CHAPTER EIGHTY-TWO:
They, Them
--
Two days after, Becca moved out with Jack. Both expressed their gratitude to her and vice versa.
Althea wished them good luck before watching them leave from afar. The sight of them driving away
was rather lonely, it was like she was sending her children away for boarding school. The time they
spent might be small and short, it didn’t hinder the fact that they all grown closer.
When they were already nowhere in sight, Althea turned back and went inside the hotel, trying to smile
despite the emotions swirling inside her. It was really funny, to think she’ll be like this to the people she
didn’t spend her whole time with. If her old self sees her like this, she’ll mock her. She was known to be
aloof and cold after all.
“Mom.” Kai called out after she entered their room. Althea looked up and saw the kid making a small
hop to jump down the sofa and walk towards her. He looked up at her with his big, blue eyes. Althea
saw herself on him for a sec. She smiled and stroked his cheeks. This might be how her mother felt
whenever she seeks for asks questions with her eyes full of curiosity.
“Are Jack and Becca not coming back here again?” The little boy asked. Althea paused, she stared at
him for a good second before chuckling. She hoisted him up despite how he weighs and walks towards
the sofa. She sat down and sighed.
“Of course, they will!” She said softly. She slightly pinches his cheeks. “They will surely miss these
chubby cheeks of yours!”
“…” Kai lets her pinch his cheeks. “… How about Melanie…?”
“… Well,” Althea throwed her head back to the ceiling.
She called and informed Melanie and Emily about the situation, both were sad, of course and tried to
comfort her. Emily, as usual, throwed a joke to lighten up the things. Althea was worried about
Melanie’s reaction but aside from being sad about it, she has no other violent reaction.
“Unfortunately, since there’s no use going back here, she won’t. Maybe she will, in the future, but now,
she said she’ll try to find a work near her parent’s house.” Althea said after the pause. “She said that
she’ll take care of parents too while she’s at it.”
“Oh, she’s taking care of her parents…” He paused then stared at her eyes. “Do I need to take care of
you like that in the near future too?”
“Not necessarily. If you want, you can. But if you don’t want to, okay, it’s your choice.” Kai don’t do the
second choice, please. “Of course, you can just visit me from time to time.”
Kai nodded in understanding then casted his gaze downwards. Althea furrowed her brows in worry and
gently raised his small head up by his chin. “Hey, are you lonely without them?”
“…” Kai shook his head, paused, then slowly nodded his head. Althea laughed.
“Why are you lonely? You have mom, you have me.”
Well, that’s true. Kai thought then stared at his mom in silence. The latter smiled down at him and
casted him a questioning gaze. “When can we…”
Visit uncle Tyler?
“Kai?”
“Nothing.” Kai didn’t want to continue that sentence. It feels like it was a taboo to his mother, or maybe
she’ll be shocked since he was already calling him uncle. “I just want to ask when we can go back
home.”
Home, the town he grown up to. It was small and quiet. Away from the bustling, polluted cities. It was
an isolated town. With a long land of greeneries stretching for miles. Small houses and small stores.
There are mostly elderlies there, the youngsters had long migrated to cities to find work and money.
The town was small and money you can get there is not as big as you can in the city. But his mother
really preferred staying there and managing the shop. So, if she wants to go back there right now, he’ll
just shallow his desire to stay a little bit more.
-
Althea has no idea what her child was thinking. She said, “We’ll be back in four days, the case is
wrapping up soon.”
Kai just nodded his head silently.
“Oh, before we go back, let’s buy gifts to the elders. How does tomorrow sounds?”
“I can go with you?”
“Of course!” Althea said enthusiastically, thinking that she has to cheer her son up, so he won’t be that
sad to leave because he misses the other three. She forgot about Tyler. She forgot that her son likes
that man very much. Forgot?
Nah.
She unconsciously ignored it so she can cut ties with him without being guilty.
In the end, she did not even know she was being selfish.
Althea pinches his cheeks again, “Of course you can come with me, you can buy as much as you want
too. We’ll just make sure that it can fit in the car though. I know you are getting bored in this room. We
can even visit the amusement park if you want to!”
Kai nodded in agreement, “Okay.”
With that, they planned their small little date for tomorrow.
--
The next day, Tyler was having a bad day at work when his phone rang. His glare that was directed at
the papers earlier swept past it and went directly to his phone. Sharon, who felt the gaze on her for a
second, shivered. She has no idea why her boss is like that. Did he eat a fly or something?
He woke up earlier with a text form Althea’s phone. It was Kai who texted him, saying that they will go
to the amusement park that day and they will be leaving for the next few days. He wanted to go too, but
the work loads he has is stopping him, making him irritated.
The crease on Tyler’s forehead deepened when he saw who was calling. He let his pen go from his
deathly grip and picked up the phone with both hands. His body was leaning forward.
The caller was the one who he assigned to investigate the arsonist of Althea’s shop. He hasn’t
contacted him till now. Tyler has yet to hear his news but his heart was already thumping loudly against
his chest. He had a bad feeling about it.
“Hello?”
“Good morning, sir,” The investigator said. “We had finish investigating the man.”
“Speak.”
The investigator narrated everything he found about the man. Although the details are similar to what
Althea said to them, he listened carefully incase there is something he will miss. But until the very end,
his fear about Althea being target by someone did not surface.
“So no one is targeting her?” Is he just really overreacting?
“…” The man paused. “About that, yes. That is, just according to our investigation.”
Feeling that something is off, Tyler asked forcefully. “Stop stalling, speak.”
“Sir, since the records was very clean and simple, it was very suspicious. So, I went to the prison and
tried to interview him again. And, to our surprise, he talked.”
“Talk what?”
“I’ll send the recording.”
His phone beeped and Tyler pressed the play button. The more he listened to it, the stiffer he became.
//
“I would like to ask one last time” it was the voice of the investigator. His voice was echoing a little.
“Why did you burn her shop?”
There was silence before he can hear a muffled chuckle. Tyler thinks it was the arsonist behind the
glass wall with only small holes to let the sound travel. The laugh was strange. It was unnerving. “To be
honest, I myself has no idea.”
“What?”
“I have no idea who that bitch offended.” The laugher intensifies to the point that his words are barely
audible anymore. “Whoever they are, I am sure that they will chase that bitch until they get what they
want from her.”
“What are you talking about?”
The maniacal laughter continued. “That bitch will die for sure! She will!”
“Wha- have you finally gone crazy-?”
The recording went silent all of the sudden. It was a dead, still silence.
“Crazy?” He chuckled. “Maybe, but let me tell you something...
They are crazier than me.
They are monsters.”
//
Tyler did not let the recoding finish, instead, he fished his coat up from his chair and went outside.
“Sir?”
He ignored her. He went directly to the elevator while dialing Althea’s number. She wasn’t picking up.
Tyler cursed under his breath and felt that the elevator was awfully slow. He turned and decided to pick
the stairs. While he was descending, Sharon was chasing after him, trying to make him slow down.
But the man can’t hear anything but his thumping heart. In haste, he texted Althea to pick up his phone
then texted the driver to immediately ready the car.
He is pretty sure that the police will contact her later, but since it was his investigator who discovered it
first, he was the first one who got the notice. It was bad, looking at the time, the two are already out.
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