The Conspiracy of the Elites
Chapter 285: devastated parents

“I still can’t believe it, Benny’s dead?” Kate asked again for the umpteenth time, making Leo even more worried for his wife’s health as they ate their breakfast.

The night before today, after taking Clark to the guest room to rest, when he went to his room, he found that his wife was not asleep yet.

He could only sigh, he knew that Kate pretended to leave just to give him some personal space and time with his best friend. He was grateful for it but he equally dreaded what would follow.

As he predicted, after welcoming him, she hugged him on their bed before asking for a sneak peek of any interesting thing that Clark said.

In the end, he told her. Benny was a friend that she knew and was close to, he didn’t feel nice withholding such information from her.

He already expected it when he revealed the news to her, but still seeing how enormously she was affected made him reject his choice.

This morning, he was helpless on how to make her forget about it. As he tried without much success to persuade his wife to let go of the news, Clark helped him out. “That’s life, Kate”.

“Umm?”

Clark put down his spoon. “There is a day of birth, and there is a day of death Kate. We should be grateful that Benny didn’t die a terrorist, that would have been really bad”.

“It’s an honorable death to die serving your country. Wherever he is right now, I’m pretty sure that he didn’t regret his choice. I’m sure he’s even proud of himself”.

“Won’t his parents feel devastated?” She had a pained expression on her face.

“Yes, they will. They’ll just have to accept it, that’s life. When it just happened, I was also devastated. It took the intervention of an ally before I recovered my nerves”.

“A lesson that I learned from it is that life will keep on throwing things that will bring sorrow at us. The most important thing is how well we cope with it, that’s what distinguishes regulars from successful legends”.

“Ok, guys, let’s eat up”. Leo finally intervened.

40 minutes later, both Leo and Clark were dressed in black suits. After waving goodbye at Kate, they finally left the compound on the military vehicle driven here by Clark.

They didn’t plan for anything before going, they would react according to the circumstances that present themselves to them.

After becoming an established soldier in the Python military division, Benny allocated some money to buy a house here in Delhi city for his parents just for him to stay close to them.

Due to this, Clark only needed 15 minutes before he maneuvered his way to the direction described by Leo.

The house was a small duplex that was surrounded by a tall fence. The house was very compact, a perfect fit for a couple who were already at the age of retirement.

Though the duplex looked plain when looked at superficially, Clark and Leo observed enough details to know that it was a fortress in its own right.

It was heavily fortified with various defensive measures, clearly showing the amount of money that Benny spent on it. This sight only made them feel sadder, but they still went ahead in the end.

Parking the car at the front of the gate to the building, they both came out before going closer to knock.

“Coming!” As soon as they knocked, the voice of a woman echoed out to them in reply the next moment. They stood and waited.

About a minute later, the gate finally jerked a bit before a slightly aged woman’s head poked out of the opening. “Yes, who is it?”

Seeing this face, both Clark and Leo stiffened. This woman with a cheerful expression on her face was Benny’s mom. Though this was his first time seeing the woman, Clark connected the dots immediately due to the uncanny resemblance.

Benny was practically just a carbon copy of his mom.

The fairly aged woman had her hair tied into a neat bun, making the slight wrinkles on her face to be exaggeratedly highlighted.

She had a creased forehead, a short nose, and blue eyeballs. Though this was already an aging woman, Clark could still make out from the little clues that she was pretty stylish in her youth.

Before he could observe further, the woman spoke. “Oh, did Benny send you? He’s not visited in a while, why didn’t he come himself?”

As soon as she saw the military vehicle that was parked at the side, she quickly connected it with her son. As she inquired of these 2 strangers, she already opened the gate to allow them in.

“Good morning, ma. We’re his friends”. Clark finally replied.

The woman paused a bit on hearing this, looking at them more intently. “You’re…, Clark and Leonard?”

“Umm, yes”.

“Oh, you’re welcome sons. Benny has told me a lot about the both of you, he said that you helped him a lot. I finally have the chance to meet and thank you both, please come in”.

Clark and Leo could not reject the aged woman’s invitation so they just nodded and entered, now feeling even more hesitant about their decision to break the news to her.

This was when they finally saw her in full.

Benny’s mother was dressed in a slight apron cloth that was stained with dirt. From the gloves on her hand, they quickly deduced that she was working in her garden that was at the side of the house.

The woman abandoned all her work immediately, inviting them inside the house as she apologized before going to change her clothes.

“What would you like to eat?” Coming back, she asked with a smile.

“Thank you, ma, but we’ve eaten already”. Clark and Leo answered, more or less in unison.

“No need to be polite sons, this is your home. How do you like a dandelion pizza and some soft drinks?” She smiled wider at them.

“Ok, thank you ma”. Clark and Leo eventually relented.

“Make yourself at home. Benny’s father would be back in a jiffy, he went out to get mushrooms to make a special meal. Why is Benny not here with you, is he busy?”

“Ah, umm, yes”.

“Ok. Just wait, the food will be ready in a moment”.

Now, both soldiers were faced with a conundrum. They didn’t know why but after staying with their friend’s mom for only a few minutes, they were having second thoughts about revealing the bitter truth to her.

Facing a scenario where the cheerful aging woman would become devasted because of the news of her son’s death, they felt their heart being crushed.

They preferred her not knowing at all to be sincere, they were now conflicted.

They could only rein their uneasiness in and go along with her cheerful mood, the woman was clearly elated on getting to meet them. This feeling alone left them feeling warm but worried also.

As soon as the food was served, they both dug in despite eating just a moment ago to make themselves occupied and evade the woman’s overflowing love for a few minutes.

They tried their best to evade all the aging woman’s questions that were related to her son, trying hard to stir the conversations in other directions.

40 minutes later like this, Benny’s father, Mr. John Hart finally came back from the market with a bag filled with mushrooms.

The man had even more of an exaggerated response than his wife when he finally knew their identity, repeatedly gushing on about how much Benny described them to him.

Clark and Leo felt like blushing at the praise but they could not, the uncertainty and guilt in their heart were already intensifying.

Despite all their argument that they were full already, Mrs. Hart ignored all their pleas and went into the kitchen again to prepare a mushroom chicken soup for them.

They were left alone to weather the aging man’s praise.

A few minutes later, Mrs. Hart finally came out of the kitchen with a bowl of mushroom chicken soup. She and her husband took their spoons cheerfully but both soldiers could not, they could not take it again.

“Sir, ma, we want to tell you something”. Clark finally decided to spill the beans, a pained and guilty expression on his face.

Both parents felt the change in his demeanor immediately as soon as he spoke. They became worried, their parent’s instinct already ringing alarm bells but they kept quiet and listened.

“It’s about Benny”.

Seeing how attentive and silent they both were despite hearing this, Clark felt himself panicking a bit which was now a rare emotion to him.

“I don’t know how to put this; Benny and I went for the mission together. It was an extremely dangerous mission; we encountered a lot of dangers and most of us were not able to make it”.

Mr. Hart’s heart dropped. “Did anything happen to my son?”

Clark steeled his heart; he didn’t know if he broke the news the right way but he just did. “It’s my fault, sir, I didn’t protect him well as the leader of my squad”.

I’m sorry sir. Benny served his country to the best of his ability, but unfortunately, he didn’t make it”.

“Oh, no, no…!” Mrs. Hart broke down immediately.

Slumping down into her chair, the aging woman broke down into tears as she clung hard to a pillow to stabilize her wobbling body.

She said nothing else, only saying no repeatedly as she cried her heart out. Seeing how Clark was beating around the bush, she already suspected it but refused to believe it. Having it confirmed completely crushed her heart.

Mr. Hart did not utter a word. He ground his teeth, his aging fists shook like a dementia patient’s, he was reduced to tears also but he didn’t utter a single word.

He just turned around to hug his wife, buried her head on his chest before patting her back to console her.

Seeing all this, Clark and Leo were reduced to silence. They felt crushed inwardly, they didn’t know what to say so they just kept quiet, looked at the floor, and directed their sorrow at the ground.

About 20 minutes later, Mrs. Hart’s sobbing sounds were already subsiding but her shaking figure showed that she was still suffering a lot from the sad news.

What Mr. Hart said next stunned the 2 soldiers. “Thank you for personally breaking the news to us Clark. I know that it’s not your fault, you are good soldiers, Benny told us so”.

“It…, it’s just painful”. The aged man gritted his teeth but he still stuttered and let out a sob.

“I’m sorry, sir”. Clark and Leo said in unison.

It took about another 30 minutes before the couple finally took in the news completely. This was when Clark gave the piece of Benny’s uniform that he retrieved to them. This was what was left of their son.

After doing this, he consoled them further with Leo before they stood up to go.

Before they left, Clark turned to face them. “Sir, please inform me about the day of the burial ceremony. I sent you some money to facilitate it”.

“No need…”

“Don’t worry sir, that’s an obligation that I enforced on myself to fulfill”.

They both finally left the compound feeling heavy and sad, but they also felt a huge sense of relief.

…

A few hours after both soldiers left and his wife cried herself to sleep, Mr. Hart with red eyes finally took hold of his phone.

[You have received an alert of 1,000,000 Spartan credits. Sender: Major Clark.]

[You have received an alert of 200,000 Spartan credits. Sender: Sergeant II Leonard.]

The man broke down in tears.

[Sob! I felt sat writing this chapter.]

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