I'll Remember

Chapter 10: Family

I'll Remember

Chapter 10

Family

There was never a moment he could remember without her. Penny had become a constant in his life. Something he couldn't ever see being without her. His heart hurt, and his arms ached to hold her. He would constantly look around for her. He had to continuously tell himself that she wasn't here.

Sleeping wasn't going to happen, no matter how much he wished he could. Ren had taken the wheel although afraid to, since she knew where this house was. He thought a few hours would be nice. Sitting in the silence of the night as they traveled down the interstate wasn't helping either.

"Do you remember anything since it happened?" She must have noticed he was awake. John thought about it and sighed.

"A handful of things...like my favorite food is fries, my favorite color is blue, my favorite movie is...what she smelled like, the soap she used, the color she wore most..." he took a deep breath as he thought about his sister.

"You seem so very alone now." Ren told him. The poor man ran his fingers over his face adjusting his tie to hide the fact that he was beginning to cry.

"You know something?" She told him. He looked at her almost in disbelief. "People are going to tell you over and over again that everything is going to be okay. That doesn't make the pain go away and you know perfectly well you aren't going to be okay. People just throw it in your face like you're supposed to just be healed by those magical words. You're going to be okay." she sighed and ran her fingers over her face. "But I can tell you one thing that'll help in the long run." She looked at him with a half broken smile. "You'll be okay..." He rolled his eyes knowing perfectly well she didn't believe herself. It wasn't meant to make him feel better. No matter how many times people told him that. It was more like a kick in the teeth. He hated the words.

"It's going to hurt, oh yes it hurts like hell. You know this because you feel it as much as me. But eventually that pain will ebb and even go away. Don't let it...don't ever let that pain go away completely because then you'll start to forget." She ran her sleeve over her cheeks. John noticed she did that a lot. It finally dawned on him why. She cried a lot. "You need to remember her, John. Remember Mary, her husband George. Their stupid dog..." She turned to look at John who seemed bewildered by her.

"You aren't okay...are you?" Ren parked her car on a side road and stepped out of the car. She was hiding the tears from him. "Ren?" John followed her.

"Hush...that's the house over there." She whispered as she looked both ways and crossed the street. She stopped just short of a basement window where she could hear faint crying. She felt John leaned over her shoulder, they couldn't see anything more than the heater that seemed to glow within the dark basement.

"Shut that kid up!" someone yelled within, there was a laugh as the guy walked by the window with a bottle.

"It ain't our fault, Butch. She just ain't eating." The very small guy told the much thicker taller man. John recognized this man as the one who tore his arm off.

"Have you tried changing her?"

"They know nothing about taking care of infants." John turned to address Ren, only she wasn't there. He stood up looking around. Did she run off? Was she too scared? He sensed something just before it hit him. Literally.

He felt a cold sensation flitter down his spine as he fell to his knees. He couldn't tell what was going on even though he knew perfectly well it hurt.

He felt the cold snow on his cheek as he landed on his chest.

"Well look at that, the inhibitor works." A man with a mustache, and gruff voice echoed within the cul de sac.

This actually gave John a better view of the house as he was being picked up. One side of it seemed to be a hollowed out shell. Blackened walls, paint, shelving, and it would seem there were some ash marks along the ground near the door. The smell, although ten years old, still lingered. John knew what that meant from his years as a...he remembered...