Wendy? Darling? Light, of my life. I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm just going to bash your brains in.
~Stephen King, The Shining
Jonathan Blackwood was agitated and confused. His juicy fruit of infidelity wasn't a result of the fertiliser of his wife's constant sharp words but pure, pure lack of self esteem. He lacked self-confidence almost as much as terrorists lack humanity. Avery Rose could be charming; very charming when she wanted to be. In fact, her twinkling eyes, witty humour and a silky wave of blonde hair had completely swiped Jonathan off his feet the first time he had met her. It was almost unfathomable for Jonathan to believe that she was the same woman who had shot a cheeky smile at his direction as the gun of her dimples glistened, her icing covered fingers dangling delicately from her lips, almost twenty years ago. She was attractive, talented, rich, ambitious; every trait Jonathan thought he lacked.
It wasn't that he didn't love her. Of course he did. It was just that after all these years, all Avery Rose reminded him of was the loud echo created by the trumpet of his failures. She made him despise her and himself. He couldn't help but beam when he met Rose. A frail, desperate college dropout with a forlorn need for love. Her pathetic, needy desire for true love made Jonathan cackle. She was nothing like Avery Rose. Definitely prettier, blonder, bouncier yet so pitiful and meek. Her piteous attempts at pleasing Jonathan always amused him and for a few hours, Avery Rose would become a nostalgic, faint memory.
Jonathan, alike his daughter, was a little scared of Mr. Reznikov. Jonathan hadn't really given it much thought before but he definitely found it strange that Mr. Reznikov was always around whenever something uncanny happened in his household. In Jonathan's opinion, Mr. Reznikov was like an alligator waiting on the edge of the river, ready to pounce whenever the deer was the most vulnerable. Creepily enough, he had been as calm as Gandhi on a hunger strike when he caught Jonathan cheating on his wife. What spooked him the most was the fact that Mr. Reznikov referred to himself as the safe keeper of Jonathan's family.
Unable to hold the conversation any longer, Jonathan hesitantly yet hastily invited Mr. Reznikov for a beer at the pub for the next night. Mr. Reznikov gave him one of his delightful smiles that had petrified Jonathan's daughter for days, and eagerly accepted the invitation. Jonathan was regretting his decision now and tried to conjure various ways to back out of the date with the old man but couldn't find a reasonable excuse.
*********
"You look very nice, Jonathan."
"Uh, thanks, Mr. Reznikov."
"Oh, please call me Alexei. Leave 'Mr. Reznikov' for the kids," said Alexei Reznikov, chuckling deeply.
Jonathan smiled as he nervously chugged on his beer.
"How are the kids?"
"They're fine. Still settling in."
"Good, good."
"About last night, Mr. Rez—Alexei, I know it looks bad but—"
"Oh, I get it Jonathan. I've had my own fair share of affairs when I was your age. But then again, I never got married," said Alexei, a soft look warming up his eyes.
Jonathan shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"Besides, it's a matter between you and Avery Rose, I must not interfere. Does she know?"
"Well, I thought...I mean, I think...maybe...I'll—I'll tell her."
A blank look shielded Alexei's face like a burka.
"Jonathan, I hope you know that the worst thing you can ever do is be dishonest."
"Yeah, I get that but—," Jonathan was cut off as Alexei held up his hand.
"Did you know that I knew your grandfather?"
"Excuse me?"
"I knew your grandfather."
"What!? WHAT? What are you talking about?"
"Yes. We worked in the same lab."
Unexplainable, cryptic panic rose in Jonathan's chest.
"Why didn't you tell me that before?"
"I cannot tell you why."
"But—but how is that possible? And why can't you tell me? I would've known if you were grand-dad's friend. My father showed me pictures of all of his friends. Those pictures are the only memories I have of him..You know what I think, Mr. Reznikov? You're a fraud. My daughter was right. I don't know why you're after my family but I want you to stop. Leave us alone! I don't know why you're making up these stories and I don't care. I'm leaving now. Leave me and my family alone!"
Alexei smiled. "You'll be back, Jonathan. You'll be back."
********
Jonathan pushed open his bedroom door and found his wife sleeping peacefully on the bed. He couldn't help but scoff in disgust. Those days where she'd wait up for him were long gone. He gently closed the bedroom door and walked down the hallway. After checking up on his children, he silently made his way into the living room and shuffled through the last of the unpacked boxes and ran his hands along the one titled "Granddad". After browsing through the items in the box, Jonathan pulled out the huge album that had been preserving the memories of his grandfather for years. Warm tears slid down his cheeks as he skimmed through the pictures, his mind's eye replaying all the moments in his head.
That was my fifth birthday and the last one I had with him, thought Jonathan. Losing his grandfather at such a young age had traumatised him given that he was in the car with him as it happened. Though he was half asleep in the backseat and didn't see much of it, to this day, he remembered a bright red light penetrating his closed eyes, the shrill screech of the tires and a crash, jolting the living daylights out of him.
Sighing heavily, Jonathan wiped his eyes and flipped through the last pages of the album. A few teardrops dropped onto the last page, causing Jonathan to furiously rub the surface with his shirt, partly out of frustration and mostly because he didn't want the album to get ruined. Jonathan let out a wail as he noticed that he had torn the paper, revealing a brown envelope carefully stuck to the inner side of the cover.
This better not be a picture of that goddamn Russian man, muttered Jonathan under his breath. Sweat tricking down his forehead, Jonathan opened the envelope with trembling hands and found an old fragment of parchment inside. Upon it, the words "Vos ex abscondam potes mihi" had been scribbled upon in a neat, cursive handwriting.
What language is this? This definitely isn't granddad's handwriting, thought Jonathan, anxiety biting him down. His grandfather's messy, atrocious handwriting had been the joke of every family gathering for years. Besides, he didn't know Greek, or whatever language that was.
Jonathan almost dropped the album as he heard a loud thump coming from the hallway. Pocketing the parchment, he slowly made his way upstairs. He was regretting his decision to not turn on the lights as he tottered through the dark. Upon feasting on the entire length of the hallway, Jonathan began making his way back to his bedroom as he felt a rapid tug on his shirt—
"WHAT THE F—"
"Hi, dad."
"Lucy! Oh god, you scared the living shit out of me! Why aren't you asleep, love?"
"I heard noises, daddy."
"It was just me, grabbing some water from the kitchen. Don't worry, go to bed. It's very late."
"Good night daddy."
"Night, kiddo," Jonathan smiles as he ruffled Lucy's hair.
Jonathan yawned as he slipped into his room, after putting Lucy to bed. It was almost three in the morning and much to Jonathan's displeasure, he had to get up at six for a meeting. Rubbing his temples in a circular motion, he went to bed.
He was interrupted by a poke on his back as soon as he laid down. Sighing in frustration, Jonathan grabbed at the object poking him and pulled it out.
An old, black-and-white picture of his young grandfather and a man greeted him. Puckering his forehead, Jonathan scrutinised the photograph and realised he knew the young man in the picture next to his grandfather.
It was Alexei Reznikov.
Hi, what's up? Hope everyone's doing great. I've been pretty busy lately but now i'm back on track haha. I just finished watching the last season of Jane the Virgin and i'm in tears haha. Honestly tho, if you haven't seen it, I strongly recommend that show. Anyway, back to Jonathan. Did y'all like this chapter? Let me know in the comments. Ok, bye. See you soon ;)