Episode 16: Distracted from Reality

Episode 16

Distracted from Reality

Jennifer peers round the shelf and checks the messages on her phone again. Enoch should have been there by now. She had text-ed him a whole hour ago and, inconveniently, he still hadn't arrived.

Jennifer makes another round with the trolley and places another two books on their respected shelves, before making her way all the way back to her peeping position near the door.

Enoch walks in, while looking at his phone. It looks like he is walking toward the front desk, but before he can reach the halfway mark, Jennifer pulls him in between the shelves.

“Finally,” She whispers, to a startled Enoch. “Where were you?”

“There were a few things I had to take care of,” Enoch says, he looks sad, but, soon enough, his iconic smile appears.

“Let's walk and talk,” Jennifer says and starts pushing the trolley.

Enoch grabs a few books and immediately starts reading the blurbs on their backs, while still somehow managing to walk without bumping into things.

“So, I know who had checked out The Author's Inclination... it was Tessa,” Jennifer starts and Enoch almost drops the stack of books in his arms. “She can't be the Author's Advocate, could she?”

Enoch takes in a deep breath before speaking. “I don't think so, the letters don't sound like her...”

“The letters don't sound like anyone I know, but it has to be someone I know – someone that knows me well,” Jennifer says. “See, I've been thinking, this person would have to, at least, have access to all the places where the letters were left. This person also has personal knowledge about me and my life, so they either know me directly or indirectly,” Jennifer takes a breath. “And, Tessa dropped the book in the return bin outside the door. The Author's Advocate could simply have taken the book out... I don't think that it was Tessa.”

“Okay, so... the letters were left at your home, at school and in a library book,” Enoch says. “Which narrows it down to anyone who has access to a historic sight, that is open to the public, and Mecha Falls in general.”

“Exactly,” Jennifer says and places another book on the shelf. “Well, the second letter does narrow things down a little bit. It was shoved underneath the door in the basement – tourists won't know about that place. That narrows things down to anyone who had gone to school at Offset High... which is everyone in town.”

“Who else knows that the basement door is open?” Enoch asks.

“Other than me and you, I don't know,” Jennifer says and takes one of the books out of Enoch's arms, placing it on the shelf. “When I first discovered that it was open, the door was quite squeaky. One of the office staff had heard the sound. A rumour had started about a ghost haunting the basement, but no one found out where the sound really came from, or so I thought.”

“I think it's safe to assume that it's not a teacher or one of the office staff,” Enoch says.

“Why do you say that?” Jennifer asks. “They do know the school grounds better than anyone, it could easily have been one of them.”

“Well, if it were one of them, the door would have been shut.”

“I'm not so sure of that. If the Author's Advocate were one of the teachers or whatever, don't you think they would have let it slide... to serve their motive?”

“What is the Author's Advocate's motive?” Enoch asks and, after a few seconds of silence, that was the end of their speculative conversation.

“We won't be able to figure out who this is until we have a motive,” Jennifer sighs. “How's your vacation been so far? Have you done a bit of exploring?”

“Not really,” Enoch says. “I've been at home most of the time.”

“But, you've seen stuff here, right? Places, buildings... the mountains?” Jennifer asks, not believing for a second that he would say no, but to her dismay he shakes his head.

“You haven't seen anything?” Jennifer asks too loudly, forgetting to speak in soliloquies, and getting a few foul looks.

“Well, we'll just have to fix that,” Jennifer says. “We're going on an out-ride, this weekend. You can ride, can't you?”

***

“These are the stables,” Jennifer tells Enoch excitedly and leads him through the doors into the stables, while continuing to babble. “This is where we house most of our horses, some people do have private stables, but that's a little too price-y for most residents. The Historic Society manages out-rides and hiking trails from here. This is the place I worked at while you were on vacation, one of the places I worked at. The nice thing is that we don't need a guide, I know exactly where to go. Just one thing, my Mum warned me about flash-floods. It's been raining on the mountains, it's better to stick to the higher places...”

“I've always preferred the high-ground,” Enoch says with a laugh.

Jennifer looks at him quizzically, but continues talking, all the way to Dom-pedro and Casey's stables – those are the two horses they will be taking. Jennifer is beyond excited and has been itching to go up into the mountains.

“Jennifer!” Rebecca greats while she finishes saddling up Dom-pedro. “Sorry they're not ready yet, this nightmare has the nasty habit of doing everything to make my job as hard as possible.”

“No problem,” Enoch says, looking rather nervous. “I haven't ridden in years.”

In no time at all, Jennifer and Enoch are up and on their way.

Jennifer finds it ironic that there are flash-flood warnings when everything else is so dry.

Jennifer leads them onto a narrow dirt path and then farther up into the mountains. The path becomes rocky and the trees, that created a canopy at the start of the trail, start pressing in on them from both sides.

“There is a very specific place that I've been meaning to visit. You see, I haven't been up there in such a long time...” Jennifer tells her reader. Leaves brush her arms and they take a right turn onto a steeper path.

“Oh, yeah?” Enoch replies, shocking Jennifer back to her senses – for a second she'd forgotten that he can hear her.

“Yeah,” She quickly says, not wanting to admit that she was not actually talking to him. “You can see the entire town from up there. The trees will clear and we'll be on a small peak.”

“I'm glad that we didn't go in the heat of day,” Enoch said and Jennifer glances at him over her shoulder. Dom-pedro is a large white horse, stubborn, but she seems to be behaving well today.

“It's much better to go early, it's a whole lot cooler and there won’t be too many people on the trails either,” Jennifer replies. “I've been thinking about Tessa and The Author's Inclination and about what you said... about the books that we read. What do you think this one says about Tessa? I mean... she doesn't usually read. I didn't even know that she had a library card...”

“Well,” Enoch says. “With everything that Tessa has lost and thrown away over the last few weeks... I think she's seeking comfort in books.”

“Lost?” Jennifer asks.

“Her father left,” Enoch says. “Didn't you know? And, apparently, Angus is avoiding her also...”

“How do you know all this?” Jennifer looks at the streaks of light as they shine through the leaves.

“You're not the only friend I have,” Enoch says. “I know other people too and gossip travels fast.”

“I haven't heard anything,” Jennifer says. “And, people make things up. Who told you this?”

“Ronita did,” Enoch says. “No offense, but you get distracted easily and Tessa was the only source of gossip you had. She didn't want people to know, but it got out anyway.”

“You don't think...?” Jennifer starts, “You don't think that she could have... thought that I didn't care, do you? I didn't know, but she didn't know that I didn't know and could have thought that I knew. But, she never told me anything. Since when do you talk to Ronita?”

“Since Marsha day,” Enoch answers casually and something tugs at Jennifer's heart.

“Oh,” She says and decides to change the topic. “I don't get distracted that easily, do I?”

“No, all you do is change topics every second sentence,” Enoch says. “Honestly, you getting detracted from reality is a main plot point by now. You live in your head and it's not always good, but I don't find anything wrong with it most of the time.”

The rest of the way they spent in silence, Jennifer mauled over what Enoch had said and tried to appreciate their surroundings more, but there was just so much to think about. Too much to process.

The whole drama surrounding Tessa, is suddenly starting to make sense. Her father leaving could have made her angry at Jennifer in the first place, especially if she was under the impression that Jennifer knew, but simply didn't care.

Why didn't Jennifer know about Ronita and Enoch being friends? Was she really so distracted that she completely missed it all?

And, before long, Jennifer finds herself and Enoch in a clearing atop the hill. They dismount and tie their horses to a nearby tree.

“This is it,” Jennifer says, her legs still a little wobbly – she hadn't been riding in a long time. “The view is this way.”

She leads the way to a large rock, at the edge of the hill, and takes a seat.

“There are sketches in The Historic Society's...” She starts saying, but suddenly realizes that Enoch had not followed her. She looks around and finds him looking around in awe. She looks around, at the jagged edges of the mountains and then at the sky and the trees and the little yellow and purple wildflowers and realizes that she'd missed the entire ride. She overlooked all of the beauty and had gotten stuck in her head again.

After a while, Enoch makes his way over to the rock and takes a seat next to Jennifer.

“This was Marsha's favourite spot,” Jennifer says. “If you look there, you'll see the town and all the houses. There are sketches in The Historic Society's lobby, one of them was made right here. Marsha sketched the entire town from here, all the original buildings were captured in their full glory.”

“It's so small,” Enoch remarks. “It's nice to get a little distance from everything.”

Jennifer is not sure, but she thought that there was a hint of sadness in his voice.

“Distance from what, Enoch?” Jennifer asks. She doesn't want to make the same mistake with Enoch that she did with Tessa. Enoch's never been late before and he doesn't seem like his normal self either.

“What's going on?”

“I can't tell you,” Enoch says, looking away. “I made a promise, Jenny. I can't tell you.”

“You can't tell me or you can't tell anyone?” Jennifer asks. “Is everything okay? You're not planning on leaving, are you?”

“No,” Enoch says, with a smile. “Do you really want me to stay?”

“No,” She says. “I never said that, I just don't want you to go.”

Silence sets in, but after a few minutes Jennifer decides to break the silence.

“If you made a promise, I would never ask you to break it. But, seeing as we're keeping secrets now, I have a secret too.” Jennifer says.

“Really?” Enoch says with the raise of his eyebrow.

“Definitely,” Jennifer answers. “And mine is about a book.”