Detoxified

Chapter 16: Episode 10 - Part 2

After a couple days to digest the events that had transpired at Jeed's bar, Tharn had thought that... Perhaps he'd been too quick to suspect Lhong. That maybe-- just maybe-- Lhong had simply made a dumbass mistake, and there was nothing malicious behind it.

But when Lhong didn't show up to class on Monday, nor the Tuesday after, and responded to none of the texts or Line messages Tharn had sent him, the doubt and suspicion began to settle in once again.

Lhong hadn't missed a single day of class since high school, so save for the minute possibility that he may have suddenly developed a terrible illness, his absence made no sense.

Unless there was something, or someone, he didn't want to face. And, though the falling-out he and Tharn had had at the bar was quite severe, it actually paled in comparison to the worst they'd ever faced. But even after their worst fight a couple years back, they had still talked to one another a day later and worked it out.

Just... Everything about these current circumstances felt eerie and 'off' and overall intensely disquieting.

So, that Tuesday evening, while Type was in the shower after coming back from his arduous football practice, Tharn finally mustered the courage to set about proving his theory that the supposed 'news' Lhong had shared at the bar wasn't actually real.

...

God, this was so fucked-up.

Nevertheless, Tharn reached over to the coffee table, grabbed his laptop up from the surface and pulled it onto his lap as he rigidly slumped back against the couch. Opening a new tab, he then sat for a while, chewing his lip anxiously as he struggled to find the right words to search.

Eventually, however, he typed in a disorganized mess of keywords: 'Bangkok kidnapping eleven year-old recent'.

He... Actually felt a little gross typing in and actively searching for such a story, but it was for a greater cause, he supposed.

He spent a few minutes scrolling and clicking through the search results--some stories in the news were similar, but not exactly the same, or they were similar, but had taken place years in the past. Some stories, even, were a damn-near perfect match to the one Lhong had told... Except they'd occurred in a city other than Bangkok(in fact, the sickening Boy Named "T" article that seemed to follow Type wherever he went had shown up in the results).

But, evidently, there was no such story that perfectly encompassed the one Lhong had spoken of at the bar a few nights ago, and that had Tharn feeling...

Well, honestly Tharn didn't know what to feel now.

Some heady mixture of anger, disbelief, hurt, perhaps even the deepest level of sadness and despair he'd ever come to know. And, alongside it all: utter, unequivocal, agonizing betrayal.

So, then, this was the proof Tharn needed, but most certainly didn't want, in order to undoubtedly confirm that Lhong had made a deliberate attempt to trigger Type at the bar.

Feeling the infuriating sting of insistent, rage-filled tears pricking at his eyes, Tharn slammed his laptop shut and unceremoniously plopped it back onto the coffee table. Falling back against the couch, he roughly ran his hands through his hair and stared up at the ceiling, willing the tears not to fall.

How the hell did Lhong know anything about Type in the first place? And why would he even bother looking?

How long had he known about Type? The answer to that would ultimately be the final, truly damning piece of evidence against Lhong. Tharn still had one last thing to confirm, but he hardly believed he could handle the truth. He just needed to see one line of handwriting from his long-time best friend...