Syndedeménos (Connected)

CHAPTER 12

Two black pistols had been inserted into the inside of Aquila's jacket before the safe and the safe cover plate was returned to its original position. The secret place again couldn’t be seen the way it did. Then Aquila walked into her kitchen side of her room just as the microwave produced a sound. A sign that heated foods were ready to be removed.

Ten minutes was the time used for Aquila getting ready in her flat. Aquila closed the flat’s door after she finished stuffing the two dinner sets into her backpack and turned off the room lights. There was no noticeable difference in appearance between before Aquila came in and after, except that the girl in the navy jacket had removed her hat and tied her hair into a low ponytail.

The sun had started to fall and gave a view of the orange sky. Aquila was getting ready to ride her bike again. For the next hour she will enjoy the view of the twilight that will turn into night. It was quite a long journey to where Keenan was hidden.

*****

Karen opened her eyes and found herself awakened a second time in a VVIP Room at the hospital. Under normal conditions, after getting up, Karen would immediately get out of bed and wash her face so she wouldn't fall asleep. But this time Karen just wanted to lie down and lament the emptiness in her life.

"Don't worry, my dear… they won't be coming back anymore," said Valencia, smiling at her daughter.

Hearing information about the journalists who were gone didn't make Karen feel any better. The girl looked up with a tired and puffy face from crying for more than two hours and found Valencia was holding her hand which was being put on an IV tube. Karen looked at her stepmother for a moment, then turned her gaze back to the light beige wall that was opposite from where Valencia was sitting. Karen almost cried again when she thought only her stepmother was in the room.

"Karen..." Sean, who had been sitting on the sofa, immediately approached the patient who had just woken up.

Karen automatically turned in the direction of the voice. Sean's condition was quite worrying with his hair being disheveled as a result of being pulled by the hair owner when he was feeling guilty. Seeing the condition of others who looked worried, Karen tried to be stronger in front of Sean by holding back her tears.

"I'll leave. Call me if you need anything, my dear," said Valencia, touching her daughter's cheek and then walking out of the room.

"I'm sorry…. If only… yesterday… I forbade….” Sean stood by the bed with a trembling voice.

Karen couldn't make a sound even if she wanted to. Her throat was so dry at that time that she only responded to Sean's words by touching the hand of the man beside him. Sean kept apologizing to Karen until finally the two teenagers couldn't hold back their tears when they saw each other.

After not hearing the sound of crying in the room again, Valencia went back in to see his daughter. Valencia was silent for a moment because it was the first time she saw Karen trying to put something in her mouth since Karen fainted this morning and was rushed to the hospital. With the help of Sean who lifted Karen to sit up, Karen was finally willing to drink a few sips of mineral water from the bottle she had thrown at the wall because she still couldn't control her emotions.

"It's a good thing Karen could drink. It's all thanks to you. Thank you," Valencia said, smiling at Sean as she stroked Karen's hair.

Sean tried to smile at Valencia while wiping the tears from his face nervously. Seeing that Karen's condition was getting better, Valencia called her husband to give news about their youngest child's condition. While Karen had been in the hospital, the words of her father and mother during Karen's absence did not succeed in giving the girl the strength to accept the truth. But Sean's arrival this time managed to make Karen have the strength to continue her life.

On the other hand, the heavy burden that Sean carried became a little less. All day long Sean tried to contact Karen's parents to visit their youngest child because he felt he couldn't live in peace without apologizing. Sean knew exactly the closeness between the two children of the Aldrich family. Since childhood, Sean had realized that Karen was so dependent on her brother that the harsh reality she received this morning must have shaken her soul.

Even though he had calmed down, Sean's mind couldn't focus on anything else but the regret he had since calling the police to search for missing persons last night. Regret and calmer thoughts made Sean think of something beyond what he had been thinking all day.

Could it be that Keenan is still alive?

*****

An abandoned building. Keenan had thought a lot about his temporary residence. Starting from the fact that this building definitely does not have electricity, limited water supply to lots of insects that will appear. Even though Keenan had been thinking about all the bad things since this afternoon, he still felt annoyed when he had to experience one by one the inconveniences that came true.

In his eighteen years of living in this world, Keenan had never felt he was less afraid to step on his feet. Every time he looked at the glass door that was kept open all day, then bad images immediately flooded his mind. So Keenan just sat on the concrete floor and leaned against a pillar. Even though it was almost dark, Keenan had no desire to attend the dinner that was being held in the dining room.

"Keenan, are you sure you don't want to eat?"

Keenan looked up when a small figure -who had accompanied him most of the time in this building- was standing in front of him. Mary's outfit didn't change: she was still wearing a pink polka-dot dress that covered half of her calves and a pair of white ballet shoes that were dull and with holes in them. But Keenan knew very well that the little girl in front of him had just taken a bath because Mary's hair which was usually tied up was now flowing straight down to her waist in a semi-wet state.

"You must have gone out on purpose when that kid was leading the prayers," said Keenan.

Mary smiled so wide that her eyes lined up. Then the girl nodded many times happily. Indirectly Mary showed joy because there are people who could not stand to pray for too long like her.

"I'll accompany you out here if you don't want to come in."

"Come in, your friends will think you're missing if you're not there after the prayer is over."

"We used to play hide and seek here. So it's fine."

Keenan smiled slightly at the expressionless face in front of him. Once again Karen's face flashed in her mind as she chatted with Mary.

How is Karen's condition now? I hope she's not so worried.

Finally Keenan stood up according to Mary's original wish and patted the girl's head as high as her waist lightly.

"Come on in. I'll take the time to shower while you guys are eating."