𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐖𝐈𝐍 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐗 ✓

21: A LITTLE TOO MUCH

"Forgiveness,
so, the curtain closes
not, but a smile
there is only agony.
Put to rest, in the bottomless pit..."

...

"Time impacts us in strange ways, and as a result, it's a bit of a paradox. We often dread how it can hold us captive when we lack the right amount of stimulation in our lives. So, we turn to doing various activities in an attempt to kill time. When time drags on in a snail's pace, it brings upon us an unbearable boredom; and when it seems to slip through our grasp, we become acutely aware of the inevitable end that awaits us. All things come to an end eventually. All of us must depart this world at some point. That's what makes every single day we have precious. The certainty that we have only a finite time is what endows life with its priceless value.

Jonghin, my best friend, your untimely departure has left an unfillable void in our lives. We fondly remember the times we spent together - laughing until our bellies hurt, supporting each other through thick and thin, and dreaming of a future full of endless possibilities. It is devastating to accept that you are no longer physically with us, but your memory will forever live on in our hearts.

We may not have done enough to give you with the love you deserved, Jonghin, but our hearts are full of hope that you're happier now..."

Mason couldn't really accept the absence of his only friend, Jonghin was gone and he could do nothing, nothing but stand and say whatever his words could probably convey. Slew steps took him to the edge of the seats as he slowly sat behind everyone listening to different stories which were far from the truth.

He was tired. Not the normal every day tired from a hard day of work. The exhausted type of tired where you're surprised your body can even move. All he wanted to do was sit in front of the fireplace, put his feet up on the coffee table, and drink a beer and tell Jonghin how much he missed him. The only issue was that he had forgotten his way to his old friend.

It was Jonghin's funeral, the twins barely teen, still in lamenting the whole loop of life and death and barely could they differentiate what that meant; the night would pass and their father would be here, again. They still didn't understand how changes worked. When they looked at today compared to yesterday, there was nothing that they could see that was different. Yet, when they looked at today compared to last year, they couldn't see how anything was ever the same. Dani hadn't spoken a word.

Contrary to his tiredness, Mason couldn't comprehend with what he had seen at Jonghin's room back at the University. He had broken down the door with the help of a fellow student, but did the boy really see what he had perceived? He saw the him, he saw him right there staring at his friend with eyes open wide, in a sense of relief and success.

Not heeding to the unnecessary chaos dripping behind him he made his way back to the mansion, his feet in frenzy as he made his way up the stairs to the room up in the attic. Finding the truth wouldn't be easy, that was for sure. Then there was the question of whether or not Mason really wanted to know the truth. That's the thing that bothered him most. It wasn't the difficulty of actually finding out what happened that was the obstacle, but having to live with that information once it was found.

It took him a mere few minutes as he combed the key out of his deep trench pocket and unlocked the door closing it behind him. The attic was a mess, a mess the family had brought alongside them. Boxes, and webs and secrets, demanding, puny little secrets. Shovelling the carcasses of dead memoires his tired mind fell scattered, there was so much yet so less to turn anything back, he knew that yet he couldn't give up. One box past another and nothing but clothes, and pictures and nothing, nothing that could even solve any dilemma.