" Ma! We're home!" Akila said as she entered the house. Lance entered after her. Their mother was sitting on the floor leaning on the sofa watching movie. She suddenly stood up when she saw Lance.
" Ma, Lance is here!" Akila exclaimed.
" Go and change." Celine told her daughter calmly , coldly looking at Lance. Akila mentally sighed and glanced at Lance before heading to her room.
"It's been a long time." Celine said calmly.
" Yeah." Lance replied awkwardly. He really wanted to get out of this room.
" I heard you went crazy at your home last night." Celine stated sitting in the couch.
"It was just a headache."
" Lance. Don't expect to continue hanging out with Akila if you can't keep yourself straight."
" It's not like I chose to get a headache,ma! It's just a headache,I..."
"Quite."
Lance stepped forward towards his mother trying to explain but she stepped backward,away from him. This always broke his heart , his mother always treated him distantly but instead of asking why as he would get no answer anyways,he just gave a small smile filled with pain.
" I will get going." Lance said calmly turning towards the door.
" WAIT!" Akila called. Behind her was their grandmother. At seeing Lance, she trembled. Lance was used to this since he was twenty-one. Five years had passed already, no one told him why he was treated like that. Not Akila, not Aidan , not his mother and especially not his grandma. His grandmother wasn't even fond of seeing his face.
" Ge, ge ,get out!" His grandmother said. He nodded with a sigh. Akila also sighed aloud and said,
" Why not have dinner with us?" and her mother shot her a deadly look. The grandmother almost fainted.But Akila didn't seem to care. Lance smiled at her as he shook his head. Akila insisted and insisted and finally ,Lance ended up staying. The atmosphere between him and his mother wasn't that good, but the one between him and his grandmother was worser. This was one of the reason he chose to move out from this house. He was too uncomfortable here. It was more like this place wasn't even his home. He then felt like going at his apartment because there he felt at home because of his buddy.Still,he decided to shake it off his head .
The dinner was too awkward that Lance barely ate. One moment his mother would say," I really didn't expect you here today. Morever have dinner with you."
Another, his grandmother would say, " I never wish to see your face again."
" You raised a beast." She added.
" In the past four years, you never called me." Celine said. After Lance moved out_he was twenty-two then_ he would call Celine almost five times a day but not only did she ignore his calls, she also stopped him from coming to visit her. Now she was sitting there complaining. Lance almost laughed out but held himself not wanting to be disowned. He glanced at Akila who had lied to him that their mother was actually worried about him and she just shrugged and shook her head secretively.
She could only regret silently about making Lance come.
After dinner Akila was told to go to her room although she wanted to escort Lance out but she dared not make a fuss.
After she had gone, Celine followed Lance out.
" I'm going to limit the time you spend with my girl. Don't object, you know it's better for both of you."
Lance couldn't help but ask," Why?"
" No more questions." Celine said going back in the house and politely closed the door. Lance could only look at the closed oor and sigh. He opened his phone and saw that it was still early. It was seven- thirty. As soon as he put the phone back in his pocket it rung.
" Where are you?" Aidan asked as soon as Lance picked up.
" I'm coming home."
" I asked you where you're,not what you're doing. That's why you always failed in tests." Aidan said calmly.
" I have already taken dinner. I advise you to first go to any restaurant and feed yourself. Don't wake me when you arrive. That would be helpful."
" Don't expect me to be helpful." He told him.
As the meal he had taken at his mother wasn't that good,_ not because it wasn't well cooked but because of the people he was sharing the food with_,he went to a restaurant and fed himself. Atleast no one saying unuseful words to him. He then walked home after that. There weren't many people at the street. He then heard his name being called and turned to see the same weird man that Luna had saw at her home. He was their father's brother but barely visited them. He had stopped to visit them when Akila was only two so she didn't know him.
The man rushed towards him and said,
" Follow me." Lance looked at him in confusion not showing even a slightest will to follow him.
" Is it because I look weird?" The man asked.
" What do you mean by you look weird?? You're weird." Lance blurted out those words carelessly . He didn't mean to say them but they just escaped his mouth just like that.
" I'm your uncle."
" Can we talk tomorrow in the day? I really have a tiring job." He said with a fake yawn. His uncle didn't respond. He was about to turn but suddenly saw a creepy smile on his uncle's lips. He turned slowly, took two steps forward , and then, RUN. After running as far as he could. He looked back and saw that he wasn't even followed.
" Why the hell was I running?" He murmured to himself gving out a sigh of relief. He then turned.
" Ahhh!" He was startled by the fact that he was dragged in the alley and seeing that his uncle was there in front of him that he fell down. He was still wearing that creepy smile of his.
" You murder!" He cursed him as he grabbed him by his collar.
" Excuse me!" Lance was now more than confused. The man was too strong.
" I... Don't und..."
" You're dying here today."The man started strangling him and he struggled to free himself. At the moment his eyes glowed green and the man instantly let go of him and fell on him. His eyes changed back to normal quickly. He then saw Raven in front of him with her spear. She had done nothing . She was too suprised to see the man fall like that before doing anything. Lance also seemed quite confused. He had felt some change in his body but...
He then pushed the man down. And put his hand on his chest.
" How am I supposed to know if he's still alive?" He murmured to himself as he changed his position and decided to put his ear on the left side of his uncle's chest.
" He is not alive." Raven said calmly. Lance swallowed.
" He had died two weeks ago. " She added. Lance sat down weakly not understanding anything.
" Let's leave." Raven said .
" The body..."
" Just leave it."
" But..."
"It won't last more than three hours. It will just turn into dust. Let's go." Raven said impatiently. Lance seemed like he wouldn't move.
* If only Lynx was here.* She wished but suddenly shook it off her mind. Lance had many questions in his head. But he wasn't going to leave without the body.
" Where are you going to carry it?" Raven asked truly annoyed. Lance thought about it. He owned no car.
" I will wait for those three hours."
"...."