Chapter 1: I've Been Dying To See You Again

A man walks up the road of his village, his pale brown hands stuck in the pockets of his hoodie. Everyone he passes by seems to overlook him, as if he were invisible.

On his face, are scars on his left cheek, and bruises mark his rough brown skin. His eyes lack emotion, a deep black color threatening to never dissipate.

A brown pouch hangs from the waist of his dark blue pants, swinging as he walks, accompanied by a messenger bag resting against the back of his black hoodie.

Reaching his destination, he turns to his right, staring at the house on the hill in front of him, his jet black curls fluttering in the wind. It's a freshly built concrete house, unpainted.

He kicks the ground with his sneakers, bracing himself and walks towards the house.

There he meets a woman doing laundry by hand, she's about the same height as Jonah. Straight, jet black hair frames her face, and the sun highlights her fair brown skin.

Jonah edges towards her quietly, his heart racing. He stops behind her.

"Good afternoon," he says.

"Jesus!" The woman startles. "Oh Jonah! Long time no see, you had to frighten me like that?"

Jonah smiles.

"So Jonah, how's your mammy, nuh?"

"She... moved out recently for some reason. So it's just me here still."

"Oh... so you come to meet us, or you come to miss Caedi?"

"Well, all of you. I just felt like coming over."

The two stand in silence as the woman continues washing her clothes.

"Well, come inside, nuh. Make yourself at home. I'll call those girls to come and see you. Those boys chilling in the living room."

Without saying anything, Jonah walks inside. His eyes glaze over, remembering past memories.

"They kept the same layout as the old house."

Jonah stares at the room around him. In front of him is an opening leading to the other rooms of the house, a curtain draped in front of it.

To his right, against the wall, is a computer desk with a laptop on it. Next to the desk is an outlet with a tablet and three other phones resting on it.

On the opposite side of the desk is a couch, two boys sitting on it, both staring at a video playing on the laptop. Their attention turns to Jonah as soon as their brains realize he's there.

"Jonah, is that you?" the older brother says.

"Yeah," he simply replies.

The older brother gets up, runs to him, and hugs him, reaching roughly Jonah's waist.

"You look so different, you lost all your belly fat."

He pats Jonah's belly, smiling.

Jonah scoffs, a slight smile on his face.

"Hey, get off him boy. Hi Jonah."

A voice appears from the opening in front of Jonah. It's a fair-skinned girl with short, dark brown braids, colorful beads swinging off the ends. She's about shoulder height to Jonah, her eyes bright brown, and a tiny mole on the corner of her pink lips. She waves at Jonah.

"Hi Iah." Jonah smiles brightly.

Iah leaves as quickly as she came, disappearing behind the curtain.

Jonah looks down to see the younger brother grabbing his hand.

"Jonah, did you bring something for Caedi... and me too?"

Jonah's heart beats hard after hearing the name.

"Well, actually, I brought something for all of you."

"Is that so? Excuse me,"

The woman who was washing the laundry walks behind Jonah, who is still standing in front of the door. Jonah moves out of the way, and she rests a basket of clothes near the entrance to the other rooms.

"What do you have for me? Pass it." The woman holds out her hand.

"Let's wait for Caedi first. I have some snacks, and I got around to ordering some matcha powder so we can try together."

"Oh, that's nice. You want me to heat up some water?"

"Sure."

"Miss C, hurry up, you hear? I want what is mine."

She shouts so that everyone in the house can hear, seemingly not expecting an answer.

"She's probably bathing, you know, but she better hurry up. Jonah, take a seat, make yourself at home."

Jonah just smiles and hums to himself.

"Well, is you. You like to stand up. You not tall enough?"

From behind the curtain, a girl around five inches shorter than Iah peeks out. Her darker complexion contrasts with Iah's, and her long black hair flows wild and untamed down her back. Her lips radiate a firm, glossy dark pink, and her hazel eyes glisten brightly regardless of the time of day.

As soon as she sees Jonah, her heart thuds, and she retreats, running straight back to her room where her sister Iah was.

"Paccia, what is he doing here? I thought he didn't want to talk to me again."

The girl's room is simple, a bed at the center, a wardrobe and a countertop by the window. Clothes are scattered everywhere. Iah lies in the center of the bed.

"I dunno. Maybe he didn't mean it."

"It's been five years."

"Well, it doesn't matter, Caedi. You're going to have to face him, so brace yourself before mammy comes and drags you out. Did you see him, though? He's so much hotter now, isn't he?"

Caedi makes a sound of defeat and stomps on the ground. She takes a towel off the bed and heads out their door and to the bathroom.

After she finishes her bath, she combs and braids her hair in twos, then puts on her best casual dress. She peeks out of the curtain. It took her two hours to get ready. Her heart beats ever so slightly harder when thinking of going to meet Jonah.

"You're finally here~" Jonah sings as he turns around. "Come on, let me see you."

Caedi is startled by this and slowly appears from behind the curtain.

Jonah looks at her, his eyes turning brighter, changing from black to a light brown. Caedi is only wearing a plain and simple white dress, but Jonah is stunned regardless as he looks into her sparkling crystal eyes.

"I've been just dying to see you again... my lady."

Caedi blushes and directs her gaze away from him.

"It's nice to see you again too... Jonah."

"Here, are rice crackers still your favorite snack?"

He hands her a bowl of rice crackers, seemingly which he made himself. He then grabs a teapot off the desk and pours it into a yellow cup with a cat on it.

"I see you still remember my favorite cup," she says shyly.

"But of course, here's some tea. I finally got around to ordering some matcha powder."

She smiles and thanks Jonah. For some time more, they were all there in the living room, having a good time chatting and reliving past memories. At the end of it all, Jonah began to speak.

"My word, if only I had known things could've been like this, I would have come back here sooner." Jonah's smile comes to a rest as his eyes begin to darken again. "My parents wouldn't have had to move so far away."

"What do you mean?" the mother asks, "Where exactly did they move to?"

Jonah stays still for a while, not saying anything. Then he looks straight into her eyes.

"To heaven."

The mother is shocked and quickly rises to her feet.

"You mean they died, how!?"

Jonah's lips form into a smirk.

"I killed them~" he sings.

Everyone except the two younger brothers froze. Jonah's words echo in their minds. Jonah walks and stands directly in front of the door to the outside.

"If only I knew," he continues, "but it is too late now."

"Jonah, how could you? If this is a joke, it is not funny at all," the mother says.

"It's okay, I'll send you to meet them. Right about... now."

Jonah and the two sisters watch as their mother's eyes roll back, and she falls face first to the ground, the younger brothers following behind her.

Iah runs straight into the bedroom while Caedi watches in horror, eyes wide open as froth comes out of her mother and brother's mouths. Jonah stares at Caedi, smiling brightly. She begins to frantically mumble, struggling for words to say.

"What's happening? Why are you doing this, what the hell!?"

Jonah giggles and laughs at her question.

"Why!? You have no idea. I was already headed down this path. Little did you know that you were the only thing keeping me away from it!"

"Don't give me that shit; I have nothing to do with this!!!" She shouts as she stands up. "We only broke up because you were so clingy!"

"You're right, but... I love you so much, I'm so obsessed with you that I couldn't contain myself anymore! If I can't be with you the right way then... this is how I'll do it."

Caedi looks straight forward and starts running towards Jonah, ramming directly into him in a desperate attempt to escape, but Jonah grabs her by her hair.

"You thought, but I'm clearly much stronger than I used to be. Come here."

Jonah pulls her in close and caresses her face.

"My sweet darling, you'll be mine forever."

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