When Jake had been suddenly thrown into another world for no rhyme or reason he did not know what to do. Where to go from there or how to survive in that world. The start of his journey had been very rough and filled with adversities. The only silver lining was that before transferring he had awakened. Which had given him a stronger body to survive.
Through all that time he had only one objective and that was to go back home to his wife and child. He had spent the last two decades fighting through human and monster guts and blood with a healing spell only to see them. This single ray of hope had kept him going through everything. Hope to see his family again one day. That single ray of hope had been his lifeline in this foreign world.
He never gave up and did everything in his power to make that possibility happen. He ventured out into the unknown, blind and defenseless. He fought, got hurt, healed himself, and started it all over again. He looked for clues high and low on how to get back. Even the smallest rumors of places and people that could help him. This weary search of his had led him and Jafer to those ancient runes where he finally found a way back.
He did all that because he believed that it would take him back to his family and against all odds he had finally made it back. He was standing right here on Earth, in front of his house. Not only that but by the miracles that be, Even the time difference had worked in his favor. He had recovered fifteen years' worth of time through luck.
All that pain, loneliness, hopelessness, and struggle he had endured to come back here but for what? The reason he did all of that, his family, was not there.
For a man who had endured so much and had been so patient, he needed to be a little bit more patient here and now. He knew that there was a good chance that the woman Lina was talking about might not be his family. There were a lot of other reasons that were possible and they could be out there somewhere. All he needed to do was be a little more patient.
He knew that he needed to be patient. He obviously knew that but for some reason when he heard her say it, he just couldn't hold it in. Not anymore. He was trying so hard to keep it together but like a mirror that is struck by a rock, he had just shattered. It was like all of his worst fears had been realized and had come to haunt him.
Jake's eyes went dark and his face was blank of any expression. His muscles lost control of his body and could not support the guilt he was holding on to any longer and collapsed. He dropped to his knees lifelessly his shoulders slumped and his head hanging over his chest. Tears were streaming down his face like a river. He wasn't crying as there was no voice that escaped his mouth but Lina could see that he was in a pretty bad shock.
"Hey, you okay? Calm down alright! I told you I don't remember their names so I am not sure if they were your family. They might still be alive you know. There is no need to lose heart over a piece of unconfirmed information. I just wanted to tell you because that was the truth. Shit, I knew I shouldn't have said anything. Hey, mister can you hear me?"
Lina saw the man in front of her as he lost all color and fell to his knees. He was not listening to anything that she was saying. She felt really bad about the whole situation. She had only told him because that was what she knew. She thought that he would have a cool head about it as he was looking for them, facing rejections and false rumors like these were part of the search. It's not like during his search he would not have come across information like this before. Plus there was no evidence that the previous tenants were his family.
At first, Lina tried to console him as much as she could but he was not responding at all. She tried to help him up but he would not budge. He did not seem like it to her but when she touched him he was quite muscular and no matter how much she tried she could not move him at all. He was neither responding nor was he moving, all Lina could hear from him was an ongoing mumble.
"They are dead? They are dead? They are dead!"
"It can't be true. It just cannot be. There is no way they are dead. After all, I did ….. After I …. I came …. I came back …. I … No they can't be gone …. They can't … But I just … I just … I came back … I came back! …. Sylvia … Ellen …. I came back …. I didn't abandon you …. I didn't … abandon ….I … I … I was … I … but … I … I am sorry …. I am so sorry!"
Jake finally broke the silence and started crying. He bawled his eyes out like a little child. All the emotions that had been built up burst forward like water from a broken Dam. Jake's mind was a mess right now. The only thing that was going through his mind right now was that he was late. Twenty years worth of time was shortened to five years by a miracle and he was still late, he did not make it in time.
"Please get up and come inside for a moment all right? Just calm down and give me a moment. I will call my realtor and ask him about them. He must have a record of their information or he might just remember their names. Let me ask him and confirm their names okay? "
Lina was trying to talk to him and ask him to come inside her house with her but he would not budge. He would not respond to her no matter what she said and kept on crying. Now she was really regretting telling him what she did.
'This not my fault right? I mean I came back from work and was thinking about having some chicken and beer to unwind from all the stress. I was going to finish the drama that I had been watching today. I don't think I will be able to watch it now after this. I had not planned on being involved in a mess like this tonight. Nobody told me someone was going to come to my door today and ask me about some people. I would tell him what I knew and he would start bawling his eyes out on my doorstep. Stop crying man you are making me feel bad.'
"You know what just stay here, okay? Don't move and stay here. I am gonna go and bring my mobile back and I will call him right now and we can clear this confusion. Just stay here."
Lina left Jake kneeling at the door and rushed inside her house to get her mobile phone. She was in a panic trying to look for her purse but couldn't find it, only to find it sitting right next to her. She opened her purse and grabbed her phone and rushed back to the door.
Jake stood up from the ground and just left in a daze. He ran away from there in a swift motion. No one would have been able to see him as he left. All one could have observed was a blur as it also disappeared into the night with the man.
Lina rushed back to her door with her mobile only to see that her door was still open but the man kneeling on the ground was gone. She stepped out of her door and looked around but there was no trace of the man. She tried to call out to him only to realize that Jake had never even given her his name.
She stayed there for a while and then closed the door and came back inside the house. She thought about the situation she had just been through. The longer she thought about it the more she realized that she could have handled this situation a little better. The man at first glance was obviously worried and nervous as he was searching for his family. Telling a guy like that, that his family might be dead, was a bad move.
To put it in perspective, a man had just come to her door looking for his long-lost family, and instead of directing him to authorities or people that could have helped him. She should have called the realtor first instead Lina told him that his family could have been her old tenants and they were dead.
Lina picked up a cushion from her sofa to stifle her voice and then she screamed into the cushion as loudly as she could.
"Come on it's not my fault that he misunderstood. I was going to help him clarify the situation but he just ran away. This was not my fault you hear me, not my fault."