CANNOT BE SEEN
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Chapter 13
"Peace if possible, Truth at all costs." Martin Luther King, Jr.
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The night was dark and windy. The moon that hung against the black backdrop was a shimmery white crescent. The sky was dotted with glittering shards of diamond stars and they were vast in number, dusted across every inch of the heavens. The lanterns shuddered and swung in the wind, the trees swayed with the rhythm of the night, and the air was unimaginably cold and crisp. To stand on the edge of the woods would reveal the shrouded village to be a secluded paradise of tranquility. But, truly, deep under the surface, it was anything but.
Lucius Hunt stood, still, before the open black box in the front room of his house and simply stared at what it held, his hands placed firmly on the table on either side of the box. If he had no conscious he might have been tearing through its contents by now, but this was a box of his mother's past and he wanted anything but to disrupt her privacy. However, he needed to do this, he told himself. She wasn't going to reveal her secrets and neither was anyone else in the village. And besides, he deserved to know…after being lied to for so long…they all deserved to know, and the first step to knowing was investigating. Whatever was in this box was going to be the evidence they needed to force the elders' hands into telling them their secrets, Lucius believed this with all of his heart. And it was that promise that fueled him to drop a shaking hand into the box and pull out a newspaper clipping from the top of the pile.
He sighed and nodded to himself, as if affirming that this was what he needed to do, and brought it closer to his face so he could make out the slightly faded words. He read. The headline stated in bold, black, intimidating letters: Man, robbed and killed, found in river.
The hands that held the clipping started to shake more violently but Lucius went on reading anyway. He read the story carefully, feeling like he wasn't reading about his father at all, but some poor unfortunate stranger. The last sentence made him close his eyes tightly with emotion: He left behind a loving wife and infant son.
That was him they were talking about. He let out a shuddery breath and looked at the picture at the top of the page, it was a riverbed. Lucius assumed it was where his father was found…dead. He quickly discarded the clipping to the far side of the table and put his hand into the box to pull something else out.
It was a picture. He tilted it toward the flickering flames of the fire to see the faces better and was oddly surprised by what he saw. A large group stood in the picture, all of the elders. He could see his very young self cradled in his mother's arms and it brought a sad smile to his face. He searched the rest of the picture, noticing how very young all the elders looked in the picture. It must have been taken some time ago, obviously, but it shocked him that this picture of the elders was in his mother's box of her past. He supposed the elders must have known each other when they lived in the towns. There was something off about the picture he thought, but he ignored that feeling as he set it aside and looked for something else inside the box.
He found a hand quilted, much worn blanket in the box, and he turned it over to find a small tag stating that it was made by someone who's name Lucius had never heard of. He set that aside and when his fingers touched some other soft material he pulled out the article. It was a well-loved jacket. It looked very much like a man's jacket, thought he had never seen anything like it, and he wondered briefly if it was his father's. That thought caused a jolt to course through him, so he set the jacket to the side as well.
Next, he uncovered a stack of letters tied with a pink ribbon. He took off the ribbon and looked through them briefly. From his father to his mother. They must have been love letters or something of the sort, and the thought of reading them made his stomach knot, so he organized them in the right way and put them on the table next to him.
Lucius looked over the edge of the box and saw a pile of photos, so he took those out too. He rifled through them, the back of his mind telling him he was going through his mother's private things. They were pictures of his mother and father. He hadn't ever really seen a picture of his father, and who knows how long he stood staring at the ones in his hand. The last picture was one of his father holding him in his arms and talking to him, his eyes on only the baby in his grasp.
Lucius's eyes became overbright and the light of the fireplace reflected in them such that, if anyone were to look, the emotion in the depths of his eyes would have been indistinguishable. It took all his strength to set that picture aside as he looked for something more incriminating in the box. And he found it.
He had pulled out a folded, crisp, very formal looking letter. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he unfolded it and read it. It was addressed, cordially, to Mrs. Alice Hunt, and signed by Professor Edward Walker. Lucius's head tilted unconsciously with puzzlement as he read on.
When he got to the heart of the letter, his breathing stopped, he was sure of it.
His hands shook imperceptibly and his heart, though feeling as if had stopped, was pounding against the walls of his chest.
In the letter, Edward proposed a plan to the subjects. Lucius read it over several times, quickly, to make sure he had understood it correctly. First, it talked about how horrible the world was at its present time, then it went on to say how much better and easier life was…in the 1800's. Lucius blinked at this but read on. It then stated, persuasively, a plan that would solve the problems of late. It involved the Walker's money, some sort of secluded establishment, and a 'utopian' society. It talked, in detail, about all the things that would help them to make the change, and how great this would be for them. Lucius's mind registered, quickly, what was meant by everything in the letter. But it took him a moment to process what it really meant to him. It was when his eyes traveled to the date at the top of the page when everything in his jumbled mind clicked into place like the gears of an efficient, well-oiled machine.
1982 was the date on the paper and it made his stomach drop to his feet. This wasn't some carelessly left book. This was a secret document that no one was supposed to see. And why it was important enough to be hidden was simple. It must be real. The date must be real. There was no other option it seemed. Lucius let the letter slip from his hand as he fumbled through the mess to pull out the newspaper clipping. The date on the top read late 1981. Lucius was numb. He couldn't feel anything but the feeling that some great cloud had been lifted from around him. Some kind of haze had disappeared and left nothing but the clear picture of what was going on. His eyes wandered to the picture of the elders. Something that he hadn't noticed before caught his eye. The way everyone was dressed. It was so…unusual. The clothes were brightly colored and patterned. They just were not…normal.
Lucius shook his head with a deep sigh and set down the clipping he still held. His mind swimming. It was when he looked back through the contents to see if he missed anything, that he saw, on the tag of the quilt, a date of 1963. He had completely ignored the dates when he had been going through the things before, but now he couldn't take his eyes off of them, as if they might change to something reasonable.
With the split second thought that his mother could come back at any second, Lucius quickly started to stuff the contents back into the box, careful to make it look exactly as he found it. He kept, out of the box, the letter from Edward, the picture of the elders, the newspaper clipping, and as a last thought, he took the picture of himself in his father's arms and shoved it into the pocket of his coat. He made sure to arrange the box just as he had found it and then, with a quick look back, he turned and took off, as fast as he could, to the Walkers' house.
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It was only a couple moments later when Lucius arrived at the door of the Walkers' house. He took deep breaths, drawing in air to quell his burning lungs, before rapping on the door firmly.
It wasn't until the door opened a couple minutes later that Lucius became aware of how late it must be. But, still he pressed on, faced with Mr. Walker's inquiring face. For a moment Lucius felt a surge of pain for his mother as he looked at Edward, but it was sedated by the thought of what he held in his coat pockets.
"Lucius?" Mr. Walker finally prompted, slightly puzzled to see the young man so late.
"Hello, Mr. Walker…" He took a deep breath, trying to calm his rapid heartbeat and the tremor in his voice. "Might I speak with Ivy, Please?"
Mr. Walker raised his eyebrows. "She has just fallen asleep, Lucius…Could this not wait until tomorrow?"
It was only then that Lucius felt immediately sorry for disturbing Mr. Walker, but he really wanted to speak to Ivy now. He, however, did not want to wake her up for something they could not even act upon until the next day.
"Yes, Mr. Walker. It can wait…I am sorry for disturbing you so late." Lucius took a couple steps back nodding to Edward.
"It is not a problem, Lucius. When Ivy wakes up I will tell her that you need to speak with her." Mr. Walker smiled kindly as he said this.
"Thank you. Good Night." Lucius started off towards his house after Mr. Walker shut the door.
He was nearly home when he crossed paths with his mother, who was also on her way home. The thought of the articles in his coat pocket made his heart leap into his throat. He felt like his mother could see right through him and know what he was about to do.
"Where were you, Lucius?" Alice asked, looking much cheerier then she had last time they had spoke.
"…The Walkers'. I wanted to talk to Ivy, but she is sleeping."
She smiled and nodded, ushering her son into the house before following him. "Well, you can see her tomorrow."
Lucius nodded in reply and resisted the temptation to look at the black box, He felt like it glowed with the secret that he had touched it, that he had opened it.
"Good night, Mother." And Lucius quickly retired to his room before his mother realized she had left the box out.
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"He is still sleeping, Ivy, but I will send him over as soon as we wakes."
Lucius heard this through the cloudiness of unconsciousness and, after a second's hesitation, sat straight up. It took him a moment to process his state of awareness and then he quickly got out of bed and dressed, only running a hand through his unkempt hair as he stumbled in his haste through his door and to the front door where his mother talked casually to Ivy.
His entrance drew the attention of his mother and she looked over to his as he walked in, straightening his jacket.
"Oh, Good Morning, Lucius."
"Good Morning." He echoed.
"Ivy is here to see you." She smiled and gestured to the open front door where Ivy stood.
"Good Morning, Lucius." Ivy stated brightly, smiling at the direction of his voice.
Before he could say a word, Alice moved away from the door, "Well, I had best be getting back to my knitting," And left them alone.
"Is she gone?" Ivy whispered after a short pause.
Lucius looked over his shoulder and then nodded, instantly berating himself, knowing that she couldn't see him.
"Yes." He verbalized.
She smiled and took a step closer, leaning up to kiss him gently.
"My father said you came by last night." Ivy ventured after she pulled away.
"I did." He answered and then whispered his next words. "Ivy, there is something I must tell you…Come, let us go to the resting rock."
She looked very confused, but she nodded anyway. Lucius patted his jacket pocket to make sure he had what he needed then he put his hand on Ivy's back and guided her out of the house. As he looked back to close the door, he couldn't help but notice that the box was back in its original place. And his mother hadn't said anything about it. She must not have noticed.
They did not speak as Lucius led Ivy to the resting rock. It was only when they took a seat together that Ivy asked what was going on.
Lucius told her the story, starting with him taking the wood back to his home after stopping at Mr. Nicholson's house. He went on about finding the box open and deciding to look through it, and then actually looking through it. She sat, engrossed in his story, speaking only when his words ran out and he sat, waiting for her reaction.
"Lucius…what, exactly, was in it?" She asked, surprised that Lucius would go through his mother's things. It had been a good idea, though. She would have done it if faced with the same situation.
He pulled the things from his pocket slowly, careful not to damage anything. He took the Newspaper clipping, ready to tell her about it, but when he opened his mouth, he started to talk about the picture of the elders instead that he held in his other hand.
"It is a picture of the elders together, but they stand in front of some building, and they wear…odd clothes. They look very young as well." He explained, not exactly sure how to describe the strangeness of it all.
Ivy looked at Lucius's color, tilting her head inquisitively. "What is so strange about that?"
"Out of context…nothing really." He answered, shuffling through the items. "But, if you read this letter from your father to my mother…"
Ivy raised her eyebrows. "A letter? What does it say?"
Lucius read it to her slowly and then, after a short pause for her to take it in, he told her the date at the top of the page.
She was silent for several moments. "That has to be some sort of…jest or something. Right?"
"Well, that is what I thought at first…but then I also found this section of a newspaper and it also has an odd date on it…"
"What does the newspaper say?"
It took a few minutes for Lucius to reply. "It is the news of my father's murder." His voice was soft.
Ivy was shocked. Lucius had never talked about his father…no had talked about his father. He just…didn't have one. And it was understood throughout the village.
"I…" Ivy stopped, not knowing what to say. Lucius understood, he didn't know what to say either. So he avoided it.
"It has an odd date on it as well. So it stands to reason that…one of the dates…1897 or sometime in the late 1900's maybe even early 2000's, one of them must be wrong." Lucius didn't know exactly when the village had been established so it couldn't be said how far after the letter's date it was now.
Ivy shook her head. "That is impossible, Lucius. It is 1897."
"How do we know?" He countered.
"It is just something that you know."
"But who told us what date it was?" He asked.
"…The elders…" She answered after a second to think.
"Exactly. And are they not keeping secrets from us?"
"Well, yes."
"Then, how do we know they are telling us the truth about this?" He questioned thoughtfully.
"We do not." She sighed, still not believing it.
"And if these things…with the different dates on them were hidden…locked up...then it must be for some reason, right?"
"Do you truly believe that the elders…our parents…have told us that it is 1897…when in reality it is the year…2000?" Ivy's tone was skeptical and Lucius couldn't believe it on the surface, but deep in his heart…he felt that there was a secret that held this village together, and this could be the start of it.
"I think that the evidence…is pointing to it being a different date…If this were some…joke…then they would not hide it from us."
"Lucius…why would they tell us it was a different date? What would be the point?" She asked emphatically, trying to understand what was going on.
"I do not know, Ivy." He whispered.
She exhaled deeply. "This is all so confusing, Lucius." She leaned into him and pressed her face into his shoulder. "I just want to get married." She mumbled. "I want everything to be normal, like it used to…"
Lucius nodded. He wanted that too. But, he had to know what the elders were hiding…he had to.
"Ivy, what if we went to the elders' meeting tonight…and brought the letter and the newspaper and used it as evidence…told them that we know something is going on…and that they need to tell us. I think this is the evidence we need. We can...tell them that we need to know…and that we know they are hiding from us."
Ivy nodded. In truth, she was burning to know. But, also, she wanted things to be the same. She didn't know if she could have it both ways, but the truth was important. It was very, very important. They deserved the truth.
"Yes, Lucius. Let us go to the meeting house during the meeting and…force them to tell us. We need to know the truth."
Lucius agreed. An anxious bubble started to form in his chest. They were finally, after all the trouble they had weathered, going to know the truth. He could feel it even now.
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TBC
Until next time…
