Episode 19: The Price of Secrecy

Episode 19

The Price of Secrecy

Tessa leans against Jennifer's shoulder, fast asleep. They are both tucked in under a blanket, sitting at the base of a large tree. The blanket was part of the emergency supplies that had been handed out to them.

By the time the sun started setting, the fire still hadn't been put out. Not long after, the emergency supplies started making their way round; flashlights, tents (for the small children), blankets, lamps, and dried food of all sorts.

“I've only been in such a situation once before,” Jennifer says and looks around. Everyone else had slowly fallen asleep, but Jennifer couldn't seem to stop her busy mind. Here and there she catches sight of another person with their eyes wide open, it's good to know that she's not the only one. It's too easy to feel alone.

“I was no older than three and a fire had broken out. We were told to evacuate too. I remember falling asleep in my father’s arms, it was like camping to me,” Jennifer says and hugs her half of the blanket tighter around herself. Jennifer leans back again, against the tree, and watches the large branches above sway in the wind. “I didn't realize what was truly going on until years and years later, but, to this day, that is still one of my fondest memories.”

Tessa lets out a long sigh and Jennifer notices that her half the blanket had fallen. She covers Tessa again and goes back to her thoughts. Thoughts about change and progression and digression and character development in general. Jennifer thinks about The Author's Advocate and about who this strange person might be.

But, most of all, Jennifer thinks about Tessa.

“We both needed that hug,” Jennifer states. “We both knew we needed it, but neither of us were willing to take the first step. That had gotten me thinking about a few things. It could have been extremely easy to paint Tessa as the antagonist of my story – a villain, an opponent, my direct opposite – but she didn't end up as any of those things. All she ended up being was human. She had suffered loss and tragedy and acted wrongly because of it, she had to learn too. I have learned so much, but something that is still bothering me is one of the questions the Author's Advocate had asked.”

A gust of wind sways the branches and a few leaves flutter to the ground. Some nights get cold, but, at least, most of the people in Mecha Falls are used to camping and roughing it... so it ought not to be a problem.

“Do you believe that, in every story, there is a hero and a villain?” Jennifer repeats the Author's Advocate's question. “I used to believe that every good story had to have a hero and a villain. Two opposing people clashing epic-ly, but that's clearly not true. I think the closest my life could ever get to a standoff between a hero and a villain is internally. My nature has in every aspect been the villain in my story and my heart, the hero. My nature is one of want and my heart is one of giving.”

Jennifer looks at Tessa's peaceful face as she sleeps.

“My nature tells me to take as much of everything I can get,” Jennifer says. “But my heart tells me to give all I have to offer. For if I love you more, would you love me less?”

“Jenny?” Someone whispers. Jennifer looks and, sure enough, she finds Enoch approaching behind the light of a lantern. He takes a seat next to her and opens his mouth to say something, but stops with his mouth half-way open and closes it again. Only to immediately ask about Tessa and what had happened.

“We talked a few things through,” Jennifer says simply, moving Tessa's backpack out of the way a bit so that Enoch didn't have to sit as far. But, once he takes in his seat, Enoch just moves the bag completely and sits directly next to her. It's clear that he has something on his mind and wants to talk.

“We were both so wrong and that's the gist of the story. I'll tell you all about it later.”

Enoch nods, but says nothing further.

“What's on your mind?” Jennifer asks.

“It's been killing me, not talking to you. I couldn't come earlier, I had to wait until Ronita was asleep,” Enoch says. “There are things I can't keep secret anymore. Things about Ronita. I need advice, Jenny. But, I don't even know where to start.”

Jennifer just nods, “I find it's best to just talk and not worry too much about it. The story will take care of itself.”

“So, Ronita and I've been friends since that first day, but nothing more than that. Things started getting more... I don't even know if serious is the right word,” Enoch says and uncomfortably shifts.

“Anyway, right around the time we had gone on vacation, I found out that Ronita's father had left earlier in the year. He just never came back. Later, I found out that her mother had run off with some guy – a few months after Mr Timpelton had left. Leaving Ronita alone, without anyone or anything. She started performing hacks for money... she managed to support herself that way and had done so for a while,” Enoch swallows hard. Looking off into the distance as he speaks, not really looking at anything in particular.

“When I found out about her parents, I tried to convince her to go to social services herself. It wasn't right, you know – them leaving her like that. She shouldn't have to continually break the law to support herself, because of what they did. Time after time I tried to convince her, but she wouldn't listen. A few days ago, she blatantly refused and, in the heat of the moment, I gave her a week to think it over and go to social services herself and, if she didn't, I would go. Things were said, but I really just want the best for her. That's when I,” He lifts one of his hands slightly, showing the scrapes and bruises. “I punched the wall out of frustration.”

Enoch turns to look at Jennifer.

“Was I wrong in doing so?” Enoch asks, whispering, so as not to wake Tessa.

“No, I don't think the wall deserved it,” Jennifer says and Enoch smiles.

“This is not the time, Jenny,”

“If it gets a smile out of you, it's always the time. But, I do think you were right in giving her an ultimatum. She shouldn't have to continue on like this,” Jennifer says and Enoch nods. He looks lighter, as though a burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

“I, spontaneously, decided to drop in on her today. Just to check-in, but, when I got there, I found that everything was packed up,” Enoch says, emotion bleeding into his voice with every word. He looks away again – off into the distant memories of earlier that day. “She was planning to leave without saying anything. She said that she refused to live by anyone else's rules, especially that of some foster family.”

Silence sets in and Jennifer puts her arm around him, giving him an awkward-half-hug.

“She said that I should drop it and then the sirens went off,” Enoch says after a long while. “When it went off, I hated myself for not staying at the library. I had to check that you were okay...”

“There you go again,” Jennifer interrupts and Enoch suddenly looks at her. “Caring about other people more than yourself. You would make a great main character. And, I was fine, I...” Jennifer catches herself before she tells him what she had been up to earlier.

“I have gotten used to living here. Sirens and safety drills are not uncommon,” Jennifer says, feeling guilty again. “Thank you for caring, though. You really mean a lot to me.”

“So, what's your story?” Enoch asks with a smile, nudging his head in Tessa's direction.

And that was the start of their night-long conversation. They continued talking until the first light of the day started shining through the leaves above their heads. Jennifer was the first to note that it was getting light and mentioned the chirping birds.

“I think we can do with some light,” Enoch states with a yawn. He puts his hand in his pocket and takes out his phone, Jennifer's had died a few hours prior, and checks for any new messages from his family. But, after having done so, Enoch suddenly reaches back into his pocket. His eyes grow wide as his hand comes back empty. He quickly reaches into his other pocket, in search of something.

Jennifer frowns, what was he looking for?

“Jenny, I'm so sorry...” Enoch says and she suddenly realizes what he had been searching for. “I lost the Author's Advocate letter. It could be anywhere; I'll do my best to find it. I'm so...”

“Hey,” Jennifer says, wanting to confess, but can't bring herself to do so... not after he opened up and told her everything. “It's okay, I'm not mad and it might turn up somewhere.”

All Jennifer had to do was figure out some way to have Enoch come across the letter. He can rediscover it and the whole thing would be behind them. Yeah, that sounded like a plan and it wouldn't be too hard to pull off. All Jennifer had to do was place the letter somewhere where Enoch was earlier and have him find it. Easy, right?

It hadn't been until Enoch brought up Ronita, that Jennifer realized that Ronita's apartment was the only place other that Enoch had been earlier. So, all Jennifer had to do was sneak back into a place that she shouldn't have been in in the first place.

“This isn't going to be as easy as I thought,” Jennifer thinks to herself with a sigh. She starts thinking of excuses to get back there and she even considers going immediately, but thinks better of the entire thing.

After another few minutes of chatter, Jennifer decides to ask one of the safety-volunteers if they could maybe get some coffee. Enoch agrees that it might be a good idea and goes with her, that way he can wake Ronita with a warm cup of coffee. The last thing he wants is for Ronita to wake up and think that he had abandoned her too.

They step over sleeping people, here and there, slowly making their way to the little stone cabin. At the cabin, one of the volunteers tell the two of them that the fire had been put out late in the night.

“We'll be announcing it at about 8 and, when the safety teams are done inspecting the town, people can start heading home,” He says.

“Is the damage bad?” Enoch asks, but all Jennifer can think about is that she can head to Ronita's apartment without any threat and probably make it back before anything is officially announced. Enoch continues to have a conversation with the volunteer, but Jennifer's mind is completely occupied with her plan. Enoch and the volunteer continue to talk for a good while longer, the two walk back together and then part ways. How is she going to get away from Tessa? What if Tessa had woken up? What then?

Jennifer slowly walks back with their two coffees, thinking. Pondering. Planning. Only to reach their tree, to find that Tessa was still sound asleep. She'd wrapped the blanket tightly around herself while Jennifer was away. Jennifer sits and thinks everything over for a bit. She can't leave Tessa alone, but, on the other hand, Tessa had always been a sound sleeper and if she did wake before Jennifer returned, she could just say that she had gone to the bathroom or something.

Jennifer makes up her mind, she was going to go to Ronita's apartment. She quickly opens Tessa's bag, she might have a pen and paper in there... if she does, Jennifer could leave a note. She finds a notepad and quickly scribbles that she is going to the bathroom on the piece of paper. She places it under Tessa's coffee cup and takes the backpack with her – she doesn't want someone to steal it while Tessa is sleeping.

Jennifer glances up and down, she needs to make sure that no one sees her. None of the volunteers would let her go, not even with the fire out. She sneaks around a few trees and spots a volunteer patrolling and waits for him to move to another spot, but for a long while he doesn’t move and Jennifer waits. While waiting, crouched and hidden in the shadows, Jennifer considers other options. She could tell Enoch that she had picked it up or found it somewhere, but neither option would be convincing. Jennifer, hypothetically, couldn’t have picked it up immediately after it had, hypothetically, fallen because Enoch and Ronita had walked behind her. Jennifer also can’t say that she had gone back and found it on the path to the evacuation point, if the letter had fallen on the way to the evacuation point and no one had picked it up, it would have been trampled. It would be best if Enoch were to find it in exactly the place where he had lost it.

The volunteer moves on to another spot and Jennifer bolts down the path, running all the way to town. Tessa's backpack bounces on her back with each step, she just hopes that no one hears her.

Once in town, Jennifer calms a bit, but the absolute silence catches her off guard. She takes in a walk, to calm her racing heart, but the quiet streets and smell of smoke unsettles her more than anything. It's unnatural for Mecha Falls to be this quiet. After a while, Jennifer takes in a run again. She passes the natural disaster board again and finds that it hasn't been changed yet. She finds its boasting extremely ironic. She runs directly into the apartment building and up the stairs, all the way to the floor she wants to be. In the hallway, Jennifer forces her tired body to move forward. Even though every cell in her body is telling her to stop and take a breather, she doesn't want to be in the quiet, uninhabited building any longer than she has to be.

Jennifer opens Ronita's door and walks in without a worry, but freezes before she takes a step inside.

“Ronita?” She calls out, but there is no answer. Jennifer takes a step into the apartment; all the boxes are gone. Someone had been there earlier and the only person that would have done something like that is Ronita herself.

Jennifer starts to shake all over, realizing that Ronita had left Enoch and ran.

A new sense of urgency grips Jennifer. Ronita probably snuck away during the night – while Enoch wasn't with her. Enoch went back to where he left Ronita sleeping and, finding nothing, he could be on his way to her apartment also.

Jennifer takes out the origami flower as fast as she can, but her hands are shaking so much that she takes twice as long and drops it on the floor. She turns around, with the intention of leaving, but stops.

She looks around the room again. Ronita didn't even leave a note. Jennifer takes off Tessa's backpack and takes out the notepad, scribbling on a piece of paper one word.

Sorry...

Jennifer places the note on the desk where Ronita's computers were and leaves, closing the door behind her with haste. Once in the stairwell, Jennifer takes a second to listen if anyone else is in there with her, but she doesn't hear a single footstep or sound, other than her own breathing.

Jennifer quickly makes her way down, stops in the lobby and peers out to see if Enoch might be approaching, but the street is completely clear. She changes her route back to the evacuation point and makes it back without a problem. She sneaks past another volunteer and makes her way back to Tessa, who is still sound asleep. Jennifer takes the note she had left and crushes it in her hand, placing it in her pocket, just as a volunteer starts making his way to Jennifer.

He stops in front of her, Jennifer's heart beats in her throat. Did someone spot her?

“Are you, Jennifer Hudstone?” He asks and Jennifer nods. “We caught an Enoch Reilly trying to make his way to town about half an hour ago. Apparently, he was going after someone, but we managed to stop him, for his own safety. We've been keeping him under observation since then, but he had requested to see you. Would you mind coming with me?”

“No problem,” Jennifer says. “Would you mind if I leave my friend a note?”

Jennifer writes Tessa another note and leaves with the volunteer. They walk back in silence, until they near the cabin.

He stops. “Your friend is not happy, he tried to fight his way out. He must really care about that girl. Maybe you can calm him?” He nudges his head in the direction of the cabin, signalling her to continue on without him.

Jennifer boldly walks forward, the truth weighing on her shoulders in the form of a secret she cannot afford to share. She walks past a few people and into the small building.