Chapter 6_ They are here!

He remained by the door, reminiscing and playing with the thoughts that it might be Zakariah who would come get him but he knew that can not be so.

Zakariah who left him in the hospital for weeks now would not come to escort him home. Not that he wanted him to come too anyway.

The nurses already prepared him and the doctor has given him instructions and a schedule on exercises and daily routines to improve his condition.

Soon after, the door got opened and instead of Zakariah or Duncan, the brunette nurse whom he had gotten closer to by the weeks stepped in. Her name was Delia and she turned out to be a nice person. However, it was sad to find out she was engaged and she seemed to be very obsessed with thrusting talks about her fiancee in every conversation which bores him out and also reduced the likeness he grew for her.

" Hey Asher" she curtsied with the usual smile big on her face.

He smiled back at her and would like to reply to her greeting but the curiosity of finding out why his brother was not here yet made him forget to be nice " Where is Zakariah?" he quickly blurted out.

" Relax" Delia smiled " Today, you return back home and away from the hospital. How do you feel about it?" she asked.

If only she knew even himself did not know how he was feeling about going back " Ah.. Elated, happy, delighted" he scoffed throwing his hands up in the air not bothering at all to hide the cynicism in his voice.

As if Delia understood his message, she bursts out laughing " Come on, it can't be that bad" she moved to the back of him and held the handle of his wheelchair, ready to wheel him out of the ward.

That was unnecessary, he could do it himself. He had been doing it himself " Leave it, I can take myself anywhere " he turned his neck to the back, his hand on the wheels.

" I know Asher, I want to help you out regardless. Take it as a send off treat" she said calmly and he sighed.

The woman wouldn't listen.

He does not like it when they do that. It makes him feel weaker than he already was. No man liked to feel weak, especially not in front of a woman.

" Where is Zakariah?" He asked again, she hadn't answered him the first time he asked.

He thought he could picture Delia smile again even though she was behind him. The beautiful nurse liked to smile a lot, one of the reasons why he was pained the first time he discovered she was engaged. Not that he stood a chance anyway.

" He sent message he is busy. He has been busy that is why he could not visit you all these while. He called this morning to inform the hospital and had also sent someone to pick you up. Your friend is waiting too, they will take you home. Your brother has settled the bills" she explained and he groaned. Delia heard his groan, she understood his pain. This was the time he needed closure the most. The time he needed family and if his brother was his only family, this was the time he needed him " Your brother works with ink right?" She asked.

LSR was surprised and for no reason alarmed she was asking that " Yes, he works for Ink" he answered her.

That demonic corporation he works for that he also wants me to join, he added that in his mind.

" Ink has been in some kind of distress lately" Delia added and as fast as the day, she got his full attention. He should have been able to find that out had he not ordered for the television set in his ward to be disconnected. He did not want anything that would remind him of the outside world during his stay because he felt staying put in the hospital would be harder that way.

The stench of methylated spirits and also blood as they passed the trauma ward on the second floor of the hospital filled his nose and he used his finger in blocking his nose holes. " What is going on with Ink?" he inquired from Delia who shrugged.

" I don't know, some kind of lawsuit against them by a woman who claimed her daughter's face got burnt after purchasing and using their product. She claimed it was because they were satanic but the court knows nothing like that. Her lawyer is fighting on the fact that Ink made an error in the chemicals used in making that particular shade of face powder but we don't know. Someone's face can't just blow up like fireworks after applying a product. Poor woman, she had no videotape or evidence of the incident so, I think Ink would win this too" she finished.

LSR sat on the wheelchair, his teeth gritted. Ink was used to getting lawsuits like from random people but they always ended up winning in the end. This unsettled him and also the fact that they were on the staircase too annoyed him even more.

It was the most uncomfortable and hardest part of getting wheeled. Along the staircase, usually, the person wheeling him would need extra help from others but sometimes, they do it themselves.

Today was sometimes.

Carefully, Delia wheeled him down, and the noise from the motion gained the attention of Duncan who was sitting on the waiting seats.

He sprawled up immediately he sighted them and helped Delia out in getting him down the staircase.

In a matter of moments, he was out of the hospital and into the car Zakariah had rented to convey him home.

Duncan was sitting beside him in the passenger's seat of the fairly outdated Toyota Sequoia driven by a young man who should be about the same age as them.

At least, the young lad has gotten a job even if it was not a cool one.

" Your brother is so cool" Duncan said beside him and he could only think inside of him how clueless the lad was of how uncool Zakariah was. " He got you such a nice escort back home. I bet he has prepared a surprise welcome home party for you right now. I can't wait till we get home" his friend continued to rant nonstop beside him and he couldn't wait until they got home.

"Wait till you see burnt haven now, it's so cool. The new owners have renovated the whole house. It is the fanciest house in the neighborhood right now" he heard Duncan say and this was the only thing that arouse his interest out of the multiple Duncan has been spewing.

He turned his head his way " Is it?" he asked with so much interest and Duncan's who had been talking all along without getting a reply from his friend took to commencing his speech with so much vitality now.

" The owners are yet to move in but I heard they would be moving in soon. From what I've heard and assumed, they must be so rich to be able to remodel burnt haven in days. Men, I can't wait to discover who they are. Everyone can not wait" he finished, now staring dreamily out of the car's window.

He was probably wondering who it was that bought the old house and turned it into something new, LSR noted. Well, he was too.

It took them the best of three minutes later to arrive in front of their house and LSR's jaw dropped when he set his eyes upon burnt haven.

" You see what I'm saying, buddy, nothing burnt about the burnt haven now man. It is simply haven, not burnt" Duncan said, now going to the boot of the car to bring LSR's wheelchair out.

For the first time without an argument, LSR agreed with Duncan's words. The house next to theirs was not what it used to be.

The house he he saw a figure inside, where the white cat crept out of, the scary house, it was not what it used to be.

" It is beautiful" LSR breathed silently, hoping Duncan didn't catch up on his fantasy. His gaze was on the formerly grey-painted house which was now embellished in a shimmering white paint with flowers across its mostly green lawn. Its roof in a contrasting black color to its white outlet and its fence a Corinthian brick stone well placed and covered in white too.

The driver Zakariah hired came over to help Duncan out in pulling him out of the car and settling him in the wheelchair. When he got off the car, only then did he see the lift truck in front of the burnt haven.

There were also three men in front of the house. Their skin colors also contrasting like the day and night.

Two were white men, the other black. They should be the same age group as Zakariah.

They were supervising the shifting of valuables and properties into the house which appeared to be few. Looking at the work they have done in the house, one would expect them to have a large number of valuables but surprisingly they don't.

The lift truck sent jolts of memories back into LR's head. The lift truck in front of burnt haven now was parked right in front of the one that had hit him. But it wasn't the same, he could tell.

This one was white, the one that hit him was black. He did not see it but the detectives did mention to him once that it was a black truck.

Wait!

Black and white?

The same way the building's color was white and the roof black?

The same way these men had two whites and one black?

Was this a kind of coding or was he being merely paranoid?

He did think he was being paranoid though, he was reading more meaning to everything, unlike his usual self. He even suspected Zakariah, his own brother. That was what getting hit by a truck and having to sit still in a wheelchair alone in a hospital for weeks could to a young man.

Then, two women stepped out from the gate of burnt haven, one fixated her hand on the back of the pocket of her trousers and the other holding the hands of the latter sent away his worries and suspicions.

What in the world?!