Broken Bonds

Chapter 47

Reine Parker

After being woken up from the nightmare, I could no longer go back to sleep so I decided to go for a morning jog instead. It felt all nostalgic, running along the dilapidated park around the neighbourhood. I even got to watch the sun rise after completing my jog. 

On my way heading back, a mysterious person who dressed fully in black hoodie and bottom headed towards my direction. My hand instinctively reached for the dagger that Mason gave me as I carefully watched the person's movements. 

The person avoided eye contact and hurriedly ran past me, in the process dropping a note on the ground. Seeing that the person had disappeared into plain sight, I then picked up the piece of paper from the ground. I wasn't sure if the person had dropped this paper on purpose or by accident. But either ways, this person screamed danger and suspicious. 

Opening up the note, it was a sentence which was scribbled across the paper that said, "You are the key to the ending of this game." The handwriting felt oddly familiar, but I couldn't recall where I had seen it before. 

By the words of the game, it must be referring to the threat that was made against both me and Ari. Seems like I have to do some research on my own before alerting the rest, not even Roman should know about this for the time being. I will tell them when the time comes. Folding the paper into a smaller piece, I hurriedly stuffed into the pockets of my sweatpants and headed back to the house. 

Ariana Romano

The door opened and in came Reine, who was dressed in a t-shirt and sweatpants. She must have went for a morning jog because she couldn't fall asleep. 

"Morning, how was your run?" I asked, as she took off her running shoes and placed them on the shoe rack before changing into slippers. 

"Morning, it was pretty refreshing. Let me go take a shower first." She smiled, before scurrying upstairs to her room. Alex and the rest slowly headed out from their rooms one after another, as they took their seats at the table. The last one to appear was Roman, who greeted me when he arrived to the table.

Reine had told me that Roman used to visit our house last time, for which I had some vague memory of it, but we were just not so close. I can tell from the way he looked at the rest of my family was not so friendly, given that we've all played a part in hurting Reine once. It was only right for him to think of it that way. 

Halfway through our breakfast, Reine came down from her room after her shower and joined us at the table. It had been a week since she had moved back with us and this was the first time that she had sat down willingly to have a meal with all of us. 

All of us stopped eating and looked at her in shock and surprise, but mostly happiness. Happy that she was at least willing to sit down to even have a meal with us now. She never bothered with the glances that we threw at her, every now and then throughout the entire meal. But at least it was a peaceful meal without any disruptions. 

One step at a time.

Reine Parker

I had almost forgotten that I still had an internship to attend because of all the chaos that happened during past month. Due to the fact that I had moved from England to Italy, I had to withdraw my application to the previous hospital and looked for a hospital which accepts interns. 

Thankfully, there were a few and I managed to get into one as my internship. I was informed to report to the hospital next Monday, meaning that I have 2 more days before the start of the internship. 

After having dinner, I headed for a shower and decided to catch up on my studies as I haven't been able to do due to all the moving of places. 

Time flew by the moment I picked up my books and it was already 1am in the morning. Stifling a yawn, I closed the book and headed out of the room as I was craving for some hot chocolate to drink before sleeping. The living room was in pitch black when I went down so I had to move slowly through the dark, just in case I trip and fall over something. 

I switched on the kitchen lights as I had to look for the ingredients needed to make hot chocolate. Warming up the small cup of milk, I then added a tablespoon of cocoa powder followed by a generous amount of chocolate chips as I preferred a thick cup of hot chocolate. 

Stirring the pot so as to ensure that it would not burnt at the bottom, I then looked around for a cup. Grabbing a cup nearby, I poured the ready made hot chocolate into the cup then headed for a seat at the counter. 

Sipping on the cup of hot chocolate, I sighed in content as it warmed up the inside of my intestines. I hope I was going to have a good night's sleep after this cup. 

"Can't sleep?" A sudden voice made me jumped a little, almost spilling the content of my cup. Alexander's face morphed into a sorry one, as he muttered an apology for scaring me. 

He took out a bottle of whiskey from the cupboard and wanted to pour himself a drink but I stopped him and said, "There's some hot chocolate left in the pot, drink that instead." He looked surprised at my words, but got a cup and poured the remaining hot chocolate into his mug.

He was debating whether to take the seat beside me or opposite me until he opted for the latter seat. I continued sipping on my hot chocolate and remained silent.

"It's still your favourite drink." He whispered, so softly that I almost missed it. Was he talking to himself or was I supposed to reply that?

I chose to ignore it since I don't feel obliged to reply that. 

"Do you still...have nightmares now?" He asked with so much hesitation in his tone, making me almost unsure whether to say the truth or to lie. 

"It came back again, since the moment I stepped into this house." I answered, I will give him the answer if that's what he wants to hear. His hand gripped tightly onto the mug, and it looked as though the mug was going to shatter under his tight grip any moment. 

"What can we do, to make those nightmares stop haunting you?" His eyes shone with tears, and it was as if I was back to the time when he was still that loving brother of mine. 

"Nothing, just...don't do anything. It's not something that any of you can help. I will be grateful if you would stop trying to act like some caring and loving brothers." I placed the cup on the table, as I continued to keep my focus on the cup in front of me. I did not want to look at his face, knowing that it would make me waver. 

"We will never stop trying, unless we die. Till the day that you will be filled with happiness, we will always be atoning for the cruel things that we've done to you." I was expecting to hear uncertainty in his voice, but none could be detected. His tone was laced with determination which I've never heard before, so it was new to me. 

"Do as you wish, but don't expect anything from me." I replied coldly, putting away the mug in the sink after washing it and headed back to my room. 

I was not going to entertain his bullshit. 

updated! school just started and lots of projects are already flowing in IWNIJNSJWIS and it's finally a weekend so here it is! 

Happy reading! -22/10/2022