Cupcake Boy

Chapter 28

Hello my lovely readers. Here's a new long chapter for you guys. Don't forget to let me know what you think.

I hope you're all safe and doing well.

Take good care of yourselves. God bless you guys and have a wonderful day ahead?

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AJ's POV

"Well. Here goes." Stopping in front of the dark brown gates, I took a deep breath. It wasn't enough to calm my raging heart but it was enough to keep me going. I was terrified to walk in. My hands were clammy as I stared at the front door. I've known these people my whole life and for the first time ever, I felt like a stranger.

As I looked at Cora's house, I noticed that the garden was not properly maintained. The grass was overgrown. The plants were not trimmed. Brown leaves filled the garden grounds. There were no flowers blooming in any of the flowering plants as well.

Mrs.Charles loved her garden. She loved the plants and all her flowers. Envious neighbours would only boost her pride. Her garden was always the talk of the neighborhood. And now, it looked dead. It somehow reflected what she must be feeling at the moment.

Pushing my fears away, I walked up to the front door and knocked twice.

No answer.

I knocked again. There was no answer but I heard shuffling from the inside. And so I knocked again.

After a long moment, I heard the sound of the lock behind the door. Then it opened and there stood a very dull looking Mrs. Charles. Her hair was unkempt and dishevelled. Her clothes were wrinkled up and she had heavy eye bags. Her eyes were no longer the vibrant grey that would brighten up your day by just looking at them. They were dead and emotionless. She had her arms wrapped around herself and was squinting due to the light. I assumed that she never left the house ever since Cora passed away.

Her condition brought tears to my eyes. This strong woman looked so weak. She had given up on life. As I continued to observe her, I looked into her eyes and saw myself.

This must have been how I looked like. This must have been how Rylen felt when he saw me. How Willow and Noah must have felt.

A single tear fell out of my eye and slid down my cheek.

"AJ."

"Aunty."

"Wh-"

"I am....I am so sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't save her. I'm sorry I wasn't there to stop it. Maybe if I paid enough attention to her I would have known something was terribly off. I'm so sorry-"

I couldn't continue because she pulled me towards her and hugged me. I cried in her embrace and she cried in mine. We poured out our sorrow and mourned for the one we lost. At that moment I realised that this was what we needed.

We needed to embrace each other and let go of the all the pain and hurt that was buried inside of us. We needed to cry it out with each other. We needed to accept Cora's death. I needed to accept it.

We stood in each other's arms at the entrance of her house as she wept for a long time. Then we finally away from each other and I saw her red eyes.

"I wanted to ask where have you been?" She finally whispered to me. I was shocked to hear those words as I was expecting her to be angry with me.

"I thought you wouldn't want to see me." I said to her in a shaky voice.