Mystery

"tired? What did he do this morning other than decide what to eat? Is he sick?" Jade asked sarcastically.

"mom, didn't you see the injuries on Liam's body?" Sandra asked curiously as she gently dropped the breakable pot cover she was holding.

"yes, he looked perfectly fine…to me." Jade replied casually.

"…" Sandra said nothing. she stared at her, wondering why she couldn't see his injuries.

"weren't you guys joking when you said he was bleeding?"

"mom for real Liam was bleeding, he was bleeding badly. his forehead is bruised but it's nothing compared to his left arm. it looked like he was attacked by an animal that left marks of it's claws. the wound is really deep" she describes aggressively as she demonstrate with her hand. the injuries on Liam's body doesn't need a microscope to see it. why couldn't her mother see it?

"Sandra, his forehead is perfectly fine I didn't see anything wrong with it...baby, look at me closely. what is the color of my dress?"Jade asked staring straight into her eyes, checking if something was wrong with her eyes.

Sandra quietly turned back to the pot and dashed out enough food for Liam. she asked her mom to follow her to Liam's room. it weird her mother couldn't see Liam's injury. she needs to confirm why her mother isn't able to see it.

Jade left what she was doing and followed her to Liam's room.

when they got to the room. Liam was already sleeping soundly "Liam the food Is here…or do u want me to feed you?" Sandra asked casually.

"you are seeking for a hot slap....Sandra where are the bruises?" Jade looked at his right arm which he carefully rested on top of his body like he was hurt there.

"..." Sandra was dumbstrucked. the injuries were not hidden. they are right before her eyes.

"I don't see anything wrong with your brother. His forehead is fine, so as his right arm. If its a joke, I don't have the time for this".

"I'm serious, look at his forehead again. mom, can't you see this?" Sandra asked as she touched the wound. Liam groan unconsciously due to the discomfort of someone poking his injury.

"you kids are definitely playing a prank on me right…he is not sleeping." Jade doubted "Naughty kids, I won't fall for it." she wasn't seeing anything. it was obvious to her that they want to mess with her.

"Mom for real. Why can't you see this? It is really deep"

"exactly, why can't I see it? Dra… if you actually see injuries on him. That means we have to visit an optician." Jade said as she drew Sandra close to check her eyes.

"Nothing is wrong with my eye. I feel like something is really up." She said, lightly pushing her mom off.

"honey, everything is fine. I need to prepare for the interview. Don't get worked up over nothing. I will take you to the optician tomorrow after school." Jade said this as she left the room.

'something is not right here. I will have to wait for him to wake up.' Sandra was in a trance for a brief moment before she left his room to eat breakfast.

"Dra, I'm off to the interview. Take care of yourself and your brother. I will be back soon" Jade said as she put on her black jacket.

"good luck mom. On your way back, please stop by at the pharmacy and get a bandage"

"your brother is fine. I should rather request for an eye drop from the pharmacist for your case instead. Something is wrong with your eyes."

"mom…okay buy the bandage, let's keep it in case of emergence. Have a nice day" Sandra said as her mother went off. She went to the dinning to take her breakfast.

When Sandra was done eating. she took her plates to the kitchen, washed the dishes, cleaned the kitchen and then the sitting room, there were some blood droplet lying on the floor at the sitting room where she saw Liam. She proceeds to clean them when she discovered that there were two wet towels at the floor near the edge of the sofa "how did these get here?" she picked them up and kept them in the basket for washing. It took her about 30 minutes to complete the chores. She went up and checked on Liam, who was sleeping soundly like he has been deprived of sleep for weeks. She decided to quietly clean up his room which was looking so untidy.

"I wouldn't have bothered about you, if you weren't my brother. Rude fool" she quietly cleaned the room for him. For the final touch, she took his floral perfume and sprayed around the room. she has gotten tired by the time she was through. She decided to watch her favorite channel at the sitting room.

-----------------------------------------------------8 hours later----------------------------------------------------

Sandra went to check up on her brother for the fifth time. He was already awake eating the cold food she kept in his room since morning. "you should have called me to heat up the food" she said casually

"don't bother. Thanks for cleaning my room" Liam said as he rushes his food.

"now, what..." she suddenly closed her mouth. she watched how he struggles to eat due to the discomfort he was experiencing and decided to wait till he was through "I will get you some water. Don't eat like cave men, eat slowly." with this said, she left.

"get more food! don't bother to heat them! ah" he shouted and groaned in pain.

she got back few minutes later with more food and water.

"thanks" he thanked Sandra as she collected the empty plate he was holding and gave him another plate of fried egg with rice.

Immediately Liam received the food, he began to dig in. "I said you should eat slowly before you choke yourself…It has only been half a day you haven't eaten." Sandra starred at him like she has seen a glutton.

"kind of. I haven't eaten for a day." Liam replied as he continued stuffing the food into his mouth.

"it's half a day pig. see how chubby you are." She got tired of watching him, she walked to the window and looked down. The roads were busy like normal, the only different was the chilly weather that felt so different in a bad way. She stared at the cars and people moving till she noticed a young ungroomed lady in her 20s starring directly at her.

The lady then made a gesture with her hands in form of exploding bomb with creepy smile plastered on her face. "this woman really creeps me out" she murmured to herself and shaked off the chills.

"there is a clear different between chubby and a well-built body, fish brain…Well, am not sure, it could be more than half a day." he slowly kept the empty glass plate on the nightstand with his left hand and yelped.

Sandra faced him "I think; you should stop using that hand for the main time till you recover." She pointed at his right arm. "why do you insist is a whole day?, does this have anything to do with the injuries on your body? I have this feeling that what happened to you is not natural because before I saw you like this..." she said gesturing to the bruises on Liam's body. "you just finished concluding on what we should eat and left to pee in mom's bathroom claiming that it was closer than yours, about 3 minutes later you came back looking like that."

"…" Liam was puzzled. he stared at her in bewilderment. "you are not serious, that's definitely did not happen. why then did you bring up Miss Wevon's dog? You talked like I went out." he asked curiously.

"because I forgot you went to mom's bathroom…and you…looked like you…like you just came back…I think…" Sandra answered somewhat confused, in fact she was confused. She scratched her head to figure out what his whereabout was 'did he go out or go to mom's bathroom this morning.'

"…" Liam gaze was still fixed on her. he was speechless. what exactly happened?

"early I was sure that you went out this morning to buy…some milk, but now am sure you went pee? Am not getting this." Sandra said with confusion written all over her face as she pulled her hair up.

"…" Liam sat up straight, intertwined his fingers and brought his hands close to his mouth. "Please bring that chair and sit in front of me."

Sandra did as he said and was still trying to figure out where he went to in the morning.

"okay, now tell me what happened in the morning before you saw me like this."

"ehm…I woke up late at 8:48. So…I noticed that mom was not yet awake, I went to her room…and woke her up. she began rushing so that we will be able to enter the school premises before the school gate closes…then I went to your room and woke you up…later on, we were sitted at the sitting room, discussing on what we should eat. You insisted that we should eat fried egg with bread and milk. So…mom asked you to buy some milk..." she narrated. "I know this sounds stupid but I'm sure you went out…and also sure you didn't go out at the same time."

Sandra was puzzled on how the two scenes fits perfectly in her head. "Liam, I don't understand how can i be so sure that you didn't go out and at the same time be sure that you went out…" She pulled her hair back in frustration. She knew she sounded stupid but those are the memory she has "see…when I first saw the wounds on your body, I was sure you went out. But now, the whole idea of where you went to changed with the matter of time and they both seems correct…".