Elder Benson is dead.
He had a gift of taking pictures in a surreal manner and didn't care people thought he was strange.
When his body is found with a bluish substance in his system, everyone concludes that he overdosed on drugs.
And no one cares...
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Malachi got back to Elder's house when most of the guests were leaving. They stared at him, the boy drenched in mud as they walked past. To prevent anyone from asking him why, he kept his stony face and stood there waiting for those filing past him to be done already.
A little girl in ponytails moved from her parents and came to him. She smiled and offered her handkerchief to him. Kids were his number one weakness. He loved them and always wished he wasn't an only child.
"Thank you." a smile crept through his face to the girl.
The girl giggled and ran back to her mother. The woman cast a furtive glance at him and whispered something harshly to her daughter. The girl nodded solemnly and turned to give a Malachi a wave. The smile that was all over her face was replaced with a sad one. He waved back at the girl and did a funny expression which got the girl smiling again.
"And the prodigal son returned covered in mud."
He turned to see Julia standing at the door with her hands crossed. There was a smile tugging on her lips and Kai raised his eyebrows at her and shrugged.
"Where's Simi?"
"She's gone. She left after you did."
"Oh okay," Malachi stood there with his hands in his pockets.
"Are you going to come in or stand there like a muddy scarecrow?" Julia asked him.
He grunted and followed Julia back into the house. His boots weren't very wet but he removed them and entered the house barefoot. The last thing he wanted was to be a bother to the already grieving family.
Mr. Benson was packing up the chairs in the hall when they entered. He was a burly man and picked up the plastic chairs three at a time and stacked them together. When he heard feet shuffling, he turned and saw Julia and Malachi.
"What happened to you son?" Mr. Benson was a quiet man and rarely said anything until he really need to.
"A car splashed mud on me," he answered politely.
"You can go to El's room to change. I'm sure you'll get some clothes that fit. Julia show him the bathhouse alright?"
Julia nodded. "Where's mom?"
"She took some sleeping pills. Your brother is with her. I just hope she's calmer when she wakes up."
"Need some help down here?" Julia asked her father.
"Of course but first show Malachi the guest bathhouse so he can wash himself."
Julia turned and Malachi followed him. It seemed weird to him that even though Elder was his best friend, he never knew his family that well except Julia. It was if sometimes Elder didn't want to introduce them to him. As if he was either ashamed of Malachi or his family.
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He washed himself and walked as fast as he could in his boxers to Elder's room. Dumping the muddy clothes on the floor, Malachi looked at the room. It looked untouched with his bed neatly made and his books arranged neatly arranged on a table.
There was a poster of Harry Kane, a football player, hanging on the wall opposite the bed. He remembered the number of times he'd teased Elder because Harry Kane wasn't as popular as the Ronaldo and Messi.
Malachi diverted his attention to the drawers and pulled one out, searching for a clean shirt and trousers. The first drawer he pulled was filled with boxer briefs and singlets.
He opened another drawer and found some polo shirts and rummaged through, settling on a dark brown shirt. He wore it and immediately was engulfed in the scent of the shirt. It smelled so much like the cologne Elder used that Kai felt an ache in his heart.
The next drawer was filled with folded pairs of jeans and he picked one and wore it. He was about to close the drawer when he saw the cover of what seemed to be a book peeking out under the pairs of jeans.
The cover was blue and blended perfectly with the jeans. Malachi pulled it out and heart began racing when he saw the initials at the lower right cover of the book. Two letters. CH
He closed the drawer and sat on the bed. Taking a deep breath, he opened the book and realized that it was one of Elder's photobook. The first photo he saw was of two of their classmates, a girl and a guy, with the girl on her toes whispering something to the guy. The next photo was of a man he didn't know greeting the dean of students at the University Hospital.
Malachi closed the book and decided to go over the photos carefully when he got to his hostel room. This photobook may have been important to Elder and might help him with more info.
He picked his clothes from the floor and put them in a schoolbag lying on the study desk so that he could send them back to his room. Just when he zipped the schoolbag, he heard the door opened and turned. It was Ezekiel, Elder and Julia's younger brother. He was looking at Malachi with huge puppy eyes and one finger in his nose.
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Author's Note.
Thank you so much for reading this chapter. Please tap on that star icon to vote for it and I'd be grateful. Hope you're having a wonderful day. If not, then remember that after the storm, the sun will come out to shine.
