It was good to have Liu back. I was pleased. And I knew Jeff would be glad too. But to know that it was only through his sacrifice that his dear brother was returned to his side, it simply broke my heart. It only incited me to loathe the society I was living in even more than before. Where justice was never guaranteed, in this legal system we lived like a bunch of disposable playthings. They didn't even apologize for inadvertently jailing the innocents. Randy was dead. Both Keith and Troy were hospitalized for severe injuries. But these guys never got the punishment they deserved, at least, not given by this corrupted state we dwelled in. I wished they had all perished. And death would be such a remedy for Randy. He actually deserved something more detrimental than that. He ought to be burned alive in the hell. And if he had survived, I would have vowed to make every single day of his afterwards an endless torment. Nothing, absolutely nothing could describe the feeling stirring in my heart. I felt nothing more than pure grudge and sadness.
Three days after the incident, when everything cooled down a little in the neighborhood, I decided to visit the woods before I got to see Jeff after his long-hour operation. Liu accompanied me. Mom wouldn't let me out of the house, but what else could I do besides moping all day long inside my room? I sneaked out at noon and met Liu. When those eggs got destroyed, Jeff hid the two kittens we looked after in the barn, to protect them from Randy's gang. These two adorable animals were the only affiliations we had left in the forest. I wasn't going to give up on them no matter what. We used to feed them regularly. Jeff even bought a couple of cat toys for them, almost treating them as though they were his kids.
"Jane, where...are we going?" Liu asked as he lumbered after me.
"To our secret base." I answered and continued my walk up the hill in silence.
I flung open the barn door and let the two cuties greet me.
"Jane...they are...?"
"These are gifts from Jeff." I grinned, introducing the little grey baby in my arms. "This is Whirlwind. And that black one is Stormcloud."
"Oh...that reminds me...we used to have a pet in elementary school!"
"I know. A white bird, right?" I smirked, squatting down to open a can of tuna fish for our cats.
"Yea...Jeff must have told you I freed his favourite pet..." Liu giggled, bending down to fondle Whirlwind.
"He knew it wasn't an accident." I said plainly. "He understood your choice."
"Whatever I do, he never yells at me." Liu smiled bitterly. "He's the best brother I can ever have."
"Yea...the way he cared that much for you after you got taken to the juvenile hall sort of made me really jealous." I joked, but neither of us laughed. Every single word simply got bounced off as soon as they escaped my mouth. All the emotions and wishful thinking was deflated the second they were created. There was only awkward silence between us. I had to stop myself from trembling in melancholy. I was so depressed that whatever reminded me of Jeff would immediately send me on the verge of tears. I broke down at once with Stormcloud on my lap. I turned my back towards Liu so that he wouldn't see my sobbing. I wasn't comfortable with being seen in such vulnerable state. The only person who was allowed to witness my tears was Jeff.
I wanted to see him so much.
I was so worried about him.
They said he would live, but his face was brutally scotched. Most of his skin was scratched and bruised. I couldn't even imagine what he looked like now. I wouldn't dare to think of it because the fear just kept haunting me. It was torturing me. It was ripping me apart.
"Jane..." I heard footsteps shuffle towards me. A pair of arms spread out to embrace me from behind. For a swift second, I got completely carried away and naively mistook this warm hug for the one Jeff usually gave me.
