“Are you lost or something?”Penny was brought back from her line of thought by a young man's voice.She quickly looked at him, her lips dry. She was thirsty, but she didn't have any money left to buy herself some water.“What?” She asked. She wasn't sure whether to tell him that she was lost.The man seemed to be a little older than her. He was tall, with an athletic body. He was handsome, too.The man sighed and walked towards her. Penny suddenly backed away. “Don't come closer,” she said in fear.The man immediately stopped moving and raised his hands. “Whoa!” He said. “I mean no harm. It's just that I have seen you shutting here for a while…”Penny was silent for a second before sighing. “I'm just taking a rest,” she said.“Okay,” the man nodded. He was silent for a while as he looked at her. Then he sighed. “Do you need some help? You look stranded,” he said.But Penny shook her head. “No! I'm fine,” she said.She knew not to trust anyone in a new town. She didn't know who was a
When Finn looked at the old man, he realized that he had been shot in the side of his belly.He was bleeding a lot, and it looked like he was about to pass out.“Hey…” he called worriedly, trying to apply pressure on the wound. “It's going to be okay…”The old man looked back at him. “Jojo… and Nill… they are in the tunnel… I don't think they went far…”“Okay…” Finn nodded his head in understanding. “I know they are fine. But we have to look at you first…”Luckily, some of his men were trained on how to deal with bullet wounds. Their work was always dangerous. So, taking care of injuries was part of their training.They carried the old man inside. While they took care of his wounds, Finn rushed downstairs to look for Jojo and Nill.…Jojo and Nill were hugging each other tightly when the entrance to the tunnel opened.At first, they didn't know who it was. So Jojo, though in panic, pointed the gun towards them.Finn quickly raised his hands when he saw her. “It's me…” he said.Jojo th
After waiting for a while, Jojo and Nill began hearing gunshot sounds. They were so terrified, but they sat against the door and waited.They were determined not to leave the place without the old man. They knew well that he wouldn't leave without them either.At times, many gunshot sounds were heard at the same time, while at times, it was one, some silence, then another.“Do you think he is going to be okay?” Nill asked. He looked scared and tired.Jojo pulled him closer to her and hugged him. “Pops has been in the woods for so long. I'm sure he'll have something up his sleeve,” she said.But she was worried. It felt like she was comforting herself more than she was comforting Nill.A few hours passed by, but the old man had come back to them. Jojo began fearing that he could be dead.The sounds of the guns had died down a bit. What if they had killed him, and now they were looking for them?She hugged Nill even tightly, praying in her heart that everything was fine.Then suddenly,
Several months flew by so fast. Finn would come over every weekend, and the four would have some fun.They converted the front of the house into a playing ground where they would play badminton, lawn tennis and basketball.When it was so hot during the day, they would go downstream, which wasn't far from the house and swim in the small pool that the old man had created.Everything seemed normal and calm, and the woods felt like home.Then the day that they had always dreaded finally came.Jojo and Nill were swimming downstream, while the old man was fishing on the other end, when the phone that he had barely used for the last few years rang.He furrowed his brows, but he picked it up, knowing that there was only one person who would ever call him on it.“Is everything okay?” Pop's asked. It was only Wednesday. Finn had left early on Monday morning.But Finn's worried voice came from the other end. “Where are you guys?” He asked.“By the stream,” the old man said, getting on alert and
Finn dropped the bags he was holding and lifted her in his arms. He was happy to see her.“I see that you are getting along well,” he said. He had seen how immersed she was in what Pops was showing her.At the same time, Nill shifted in his sleep. “Daddy… is that you?” He asked, almost unconsciously.Jojo and the old man laughed at him, and this made him sit up, running his eyes. And when he looked up and saw Finn, he jumped to his feet and ran towards him.“Daddy! Daddy!” He called happily, jumping into his arms.Finn was a bit emotional because of the way that they received him. It showed just how much they missed him.“They thought you were not coming,” the old man said, still working on his herbs.Holding Jojo's and Nill's hands, Finn walked over to take a look. He looked briefly at the two and raised his brows. “I said I would come. I can't miss that,” he said.“What took you too long?” Jojo asked. But she was glad that he had come and that he was safe.The old man covered what h
The old man sighed deeply. “Revenge? It was the only thing on my mind for that first year. I tried to leave this place so many times. I wanted to just kill them. But Bob, the man who lived here, was very convincing…”“He said they revenge wouldn't do anything if I got myself killed. He told me that everything wasn't just about revenge. Sometimes, you have to accept things and leave the perpetrators to karma…”Jojo understood the man. She had also been seeking revenge for a long, but she never won. It was only karma that had the man killed.“I didn't listen for a while. Then I found out that I had a grandchild somewhere. My daughter had somewhat given birth and no one had told me about it. When she died, her daughter was only six months old. No one knew about her,” he said.“And is your granddaughter still alive today?” Jojo asked curiously.The old man nodded. “Yes, she is. And the only reason she is still alive is because I didn't go looking for her. That kept her safe,” he said. The