The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

130 Where is Jack?

Marcel arrived at his house just to find his grandma’s tavern was very quiet. He opened the sliding door roughly and ran up to the second floor, where they lived.

“Grandma!” He exclaimed, but there was no answer. “Grandma!” he called again.

Marcel’s hands began to shake. All the bad thoughts popped up in his mind. He searched all over the house, but did not find his grandmother yet. Finally, he was about to run back to the outside, but as soon as he reached the door of the tavern, the door opened from the outside. He immediately let out a sigh of relief.

“What’s the matter, Marcel?” The grandmother asked before suddenly receiving a hug from her grandson.

“Where have you been, Grandma? Why did you go out without locking the door?” Marcel asked breathlessly.

“I just went over to the neighbour’s house for a while to borrow a can opener. What happened?” Lillian asked confused.

Marcel shook his head, then let go of his arm. He looked at the grandmother’s green eyes framed by her wrinkled eyelids, “Grandma. You have to leave this house for a while. Don’t go with anyone. I’ll send you to the hotel.” he immediately called a taxi.

“Why? Is there a problem, Marcel?” The grandmother asked.

But Marcel just shook his head, “I don’t have time. I’ll explain it later. Just remember my words.” he answered by pulling the grandmother out of the house when a taxi had arrived in front of their shop. Marcel immediately led his grandmother to get into the taxi’s passenger seat.

.....

“Remember my words, Grandma. Don’t go with anyone.” He gave his wallet forcibly into his grandmother’s hand, “There’s my card inside. Pay everything you need with it.” he said, before mentioning the name of a hotel which was a bit far from their location to the taxi driver.

Finally, the yellow car drove away with a confused old woman inside. Marcel took his cell phone out of his pocket again, then tried to call Jack one more time. However, again, the number could not be reached.

‘I have to go back there to warn Jack.’ Marcel thought by turning around. But how shocked he was when he found a man was standing right behind him and in a second, he felt a hit in the stomach.

Marcel immediately fell to his knees from the excruciating pain in his stomach. He turned to the man dressed all in black who immediately walked away from him. In an instant, Marcel’s whole body was covered in sweat and felt shivering. His face was reddened. He directed his hand to hold the location of his stomach which was very painful, then, he saw that his hand was covered in blood. Marcel was stabbed by that man.

The severe pain made Marcel fall to the ground in front of his house. He lay on his back, holding his stomach. The road was deserted and there was no one to help him at all. Marcel closed his eyes. Was this his end? He could not protect anyone, and could not make anyone happy until the end of his life.

‘Marcel.. You and Jack are my most precious treasure. I’m sorry, I can’t provide the two of you with the life you deserve. Maybe, if possible, I would have refused to God when both of you were appointed to be born from my womb. If possible, I would have chosen a good family for you. I really could not give you a comfortable life. However, I could only give you two each other. You and Jack belong together. You are brothers who will complement each other. In this life, the only thing that makes me happy is watching you two grow up to be the strong men amid this chaotic life. So.. promise me.. you have to protect each other. Understand?’

His mother’s last words echoed in Marcel’s ears again. He opened his eyes which were already filled with tears. The sky was still quite clear, but every beat of his heart made his vision darken. Marcel didn’t want to give up so easily. He still had people to protect, his grandmother and Jack. Yes.. Jack was still struggling to make their dreams come true. Even, Jack didn’t know that Viggo knew about their plan. If Marcel had to die, at least Jack could live to be with their grandmother.

With great difficulty, Marcel stood up. He took heavy strides into his tavern and picked up the washcloth lying on the table to press the wound on his stomach, then walked out again. With stumbling steps, Marcel walked back towards Paradise Cave.

Unlike usual, the place was very quiet. No visitors came. That was because Paradise Cave had already been shut down by Jack and his gang of renegades. Marcel didn’t find Jack there. At various points of location, there were only a few of Apollo’s men who were already lying on the floor. Finally, Marcel came out of the place and walked towards Apollo’s headquarters. He was sure Jack was there.

It turned out that Marcel’s guess was right. The condition of Apollo’s base was even messier than Paradise Cave. Apparently, there had just been a great war here. Whether Viggo’s men or Jack’s allies, many were strewn on the floor. But, neither Jack nor Kenny was seen. They were nowhere to find. Marcel knew, that if they had won, the first person Jack would look for would be him.

Full of trepidation, Marcel climbed the stairs to check through the building he had never entered. Even though he had to endure the pain and the blood kept pouring out of his stomach, Marcel was still able to endure it because of the worry that had enveloped him. He didn’t care if he had to bleed to death. The important thing was that his brother survived.

When he reached the third floor, Marcel heard the voices of several men talking. Then, he crept up and peeked into a room with the door open.

How surprised he was when he found Jack and Kenny already kneeling on the floor with their battered faces covered in blood. Before them, Viggo stood with another man. The Apollo leader was pointing a gun in his hand at the two of them.

‘So, he used a gun? What a coward!’ Marcel growled in his heart.

“I already killed your brother,” Viggo said, making Jack raise his head quickly with his eyes wide.

“No! You’re saying bullshit!” Jack growled.

Viggo laughed, “If you want to be strong, then you can’t have anyone you care about. That little brother of yours loves his grandmother too much, so he could be framed easily. Luckily, I got rid of him, otherwise, things might be different now.”

“I will kill you!” Jack shouted, then, his mouth was immediately shut with one kick by Viggo’s men. For half an hour, Viggo had tortured the two defectors. Unexpectedly, the person he trusted had stolen all of his wealth which he kept in the treasure warehouse to pay his own members to stab him in the back. He should never have trusted anyone.

“You’re still weak, Jack. You’re still hundreds of years behind to match my strength. You are a stupid naive boy. After you die, I will make sure your grandmother’s life is more miserable than before.” Viggo hissed.

“You bastard..” Jack said with fresh blood flowing from his mouth as he spoke. “We.. the people who live in Redvalley, did nothing wrong to you. But.. why are you torturing us? They are good people who just want to survive with their families!”

“Red.. Red.. Red.. Even though you claim to be an adult, you are still a very naive and stupid boy. The rule in this world is to eat or be eaten. If you are not strong enough, then be prepared to suffer.” Viggo laughed.

Jack clenched his fists, but, when he didn’t even get to his feet, suddenly, a big man shot straight toward Viggo. That man was Marcel. He managed to grab Viggo’s hand who was about to pull the trigger of his gun. It happened so fast.

With the last of his strength, Marcel aimed the gun that was still in Viggo’s hand at the villain’s stomach, then...

BAM!! BAM!!

Viggo’s old face turned deathly pale. He glanced at the fat man who was still clinging to his body before he finally fell to the red carpet covered floor. On the other hand, Kenny immediately took down Viggo’s men who are trying to save his boss.

Seeing this shocking incident, Jack quickly rushed to Marcel who was already lying on the floor with a face as pale as a corpse. He saw that his brother’s stomach was covered in blood, “Marcel! What happened?! Hang on!”

“I.. I.. killed him.. did I? He.. is dead, right? Are we won?” Marcel muttered with a blurry vision. The older brother perched beside him with a panicked face.

Jack nodded quickly, forcing a smile, “You’re right. We’ve won. You saved everyone, Marcel. You’re the hero.” he said. “Now, don’t talk too much. I’ll take you to the hospital. Our dream has come true. We’re going home. So hang on. I beg you to hold on.” tears welled up in the corners of his eyes.

Marcel smiled and nodded as his vision got blurry. He could no longer see clearly, apart from blurring, everything was getting darker because he had wasted too much blood. The voices he heard grew fainter. The last thing he remembered was a deafening sound that was the last one before he completely lost consciousness and felt something weigh down on his body.

**

BAM!!!

Marcel opened his eyes and found the pure white ceiling with a silent buzz that hurt his ears. His eyes darted left and right, trying to figure out what was going on.

“Marcel.. My Marcel..” An old woman’s voice that he knew so well echoed along with a soft grip on his hand.

Marcel turned to the side and found his grandmother sitting beside the bed he was sleeping on. By looking around, Marcel could tell that he was in the hospital. He still remembered how painful the stab wound to his stomach was. But now, the wound was not too painful anymore.

“Jack.. Where is he?” That was the first question that popped into Marcel’s mind.