How Things Changed Forever...

CH 13 - You Asked For It.

When Tyson reached the Tachibana residence, he found all the lights to be off. He rings the doorbell, assuming Mrs Tachibana to have gone asleep with Hillary, with Mrs Tachibana being  an early sleeper, as she was a very busy person.

No response.

 He rings again and even calls out their names in the silent neighborhood. After impatiently waiting for a minute or two, his worries get the better off him. 

Hillary was supposed to be here. She couldn't have gone anywhere after the state she was in when he left. He also knew that they kept a spare key under the rose pot next to the door. And he was quite sure Mrs Tachibana wouldn't scold him if he barged into their house without warning. Otherwise, why would she take the trouble of even telling him the spare key's hiding place?  He reasoned his actions and let himself in.

"Mrs Tachibana.... Hillary !! Tyson here. Are you people in there?! "

Still no response. Tyson starts feeling a bit uneasy at this. The hallway was a bit dusty, and even he knew that The Tachibana residence was never dusty. And if the mare sight of dust could make him feel uneasy,  the scene that followed it as he entered the living room raised goosebumps all over his body. 

The two sliding glass doors, which covered the entire wall in front of him and led the the garden, was smashed to pieces, scattered all over the floor. The ivory coloured curtains were torn to pieces. An antique vase, Mrs Tachibana's dearest possession lay before him, partially broken. 

Dread filled his heart and he had to take the support of the door frame to stand erect. What had happened here? Where was Hillary?!! Mrs Tachibana? Tyson races through the hallway,  barging into every door in his way, with his mind creating more gruesome image than the previous one on how he would find Hillary, mixing them up with the blood stained memory of Kai from the day before.

 When he finally reached Hillary's room,  which was located on the first floor, only to find the room to be in a state similar to that of the others, Tyson didn't know whether to be grateful or worried about not finding anyone in the house. He collapsed into the torn bed, rocking back and forth, sobbing hardly, for he couldn't imagine anything happening to the Tachibanas.

 The sweetest family he would ever know, who had more or less adopted him, treated him just as he was treated when he was a little toddler, as though they had always been in touch over the last decade. Mrs Tachibana, who was the closest thing to a parental figure he had had in his recent life. Mr Tachibana, who was the perfect mix between the overprotective father of a daughter and a father teasing his son for not being bold enough to ask the his crush out. 

And Hillary!! The girl who had gone from the 'wicked witch of grade eight' as he so eloquently put it, to 'being back to friends' to his 'newest crush'. He couldn't even think of losing any of them. God couldn't be any more cruel to him than he was already was, could he? He couldn't possibly take away any more loved ones from him, could he? I couldn't be  a cursed child to all the people whom he loved,  could he? 

After rocking back and forth for a few more minutes, he tried thinking of anything positive in the situation,  as he always does. It was just   following his mother's advise, one of the few memories of her which had followed him from his childhood days to his teen years,  for somehow, it made him feel closer to his mother than ever before. 

Then he noticed it. A thin layer of dust caked on the study table. This confirmed him that the attack, for whatever reason it was caused, wasn't recent. A giddy sense of happiness filled his heart, and he immediately messaged all the three Tachibanas.