“Am I using this right?”
In an empty room right now alone with a computer, an elderly grandma is trying to use the device in order to search for something.
The search:
[ How to help my granddaughter]
With her keywords now accepted by the search engine, the results that came out already had all its links highlighted in purple.
“I already saw this one and it just made her embarrassed”
The concerned grandma is running out of links to click because she has already reached almost 500 pages of Gogle result
“Maybe this one? Or this one? All this technology stuff is confusing.”
The elderly lady proceeded to check more and more pages and yet the results were still insufficient for what she needed.
“Ask for help from a wise helpful goblin?”
Buried for all these results one managed to catch the grandma’s attention. It is a blog site that seemed to be ancient at this point. The last post was still back in 2007 and it is already currently 2024 making it already 17 years.
“‘In order to inquire to the wise helpful goblin please send a mail to my E-mail’ is what it said”
The grandma then typed on her keyboard one finger at a time only using one hand in order to request help. The goblin’s email address still uses Hatmail which today would be Outbook.
The email:
‘ Dear Mr. Goblin
I am a grandma who is concerned about my granddaughter, I would like to ask the wise helpful goblin for help. My sweetie since she was a child has always been evasive of other people. I suspect that this may be because her parents died in a boat accident. She used to be more outgoing but ever since that moment, she stopped smiling and I tried my hardest alone to change that. But I think Mr. Goblin that I am running out of time, my legs get tired more and my heart is getting weaker. I am afraid that any moment now will be my last breath and that I will leave her behind alone and that she will stay alone.
I see from your posts that you can grant wishes so I would like to just wish for your help and guidance to her when I am gone. I have already been warned that a lot of scams happen on the internet but I get the feeling that this is the real deal. It is fine if you can not help, with 500 pages of search results I already almost exhausted every option. Mr.Goblin I await your reply.`
~~~
A lot of people are gathering in one place right now wearing all black and with a sad expression. Right now a Funeral is being held.
“My condolences.”
The visitor gives their condolences to the girl who is standing in front of the casket however with every word they give the only response they get is a simple nod with her expression not changing.
The girl with a mute expression is the granddaughter of the one who is being grieved right now. She is currently on her way to grade 12 or 2nd year of senior high school. Currently, it is summer vacation usually a happy month for students but right now it is the opposite for the first thing she is doing is mourning a loved one.
The grandmother is loved by people in the village and so a lot of them attended but as for any family members there are none other than the granddaughter due to everyone else with their blood already having perished, she is the only one left. The girl is being comforted by the other villagers but all she hears are insulting pities she does not want. In order to get out of the situation she just tried to deflect all of them using a nod with an empty expression.
throughout the ceremony, she didn't once shed a tear only showing that she is strong because, after all, she already experienced both her parents dying, this shouldn't be so different from that. The three days she was there were just full of mourning and when the fourth day came the grandma was finally buried. Every people who participated now left only leaving the granddaughter behind still emotionless just staring at the tombstone. After standing for half an hour she decided to leave until she heard a voice.
"Are you just gonna leave like that?"
She looked around for the source of the voice and after some searching, she found something, a figure above the trees. She inspected the figure some more and she slowly recognised what she was looking at and what she sees is a humanoid person with green skin and long ears akin to goblins that is shown in TV shows and movies but for some reason, this goblin was wearing a suit and tie that you would see businessman wear.
"What do you mean by am I just gonna be like that?"
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The granddaughter replied to the goblin's comment but the goblin seemed surprised
"Ohoho, you seemed to not be bothered by my appearance."
"It's been a long week already and I already lost all my energy to give a hoot about anything else right now."
The two had started a conversation with the goblin still standing over the trees.
"I meant are you just gonna leave your grandmother like that?"
"Leave her? I am the one who got left behind."
"I guess she is a horrible grandmother huh."
"That is not what I meant"
"Then what?"
The granddaughter is currently agitated by the goblin's words. The goblin finally jumped down and casually and slowly walked towards the granddaughter while talking.
"These past days where were you?"
"Right here! Mourning for my grandmother."
"Really? Because from what I saw you were not here at all."
" I am RIGHT HERE STANDING!."
" Exactly that's all you did, stand. Not once did you acknowledge your grandmother. All you did there is Stand and stare emptily with an occasional shallow smile just to fend off people who are concerned for you."
The goblin gets closer and closer to the granddaughter while the granddaughter is frozen in place with an angered expression facing down the ground. The more he walks the more the wind around them seems to get stronger and after some time now the trees around them are starting to look like they are dancing with how strong the wind is.
" Do you hate your Grandmother?"
" Of course not! "
"Then why does it look like you don't care about her."
" I care! I truly do care but nothing I do will change anything about her death. Even if I do some fancy speech about how much I love her, that won't revive her so what is the point in doing anything?”
" So just because you think nothing can change that you believe you should just do nothing? "
The wind gets stronger and stronger while the granddaughter just has a pained look and clenched fist looking like she can explode anytime.
" You know, your grandmother also felt like there is nothing she can do."
" What?"
For a second there the strong winds got calmer.
" She long felt that there is nothing that she can do to help you because you are a teenager now. You use modern slang she does not get, emotions that only other teens can feel and a distance between the old and the young that had put a boundary between you two."
" I did not mean to make her feel distant."
" But you know even if it felt like there was nothing she could do, she still tried everything that might help. She read magazines to maybe relate, she used online sites for the first time to research and the most radical thing she did of all was making a wish to me. The wise goblin."
" You are... the wise goblin?"
"Indeed. Summoning me is no easy task for people have long forgotten my existence only being considered a myth that does not exist in the real world. Your grandmother only managed to find a way to summon me by scouring the net for a month straight reaching over 500 pages of web results, it took so long because she tried every single solution that can work to maybe help you.
"She did all of that?"
"She did and back then you just scoffed all of it as cringy and uncool for how she was trying to encourage you or lighten you up."
" I am sorry."
" Why are you apologizing to me."
" I... I just don't think that I can actually ask her for forgiveness."
The wind's strength came back and now it is even stronger than before The goblin held his necktie and fixed it as he started speaking.
" Let this wise goblin tell you something. You do not actually need to ask for her forgiveness because she already forgave you, you just need to let her have a chance to forgive you. You two are family after all, remember?"
In the granddaughter's mind right now she finally noticed it, she had unconsciously forgotten that the two of them were family. With her feelings of wanting to be strong alone, she forgot how much effort her grandmother was putting out just for her. She is now feeling guilty that she couldn't even show an ounce of care towards her death.
" Just so you know, it is fine to feel emotion."
" But that is cringy and lame."
" Then be this 'cringy' it's only us right now and your grandmother."
" But..."
" Which is more important right now? But you can do whatever you want I can not force you to do this because if I do it will just mean nothing."
The wind represents her emotion and it just keeps on getting stronger and stronger but the two of them are unfazed even if the wind surrounding them already looks like a tornado. The granddaughter reminisced the days she and her grandmother spent together and it went back all the way when she first moved with her. The grandmother was concerned about her granddaughter because she just had a pained look all the time. The grandmother hugged her trying to comfort her and assuring her that it is alright to cry. Despite being just a small kid back then she did not cry. Her grandmother never saw her cry at all which is a concern while the granddaughter saw it as a sign of strength that despite what happened that she is just fine. But is it really alright?
" I do not need to be a mind reader to tell you this for the winds are just screaming it, It is alright to cry."
As the granddaughter hears his words a mountain of emotion has begun to burst through. She closed her eyes to stop it from bursting but she just saw her memories with her grandmother. She just couldn't stop it anymore and tears started to go down. The wind around them got calmer and by the time the wind fully stopped, the granddaughter was just wailing.
With no wind cancelling the sound of her cry, it can be heard loudly.
" I... I am so sorry grandma. I just did not know what to say, I thought I was ready to be alone ever since my parents died but in reality, I was never ready. I am so scared right now so I wanted to hide behind a strong persona but that mask is just as fragile as me. I am alone at school and does not get along with anyone else so you were the one I was looking forward to whenever I was going home. I was not ready to accept this yet so I did not say anything but for the past 4 days I always had something I wanted to convey to you. Grandma, I will miss you. I am so sorry if I ever make you feel distant and thank you for being the best grandmother a granddaughter can ever have. I promise you that I will be fine."
With the granddaughter finally being able to say her piece. The wise goblin fixed his necktie and responded as well.
"And I promise that I will help you."
"What?"
" That was your grandmother's wish."
"So what you will become my caregiver?"
"No, You won't be seeing me all the time but whenever a problem wind surrounds you expect me to be there to help you calm it down."
"So much for help."
"You need to be able to survive for yourself, that is one of your grandmother's wishes."
"So Mr. Goblin I have a question."
"What is it?"
" Do you have a name? "
" Ohoho of course. You can call me Anil, and how can I refer to you?"
" You can call me Lana, thank you for your help."
With that encounter, the journey of Lana's growth into a person her grandmother is comfortable leaving behind began with the help of the wise goblin who answered her grandmother's wish.
“Oh, Mr. Ani I have a question again.”
“Ohoho what is it?”
“What is a Wise Goblin?”
The goblin who had the smile of victory over making Lana finally express her emotion is now on his knees with a face of defeat.