"Do you believe in life after death?"

Well, wasn't that the million dollar question that managed to get everyone thinking when asked. Life after death seemed like the only realistic explanation for what happened when a person died. Apparently, the body wasted away, while the soul went to be with the Creator or at least, somewhere peaceful. That was the point of saying that a dead person 'rest in peace', wasn't it?

Then there were those who believed that when a person died, they just died. No afterlife, no looking after their loved ones because they were dead. Kenner used to belong to that category of people, refusing to believe that there was an afterlife. Screw those movies, they didn't know what they were doing.

Recently, with everything happening with Terrence, and the fact that he believed that his friend had been the one who somehow sent him that message on his wall to warn him, he wasn't sure what to believe anymore. He was convinced that it wasn't Tyler, so it had to be someone who knew about the video, and so far, it was just him, Tyler and Terrence, who recorded it. How obvious could it get?

"Huh?" Kyra's turned her head to face him, arching a single brow at him.

"Do you believe in life after death?" He repeated, meeting her gaze with a curious stare. In the light, he could see the beauty spot by the side of her left eye and notice how the brown in her eyes mixed with the green to give her one pair of extraordinary eyes. Again and again, he'd lost himself in those eyes and he never wanted to stop.

"Well," she began, cutting the connection between them to gaze skywards. "I'm not sure. At church, they believe that the spirit of good people go to heaven to meet God, while the bad ones go to hell."

"But what do you believe?" Kenner asked.

She remained silent for a while, looking up without blinking. For a moment, Kenner thought she hadn't heard the question and was about to repeat himself when she sighed.

"I don't believe that," she said. "God's not heartless enough to watch people suffer in hell. He's good and forgiving, but that sounds like something the devil would do. I think people just stop existing when they die."

"So, they can't reach out to the living?"

"No, I don't believe so."

That was exactly what he thought, and if it was true, who had written those words that night? Another thought crossed his mind, one that frightened him-what if he really hadn't seen those words? What if he'd just imagined it? That would mean that he was going crazy and probably lead him to taking therapy.

He was sure of what he saw, but unsure of who was responsible. His head began to hurt from thinking too much, so he pulled himself to sit up. His eyes scanned the entire area, taking in the beautiful view of Central park from the back of his truck. In the distance, people moved leisurely about, reveling in the cool and quite evening that he too had come to enjoy. As November was starting to draw near, the temperature was beginning to drop significantly, but evenings like this were pure bliss.

The sky had become an array of colors ranging from purple to yellow and even blue. The sun had almost disappeared in the horizon, and Kenner could see the moon faintly above his head. As he heaved a deep sigh, he couldn't help but thank Kyra deep in his heart for making him come out here. At first, an evening in Central park at the back of his truck sounded horrible, but now that he was here, he couldn't think of anywhere he'd rather be.

"A penny for your thoughts," Kyra's voice broke through his trance and he snapped his head back to see her sitting up too, eagerly waiting for his answer.

He picked up a smile and shifted to close the gap between them. "I'm just... glad to spend the evening with you. I'll admit it's been a while since we did something like this."

She mirrored his smile and reached out to intertwine their fingers. "I'm just glad you agreed to come. These kind of things are not exactly your favorites."

He bumped their shoulders together and brought her hand to his lips. "Absolutely anything for you, Kyra."

"Okay, so about Riley-"

Kenner groaned at the mention of the name. "Can we please have a conversation without mentioning her?"

Kyra gave him a look he couldn't quite discern, but she nodded. He couldn't understand why she was so worried. Yes, Riley had returned to school and worked her way to remove Cassie Whittaker from head cheerleader in just one week. That meant she got to share practice grounds with him and they talked casually almost every time they met, but Kyra had no reason to worry. Riley was his past, but she was his present.

Without stopping to double-think what he was about to do, he gently shoved her back down and shifted himself to be on top of her, but propped himself up on his elbows. A momentary look of shock crossed her face, but was easily replaced with a sly smile. She wrapped her hands around his neck, pulling him close enough that their noses touched.

Kenner felt a familiar warmth spread in his body at the contact, feeling the cool evening breeze at the back of his neck. God, he lived for these moments.

His fingers left her waist to tangle in her hair, and he dipped his head down and connected their lips. A deep breath he didn't know he'd been holding escaped through his nose as her lips moved in sync with his. He was gentle at first, simply traveling from her bottom lip to her top, then repeat. Everything disappeared and it was just him and her at the back of his truck, sending sparks flying.

A simple tug at her bottom lip was enough to send her the message, and her mouth parted for him to deepen the kiss. She tasted like the ice-cream he bought her on the road to the park and fruit. His heart thumped violently against his chest and he felt like he might explode, but he didn't want it to end. He never, ever wanted it to end.

Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, they separated, airless and pink in the face. Kenner couldn't remember the last time they'd kissed like that. It was usually brief, five seconds kisses whenever he had the chance.

"We should do that more often," he said, almost laughing at how hoarse his voice sounded.

She flushed a bright shade of pink. "Yeah."

He chuckled, reaching down to playfully tap her nose. Almost immediately, his phone buzzed in his pocket. Rolling off her, he dug into his pocket for the device and brought it to his face.

It was a message from Tyler.

Tyler D. : dude, meet me at the former St. John's road. We're going to church

Just like that, Tyler caught his interest and as much as he'd love to spend more time with Kyra, he knew something was up with Tyler. He probably found a new link to what happened to Terrence.

"I'm really sorry, Kiks, but I have to go." He got to his feet and jumped out of the back of the truck. "I have to meet with Tyler. It's very important."

To his surprise, Kyra smiled brightly, walking over to the edge of the truck. "I'm impressed, Ken. You and Tyler are finally getting along."

He wouldn't say they were getting along. It was merely a case of two people forced to work together, inspired by a common goal. But, of course, he wasn't telling her that.

"Yeah, you could say that," he muttered, stretching out his hands to help her down.

****

Rows of curse words fell from Kenner's mouth as he dragged himself through the thick woods, thorns and thistles poking him every step he took.

He couldn't believe he'd let Tyler talk him into taking this route when he could've followed the railway there. It was starting to get dark and man pride aside, he didn't like the dark very much.

Finally, after he'd gotten dealt with by water-deprived plants, he stumbled out onto the remains of an old church. It wasn't a very popular place, seeing as it was a long way from the city, but it was very familiar to Kenner.

Him and Terrence had gone hiking with other guys from the football team a year ago, and had found the abandoned church. Eerily standing in ruins, with a polluted stream behind it, it was a place that none of the guys were happy to be. All except Kenner and Terrence. They visited the church regularly because of the big oak tree behind it. From its top branches, you could get a view of the Hudson River and some parts of the building. On the ground it looked horrible and disgusting, but the true beauty lay at the top of those branches.

Kenner wandered around the place as memories of Terrence clouded his brain. Every stone, every plant reminded Kenner of him.

Maybe he shouldn't have come here. Tyler could handle whatever he saw or found out.

"This place is infested with vampire mosquitoes," he heard Tyler hiss behind him. Tyler slapped at his arms a few times, then walked to stand next to him.

"Why on earth would Terrence pick this place?" He scowled then moved ahead of Kenner, into the church. When he noticed Kenner hadn't followed, he poked his head back out. "Today, Kenny."

"I've told you to stop calling me that," Kenner mumbled, walking towards him. "Now, what exactly are we doing here?"

Tyler didn't answer. He simply trod around the empty room. Kenner used the opportunity to look around the place. The only thing in the wide room was the pulpit on the other end of it, and the windows. The place was now occupied by spiders that had their webs everywhere, including in Kenner's hair. The place smelled like sawdust and dirt, possibly from the stream. Kenner raised his head to see the cracked ceiling board and various holes.

What happened to this place?

"I was going through Terrence's messages on facebook," Tyler called from the other side of the room.

Shocker, Kenner thought dryly.

"And he was texting someone. The person was trying to get him to deliver something... I'm not sure, they spoke in codes." He stamped his leg on the floor, cracking the floorboard and sending a cloud of dust up. He moved back while the air cleared, then continued, "My brother threatened him too with a picture. The guy dialled down after that. So, I tried to search the house for the picture. To see if I could get a face out of the person, since he has no pictures on his facebook. Guess what I saw."

Honestly, Kenner wasn't sure he wanted to guess. Something about the story Tyler was telling him frightened him. What was T involved in? He crossed the room to meet Tyler who was struggling to pull a bag that had been buried inside the floorboard.

"What?" He asked, stuffing his hands into his pocket.

"At the back of his Bible, he mentioned this place and the first floorboard after the pulpit. And titled it photo."

He pulled the bag out of the floor and reached inside his pocket for something. Kenner felt his blood begin to rush as Tyler produced a penknife and began to cut the bag open. When he had a hole big enough, he put his hands into it and tore it apart.

At first, all Kenner saw were stones, but Tyler began to remove them one-by-one and right there at the bottom, a picture sat.

Tyler took the picture out, dusted it and held it for Kenner to take a look.

Kenner's eyes widened as he stared at the picture. Two boys were standing together in front of a bar, one whispering into the other's ear. Kenner's gaze stuck to the boy wearing an orange hood.

It was a hood he was familiar with.

"I should've known something was up when he mentioned he wanted to leave town." Kenner groaned, covering his face with his hands.

"Why? You know the guy?" The curiosity in Tyler's voice was unmistakable.

"Yeah," Kenner answered. "That's my cousin, Noble."

****

Finally, I got this chapter out. Tell me what you thought about it and don't forget to vote💕💕

Zina xx