Braylan stared at the spot where his brother had apologized him in the weirdest way imaginable. He was thinking about the struggle. Why would someone struggle if they are apologizing? Why would anyone struggle for words in front of his brother? He was still staring at the spot with knitted eyebrows.
After a few minutes, he got up and went to check the security room. He replayed that day's recording and sure enough a man in blue shirt and pale face had entered their house with Jayden. He knew he should freak out at the presence of some unknown guy but he sighed softly, saved that particular clip and transferred it into his usb. He was collecting all the clips where someone unseen to human eyes entered their house.
Poor kid just collected the ones that were entering with Jayden. Little did he know that many more entered their house from the back door whenever they wanted.
Braylan wanted to go to his room so that he can upload the latest clip in the folder. He had just reached the top of the stairs and heard Jayden cry and a thump. He walked briskly and encountered a Jayden on floor with an injured right arm. He walked towards Jayden.
"Oh good! He is breathing! " He said to no one in particular. He shook him to see if he is conscious or not. He brought some water and splashed on Jayden's face. After several slaps and a few splashes of water, Jayden regained consciousness. He helped his brother to stand and walked him to the chair in Jayden's room. He made him drink some water and-
"Do you think you can walk to the basin? " He asked and Jayden nodded.
After washing the blood, Braylan was astonished to see that there was no cut or any open injury on Jayden's arm. Instead there were several long bruises.
"It's weird! Bruises don't bleed! " He murmured.
"I don't understand it either. Someone whipped me hard on hand. So it should either have cuts or bruises. But as there was blood, there should have been cuts. " Jayden replied absent-mindedly.
"Did you just say that you were whipped by someone? " He asked, staring his brother, who acknowledged by nodding his head slowly.
Braylan didn't ask anything it say anything but Jayden himself started telling him everything. About the letters and Olivia. Braylan didn't give any hint of him knowing any of this. But when he heard the description of Olivia, he gasped out loud.
"What? Do you think I am lying? " He asked.
"No! Of course I don't! I was just surprised at how an old lady can be so powerful." He replied. He knew about the letter. But he didn't know that they were being delivered at regular basis and that Jayden was doing what he was asked to do.
"Ok. You have been through a lot. Pull yourself together and have some rest. Don't stop resisting. " With this piece of advice, Braylan walked out of the room.
After making sure that the door of Jayden's room was locked from the outside and that he had closed his door too, Braylan grabbed his hair in frustration. What was going on? Was Jayden finally possessed? These questions were popping inside his head the more he was trying to ignore them.
His phone rang and he went to answer the call. It was Jane.
"Hi, Braylan! I have a meeting today. I will be back by dinner. "
" Ok mom! Don't worry about us. We are fine. "
"I tried to call Jayden several times. But his phone is out of coverage. Is he home? "
"His pho.. Wha.. ! " He stopped himself in the middle of the sentence. "Yup he's home. Probably his phone is dead. He is sleeping. "
"Ok, Bye honey. Take care and don't blow up the house before I return. "
"Definitely not mom. Don't worry about us. Have a g'day! " He disconnected the call and ran out of his room. Why was Jayden's phone out of coverage?. He opened the door and saw Jayden typing something on his computer.
"Mom called. " He informed.
"What did she say? "
"She said that she tried calling you several times before calling me. Your phone's out of coverage. "
"Oh yeah! I forgot! Can you put it on charge?" Jayden handed over his phone to Braylan who did what he was told to do.
"Well she said she will be back by dinner. She has sone important meeting today. "
"So we are home alone till she returns. "
"Yeah, and before you get any ideas, she asked us not to blow up our house. " He informed, giggling.
"Oh why didn't ahe forget that part? " Jayden sighed.
"When will dad come back? "
"He said he would come back in three days. "
Braylan knew that their dad went out of station but he didn't know when he will return. He had left in the morning of the same day.
"Should we cook the dinner today? It will be fun! " Braylan said, his eyes alight with excitement. He was trying to ignore the same question that was trying to take a lot of space in his mind. This way he would at least be distracted from the horrible thought.
"Mom said not to blow anything. " Jayden replied.
"But we won't blow anything. I saw mom keeping the taco kit only yesterday. We can make tacos. "
"Do we have taco shells? "
"We can see for ourselves! "It took some convincing but Jayden finally agreed and the boys ran down to the stairs. Braylan found the taco kit with the recipe and spice mix of taco filling. He found taco shells too. While Jayden brought some ground meet and microwaved it for defrosting. They found some lettuce and Jayden started chopping it. Braylan started shredding some cheese and they baked an avocado to make the paste out of it. This took longer than they would expect but they enjoyed it thoroughly. Jayden started directing and Braylan started cooking the meat.
After almost two hours, they had cooked the dinner. The kitchen was a mess so the boys started cleaning it.
"Braylan help me! " He heard Jayden say from behind me. He turned to see him holding the kitchen counter with both hands, hanging on to it as if his life was depending on it.
"Jay! What the hell is happening? " He rushed forward to help him.