"HOW COULD THIS BE?!", Stephanie wailed.

How could this be?

*

Chris rushed over to a screaming Stephanie and his eyes were horrified at what he saw. He quickly covered Stephanie's eyes and turned her away towards him from the grisly sight. 

Chris held onto her and hugged the tormenting woman tightly.

The decayed pair of bodies lay in front of them. The smell of the corpses was like a toxic poison. It made him want to throw up but he controlled his insides and focused on comforting Stephanie.

Steve was standing beside the two and a look at what was at their feet made him want  to go and shoot Brandon's head off.

However, being a doctor, he couldn't just kill living beings whether that be humans or animals. It would be against the oath.

Stephanie calmed down her hammering heart. She gently pushed Chris away and sniffed lightly.

"I knew this had happened although I had no idea it would be revealed to me like this. Call the po-"

"-Marilene is doing that", Steve confirmed.

"I'm fine then", she said more to herself than to anyone else.

"Even so, this is outright disgusting and you don't deserve this", Steve strongly told her.

"I know. Hatred seeps down in someone's veins to this lengths is something I have seen for the first time. And looking upon my wonderful childhood I didn't even think that was possible", she whispered.

Stephanie took a glance down again.

What lay in front of them were two dead bodies. Not to mention that they were decomposed and looked years old. The skin was rotten and gone in certain places. The faces were past recognition. The eyes were missing or probably had been eaten up by insects and one of the bodies also had a missing finger or two. The grossest part was that the bone was visible in the midst of hanging muscles like loose tape.

It didn't affect the others much as it had to Stephanie considering she knew them. That was what Brandon had been aiming to do all along. Injuring her without even touching her.

The only inclination she had as to who these two were, were the matching rings on the uneaten ring fingers of the two bodies. In the middle of black and dirty flesh, the two silver rings literally glowed and glittered.

She even knew the words that were engraved on the inside of the two rings.

FOREVER TOGETHER

"Mom... dad", she cried as she was taken inside the house while Steve rang the police.

Chris took her to their bedroom and sat her on the bed. 

"Steph, hun listen to me. This is not your fault. You have to be stronger now. For your parents. After we are done with their rightful obsequies, we will make that Brandon pay.", he promised with gritted teeth.

Chris' heart was trying to fly out of his body through his chest. The anger inside him knew no bounds.

"You don't understand. I didn't te-", Stephanie weeped but she was cut off.

"I know", Chris said softly as if she were a scared baby.

"You know?"

Chris nodded with a small smile.

"I always knew there was something you were not telling me and Uncle Jon picked up strange vibes from him. He is unique that way and I'm glad. That's how we have known about his misdeeds and since have tried to gain evidence. Later Marilene told us about the two phone calls-"

"What? Two?"

"She picked up one instead of you.. yesterday. It's game over for him. We are just trying to collect as much evidence as possible so that he cannot escape even with the best of lawyers in the state", he explained.

Stephanie was no longer crying. Her sorrowful face was replaced with a disbelieving one.

"I'm...........I'm.............", she began.

"Sssshhhhh", Chris shushed her warmly. "No one here blames you. Troy, Nathan and us are all on your side. Perhaps Mrs. Bats might support us too as a witness." 

Stephanie nodded.

Suddenly there was a swishy feeling inside her stomach.

"Chris!", she yelped with a hand placed on her stomach.

Chris quickly took a step back for a full view of the womb. He wasn't really sure how the entire pregnancy thing was supposed to work out. All he remembered was coming out of his mother with a plop! .

He gave intense stares at the womb thinking maybe the baby would just catapult out of there. But he realised it was going to happen after nine months and it was barely two months up now.

"What is it?", he answered her.

"I can feel slight movements inside the baby!",she laughed slightly.

Seeing her laugh lightened his worries and his fear was replaced with genuine excitement.

Chris raised her dress and held it over the bump of her stomach. At this point being naked was something they didn't even care about. It was a natural habitat to them.

He carefully placed a hand on her bare stomach and kissed it lightly. 

For the first time, she saw tears in his eyes.

"We're gonna be okay. I love you so much Steph. You know that right?", he whispered to her.

"Yes I know. I love you too Chris", Stephanie said as her eyes started to swell up.

The tears trickled down his cheeks just as it flowed down Stephanie's face and the both shared a beautiful kiss. 

Steve stood in the doorway, a proud look in his eyes like that of a father. He smiled at them and went away to give the two some privacy.

Who knew my little brother would grow up and even become a dad one day. He'll do good. You should be proud of him dad..............

*

Nathan was lazying on the sofa and eating chips. He was watching 'The Fault In Our Stars' on the TV. It was at the scene where Augustus died. 

Nathan threw some chips at the TV in grief and disbelief.

"Why did he die man? Why do all men die at the end?", he yelled.

"Sad, isn't it?"

"Yes, very!", Nathan replied back and continued to watch the movie.

2 WHOLE SECONDS LATER :

Nathan's eyes widened as he registered the fact that someone spoke to him.

Ho ho! God's joke went a bit too far, didn't it?

He jumped out of the sofa and turned around to come face to face with an old man.

He only looked old.

The man had grey hair on his head but was also tall and muscular. The veins on his biceps were screaming to be let out. He had strange green eyes and a scar right above his bushy eyebrows. No beard or facial hair other than those eyebrows were visible. He looked at Nathan amusingly.

"Hi I'm Zayn and I like to ruin everyone's lives", he greeted with a grin.

Those teeth look just fine! How white is that?

"How'd you get in?", Nathan said instead.

"You have no listening abilities. I literally just picked the lock and you didn't even notice. I ate a sandwich kept on the table there. Hope you don't mind"

"No I mind very much but you can have it", Nathan blurted out.

Zayn smirked at cracked his neck sideways.

I hope you crack it all the way down, Nathan thought internally.

"What's that?", Zayn said in a sudden grave voice.

Or maybe Nathan just thought externally.

"Now we need to go. The movie's done. Bye", Zayn said.

Then Nathan was knocked out of his senses and his consciousness both, by Zayn 'The Destroyer'.

Even while zoning out the movie stuck in his brain. 

Why did Gus have to die that way? Why do all men die at the end?

*****

I hope this chapter was a fun and roller coaster one!

I really became so soft that moment between Chris and Stephanie. It's m favorite part in the entire book so far. ^^