Chapter 9_ In some deep shit

Maybe if the earth opened up and swallowed him now, it'd be better. The footsteps from the sitting room that was now getting nearer and closer to his room now made him feel like the most vulnerable man alive. He had felt helpless earlier when he struggled to get himself in his wheelchair and now, he felt more helpless than he felt the other time.

He did not only feel helpless, he was scared too. These burnt haven owners, they were coming in now to scold him and his hands had started shaking. The fear felt unnecessary because he knew he had not done anything huge but he couldn't help it.

The footsteps got louder and he counted from within himself with his heart racing faster than time.

Three..

Two..

One..

Bang!

" What's wrong with you?" he heard Zakariah day and frowned at him.

Gosh! It had been Zakariah all along?

Of course, it was Zakariah. Why should he think otherwise? He was being irrational, why would burnt haven owners barge into their house like that without invitation?

And even if they wanted to come in to interrogate him, would it be because he was staring at the cat-eyes girl? Of course not!

" Asher?" his brother called again when he heard no replies from him and only then did he finally look at him.

Here was the man who abandoned him in the hospital. But, did he abandon him? He did pay his fees and even sent a hired driver to come to pick him up. But the void was still there, he wanted his brother around regardless. He needed that familiar feeling of being with someone he had lived with all his life. Maybe that was why he was mad " Zakariah " he called briefly. He had intentionally called him Zakariah to show he was upset. He only called him that when he was displeased with him and had always called him Zak.

"Sorry I haven't been coming over to the hospital" Zakakriah pleaded but his voice lacked affection and so, LSR chose not to take it seriously.

" I heard Ink is in trouble again, that must be why" he helped Zakariah provide an excuse for his absence. He wanted to show him he did not care, he hoped he was strong enough to do that.

"Yes, but it is being resolved. How is the leg now?"

"Fine"

"Fine?"

"Yes"

His brother rolled his eyes at his stubbornness " I thought I said sorry already Asher. You don't expect me to leave work when the company is in chaos and come to do what exactly with you in the hospital?" the rising temper in Zakariah was barely hard to miss.

Zakariah was justifying his heartless deed?

LSR scoffed immediately Zakariah landed and made sure his eyes bore into his brother's " You couldn't find time to come see me in the hospital but you found time enough to come early and see me here at home? It's not even 5 pm and here you are Zak. Here you are" his voice wavered as he spoke. He didn't know he would be that disappointed in Zakariah nor did he know he wanted his brother's attention that much.

Zakariah walked across the room and sat on his bed. He thought he saw dark circles under Zakariah's eyes when he looked strongly at him earlier. Was Zakariah sleeping at all?

Was his brother hiding something or does he have a secret that was eating him out?

" You see Asher.." Zakariah began, his hand cupping the whole of his head. " I am here early today because I barely scaled through. I had to bribe someone at work to fill in my shift for the evening. Why? Because I want to have an honest conversation with you brother and I would be glad if you appreciate my efforts and tell me the truth and nothing but the truth" he paused and LSR breathing paused a little.

Zakariah was being so serious right now and it shocked him. The only times Zakariah was serious during long conversations with him was when he wanted to scold him about his artistic dreams and neither of those times had he been this serious. " Is.. Is everything fine Zak? What do you mean you want the truth? I have no lies hidden"

Slam!

Zakariah stood and gave the bed the hardest kick LSR had seen. Zakariah's body shaking now and his breathing was loud " Don't you dare lie to me brother! Don't you dare..!" His eyes were red now and LSR thought if there was a knife around, his brother would have stabbed him.

He was completely shocked, flabbergasted, and taken off guard. What in the world was going on?! " Okay, but relax Zak. I won't tell lies" he looked up at his over vexed brother " I promise" he added.

" Yes, you shouldn't. I am the only one left for you in this world as you are the only one left for me. Remember Asher, we have no family left and I don't know what I would do if I lose the only person who also had the same blood as I do flowing in them" Zakariah pointed out and LSR affirmed immediately.

" Yes, I know"

" I fed you, Asher, I sent you to high school after we lost our parents. I sent you to college even though you had to be so unserious and lawless to get yourself nearly expelled and humiliated by the whole school and the whole of Orange City which led to you dropping out involuntarily" Zakariah continued.

Arghh, he already promised not to lie and he already said he was going to comply with whatever this was. Did Zakariah necessarily need to remind him of his shortcomings and humiliating past?!

" Just go on brother! I promise to comply Zak. No secrets, I promise" he assured him and Zakariah seemed to tense down a bit.

He returned to his sitting position on the bed and bent his neck. He was still breathing hard though, LSR was hearing his breathing. " Before detective Dante's body was found dead and detective Cabal went missing, they.."

" What?!" LSR cut him short " Detective Dante was what? Detective Cabal missing?!" he gaped with widened eyes.

There was a stone silence at first which led to the rise of multiple emotions inside of him. Something bad had happened to the detectives. No wonder he had not been seeing them these last few weeks.

But Duncan had not mentioned anything like that to him.

" Yes, they were investigating your case, and now they are gone. Anyway, according to what I was saying, before the bad things happened to them, they came to me for questioning, and before they left that day, they told me to stop coming over to the hospital if I could but I told them I couldn't. They showed me a note to convince me and on the note was a warning to them to stay away from you or they would die first. I was shocked Asher, so very shocked and confused but so were they" Zakariah paused again.

A note?

To stay away from him or the detectives die?

But why?

He was not hiding anything and was not involved in any shady deals. Now, he understood Zakariah's sudden outburst earlier. His brother thought he had been doing things in secret with people who wanted to kill him.

" But why Zak? Why is this happening?"

"Shh" Zakariah held out his hand to hush him, " The detectives told me the case was more complex than they thought but they told me I was in no apparent danger but that whoever was after you might want to hurt the people near you so, that was why they advised me to stay away"

LSR's eyes were laced with pained tears now " So, you stayed away? I was in danger and you stayed away?" he had to ask again. He was abandoned because they thought he was dangerous.

" of course not, I told them I couldn't but then the issue with Ink occurred and I had to be at work. As you can see, almost all the part of the house remains untouched. I have been at Ink working as I said"

" So you have not been coming home too?"

" I haven't Asher, but I had to come home today to have this discussion with you"

Yes, and he was sorry he was going to disappoint him. There was no secret to reveal. He knew nothing about what was going on or why. " But, what happened to the detectives?" he asked his brother again and that ignited Zakariah's suppressed anger.

" Why ask me? I am here to ask you that Asher because right now, we are under watch by Orange City's police force, and I am sure it would soon go beyond that. A detective died and another went missing after receiving a warning note to stay away from you and investigating your case. Do you even know what that means? You are no longer seen as a victim now, you are a suspect and so am I. I have been invited to the station after the detective's body was found three days ago. I was humiliated for the first time in my life, those people came to me while I was at work"

" But no one came to me! No one told me anything Zak, not even Duncan. Not the doctor or Delia. I am surprised to be hearing this from you now" LSR shouted in petrification, cutting Zakariah short.

" Yes, no one told you because no one knew. It is still being kept silent now, I don't know the whole details brother. I also found out when I was invited and was warned not to mention it to anybody except you of course. One of these days, we would be visiting the police station because I have pleaded with them to allow you some space to breathe first considering your condition. Now Asher, tell me, who tried to kill you?" he heard Zakariah ask the one question he had no answer to.

If he told him he doesn't know, Zakariah would explode on him right here and then. What in the world was going on and what should he do?!