RAIN

Chapter twenty two

He listened to the beeping machines as he eyed the nurse who was tending to him. She wasn't much to look at, just a scrawny, flat-chested woman with a wide smile. She tidied the sheets around him and then put the dirty ones in her bin.

"You're very lucky to be alive Mister Mannan," she said.

"Please call me Jet. I'm not that old yet, am I?"

"No, of course not." Her cheeks turned red and she smiled widely. Even in this state, he still had game it seemed. The foolish thought made him chuckle.

The door opened and his parents burst in, his mother clutching her handbag to her chest as she hurried over to the bed. The nurse bowed and they reciprocated before turning their attention to their injured offspring.

"Jet what happened?" His mother began her interrogation as she leaned in and started to examine him. "I asked you if you needed help. You're lucky I didn't listen and I sent grandpa out to find you."

"Why didn't you listen to your mother?"  His father joined into the scolding. "Look at your condition! You could have died out there. I told you not to come here alone and to wait. Mom and I would have come with you but you're just too stubborn."

The nurse slipped out of the room, closing the door behind her. Jet sighed, cursing her in his head for abandoning him with his parents.

"Where's Piper?"

"Your sister is home, honey. She wanted to come but she has an exam later. She will call you, she promised."

"How's her lovely boyfriend?"

"No, nice try buddy but you're not deflecting our attention that easy," his father said with a grin. His mother was at the foot of the bed reading the chart.

"He has a fractured skull...a fractured skull!" she lamented. His father turned and they locked eyes. They were the kind of couple who didn't need words to communicate. It was their superpower.

"What were you doing out there? Going a hundred miles per hour?"

"No. I got hit in the back of the head a few times. Just F Y I."

"What?" His parents stared at him, their eyes wide open.

"Jet what happened out there? The police wanted to come to talk to you but your grandpa stopped them," his mother said as she sat at the side of his bed. She took his hand and squeezed.

"The police?"

"Yes. You told a doctor that there were bodies in the bog. How did you know that?"

He stared into her eyes, the familiar shade of hazel brown relaxed him. The smell of her perfume, the shine of her long needle straight hair that she kept open today; these things all reminded him of warm childhood memories and yet, he shuddered.

"I saw them put someone in there."

"Who did?"

"Rain's grandfather. Phayu Suriya. That's his name. He was some associate of grandpa's. A long time ago. I saw pictures of them."

"Where did you see these pictures?" His mother continued her interrogation as his father observed him with slanted eyes.

"In an abandoned temple. I told you, Mom, I was with someone named Rain at his home. He told me his uncle went missing and I saw them put his body into the bog. They were trying to kill Rain and his cousins and  I saved them, I think. I don't remember all of it. Rain was attacked by his grandfather. He got stabbed in the neck. I think he died."

"Honey, the police have been out there. It's all over the news. They are attempting to drain the bog but they have to wait for the storm surge to recede. They did find some bodies out there but no signs of any survivors or people living out there anyway."