CHAPTER 15

A BRIEF INTERLUDE PART ONE :JAROD


October 23, 1969

11:23pm

Blue Cove, Delaware

The Centre

Jarod woke up in a cold sweet. He walked over to the metal sink in his small room - cell -

and splashed cold water on his face. He then turned off the faucet and sat back down on his bed -cot - placing his shaking hands on his knees wishing them to still. It was the seventh night in a row he had woken up from the nightmare. It was always the same.


A team of five men creep silently into the house of the sleeping, unsuspecting family. They walk past the boys room and two stay to guard the door. The other three walk further down the hall and slowly open the door. They sleeping forms of a man and woman are seen. The light from the hallway filters into the room falling on the face of the woman. She begins to stir. Her eyes open and she gasps her husband senses something is wrong and wakes up. The look of horror crosses their faces. They know what is about to happen. The three men fire emptying their clips into the couple before they can make a sound. One of the men fires his whole clip into the face of the man. The other two take care of the woman. A scream is heard. It's the boy calling out for his parents.

The five men quickly leave. The boy was to stay. Had the boy came out into the hallway a rag of chloroform was waiting for him. The five men return to the dark car that they had arrived in. The leader of the team pulls off his mask.


It was always at that point that Jarod woke up. He would find himself holding back a scream. The leader was him.

He didn't want to do the sim. He would have told Sydney but he was away at a lecture. Jarod had been left in Raines care. Raines had demanded Jarod preform a sim on a group of men making their way onto a house and killing all but the couples child. Jarod thought that he was just solving a murder. He should have known better.

When Sammy had told Jarod about his parents murder Jarod knew instantly that they had been murdered using on of Jarod's Sims. Each night since then he had simulated the murder. Each night he felt the coldness of the masked men. And each night he would wake up hating himself.

Jarod wanted to approach Sydney on the subject but he was afraid. Sydney had cared deeply for the Grey family and their orphan son. He was also afraid if what Sammy and Miss Parker would think. He had murdered Sammy's parents. Granted he hadn't pulled the trigger but it had been his idea. His simulation.

Jarod laid back down on his cot and for the first time began to wonder if the Centre was a truly good place. But if it wasn't why did his parents send him here?

As Jarod drifted off to an uneasy sleep another memory entered his head. It was of Jacob and Raines. Jarod had been walking to the sim lab when he heard him. Jarod couldn't hear everything but he had heard Jacob say the words 'Jarod' 'simulation' and 'murder'. Raines then pulled out a gun pressing it to Jacob's neck.

Did Jacob know the truth? Did Raines some how plot the murder of Allen and Elizabeth Grey? If so then was it because they thought Sammy was special too. And then their was the even bigger question. Did Raines plot Jacob's death? Was it possible that Jacob knew the truth and threatened to expose Raines? Worried did Raines decide that Jacob was more trouble than he was worth?

Jarod then drifted off to sleep. Maybe tomorrow he would talk to Sydney.


October 24, 1969

10:13am

Blue Cove, Delaware

The Centre

Sydney was worried about Jarod. For the past week his work had been increasingly worse. Jarod was obviously distracted. Sydney wondered if Miss Parker had caught the boy's fancy. Jarod was certainly at the age where he would develop and interest in the opposite sex. After all that was why the sim had been preformed.

But no, Sydney thought it was something else. And for the first time Sydney noticed the brown circles under Jarod's eyes.

"Jarod, are you ill?" Sydney asked crouching down to the boy's height. Jarod stared up at the man he viewed as a father.

"Sydney I... is the Centre a good place?" Jarod asked

"Oh course it is Jarod you know that."

"Sydney I need to speak to you in privet," Jarod whispered.

"Jarod we are in privet." Sydney answered. Jarod nodded towards the camera.

"Please Sydney it's about Jacob," Jarod begged he hoped that by mentioning Jacob Sydney would deactivate the camera. Jarod was not disappointed. Sydney walked over to the camera and unplugged it.

"What do you know about Jacob, Jarod?"

"Before he died Dr. Raines pressed a gun against his neck. I think that Jacob was talking to Dr. Raines about a sim I did when you were away at a lecture. The simulation dealt with a murder. I think that Dr. Raines had me orchestrate the murder of Mr. And Mrs. Grey, Sammy's parents." Jarod said quietly looking down at the table

"Jarod I think that Dr. Raines had you simulate the Grey's murder as an attempt to capture the killer." Sydney said, yet deep down he knew he was wrong. But Sydney could not bring him self to believe that the Centre would have killed Allen and Elizabeth. Sometimes it was better to turn a blind eye to such thoughts. It was becoming the only way to survive life at the Centre. Jacob had questioned Centre authority and now he laid comatose in a hospital bed.

Jarod wanted to believe Sydney so he did. After all Sammy didn't give Jarod an exact date when his parents were murdered. Maybe Dr. Raines did just want to find out who murdered Sammy's parents. After all according to Sammy both of his parents had held rather important positions at the Centre. Why wouldn't the Centre want to discover how two of their top employees had died?

Both Sydney and Jarod would blame themselves in the future for such thoughts. They would come to hate themselves for turning a blind eye to the on goings of the Centre. But both wanted to believe deep down that the Centre truly was a good place. That the Centre would never intentionally harm a living being. After all the Centre was a place that was dedicated to helping mankind. It said so in their mission statement. The Centre had created vaccinations to cure diseases. Developed ways for agriculture to be grown in areas where normally nothing would grow. So why would one even bother with the silly idea that the Centre would willing orchestrate a murder?

Why indeed?


So folks what did ya think. Hated it? Liked it? Either way let me know. And if there is something you would like to see feel free to request.

Up next Sammy meets one of Raines projects by the name of Bobby, but things don't go all to well.