Shattered Bonds: Secrets and Lies

"Jordan! What happened to you, man?... You've changed." His voice trembled in the dark. "Phff! What did you expect? People grow and change, can't I also?" The young man in his mid-twenties, wearing black clothes, slowly approached Daven, whose hands were tied together behind the chair. "Do you think I would just let the old man get away with this...?" He put his hands on Daven's head and played with his dark, long hair, which he had always envied. "Haha." His laughter was full of anger and jealousy. Suddenly, he pulled Daven's hair with a smirk. With Jordan's sudden action, Daven slightly groaned, trying to suppress the pain. "How about that? It feels good, doesn't it?" "Ouch! Cousin, stop! Please! You're hurting me!" Daven found himself shouting as his cousin's grip tightened, with no intention of letting go of his hair. Jordan loosened his grip and pulled Daven's chin up to look at him. "Aww, does that hurt?" His tone was sweet and innocent, giving Daven the feeling that whatever he was about to do next might not be good. "But cousin just got started." He turned to his men and signalled something with his fingers. "Beat him up till no one can recognise his face." After receiving the orders, two men with black masks covering their faces walked up to Daven, who had just closed his eyes, waiting for his life to end. One was taller than the other. These two men looked really huge and strong and gave off a frightening aura. The first man to make his move was the tall one. He raised his huge fist and struck it across Daven's face, which was full of sweat. Although Daven had faced many dangerous situations in wars, he had always been sure that he was going to survive. But now, he had no hope left as he looked at these two men in front of him. The first punch was damn painful. It almost knocked him unconscious. Because he had trained himself through harsh training and had done some boxing, he was still able to take the punch without passing out. If it had been given to a normal person with no fighting skills, that person would have been sent straight to hell. Following the other man's punch, Daven could already feel his nose bleeding. After ten minutes of receiving a good beating from these two men with gorilla-like strength, Daven could already smell death nearby. Jordan stepped up to him with vicious eyes and bent down. "Wow... You pretty strong, aren't you? You have received great beating from two of the strongest men in this city for 10 minutes and you can still withstand it?" He took out a knife from his pocket and looked at it playfully. "I gotta say, I really underestimated you, cousin." "Just kill me already..." He vomited out a mouthful of blood. "What? Me? Kill you?...Yes, I will kill you for sure this time. But first let me play with you..." Ring! Ring! Jordan took out his phone and stood up, moving away from Daven. Ten seconds later, he came back and looked at Daven with disgust, with a g*n in his hand pointing at Daven's forehead. "I'm afraid your time ends here, Daven. Any last words?" Daven thought for a moment before starting to laugh. "As long as you are still alive, may you never find peace." "Phff! Unthankful i***t!" He got angry after hearing what Daven had just said. Without thinking, he pulled the trigger and shot twice. **** "Oh, I swear to you that if it was me, I would've already beaten him to death." "You always like violence... Shush now, let's go inside." The two nurses entered the ward room. "I just hate my job." One of the nurses said with a worn-out expression. "I don't know why I even listened to my parents! I should have gone with teaching." "Stop complaining and help me clean him." The second nurse gestured for the other nurse to come closer. The nurse who had just complained stared at the man on the bed with fear. "Hell no! He looks frightening. Why does he have so much beard... Eww!" "For goodness sake, Frita! I'm not the one who told you to listen to your parents. Now come and check his drip!" "Tara, he's frightening." Her voice was as small as a mouse's, but it could still be heard. She walked towards the man's drip with difficulty. Tara breathed in and out, summoning all her courage to look at the man's face. "Where is Amber? This is supposed to be her job anyway." "She has an emergency at home... Alright, stop talking and do your job." Tara took a towel and gave it to Frita. Frita hesitated a little bit before lifting her hand to wipe the man's face. Her hand stopped in mid-air when she saw slight movements from the man's face. "AHH!! He's alive!" Frita ran behind Tara's back. "Ugh." Tara just rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Of course he is! He's just in a coma, for goodness sake, Frita! Get off my back and continue to..." "No! He's alive!" "We are in the hospital, not at the mortuary cleaning dead bodies, Frita! He wasn't dead!!" "Oh right... at the hospital... hehe, right." Frita came to her senses and realised how silly she was. "You must stop smoking whatever you have been smoking these days." Tara lightly smacked Frita at the back of her head. "Ouch! Hey, what's that for?" Tara ignored her friend and went to check up on the man. She stared at him and saw that his eyelids were slowly opening. "Quick! Call the doctor!" "AHH!! He died!?" The words came out suddenly with fear. Tara sighed, trying not to get angry. "Why are you always thinking about death, for goodness sake? You should also stop watching horror movies... Quick, call the doctor!"