My Opp's Sister 2

𝟐𝟖

𝟑𝐫𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧

"Is it him, Rebecca?"

"...oh God..."

Rebecca's breathing ceases. The emotion rushing through her veins is painful. She strains her vocals, but nothing comes out. Still, she screams, hoping something will escape.

Suddenly, her body wracks with raw sobs and she shakes like a leaf. Fright consumes every cell in her, swelling them with terror. As every second passes, she practically feels the rise of her blood pressure. But she knows blood pressure is the least of her problems.

"Becca..." Headie prompts.

She's so lost in emotion, she's forgotten that everyone else is waiting for confirmation. Casyo's younger sisters. His childhood friends. Her childhood friends. Her father. The worry on their faces is paragraphical. She has to tell them. They deserve to know.

"...it's not Cas..."

"Oh, thank God." They all utter words of relief that Casyo isn't dead. But Rebecca knows something they don't. They're not completely out of the woods yet.

"It's Nuk."

Autumn just collapses.

Her heart completely stops. Uma tries to hold her up but the both of them sink to the floor together. Did she hear that right? Did she hear Nuk? Her best friend. The one person on earth that understood her. The only person. "NO!" She weeps in Uma's shaking arms. "No, not Nuk, please not Nuk."

"Becca, you sure?" Tory takes the phone from her to double check the picture. Now he wishes he hadn't. Because even though, like they said on the news, half the victim's face is torn off, he recognises them instantly.

Nikolai Hansen.

His brother from knee hight. He doesn't understand. How did this happen? Why? Who would do that? Everybody loves Nuk. Tory doesn't cry in front of company. He's the last person you'd expect to do that. But tonight, he can't help it.

Nuk's dead.

"Fuck, man! What the... how the fuck did this happen?!"

No one's even listening to him. They're all in their own little bubbles of confusion, just like he is. This one hits home. It hits home hard.

"It's alright, it's alright. I got you," Uma whispers to Autumn. His voice is lost in the volume of her grief. Her heart has never physically torn in two. Now she knows what that feels like. Because he's gone. He's gone. "Breathe. In and out, Autumn..."

"I... I can't... I can't..."

"You can, in and out. Nuk would want you to breathe, so you have to breathe, ok honey? It's gonna be fine, we'll sort this out." He, too, was in utter shock. Nuk was family to all of them. "His mum. Somebody needs to call Laila."

There's no pain like a mother losing her child. But Rebecca knows Laila's strong enough to get through this. Because Heaven gained another angel.

As if this isn't bad enough, nobody has any idea on Casyo and Eden's location. She can't handle this. It's too much. And Nuk's not here to hug her through it this time.