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Opening it up, she reads it out loud, “I knew it wouldn’t take you too long to figure it out. I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon, Gerald.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Ace exclaims.
“Is he gone? Like gone, gone?” I ask, aware that my frown is darkening my expression, but this just doesn’t make sense. “Why would he feel like he had to leave just because we found the bunker?”
“Demelza probably gave him those instructions so that he couldn’t tell us anything that he shouldn’t,” Jynx suggests.
“I don’t know; that doesn’t sit quite right,” Rome adds.
“No, I agree,” I reply.
“Well, at least we know that he was the one watching the footage. It can’t be a coincidence that we found the bunker, and then Gerald suddenly decides to leave with no warning.” Mal points out.
“Fuck this, we can speculate all we want, but we aren’t going to get any answers standing here. I’m going to go and get a start on hacking into the cameras in the town, it took me a while last time, and I’d be extremely surprised if they haven’t updated the security since then. I think it’s been over a year since I did it, and they usually update it every two months just in case,” Ace says as he turns on his heel and heads back to the central part of the house.
“Could you check our cameras here first and see if Gerald really did leave? I want to make sure that he wasn’t taken by anyone,” Jynx asks him, and I have to admit that I hadn’t even thought of that as a possibility.
“Yes, of course,” Ace replies immediately, “that’s a good idea, especially considering there are some disgruntled ex-Ravens out there.”
“Although there’s no sign of a struggle, and we all know how good Gerald is at defending himself, if someone had tried to take him, there would’ve been signs of a fight and also blood,” Rome points out as we head back down the hallway.
Jynx chuckles, “Yeah, very good point, but I’d still like to check.”
“I’ll check; don’t worry,” Ace reassures her.
Jynx
“Thank you,” I tell him gratefully.
To be honest, I don’t really know how I feel about everything that has just been revealed. Actually, that’s a lie. I’m excited, I’ve actually seen what my father looked like, something that I wasn’t sure I would ever know. The connection to the guys is especially surprising and something that I wasn’t expecting when we found out about the bunker.
Heading to their home town which would have technically been my hometown if the circumstances were different, is intriguing and, although it adds another layer to the mystery, also hopefully holds some of the answers that I’m looking for, which mainly consist of wanting to know about my father, about my family on my dad's side in general if I’m honest. I already know everything I can about my mother's side thanks to D and not my mother, of course, and I thought that it was full of interesting and unique people. I think my father's side might turn out to have them beaten.
Gerald just up and leaving seems out of character, even if he didn’t want to answer our questions or couldn’t; I mean, it’s not like we’ve pressured him when he’s told us no before. We’ve just accepted it and moved on, and that’s the reason why I’m not just going to accept his note as truth and not double-check the cameras and make sure that he definitely left voluntarily.
Understandably, the town holds a lot of bad memories for them, and as we all take a seat in the front room while Ace gets to work and Rip puts something on the Tv just so we’re not sitting in silence, I start to worry that it might cause them to have adverse effects on them being back there and especially since we’re most likely going to have to confront their parents at some point.
“Are you all going to be okay, going back to the town?” I ask them. The worry is evident in my tone and, no doubt, in my expression as well.
Rome tilts his head in question, clearly not understanding, and so I explain, “Your hometown is not a happy place for you, and I don’t want to risk you guys being triggered by heading back. I don’t care what’s happening there or if I never get to visit my family home. I’m not risking it; you guys always come first.”
All of their expressions soften at my words, and Rome replies, “We’ll be okay. You’re right; it does have bad memories attached to it, but it also has good memories as well. It's where we grew up together and learned important skills. Mason and Mal’s sister was there, and she was amazing. We all have good memories with our grandparents before they disappeared, so it’s not all bad, and we’re stronger for it.”
I contemplate his words, “Okay, I hear you, and I understand that completely. Just promise me that if we get there and any of you start to struggle with being there, you let us know so that we can leave or deal with it as a family.”
They all nod, looking sincere, and I know that they’re being honest with me.
“We will,” Rome replies.
I remember something that they told me before and I ask, “I thought Rip’s grandfather was a judge in the town?”
Rip smiles, “Yeah, he was up until he disappeared.”
“Oh, okay I thought he still was,” I reply.
Rip smiles, “That’s probably because we were all nervous about telling you about our pasts, so things got a little bit muddled.”
I smile, “Fair enough.”
