The Suffering

Chapter 3

           The next thing Hax woke up, something shone so brightly. It took him a moment to get a glimpse of what was in front of him. He blinked slowly as lights entered his eyes. As he got a clearer vision, he saw ceiling of lights shining brightly on him. He looked around to know where he was. He saw the same woman who found him by the road, sitting beside him. Then I remembered about my parents. As I tried to move, I accidentally hurt myself. I groaned in pain which woke up that woman.

           "Ah, so you are finally awake. How are you feeling? Better?" she asked.

"Better? How is this any better? Where's my parents? Where are they? Please tell me they are fine," Hax said with a sad expression.

        "I'm sure they will be fine," she smiled reluctantly.

"If they are, where are they now?" Hax asked, feeling worried sick.

         "They are coming soon. But since you are here, why don't we have some quality time together?" she added as she calmed Hax down with her warm gesture.

"Okay....," I said.
 
          "I'm Selena. Selena Kertz. You can call me Selena. You dont have to address me so formally," Selena smiled.

"My parents told me not to talk to strangers," Hax grimaced.
  
           "Well apparently, this stranger just saved your life. You should be just fine with me. Trust me," Selena added while beaming.

"My parents told me that strangers will tend to use any ways to fool children's mind. I'm not one of those easy fools by the way," Hax grimaced.

         "This is getting nowhere. I'm trying to help you... what's your name?" Selena asked.

"Hax. Hax Valentine," Hax said.

"I was kidding just now. I like messing with people and it worked," Hax laughed. He groaned in pain when he moved too much as he was laughing.

          Selena chuckled. "As I was saying, I really did my best to help you along the way. I'm praying for your parents too. But right now, I'm in this room to keep you accompanied. You might be a stranger to me, but a kid is a kid, and they will always need someone elder to protect them until the time is right to let them go," Selena added.

"T--hanks," Hax coughed. He reached out for the water beside him on a drawer.

         Selena was closer to the cup of water but Hax didn't ask for help. Selena took the cup of water for Hax. He was surprised of her kindness. She then passed it to him.

      "Thanks," Hax smiled.

        Out of the blue, there was a few knocks on the door. "Hello, I'm Detective Liam, we would like to see you, Hax Valentine. Do you mind if we come in?" Liam asked.

         Hax didn't know what to reply but went with the flow although he was tired. "Sure," Hax replied.

          Hax saw two men entering his room. They were wearing trench coats. One with red tie fully hooked to the top of the collar, others r barely seen what's underneath the trench coat. The other had a black tie fully hooked to the top of the collar too. 

          "I'm sorry for interrupting your recovery but I'm here for questions," the other guy said as he took one of the chairs beside me. He laid the chair in front of Hax. 

"Don't you think this is a little harsh for a little kid?" Liam asked his partner. 

           "Well, it's now or never. Firstly, let me introduce myself. My name is George, a detective from Crimson City Police Department. I'm here to talk about your parents," George asked. Hax immediately reacted to it but Selena stopped him.

            "Who says you can just enter a kid's room when he just went through all that traumatic event," Selena argued. 

"I know you are concerned and thank you for calling us. But what we need now is answers. He might lead us to some clues," George said as he sat on the chair with the leaning spot in front of him. He liked it that way. 

"Let me get started with the reports of your parents. Well, this is gonna be harsh but ...do you really want to hear it?" George asked. 

           Hax immediately said yes without hesitation. He was just too worried about them. 

"George, this will be too much for him to handle the truth," Liam whispered to George's ear. 

          "Well, would you prefer to tell him lies?" George asked. 

"It's better that way," Liam said.

            "Sometimes, honesty is the best policy. That's life. Life is cruel as it is," George said. Then, he turned back to Hax. Liam didn't have any objections to it as George was his superior after all.

"The thing is ....your parents are dead," George said. 

              "How...how could that be?" Hax exclaimed. 

"They...died in fire. They were burned pretty badly. We are still trying to find out for clues but it is pretty hard since most traces have been burned down together. We did some research but there were definitely a set up to burn that house. What I'm saying is ...were you there in the scene? What do yo- ," George stopped as soon as Selena cut in.

              "Can't you see how terrified he is," Selena said as she calmed Hax down but Hax seemed to be freezing. He was so traumatized and petrified to hear the news about his parents' death. He didn't seem to believe it. 

"Are you sure that they are dead...?" Hax asked in terror. 

              "Yes and I'm sorry to hear that. But what I need you now is to be strong. If you are willing to be strong at this moment, we will be able to catch the murderers as soon as possible. We will assure you that, Hax," George said sternly. 

"I will try," Hax said as he wiped off his tears. Selena didn't say anything as long as Hax agreed to it. 

          "Tell me ...what happened back then?" George asked.

"We heard something downstairs, my dad willingly went down. My mom soon went down later. The next thing when i went down to check on them, there was this stranger in a mask, I didn't know who he is. I quickly ran up to my dad's closet as he had this emergency escape lift that lead to the entrance of the house. I ran away... but someone shot me in the leg. That's all I know," Hax said.

          "Did you know anything about your dad?" George asked.

"Anything suspicious about him?" George added.

        "No....why?" Hax asked.

"Have you ever known what he done in his career?" George asked.

          "Just something safe and not illegal?" Hax answered.

"I'm not jumping into conclusion yet, but it seems that he might be working on something without you and your mom knowing," George answered.