Saving Them (Chapter 2, Part 2)
Summary: After the brutal murder of her found family, Gemi loses years of her life to grief, leaving her remaining family member, Chaim, to suffer alone. Gemi is too late to save him from the spiraling path of hatred and revenge against the killer(s), but the Fates are on her side.
Start from the beginning
The moment we returned home, Gorka shed his clothing until he was just in boxers, and plopped onto the couch. “Okay, goodnight everybody.”
Everyone dispersed from the living room, dragging their feet in exhaustion, but I lingered by the couch. Gorka opened one eye to peek at me. “You not going to bed?”
I pursed my lips, and fiddled with a loose string on the couch. “I was wondering if... maybe if you all could sleep in my room tonight?”
Obi grabbed Tiho's hand before he shouted, “We call the bed!” and ran towards the bedroom.
Bayar stumbled over the trash can as vae started running after them. “The bed is huge, you little shit!”
Gorka sat up and gave a defeated sigh before grabbing his pillow from the couch. “Sure thing, Gemi.” He threw his arm around my shoulder and held me close as he was walking by.
We all squeezed on the bed, too close to be comfortable, but it felt safe. There was an overwhelming warmth in my chest being with them again, but the fear of waking up from this perfect dream kept me up until dawn broke.
I woke up to an empty bed, but the loud voices of Bayar and Obi echoed throughout the house. I eagerly entered the kitchen where lunch was being prepared, and everyone was alive.
“Oh, you're up!” Bayar exclaimed. When I sat down at the kitchen table with everyone else, vae bent down to kiss the top of my head. “How'd you sleep?”
“It was great,” I answered honestly. For the first time in years, I wasn't plagued by nightmares followed by a lonesome reality.
Tiho, Obi and Chaim were the only ones actually preparing dumplings and other dim sum for lunch. Bayar was reading the script for some acting audition, whereas Gorka was quietly reading a book as he snacked on some carrots and hummus, likely prepared for him by Tiho. “Can I help out?” I asked our resident chef Tiho, while pushing my sleeves up my arms.
“Sure, can you get the wu gok dough from the fridge and start filling them?”
I nodded and promptly did as instructed.
It was effortless, falling back into routine with my family after all these years. Compared to the Chaim who spent years virtually alone, I never moved on. Although I could never shake off the trauma, that horrible past dissolved as if it were all just a bad dream and I've finally waken up.
It was the same as fate left it; Obi was still in university, Tiho was volunteering for multiple organizations, Bayar continued vaer night job, Gorka homeschooled Chaim, who was thrilled to learn anything and everything. I was still a shut-in, but my world was comfortable and whole again.
After a few days, I truly started to believe their murders were just some terrible nightmare. That is, until Bayar came home after dawn shouting, “Holy shit! Gemi was right!”
Vae woke everyone up starting with Gorka, shoving this morning's newspaper in his face to reveal the horrors I spoke of, but to a family I did not know.
Gorka read intently as everyone else gathering into the living room, crowding Gorka on the couch to read along with him. “This just happened yesterday,” Gorka said to himself.
“Gemi, you said it was a serial killer, right?”
Everyone looked to me. “Yeah.” How could I forget? How could I think saving them on one night meant they were safe forever?
“But the article doesn't say anything about it being a series of killings, this is a lone incident,” Gorka argued, still intensely reading the paper.
Bayar pulled the top of the page back to catch his attention. “What if this is just the start?”
“This happened just a block away,” Tiho commented.
“It happened exactly like Gemi said,” Obi chimmed.
Chaim was the only one who noticed the blood draining from my face. I hutched over, ready to puke or pass out, or both in succession. “Gemi-” They aren't safe.
I dug my nails into my thighs and closed my eyes. We aren't safe.
Then and there, I made my resolve. I'm going to save them this time. I'll catch and stop the killers if it's the last thing I do.
Author’s Note: Sorry for the short update! The next part of chapter 2 will be a lot longer.
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