I woke up to shuffling and beeping sounds and felt someone hold my hand. As regained my consciousness that's when I felt the pain. My whole body ached and I groaned when someone tried to speak to me as a massive headache made its way. As I opened my eyes I saw the worried face of Chris, he tried to speak to me but it was difficult to stay conscious. When I woke up for the second time that's when I realized I was in the hospital.
Those memories hit me like a truck and I curled up to cry when I heard someone open the door. Chris arrived with some water and was relieved to see me awake but when he saw the state I was in, he immediately rushed to my side. I waited for Nova but he was nowhere to be seen and I asked him the same.
"Chris, where's Nova?"
I sensed the unease and before he could speak, the doctor's rushed in and sent him out. They checked for any complication and surprisingly the wounds begin to heal faster. And soon they too went out and finally Chris came in, he looked anywhere but me and I knew him too well to know whatever he's going to say is not good. When he looked at me, I saw him tearing up and he said those wretched words.
"We don't know where he is Sean, we lost him and I'm sorry—"
I froze at his words and I didn't hear what he's saying anymore. The words kept repeating "We lost him, we lost him" over and over again like a broken record. And I blanked out for the rest of stay in the hospital. I never responded to any questions and the ghosting smile of him never left. Day after day Chris looked worse because he too lost his friend and one night I woke in middle of the night to him to sobbing with his hands grasped mine firmly. I stayed still and heard him speak in broken voice almost a whisper as not to wake me up but heard him anyway.
"I lost him Sean, and I can't lose you too. I'm scared when I see you broken and it's hard for me to speak to Arabella. I can't bear to say the truth to her please come back I can't do this alone"
And he cried throughout the night and fell asleep. That's when I came to my senses because he too lost his friend and he was suffering alone. I stayed awake and only in the early hours did I fell asleep. When I woke up, I stayed silent until we were finally alone and asked him what happened after I lost my consciousness.
But what he said shook my world because he never saw the monster and we were in an accident when we were moving in our car. It doesn't add up, there's something he's hiding and he knew that I didn't believe it too.
After a month in the hospital, I can finally go home and continue my search for him. Chris knew too that I would never give up my search for Nova so when we were driving home, he gave me a small pendant. He left for work after dropping me of at home, after sometime I left for Nova's home. We lived nearby after we three bought our home to always stay together. As I rang the doorbell, it took sometime to open up but as soon it's open I almost tripped backwards. As I looked down, I saw Ara, Nova's sister and she's almost eight years now and I felt myself tear up and I looked up to see Mrs. Jasmine who looked wearied. It must hard for her to not know about her son's whereabouts.
As I open my mouth to speak, I began to choke up and Mrs. Jasmine hugged me and reassured me that it wasn't my fault over and over. Somehow, she knew I blamed myself and even though Ara is young she knew something's wrong and held onto my legs tightly as if to comfort me.
After sometime we made it to the living room and discussed what happened and to avoid further worry I explained the situation as Chris told me. I will sound crazy if I told them the truth and I promised them that I will find Nova. I left in the late evening and promised to visit daily and to inform them if I find anything.
As searched for any news about the resort I found that it was destroyed in a small tsunami and it didn't affect the nearby city as it was far away from the city. And it will be open after few months as I promised myself to go there to search for clues.
After few weeks I returned to my work, my research half done. My boss and colleagues were worried but by the end of the day they confirmed that I can resume work. Even as a newbie I can already work as an individual. As days went by, my work was almost finished when I heard they were opening the resort again. During the days Chris constantly called me and we always spent our nights together in Nova's house and Mrs. Jasmine was glad to have company and I see a melancholy look on her when she saw us playing with Ara. When I finished my research, I took a long leave and without any questions it was granted right away.
That day as I was walking home suddenly, I felt dizzy and fell when opened my eyes I saw Nova. Even though I saw him he doesn't see me and as I stepped closer to him, I froze. There he was standing Infront of someone and my blood ran cold as I saw the person melt down like a wax and those screams almost made me run but I stood frozen in fright. The last thing I saw was the rage in his face and satisfaction in his eyes as the scream subside and the last thing left of that person was a puddle of blood and bones.