Chapter 17: A world turned upside down
Bronny ran as fast as he could through the streets, he couldn't hear anything. He couldn't hear any cars, any people, it was as if the world had gone quiet. Bronny just ran, faster than he had ever ran before, adrenaline coursed through him as he sprinted down the streets. Jolyne and Joshua chased right behind him, just barely keeping up with him. Bronny turned the corner and continued running but stopped suddenly. "Oh, no…" He muttered. Jolyne and Joshua caught up to Bronny, Jolyne gasped, "oh my god..." Police cars and ambulances surrounded Bronny's house, a feeling of dread began to wash over Bronny. "No no no…" He said, he ran towards his house, Giorno had said there was an accident, but this couldn't be an accident. Bronny ducked under the police tape and looked around, caked over blood covered the floors of his house, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Bronny could see a group of people surrounding something, one of them turned around, it was Giorno.
"Uncle Giorno?" Jolyne said, "what happened here?" Bronny could see the look of sadness that spread across Giorno's face, it didn't make him feel any better. "Don't lie to me," Bronny said, "what happened, don't fucking lie to me!" Giorno grimaced at Bronny's rage, but he couldn't blame him. "This isn't something a child should see," he somberly said. Bronny brushed past him and moved to what they were standing over, a blanket covered something, it was clearly a body. "Bronny, you shouldn't be here," said Bucciarti, "this isn't…" Bronny pushed off of him and grabbed at the blanket, "don't tell me what to do! You're not my-" Bronny pulled the blanket off, and froze.
The body underneath the blanket was his mothers. Bronny fell back, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Oh no…" Jolyne said. Bronny began to back away, "this isn't real," he thought to himself, "this can't be real, this is a dream, no, a nightmare, I fell asleep, I need to wake up." But Bronny was not asleep, he was wide awake, this was all real. Giorno walked up to Bronny and knelt down, "I'm sorry, you shouldn't have seen this." Bronny trembled at the sight, tears beginning to from in his eyes. "W-where…" "Your father has been taken to the hospital," Giorno said, "he's in bad shape, but he'll make it through." Jolyne moved to Bronny, "I'm so sorry Bronny," she said, "I, I can't believe this."
Joshua leaned against a wall, looking in from the inside. "This is the first step," he said, "I know it, this wasn't just any murder." Joshua looked to the side; the white figure stood in between the trees. It waved at Joshua, smirking. Joshua glared at the figure, but he waved back, "I've finally found you bastard," he said, "you won't escape from me this time." The white figure turned, moving behind a tree and vanishing. Bronny and Jolyne slowly walked out of the house, Bronny clearly shaking. "I mourn for your loss Bronny," Joshua said, "I understand better than anyone this feeling." Bronny looked into Joshua's eyes, the look of sadness turned to rage. He tackled Joshua to the ground, "this is all your fucking fault!" Bronny yelled, "all of this is because of your obsession with the damn thing!" "Even if I never met you, that thing would have still chased you," Joshua said, "it has nothing to do with me." Bronny moved off Joshua and sat, everything that has happened the past few days have flipped his world upside down.
"Bronny," Joshua said, "you and I have both been affected by this figure, we have both lost those who we have loved, and if we continue down this path, all we know will die." Joshua stood up and looked to the sky, "but, what if we walked down a different path? What if we choose to not stand by and let this thing kill anymore, what if we…" "Fought back," Bronny replied. Bronny stood and faced Joshua, "I may not know as much about this thing as thing as you, but I know that we can't let it get away with this." Bronny looked back into the house, "I will avenge you mom," he said, "I promise you." In the distance, Noel stood next to her bike. She was saddened by the events; she couldn't believe that her own sister would do something like this. "This is horrible," she said, "my own sister, a murderer…" She turned and biked away, as she did, she remembered what Joshua had told her. "you will be at a crossroads soon; promise me you'll take the right path." Noel stopped, her mind was racing, was this the crossroads Joshua was talking about? Noel sighed, she knew what she had to do, "fuck me," she muttered. She got on her phone and began to text, "even if she's my own sister, I can't let her get away with this!"
To Be Continued