Zoey opened her eyes and met herself in her tent, wrapped in a blanket. She got up and saw that she was still wearing her clothes. She wondered why, because she hardly does that, even when she drinks.
'Ohh, yesterday night...' She thought as she recollected how much she had drunk the night before.
'But, I only drank two bottles..." She thought again. On a normal day, She could take six bottles of Ribo Beer, but she felt she should try out something new.
The day she bought the pack of beer, without checking the alcohol percentage in it, she placed it on the cashier's deck and she bought it.
Zoey ran out and held up the empty bottle of beer that was on the ground. She took a look at the label as she kept on swerving the bottle.
"68?!" She shrieked the moment she set her eyes on the alcohol percentage that she saw on the label. "How the hell did I even take two bottles of it?"
Denzel listened in on everything she said while he was in his tent.
'68? Bottles?' He thought, trying to understand what the hell she was wailing about. 'Eh! For real, is she trying to say I drank three bottles of that?' He thought the instant he finally understood what she was saying.
Denzel wondered why he felt sleepy that early. He was one that had high endurance, he always drank lots of beer and he wouldn't even flinch a little.
Zoey began to shudder and she said to herself, "I hope I didn't make any mistake yesterday night?".
The moment she said that Denzel came out of his tent.
"Good morning Zoey."
'Eh!' Zoey's eyes went blank at that moment, it was the first time he called her name. She turned back to look at him and she saw him carry a cup to drink the water in it, his face looked bland as it always looked, he turned his back the moment he drank the water in the cup and he looked at her.
"Why aren't you moving, are you dead?"
"N...no"
Zoey began to turn around slowly. She glanced at him and saw the way he glanced at her.
"Denzel..."
"Yes?"
"Yes...yesterday night, did I say or do anything foolish?"
Denzel's eyes flickered twice and he looked away as he remembered everything she did and said to him the day before. She kept hugging her body tightly with her arms.
"No... you didn't... I think," Denzel said to her and everywhere went silent immediately he spoke. It was awkward as the silence persisted for a long time. "If you have nothing to say, I am out of here."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes..."
Zoey gave a relieving sigh and smiled at him.
"Good morning Denzel!"
Denzel was baffled, he thought to himself, 'What the hell? was she deaf when I greeted her? I refuse to understand her.'
"Good morning! Did you sleep well?" Denzel said back to her, waving his hand at her. His face was bland as usual.
"I did, what about you?"
"Yeah."
She smiled and walked back to go on what she was doing. She had no idea that she had already blurted out all of her past to him.
The night before, Denzel slept early as soon as he kept her in her tent. That transpired in him waking up earlier than he did on a normal day.
He kept on thinking about what Zoey told him. All the difficulties she faced in life was almost related to him.
He was a beast just like her younger brother that was killed, and secondly, her parents died due to his case.
"Zoey..."
"Yea?"
Denzel sighed and turned back to go and fetch something for them to eat.
"Nevermind.." He Said to her
"Huh?" Zoey didn't have any opinion of what he wanted to tell her, she was confused, and he knew, but he wasn't ready to be all friendly with someone just because he heard her back story.
*********************************************
"Carrie! Your food is on the dining!" Denzel's dad, Chris yelled and he received no response, he didn't bother to call her a second time because, for about two months, Carrie had been stuck in her room.
Ever since the day Denzel's incident had begun, Carrie had a hard time at her school. She was only 18 that year and she was fired up about the fact that she became an adult.
Thinking her friends would want to celebrate it with her, she went to her school, but she was just isolated at school since her brother had become a well-known murderer.
As the years went on and the M.D cases became more rampant, It got worse for Carrie and her dad, and she decided to never step out of her house.
Chris went to sit on his chair and he took his spoon, getting ready to take a bite from his food. He felt uneasy as his daughter hadn't come down to eat a thing for the past week. He stood and went to Carrie's room.
"Hey, Carrie..." Her dad said as he stood by the side of her door, and still, he received no response.
He walked into the room and he saw how messy it was, he then scowled his face and sighed.
He took a look at Carrie who kept her headphones on her ear the whole time, so he knew that she hadn't been listening to a thing he had been saying.
He walked to her and tapped her by her back, and Carrie turned, looking at her dad.
"Hi, dad." She said to him and turned back to what she was doing.
"Carrie... Carrie! Carrie!!!" Her dad screamed at her and she turned back, taking off her headphone from her head. That was the first time her dad ever screamed at her, and when she looked at him, she saw the furious look on his face.
"Do you think you are the only one going through hard times because of Denzel? I'm always slandered at my workplace but I still go, all because I want it to be fine for you and what?! You stay in your bed for a whole day, sulking all because you can't mingle with your friends... You...!" Chris kept on screaming and he stopped after he noticed how sorry she was.
"I am sorry... Dad..." Tears began to fall out of her eyes, and that fondled her dad, he just had to stop yelling at her the moment he saw her face turn red.
"I am sorry too, Carrie," He said and sat down beside her. He looked at her and the malicious look on his face began to fade away. "I know this whole thing is hard on you, but... but... you just have to keep up with it, if you keep on going this way, you will only end up harming yourself."
"Dad," Carrie called out slowly, her dad could barely hear her. " I know you think I am all this way because of the way my friends are treating me, but... but... it isn't all that bad, I miss Denzel, I just think about our moments together as a family and I don't see a way Denzel could massacre an enemy, talkless of his friends..."
Her dad kept on looking at her. He listened to every little thing she had to say, and as he did, he looked at her hair that she hadn't washed for the past three days, it was so shabby.
"...Dad... I have a feeling that Denzel might be dead..."
"Carrie, take a break, I know Denzel, he isn't dead, some few accusations can't make him die, trust me, he is alive." Her dad said that only to calm her down. He also had thoughts that Denzel might be dead, but he didn't want her to have it. "You might not know since no one has ever told you, but... Denzel is a BEAST, an eagle."
He kept on talking, but he didn't get the feedback he expected. He expected her to be shocked or surprised, but she just kept looking down, as she played with her nails.
"I said Denzel is a Beas-"
"I know dad, I heard. I found out... We've lived under the same roof for years so it's only natural that I would find that out."
"Wow, you are now matured, when did you get so smart?"
'Smart?' She thought to herself as she felt it was only normal for her to know about it.
"Dad, do you even remember?" She looked at him with a sad look on her face.
'Remember what? Is there some special event going on?' He thought to himself trying to recall if there was anything he missed.
"Did I promise you anything?" He said to her and he noticed the anger on her face.
"Wow, you did forget, today is Denzel's birthday dad,"
That was when he remembered, he made a surprising look on his face.
"Ohh, yeah! today's 16th right?"
"Yes dad, remembering that made me more heartbroken, thinking about the gifts he bought me. When I was fifteen, he told me, ' Carrie, you are really fifteen now, ahh I remember when you were still little, when did you grow so much, let me get you something special.' and I always acted like I didn't like him." She took a break and looked up.
" Daddy, I really wanna trust your words that Denzel is alive, I hope he is, I want to see him and I want him to explain what happened to me personally." She added and looked back down.
"Don't worry, you would meet him again soon, for now, go and wash your body and your hair, your beautiful hair has been ruined, and get to the dining to eat something."
"Okay, dad!" She replied, a cute smile forming on her face.