Kith and Kin ✔️

23. A Melancholic Loop

Michael had given him his laptop the previous morning but he was so caught up with school work that he couldn't check it.

He had said that he wanted to do an assignment. That his laptop was broken.
Lies.
His laptop was alright and he had no assignment to do. He had borrowed his laptop to check for that footage. The CCTV footage they'd gotten from the lounge. The footage of the night Thomas had died.

There was no way this murder attempt on him was not related to Thomas' murder. He didn't get along very well with everyone but he knew no one who will try to kill him or even Thomas. Michael was right. He has always been right about this. They shouldn't have taken this as lightly as they did before.

The footage was not hard to find. Michael had placed it in the folder under the name 'Thomas'. He clicked it and fast forwarded to the time he had left the lounge. That was about nine minutes before Thomas left.

He saw himself run-walk towards his car and then go back inside the lounge. The screen went blank for a minute after that.  It wasn't like this before, was it? Might be. They had only checked the Thomas part.

Why did he go back? He couldn't remember at first but then he remembered. Sara. He remembered what made him go back inside that night.

*******

"What happened?" Jason asked when he saw Sara standing in a cold corner of the lounge. He saw Michael with his arm around Elise waist and grinned at the sight. They were going somewhere, better not disturb them, he thought with a small smirk.

"It's just... It's just..." Sara was shivering.
"Damn girl what's wrong with you?" He asked, clearly annoyed at the sight.
"Dumbass... Give me your jacket." He quickly realised that she was cold and wanted his jacket. Being the gentleman he wasn't, he gave her his jacket.

"Can you please give me a ride home?" She asked, her voice slightly better.
"Ah ok, sure." He helped her towards his car. He had sensed something wrong but he didn't see anything. They quietly drove back to her home and Sara was completely fine when they got there.
"Wanna come in for a drink? I'm home alone and would like some company." Ah, she finally said it.
"Nah girl, some other day maybe. My grandma needs me at home now." Saying this he raced towards his home, mentally prepared for his grandma's lecture. She needed him and he was still late.

********

That's why he wasn't in the footage. He had left right after Thomas had been killed and he was in the footage that was blank.
Someone wanted to murder him right then too. He was the one who would have died that night. Maybe they weren't after Thomas after all. Maybe they were after him all this time. But who are they? And why do they want to kill him?

*******

"You don't have to take him with you." The servant said as he saw Alex walking hand in hand with his six year old son named David.
"Yes I don't but I'd like to." Alex smiled at the man and walked out of the house.

He bought David a chocolate ice-cream and after strolling for a while, they both sat on the park bench. Alex listened to his stories intently like he would to his younger brother. He had always wanted a younger sibling and his servants' kids sometimes played that role. But there was something that was always missing. Something that was in front of his eyes but he couldn't see it.