Beneath The Blackwood Sky | ✓

Chapter Fifteen: Tormented By Loss

WILL STARED AT THE BLANK WHITE SHEET in front of him, storming his brain for ideas. He got nothing. He groaned and took a pencil instead, and sketched the mug on the coffee table. Drawing usually gave him ideas, no matter what the topic of the essay was.

He captured every detail of the mug, the light making the liquid inside it gleam, the almost faint stain on the white mug, the shadow on the rim of the cup, the latte art. He shaded the entire thing, but his useless stupid brain didn't seem to get any ideas.

Will removed his earphones, cutting a song off the lyric. The sound of Theo's whining immediately filled his ears, and he looked at Theo who was spinning on a chair. The pace at which he was spinning was too fast.

"Theo," Will started with concern. "You are gonna fall-"

There was a crash. Will ran to his best friend and picked his spectacles before someone could step on it. "Here," Will said, giving his hand. Theo took it gladly, and let Will pull him up to his feet. Theo grinned at Will, "Thanks, bro. I'm fine though, you don't have to worry. But I'm hungry!"

Kai poked his head from the back door, "I heard a crash, everything okay?" His eyes widened when he saw the mess, and he let out a whistle. "I'm okay! But I'm hungry," Theo said, putting the things back to their places.

Kai walked inside and crouched down, helping Will and Theo. "Honestly, you can eat those chips." Will chuckled, knowing that wouldn't happen. From the past half an hour, Theo had been pointedly staring fixedly at the tomato flavoured chips on the table. Theo hated tomato flavoured chips but was very hungry.

"No," he said stubbornly. "Well," Kai said as he slapped Theo's back. "If you don't want it, then I do."

"No!"

"Decide one thing, Theo. You want it or not?"

"I don't know."

"Too bad," Kai said as he took the packet and started snacking on them. Looking at the expression on Theo's face, Kai sighed and reluctantly offered some to Theo. Theo stood staring at the chips. Knowing Will wouldn't be able to concentrate on writing his essay, he decided to look through his father's company's drive. To look for any reports on the state of Blackwood.

He opened the drive, his heart leaping just as it did every time. Will had to remind himself that he wasn't committing a crime or selling those articles to someone else, he was just looking through them. But it still didn't lessen the feeling of guilt which said he was betraying his trusting father. He wasn't, he firmly said to himself and looked through the reports.

He stopped and frowned when he saw a familiar name: Ben Garcia. Will was sure he heard the name somewhere, but he wasn't sure where. He got his answer as he read the next sentence. Bennett Garcia is the Chief Financial Officer of the company Royale Pharma.

Who was missing.

Kai and Theo joined Will on the couch, Will guessed it was because of the expression on his face. Both sucked in a breath when they read the entire thing. Another person with a big position in Royale Pharma probably dead. What else could it mean? Maybe someone kidnapped him? But it didn't make sense.

They looked up when the three girls entered the house carrying large grocery bags with them. Will was vaguely aware of the fact that someone took the MacBook from him and that Theo and Kai were telling the girls about what they found, but Will's mind was wiped clean of any thought that had been running in his mind before, replaced by worry.

Will zoned out of the conversation, anxiously searching Shay's face for any signs of sadness. He found them, covered behind a bright smile. Since the incident that took place two days ago, Will had been very worried about her.