A Walk With You

TWENTY TWO

Chapter 22: The Family Photo

The brakes creaked and the car stopped. Through an uncomfortable distance I could see the house beaming out.

The house was new. Very new. Unlike someone who owned a park, the house was seemingly small, 400 square metres roughly. But unapologetically modern.

Something that didn't echoed the neighborhood.

The roof was flat and sloped slightly to the left, with no visible chimney. The windows were large, maybe to let in maximum light. I didn't know.

As we walked towards the house, the door that seemed ordinary wasn't ordinary anymore. It was metallic with perfect lining.

“Wow! Look who's all grown up.” A young lady, probably in her mid 20s appeared wearing a kitchen apron. It was Jess. Arthur's elder sister.

She had been to the same school where Arthur and I attended and that was how I got to know her.

I smile back at her and then to Arthur. He seemed all happy and smiley.

“Are gonna invite her inside or not? Come on let's get inside.” Arthur grabbed the door handle and pulled the door wide open.

That same facial features and that same smile reflected in his sister's as well.

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The room was all painted white and without a tint of dirt. Similar to Kenaz's but it wasn't like a blank page with no persona. The house was alive like a home.

And the essence of vanilla pervaded the whole house, menacing my focus from the fine smooth flooring.

“We just renovated the whole house. Not much of a work but just the exterior.” Arthur spoke watching me checking out his house.

“It's so cool. I loved it.” I replied walking around the tiny room.

Something caught my eye. It was an old photo. I could tell by seeing Arthur's young face. It was a family photo!

In the frame was a lady and a gentleman along with Arthur and two little girls of which the elder one was Jess but couldn't recognise the other girl. All the three of them seemed like a mixture of both the lady and the gentleman. Probably their parents, I thought.

I turned toward Arthur who was sitting on the couch going through his phone. I went towards him to ask about that little girl in the photo. He looked at me with his majestic signature Arthur smile.

“The cake's ready!” Jess came up with the cake. It did smell good.

The cake took both our attention. It wasn't a fancy cake made like a pro. But it was so sweet of her to make such a thing for her brother that my heart went, “Aww...”

“Happy birthday to you. Happy birth day to you...” Jess started to sing as she placed the cake on the table.

Arthur was all blushes and shy. Poor Arthur.

I sang along with Jess and we both laughed out loud seeing Arthur's embarrassed face.

The laughter filled the whole house and echoed all around. I had for long forgotten about the picture.

Suddenly out of the blue the sound of breaking plates and shrieks boomed. The sound came from upstairs.

“Lisa...Lisa!” a wild shrill cry was heard.

The tension in the room was real. The vanilla essence extinct by now. And the more air I breath in the more I could feel the tension upheaving. It was like the air had been pervaded by tension alone.

“Mom...” I heard the faint voice of Arthur murmur.

By the time I realised everything that was going on, the brother - sister duo had already made it through those floating stairs.

I stood there numb trying to reciprocate. And unable to decide whether I was supposed to be following up or just sit there hoping that everything was fine.

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What is up guys?! I am so excited to end this book! Just few more chapters left. Get ready for all the secrets to be revealed steadily.

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