After the formalities at the police station, they all were heading back home. David, William, and Clive in one taxi and Noah and Dylan in another one.
The taxi ride was a silent one. Even though they were brothers, it was hard to even talk to Noah without suspecting him.
"What did you do?" Dylan asks, looking out of the window. He did not want to make eye contact because he might catch Noah lying.
"You think I did that?" Noah says, his eyes focused ahead.
"I don't think; I know you did something," Dylan says with a cold voice.
"You only get to question when you have the courage to hear the answer," Noah says in a calm tone.
"You weren't at the pub that night. You went there yesterday morning. You were at the castle that night. And somehow Logan got jumbled into this." Dylan says.
"Do you remember the fire, Dylan?" Noah is now the one who is looking outside the window.
Dylan shudders at the mention of the fire. Those memories, those memories were buried somewhere in the back of his mind. He never openly talked about them. Only Noah knew about the fire. Because he was there. He was right there when the house burned down.
FLASHBACK
"Hyung, please, she is still inside...please....I can save her....I will save her....." a ten-year-old Dylan is pleading to his 14-year-old brother, Noah.
"No Dylan...you stay here! You will not go inside!" Noah shouts at him, trying to protect his small brother from the flying ashes from the already burning house. "I am going to look for them," Noah says after they were at some distance from the burning mansion.
Little Dylan watches as his brother heroically moves through the black smoke to rescue their parents.
Little did he know, the Noah who comes out won't be the same, Noah.
He is in the arms of another 'Uncle' whose face was burnt. Noah had passed out as soon as he entered the burning house and the next thing Dylan knows, he blacked out too.
He just caught one last thing, "Harvey! Don't mess with the kids as you did with our lives!" a woman screamed but Dylan is just falling on the ground.
FLASHBACK ENDS
"Dylan?" Noah asks, touching Dylan's shoulders.
Dylan flinches from the touch and for a second when he looked at Noah, he thought he saw the burned face of that man.
"Harvey...." Dylan whispers his name.
"I asked do you remember the fire?" Noah repeats his question. It seems like he did not hear Dylan say 'Harvey's name.
Dylan is just numb. He doesn't want to remember the fire. The fire that took away their home, their parents, their everything.
"I promise I will save you when you cannot stay afloat.
And if your tears can fill an ocean, then for you I'll be a boat." Noah recites this couplet and looks at Dylan again, "You remember who taught us this?"
Dylan now had tears in his eyes. "Mom......" he almost chocked while saying this.
"And how I recited this to you every night after the fire?"
"Yes....." Words were hard to form for Dylan.
"I promised to save you and always be your boat. Remember that Dylan." Noah says, still in a calm tone.
"Some days we laugh until we cried, other days we cried until we laughed. Either way, every day was perfect." Dylan was now literally sobbing as these words came out of his mouth.
"Dad used to say this. He said this before the fire started. He somehow sensed that he was going to die that day....." Noah himself had tears in his eyes.
"Let's go," Noah says as he opens the locks of the taxi. They were back at the house but to Dylan, the taxi ride felt like an eternity.
Dylan took some time to compose himself as he trudges to the door of the house. He was shaking; his eyes were ready to burst any second. Thankfully Noah went straight to his room and everyone had already reached. They were too tired to discuss anything and they dispersed back to their rooms.
Dylan unlocked his door but found it was already unlocked. The cologne hit his nose and he knew whose it was.
"I am back!" James says with a big smile on his face.
Dylan does not think of anything. He rushes to James to hug him tightly.
"Missed me much?" James jokes as he is startled by Dylan's sudden movement.
But Dylan just clutches him tightly and before he knows it, he is crying his eyes out.
"What happened Dylan?" James was now worried sick. He had never seen anyone cry so much.
But Dylan just cries. He murmurs something between his sobs,
"I wanted to save her....."
But Dylan just cries. He cries until James's shirt was soaked in his tears.
YOU ARE READING
Mystery Hunt (Complete - Under Major Editing)
Mystery / Thriller"They say that the loveliest angels make the cruelest demons and my darling; you were so kind and beautiful before they dragged you to hell. Your fall wasn't an accident; you were chosen for the damned." The curse was set lifetimes ago. But why is D...
