Up and Downs

1

 Chapter 1

At the theater in Sunset Valley, a few workers behind the stage were fixing a wooden-made castle before the show would start. The host of the show was the blonde woman Zelda Mae, who analyzed the situation and took a look at her time.

"Alright people, we still have ten minutes. Take your time, if it takes a little longer it won't matter. As I see, there's nothing much to fix, right?"

"Just the front cover and we're done on my part, Zelda," Commented a brunette man with a beard, then looked across the place at two other men, one of them was Beau Andrews, who held a raven-haired man over his shoulder to fix the top of the castle.

"Guys, you know we have ladders?" Asked Zelda watching Beau give a thumb up.

"Don't worry. We're careful," Promised Beau making Zelda roll her eyes and go aside the castle to encounter her now-adult nephew Parker Langerak along with Christopher Collins adjusting a medieval flag against the wall.

"That angle looks perfect!" Commented Zelda. "Why did you two think about changing it?"

"My son happened to see a documentary about the medieval times and some castles had the flags like that," Explained the long-haired man making Zelda smile.

"Brilliant idea!" Confessed Zelda clapping for the man, then looked at her nephew, who stood there neutrally. "Did you like the idea too?" Questioned the blonde looking at the raven-haired man, who looked at the flag. After a moment, Parker was still glued with his eyes on the flag making Zelda a little confused, then Christopher nudged Parker with his fist gently on the shoulder to catch his attention.

"Uh what......oh.....it's a good idea. Sorry, I was.....kind of lost right now," Mentioned Parker a bit embarrassed making Zelda chuckle and place her hand on Parker's shoulder.

"Don't worry. Accidents happen. It wasn't yours nor anyone else's. We should have the theater checked up a long time ago. We should be glad, it was just a bag, that fell during the rehearsal and nothing else. That would have been worse," Commented Zelda making Parker nod and pass by Zelda to pick up from the table one of the thermos bottle to drink, while Zelda observed him with a smile.

"Uh Zelda, I think something's not right with Parker," Commented the wavy-haired man earning a curious look from the woman. "I don't know if he is having a hard time at home or anything. He barely talks lately. Both in starting a conversation or attending one. Or is this just how I feel about him?"

"Well, now that you ask that. I actually did notice that he seems less talkative lately. So far I know, everything is fine in his family," Explained Zelda, then looked at her nephew that placed the bottle back and looked at the entrance of the wardrobe, where a few musicians stood together with his wife River Langerak. Zelda observed the brunette laugh about something that she heard from the musician Pauline Wan and looked towards the table, where the husband stood. River made her way toward the table to pick up another thermos bottle and before taking a sip, she quickly gave her husband a peck on his face.

"They don't seem to be the issue," Commented Zelda watching River return to the group to see Pauline begin to tell the conductor a different story. Zelda looked back at her nephew, who took his bottle again to drink and gaze at the ground neutrally. Zelda rolled her eyes at River, which was listening to her work pal and pondered about, what she could do about the issue of Parker. Zelda made her way toward the group and then placed her hand on River's shoulder.

"River, could I talk to you? In private?" Questioned Zelda making River nod, then Zelda walked with the brunette towards the end of the stage, where the door was to the exit.