697: Hospital disaster - Part 4

Hospital disaster - Part 4

"Don't you think he looks like Theo?" Ian exclaimed and  Joshua leaned forward to look at the man on the screen.2

Although his face was covered and nothing but his eyes were visible, Joshua still found him familiar. Now that he heard Ian, the more he looked at the man, the more he found him to be Theo.

"But how is it possible? Wasn't he dead?" Ivy questioned and looked at the two men in confusion. "Are you guys mistaken?"

"I think so and I hope so too," Joshua replied, his shoulders sagging in defeat. "It cannot be Theo. Ian, no. For damn sake, he trained us and made us who were today. He will never do something so criminal. We are mistaken."

Joshua refused to believe that the man on the screen who murdered Charles Miller was Theo, the man who had died.

Ian did not respond and kept staring at the laptop screen before he played the video, waiting to see how the man had murdered Charles. Although he too wanted to believe Joshua, somewhere in his mind, the murderer's face kept overlapping with Theo's and he could not remove it from his mind whatsoever. It was as though his brain was prompting him to believe the truth that lay in front of him, the truth he so badly wanted to deny and claim to be false.

The man on the screen stopped for a moment before he started walking again. Then, without any hesitation, he pulled off the oxygen mask, cutting off the supply to Charles, and soon, he began to hyperventilate.

The murderer did not stop at that, and he squeezed Charles' neck as though he was exacting some past revenge. He did not stop until the line on the ECG went flat and Charles stopped breathing.

Without guilt, he pulled back and padded towards the door. However, before leaving, he stared at the camera, his dark, unfathomable eyes conveying myriad words and emotions. Again, it was as though he was smiling behind the mask, and this time, Ian's heart skipped a beat.

Even Joshua could not stop the gasp from escaping his lips and his eyes moved to Ian, who sat frozen in his seat, his expression impassive.

"This...this...this...how can it be?" Joshua mumbled, words failing him at that moment. He had no idea how to react and kept staring at the man on the screen, specifically his eyes, as he smiled at the camera.

"What's wrong, guys? What happened? Is something the matter?" Ivy was still perplexed and could not determine what was happening and why the two men were overreacting. Even she was unsure if the man in the video was Theo or not and considering how she had heard her father speak about the man's death as well as the video evidence they had in which he had been shot in the forehead, she was more convinced that the man was dead and the one they were looking at was someone else.

"This is typical Theo. This is how he usually works." Joshua stated, still aghast to find the man they believed dead standing before them and murdering Charles Miller brilliantly. "There is no doubt this time. It is Theo; he is alive."

Ian had still not reacted and kept staring at the laptop screen. He could not believe what he was seeing. Everything felt like a dream to him, a horrible nightmare he wanted to wake up from as quickly as possible.

'How could Theo be alive? How could he...kill Charles Miller, and why did he kill him?' Numerous questions popped up in his mind, and his head soon throbbed lightly.

"Are you sure it is him? Didn't Dad say that he was dead and he watched him die in front of his eyes?" Ivy was still skeptical. Although she wanted to believe Joshua, she was more inclined to think otherwise because she knew how painful it would be for the three men if it were the truth.

Ivy had never met the man. But from what she had learned from Joshua and the others, the men worshipped Theo and it was he was had made them who they were, trained them to become what they were. 

If he were alive, it would be a joyous matter. But his involvement in Charles' murder would only complicate things and devastate the three men.

"I was wrong previously, Ivy." Joshua clarified. "I might be wrong about everything else. But I will never forget his smile. Even if his lips are covered, we can still make out it is him if he smiles. So I can guarantee that it is Theo. It was he who murdered Charles."

"What the fuck!!" Ian stood up suddenly and his sudden outburst startled Ivy and Joshua who had shifted their attention to their conversation instead of the man who had not spoken a word for a long time.

"Why did Theo kill Charles? What would he get out of it?" Ian asserted, his face pale and eyes tearing up slowly. 

Joshua had no words to reply, and he stared at Ian who seemed broken and lost. Among the three, Ian was the closest to Theo. He was the father figure Ian looked up to, and to him, it was a huge blow, even more significant than it was to Joshua or Noah.

"Guys, there are still chances that it is not Theo. Therefore, it must be someone else. Don't judge this quickly and lose hope. We might be missing out on things and I am certain we are far from the truth." Ivy attempted to give them hope and get them out of their shock and misery. But in vain, and she too knew it.

"It is Theo, Ivy. We do not have any doubts now; it is all clear." Ian's defeated voice filled the tense room. "We know him well and since he stopped to smile at the camera, he wanted us to know it was him."

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