besides Ma made it very clear how she felt about her family, honestly, I'm surprised she agreed to send me here and not with my Papà's family," Delta interjected before quickly adding. "With all due respect, you have a really lovely home and you both have been very gracious hosts."