Chapter 21 Bodies, Bodies, Bodies
It was a canopy of sounds around Noah, from the sound of the door being broken from its hinges to the angry shouts and reprimands of the staffs of the bar to the screams filled with fear and finally the sirens and noise brought by the law enforcement officers.
It was all a blur to Noah, the bustle reduced to background noise as his mind ran in circles.
I saw him. But I saw him. It can’t be, he was alive just now.
Over and over again, his brain sang it like a mantra. Trying to preserve his sanity yet at the same time doing exactly what it sought to prevent.
“Hello? Are you still with me?” A police man snapped his fingers repeatedly in front of Noah’s face and brought him back from the sink hole of his thoughts.
The night had become colder and because of the open door, the cold seeped in causing Noah to tremble. The journalist had begun to arrive, the snap of their cameras forming a perfect harmony with that of the examiners on site.
One of the detectives on site cursed upon seeing the journalists and rushed out to stop them from taking photos. But they were like a hydra, for every camera lens pushed back, two more glinted in the grey light.
Some pressed forward, their camera flash now popping with an aggressive, staccato rhythm that made Noah flinch.
Others were reasoning with the policemen, begging for a peek or some details. Their notebooks made sounds as they wrote down every little thing they heard.
It didn’t feel like they were recording a scene; it felt more like they were prying.
Noah pulled himself closer, shivering more and more. He brought his gaze back to the police man in front of him who was drumming his fingers on the table beside him waiting for an answer to a question that Noah, unfortunately, did not hear.
“Huh? Sorry, I didn’t hear what you said.” Noah said as he cleared his throat.
The police man sighed and asked again “You said you are familiar with the victim, right? When was the last time you saw him?”
“Uh, a few hours ago.” Noah answered his throat suddenly dry and tight.
The detective frowned “Huh...”
Noah felt a bad premonition and braced himself before asking “What is it?”
“The thing is that your course mates just told us that they haven’t seen the victim since the last semester and he was reported missing a month prior. I’m struggling to understand how you seem to have seen a missing victim an hour ago yet those around you claim to have not.”
“That… that’s impossible- no” Noah jumped off his seat and walked to where his course mates sat after being questioned and asked, his voice shaking.
“Why are you guys lying to the police? We- ALL OF US saw and talked to Leo this morning. He was the one that invited me to come with you guys. He was walking with you”
One of them spoke up, his voice a cocktail of confusion, fear and worry “What the hell are you talking about? It was me who invited you while we were in the lecture hall”
The lecture hall? It was at the-
Another course mate turned to the police man and explained apologetically “We are so sorry sir, he might be intoxicated we were drinking before you came”
Another chimed in “Yeah he randomly started shouting and swearing before he bolted into the bathroom”
“What do you mean I randomly started shouting?” Noah spat angrily. Kael grabbed his arm and grunted, a warning but Noah slapped his arm off and pointed at him in anger and pain.
A thousand words were on the tip of his tongue as he stared at Kael but he swallowed them down deciding to keep that fight for later.
“You guys started it. No- NO I REMEMBER fcking Leo started it and y’all talked over him. Talking shit about me and shaming me about my brother. Leo, all of you did. ALL OF YOU”
Tears welled up in his eyes as he spun to Kael.
What faced Kael was a face filled with sorrow and pain from betrayal, each word broke as he said them. He was hurting… and so was Kael “How could you, huh? You know I’m at my lowest yet not only did you say nothing as the spoke shit about me but you joined and poured salt on the open wound. How could you?”
Kael tried to speak but the words got stuck in his throat, he tried again but this time he got interrupted.
“What are you talking about? We never mentioned your brother, we were only talking about school and school work.”
“So now I’m a liar now huh?”
“No, that not what I-”
“SO NOW I’M A CRAZY AND A FCKING LIAR” Noah raged, his voice breaking and mending due to anger.
“Sir I think you need to calm down” Noah and stopped and turned to the policeman who spoke. He noticed that his hands were hovering over the holster where his pistol was stored, ready to pull it out.
Everyone had turned their attention to him, the journalists that had grown calm picked up their cameras ready to get shots of him.
They looked at him as if he had gone crazy. As if he had gone insane.
His eyes scanned the room, tears clouding his eyes. He could not see the sick twisted smiles but he could hear the snickering, loud and clear.
With broken steps he stumbled to the door before dashing out. On his way out he bumped into someone but didn’t stop and kept on running, his tears now falling freely.
Kael ran after him into the night, tense and worried out of his mind but he didn’t say a word. He followed Noah onto the bus, not knowing where they were going.
“Where are we going?” He asked slowly but what answered him was the noise in the bus and the streets they passed by.
He tried, asking again and again but silence was his response from Noah and he eventually gave up understanding he wasn’t going to receive one.
It felt like karma was playing a sick joke on him.
The ride was long, quiet and exhausting. Kael understood that their already fragile relationship was now as weak a as a cloth that has been left in the soil for centuries.
Soon they arrived at a hospital and Kael had a faint idea where they are going or better still, who they are going to see. He chose not to confirm his suspicion and followed quietly.
Noah silently signed the visitor’s form walked up to the ward his brother lay, Kael in tow.
Jamie lay on the hospital bed, his skin clung to his bones so tightly they were visible. He was pale all over and occasionally the sound of him sucking air through the tube and the beep of the heart monitor beside his bed filled the room.
That was until Noah broke down, sobbing. He begged and apologised to his brother over and over again till his eyes became puffy and red.
He stopped and stroked his brother’s hand before he turned to Kael and said just to words.
“Heal him”