RED BLOOD REUNION

Chapter 3

                                                                                                                  Friday, August 4th

I saw her again, she was not alone , she was with those bullies, I don't know why she hangs out with them. I watched them from a distance, I made sure that they didn't see me,I only eyed her, Liyanne was dazzling , her skin glowed in the warm afternoon sunlight  while she flawlessly  sipped booze together with those guys, it had become a habit for them, they usually sneaked  booze in school, drinking it at the basketball court .I was the only one who knew what they were doing, when they skipped classes , I secretly  followed them just to see what they were up to.

I never wanted to snitch on them because Liyanne would hate me if I did so, I really liked her and I was willing to keep their secret,I just wish I had the guts to tell her what I felt for her. Sometimes Marlon calls me a dummy, saying I have fallen for the wrong girl but I think he's incorrect, she is the right person for me, even if she seems to be a bad girl, I will always like her.

When I was about to leave my spot , I saw the school president approaching them. He had seen them, the secret was finally out, If only I spotted him earlier then I would have told them to avoid what was about to befall them. My Liyanne was in trouble and I couldn't save her, she was caught red-handed together with her group.

I saw  what happened, the school President was confronting them, I heard him saying that he was going to report them to the principal, one of them smashed  a bottle of Jack Daniels on his head and pushed him back, they begun beating him up, it was really violent, Liyanne just stood there while she watched them do it. I didn't know what to do, I panicked,  I did something I shouldn't have done but I had no choice, I...

Jenny got interrupted by the knock on the door , It was her father knocking.
"Jenny, are you good?, you've been really quiet, please open up, I want to talk to you ."He said.

" Dad, I'm okay,I was just trying to rest for a while"she lied.

" I just came by to check up on you. Ugh..., I know it's not easy to deal with the demise of Jeremy, please don't lock yourself up in your room, I  won't let you sink into depression, I already lost a son and I don't want to lose you, you are my only daughter and I want you to know that me and your mom love you so much,we can't afford to lose you. Jeremy is gone,he's in a better place, I feel bad but that's the truth,I just wish I was more protective,maybe he would still be alive.I'm not going to let the same mistake repeat itself, I will protect you till my last days, especially now that you are about to go to college, I'll keep you safe,safer than ever."

She gave him a hug, it was quite surprising to see her father in that state, he was not the emotional type, it was the first time to see him shed tears. Jeremy's disappearance and death were the most tragic things that ever happened to them. The thing that made it even worse was false hope, they had hoped that he would return and everything would go back to the way it was, they should have listened to what people were saying, they were saying that they shouldn't have high hopes  of finding him, the Gonas  thought  it was just a mockery from them and they dismissed their opinions. They were not like the other families in town, they were different, the only thing that unified them as a family was the hope  they shared  but it died when they saw his remains, since there was no hope then it meant that the family would descend into detachment , Jeremy was the missing component in making them happy. It had affected them psychologically, emotionally and financially.

Jenny was not like other kids in the neighborhood when she was growing up, she never had friends because she felt isolated by others,she had been branded names because of her family, there were false news about the Gonas that were circulating in town,a lot of  people said  they were a jinxed family  because unfortunate things happened to them countlessly. After his disappearance,  the successful seafood restaurants they owned went out of business due to bankruptcy, the gossipmongers of the town were spreading lies  about them because of their financial crisis.

They went out of business because they spent a lot of money to find him, they hired multiple private investigators to work on the missing persons case of their son ,they thought the local town police did nothing effective  even though they were doing their very best to find him, the Gonas put a cash prize for people who would turn up and give information on the whereabouts of Jeremy. Majority of them fabricated information and were given money, they later realized they were being duped and they stopped using that method, they looked for other means to find him, they didn't care how expensive it would be, they just wanted him back in their lives and were willing to do anything at all cost,even if it meant being financially drained.

"Oh crap, I forgot to call Marlon" she said and instantly took her phone.

Jeremy's best friend was Marlon Dumello , he was really close to the Gonas even after his disappearance,he was like a son to Mr and Mrs Gona and a brother to Jenny, he was not trying to take his friend's place, he was just trying to temporarily fill the void that had been left due to his absence.Marlon and Jeremy were inseparable,they were like brothers who always had each other's backs, their friendship had begun in their pre-school years when they were still in diapers, they played and grew up together creating an unbreakable bond.

The Dumellos were close to the Gonas,they had been family friends even before the birth of Jeremy and Marlon,they emotionally and financially supported them when they were facing challenges that had resulted from his disappearance,they even helped to revive their dying restaurants and cleared their debts .They relocated to Kathmandu in Nepal but still maintained their relationship with the Gonas, they usually called once in a while to check up on them and to get updates on Jeremy's case.

"Hello Marlon, we found him, we found Jeremy..."

"That's  great news, I always knew that he would come back, Is he okay?, Can I talk to him?"

" He's ..., He's dead,It was his remains that we found. "

"What!." He said in a distressed voice, he didn't know what to say next.

" Hello, Marlon, are you still there"

"Yes, I'm..., I'm still here, I'm speechless, give me some few seconds to..., I'm finding it hard to digest what you've just told me" He hesitantly said.

She also didn't know what to say after breaking the news to him, what followed next was some seconds of absolute  silence.Marlon was asthmatic,he mainly experienced asthma attacks when he was in  stressful situations, those words from Jenny triggered an asthma attack, she had put him on speaker and could loudly hear wheezing sounds, he was struggling to breathe and instantly dropped the phone.

"Marlon, Marl..., Hello!, Marlon are you okay?, please talk to me, say something,I need to know if you are okay.I'm an idiot , I should have considered his asthma attacks."

After ninety seconds of countlessly calling out his name with zero signs of  response, Marlon finally responds to her.

" I'm now okay, Thank God I found my inhaler"

"I'm so sorry, I should have..."

" Why are you apologizing?, I should be the one saying sorry. I'm deeply sorry, I honestly can't think of other words to say, sorry isn't the right word. I, I'm just speechless."

" You don't have to say much, all of us have been saddened by it, I just wanted to let you know since you are part of our family and the two of you were really close, It wouldn't be nice if you heard it from an outside source."

"If you ever need someone to talk to, I'll always be there for you, don't hesitate to call me, I'm just one call away"

" Thank you, I'll talk to you later."She hanged up and went back to read the notebook.