The Final Chapter
Prologue
There are Pretenders among us, people with the ability to become anyone that they want to be. In 1963 a cooperation know as the Centre kidnapped one such Pretender named Jarod and used his mind for their research. Twenty years later their pretender ran away.
Chapter one: The Death
"Sydney, I wanted to talk to you, I have found this amazing woman. I want to be with her, but the Centre. What should I do?" said Jarod talking on the phone.
"I am sorry Jarod but I can't talk now. I am being escorted out of the Centre. I hope that you find what you are looking for. The Centre contains no more refuge for you." said Sydney as he finished packing his things and left.
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Miss Parker's Journal
August 30 12:15 pm
I am so sorry but my side hurts so badly, I will not write much. But today Jarod called and Broots is working on tracing it with this stupid new program. But Sydney was being escorted out of the Centre when he called. I fear that if we do not catch Jarod soon he will disappear forever. I am sorry to say this but Broots is our only hope.
Goodnight
MP
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"Broots tell me good news. Please I could use it." said Parker as she stepped into the tech room.
"I was able to trace the call. Jarod is in Andover, Minnesota. Angelo has all the issues of the papers in Andover and is looking through them. He maybe able to tell us exactly where Jarod is and he sent you a package." As Broots finished the phone rang. "Yes. He is at a little school called Oak View. Get a jet ready. Thanks."
"Let's go get Jarod." said Parker as she walked out the door. "I'll open it when we get back."
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Miss Parker's Journal
August 31 12:00 PM
Today, I thought was a normal day; Jarod was nowhere to be found, until around 10:00 AM. Jarod had called Sydney yesterday, but Broots, the lovable moron, invented some sort of machine that even Jarod could not avoid. He tracked Jarod down; we went to get him, to bring him home. He was working as a janitor! A janitor! Who would want to be a janitor? I chased him through the entire building. This building was over a lake. I caught up with him and I had to shoot him. Does that make me a horrible person for shooting an old, true friend? It probably does. I do miss him calling every night: And just talking. I can't believe that Jarod is gone; the hunt is over after six years of searching, leading to dead ends. Tomorrow I will leave the Centre for good. I will never set foot in that place ever again. Wish me luck.
Goodnight,
MP
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Mr. Reins Office (the Centre)
September 1
"The hunt is over. Jarod is dead." said Parker as she opened the heavy doors "I am out of here. Goodbye."
"You're leaving the Centre. The Centre is your life; you grew up here. How can you just leave it behind?" said Lyle as he stood up from the chair that he was sitting on.
"Little brother, I am ashamed of you. The deal that I made with my father, sorry, Mr. Parker, was that I catch Jarod and I walk out of here on my own terms. My terms are I leave here; you can have my rewards if you want them. I don't care, you will not follow me or threaten any one that I love, and I also want to have fifteen thousand dollars so that I can start a normal life. You will give Broots a very good paying job, if he wants it. You will rehire Sydney, if he wants the job. You will not hurt either one of them. Got it?" said Miss Parker as she stomped on Lyle's foot with her high heels.
"Yes, now please get off my foot!" said Lyle in agony.
"It could have been worse, I could have gone for your thumb." said Parker as she got off of Lyle's foot. "I want the money wired into my account by 10:00am today; that gives you three hours. Now go."
"Okay Miss Parker. It is a deal. Shall we shake on it?" asked Mr. Reins as he stepped out from behind his desk.
"Fine." said Parker as she took Reins hand. "If you disobey any of my terms you both will NOT live to see the next dawn."
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"Broots, Broots. Where are you?" asked Miss Parker as she walked into the room.
"I am over here. Are you going to stay?" asked Broots from the last computer.
"No. Are you?" answered Miss Parker.
"I'm thinking about Debbie, if I leave the Centre, where would we go? What would I do? Why should I leave after we just got settled? Miss Parker, what would you do?" asked Broots as he turned his chair toward Parker.
"I would talk it over with your wonderful daughter, see what she wants to do, take her opinion seriously, but do what you think is best. She may understand why you did it later in her life." answered Parker after a great deal of consideration on what she should say.
"I think that I will do that, we still have not gone to France yet. Maybe we will go and not come back. Thank you."
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Jarod waited until he heard the sound of the cars rolling away, then he got out from under the water, and ran the other way. He had to meet Zoey before she left. He ran through the woods and out of sight.
"Zoey, Zoey, Where are you?" yelled Jarod as he finally reached the cabin on the edge of the woods.
"I heard a shot at the school and I ran to there, and they said that you were dead." said Zoey sobbing, as she went to hug Jarod. "But why are they after you?"
"It is a long story that I have wanted to tell you, but I could never bring myself to do it. It all started when I was four years old, I was stolen from my parents, and taken to the Centre. They made me do things" Jarod paused for a few seconds "simulations that I was told were used to help others but actually hurt them. I figured out that they would never let me go and that I was hurting others. I then escaped the when I was twenty-four Centre, and I have been running from Sydney, Parker, Broots, Lyle and sweepers ever since, I pretended to be dead so that I could be with you and not have to worry about your safety. Since they created me to become a pretender, I can be anyone that I want to be. So that is basically my life in a nutshell, pathetic I know. I'm gonna go take a shower now." said Jarod as he walked out of the room without giving Zoey time to respond.
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"Ugh Debbie, I wanted to ask you a question, and I would like you to answer it with all honesty. Understand?" asked Broots as he opened the door to his house.
"Okay. Daddy, is something wrong?" asked Debbie as she followed her dad into the house.
"They finished my program that I am working on and they are allowing me to leave if I want too. What would you like to do?"
"Dad I would leave if you want to I would stay if you decide to stay. It is up to you. Can I go play now?" said Debbie as she dropped her backpack.
"Ya, that is fine. Okay." said Broots as he walked out of the house with Debbie.
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Miss Parker's Journal
September 1, 11:25
When I asked to leave I could not believe that they would give me everything that I wanted. But they did down to the last penny. Tomorrow I will work on packing up and I will move, and maybe to Oregon, possibly Maine. It is too late to decide now. Anyway, I got back to my office and Jarod's package was sitting there waiting to be opened. But for some odd reason I couldn't open it. I felt that if I opened that package I was killing the last part of him that remained alive. It is not weird is it? Last time someone close to me had given me something before they passed, my mother, it took me 10 years to open it. It took a little girl by the name of Debbie to help me open it. Not that I am saying I loved Jarod. I don't know maybe I do. But never mind, it is late, I'm gonna go to bed now.
Goodnight
MP
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Zoey sat on the couch in shock; Jarod just opened up to her and then left. She had so many questions for him. Why were they after him, what is in that silver case, and who on earth could do such a thing. I won't let him walk away from this. He should work with the government and shut down the Centre, so others won't have to go through the same thing that he did.
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Jarod had come out of his shower ten minutes later looking much calmer and much more civilized than he had been before.
"Jarod" Zoey said an extreme sound of concern in her voice, "you need to talk about this if we are ever going to work. Why were they chasing you? Who exactly are they? Why did they want you back so badly? Are you going to try and take down the Centre? I believe that you should and that you could do it if you set your mind to it. Please Jarod don't walk away this time."
"Okay Zoey, it is one weird story, and some of those questions, I don't know the answer too." said as he sat down on the couch next to Zoey. "But they were chasing me because there are these really strange scrolls on an island, Miss Parker and I both went to the island. I saw my mother get on a boat and leave the island, for there was a storm coming." Jarod paused, "Miss Parker kept seeing this little girl and would follow her. We found the scrolls. Then the Centre came, they took us on an airplane, then Mr. Parker opened the box and read them. He then jumped into the ocean, with the scrolls; he said that he would destroy them. I doubt that he actually did. The scrolls supposedly said that the Centre would rein and that I was the chosen one, whatever that means. Mr. Lyle and Mr. Reins were planning to jump, with myself and the scrolls and cause the Trivumberate's workers to die. When he jumped he told me to save the plane that they had caused to destroy some of the wiring so that they would die. I had Lyle in the back trying to fix the wires and he did, what I told him while I tried to keep us from crashing. Mr. Lyle and Miss Parker are twins. They thought that Mr. Parker was there father, but his brother, Mr. Reins is actually there father. You may remember Mr. Lyle; he was the one who kidnapped you. Mr. Cox was the other kidnapper. There is Sydney, he raised me, he was like my father, a protector, friend, and he made me a pretender. There are all of the sweepers, Sam, Willie, among others. I don't know why they were chasing me. Why would they kidnap children, or create them? Why would I want to take them down when I just got my family back? When I have you?" Jarod paused again which made Zoey believe that even he did not know the answer to these questions. "I" Jarod stopped for a second which made Zoey think that he was going to say something else but decided not to. "Thank you for letting me stay with you."
"Jarod, no thanks are necessary." Zoey wondered if Jarod was going to ask her to marry him, because his hand immediately went down into his pocket. "Thank you for telling me this. What do we want for dinner?"
"Zoey," Jarod said as he got on his knee "Will you marry me?"
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"Jarod. Wow, it is beautiful." said Zoey as she looked down at the ring. "I don't know. Just kidding" she said as she saw the look of horror on Jarod's face. "I will. Who is going to be there?"
"At least a Pastor, and our families, Sydney, and I don't know everyone." Jarod said he remembered the first time that they meet. "I am so excited."
"Me too." Zoey said, and she imagined all of the good times that they had had. How Jarod had helped her through of her chemo therapy. How he had pretended to be her husband.
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