Shadow of Death (SOD)

Chapter 49

"...."

It was as if when the Shadow God vanished, he took an entire mountain of pressure with him.

The oppressive weight that had filled the house disappeared, finally allowing the siblings to move again.

But even after that pressure was lifted, Asher didn’t move an inch.

Only Jesse moved.

She immediately fell to her knees and began crawling across the broken glass scattered around the floor from the destroyed center table.

The sharp pieces dug into her knees, but she didn’t seem to feel them.

She simply crawled forward until she reached her mother.

"Mu-Mum? Mum? Mummy. Pl-Please wake up. Come on, Mum. Please, let this be a prank. Don’t do this."

As she spoke, she shook the woman with all her might.

The tears that had previously filled her eyes had already dried up.

She desperately tried to force a smile onto her face as if doing so would somehow make the situation less real.

Blood was still oozing from Clara’s neck and abdomen.

It streamed onto the floor, flowing almost like a small river.

"Hey, Mum. It’s me, Jesse. Your one and only daughter, yeah? Come on. I have school tomorrow. Don’t you need to prepare something for me? Like make breakfast or cook up something for me? Mum?"

Jesse called out once more.

She shook the woman harder.

Yet there was no response.

Her smile slowly became strained.

Her eyes darted towards Jayden’s lifeless body.

Then she forced another smile.

"Ohoy, brother Jayden! Stop playing pranks on me. Come on, wake up now, alright? Let’s go trouble Asher one more time."

"..."

Nothing.

Neither of them moved.

Neither of them answered.

Seeing that she wasn’t getting any response, Jesse hissed through her teeth and quickly shuffled towards Jayden with all her strength.

Soon, she reached him.

She grabbed his body and began dragging him towards where Clara lay.

His body scraped against the floor as she pulled.

Jesse sniffled, desperately pushing back whatever tears were trying to fall from her eyes.

Then she lifted Clara’s hand and placed it against Jayden’s arm.

"Here, Mum. Help scold Jayden for taking the room I wanted to use. Come on, Mum. You never did scold him, yeah? Do that now."

Her voice cracked.

"Pl-Please."

She shook both mother and son.

Nothing.

No movement.

No response.

"COME ON, GUYS!"

Jesse’s voice suddenly exploded through the room.

"DON’T FUCKING PLAY WITH ME! WAKE UP ALREADY! WAKE UP TO REALITY!"

Her scream carried so much intensity that, for a brief moment, it seemed to pull Asher out of whatever dark hole his mind had fallen into.

He blinked.

Once.

Twice.

Then he looked down at the bodies.

A wave of headache slammed into his brain with brutal intensity.

His chest immediately tightened in pain.

"Mu-Mum? Jayden?"

His voice came out soft.

Almost uncertain.

Then he hurriedly pushed himself to his feet and ran towards the bodies.

But his leg struck a piece of wood from the broken sofa.

He stumbled.

His balance disappeared.

THUD!

He crashed face-first onto the ground.

TCHAAK—!

A nail ripped into his midsection.

Blood immediately began flowing freely from the wound.

Yet Asher didn’t seem to care.

Not even for a second.

He planted both hands against the ground and used every ounce of strength he had left to begin dragging himself forward.

Towards his family.

Each movement scraped his body across the broken floor.

Glass dug into his skin.

Small pieces of wood and nails pierced into him.

But Asher continued pulling himself forward.

His jaws were clenched tightly as he ignored every ounce of pain threatening to overwhelm him.

He couldn’t feel it.

Or perhaps...

He simply didn’t care.

Soon, he reached the bodies.

He collapsed beside them.

His blood mixed with the blood already covering the floor.

"Come on, guys."

His voice trembled.

"Enough is enough. Stop pretending, okay?"

His hand reached for Jayden.

"The Shadow is gone. Stand up already."

He desperately shook his brother’s arm.

Nothing.

He turned towards Clara.

"Come on, Mum."

He shook her too.

"Wake up."

Nothing.

Jesse quickly wiped away the few tears that had managed to escape down her cheeks.

"See? Even Asher is calling you both."

Her voice trembled.

"So wake up already. Don’t do this to us."

She swallowed hard.

"Please!"

Alas...

All their pleas fell on deaf ears.

Jesse continued calling out to them.

But Asher had already stopped.

He simply stared at the bodies in silence.

With a painful grimace, he slowly dragged himself onto his knees.

His gaze fell upon the bodies.

"De-dead. Dead. Dead. They all dead. They both dead. Gone. Gone. They both gone."

Asher muttered silently.

But with each word he spoke, his voice grew louder and louder.

"Wh-What?" Jesse questioned as she slowly lifted her head to look in her brother’s direction.

Asher’s hands balled into fists as he stared at the bodies.

Fresh tears rolled down his face.

"Mu-Mum and Jay-Jayden are both dead. The-They aren’t coming back again."

"....."

It seemed as though time itself paused for several seconds as Jesse tried to process her brother’s words.

What did he mean by they were dead?

Weren’t they still smiling at her?

Thinking that, she slowly turned her gaze back towards the bodies.

Then—

It was as if a glass shattered inside her mind.

The veil that had clouded her eyes finally fell away.

And what it revealed was the cold, pale bodies lying motionless before her.

"No. No. No. No...."

Her voice grew louder with every ’No’ she uttered as tears began falling from her eyes.

".... This can’t be happening."

She shook her head frantically.

"No. No. No. No. Asher, you—you are lying, yeah?"

Asher’s teeth were tightly gnashed as he squeezed his fingers into his palms.

But the next second, he slowly loosened them.

He shifted closer to his sister.

Before she could think of anything else, the boy wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a warm embrace.

"Jesse. They are gone. We can’t bring them back again."

His voice trembled.

"We-We lost."

The air remained silent for several seconds.

Jesse’s eyelids fluttered rapidly.

Her teeth naturally clenched before slowly loosening again.

Then—

She broke.

A loud scream escaped her lips as wave upon wave of fresh tears began soaking Asher’s clothes.

"Mum-Mum, Jayden...? Aaaah!"

Jesse cried as her grip on Asher’s shirt tightened.

A loud wail broke out from her lips as she squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as she could.

Asher wrapped his arms even tighter around her.

Tears streamed down his own face.

They rolled down his cheeks in waves as his gaze remained fixed on the bodies lying before them.

Several seconds passed.

Then—

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAH!"

Asher bellowed towards the ceiling with so much vigor that his voice echoed throughout the house.

His eyes had turned almost red from crying, lack of sleep, and the intense fury burning within him— a fury that felt powerful enough to incinerate a human alive.

More and more tears streamed down his face as his grip tightened around Jesse.

As if he was afraid that if he loosened his arms for even a second, the girl could vanish from his grasp too.

In the darkness of the night, inside the living room of the house, only Asher and Jesse remained.

The only thing they had left now...

Was each other.

How long that would last?

Nobody knew.

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