Six months earlier
It took Rey a long time to fall back asleep. She laid for hours after dinner, tucked under the blanket in the black-and-white room, tossing and turning while the day's events unfolded and refolded and played and reworked their way on the stage of her mind. She closed her eyes for some time, but all she could see was a barrage of images: Kelly's upside-down face, the levitating tray of coffee, the tattoo under Chuy's eye, the wineglass that hurtled through space, the cartoonish and creepy image of Ben Solo on the front of the magazine. She imagined a human-bulldozer hybrid creature, carving and crunching its way through the earth, gobbling up ancient ruins and magical jinn, with their blood running down his chin like oil.
Mercifully, sleep finally came to her sometime after the twelfth painful run-through of the brunch ordeal and kept her in its grip for many hours. When she finally unraveled herself from her blanket cocoon, the tiny clock on the nightstand read 11:38. She had to peer through the blinds to make sure that it was AM, not PM, and was greeted by a bright morning sun.
She had left her clothes – all of them – crumpled on the floor after she took a shower before bed. They were now sitting in a small laundry basket, neatly folded. Rey realized someone must have come in while she had slept, which made her feel only a little violated.
"Now maybe more violated," she murmured to herself as she pulled her underwear out and noticed her panties had been ironed. "Who does that?"
She hastily pulled on her underwear, trousers that smelled no longer like a restaurant, and tank. She figured she should go shopping for something other than the finest server's attire, but also figured it was a waste of time and money. She wasn't even sure that she had a home to go back to, so why bother? She needed to focus on the more immediate concern of into what cult she may have just been recruited.
Rey pressed her ear to the door before she opened it, straining to hear anything, but there was nothing. She crept down the hallway, down the stairs, and into the kitchen. There was no sumptuous feast waiting, just a plate of leftover cookies from the night before and a bowl of fresh fruit. She grabbed a strangely oversized purple plum and saw there were a couple clean mugs sitting by the coffee pot, so she helped herself to the dregs of what remained in the carafe.
She felt like an awkward intruder even though no one seemed to be around, so she let herself out on the patio where a big umbrella and a half-dozen lounge chairs were perched on the deck.
"Wow!" She couldn't help but marvel. In the middle of suburbia was a veritable wonder of the world right in this back yard. The lawn, lush and green and meticulously trimmed, was broken up by curving rock paths and clusters of plants, bushes, and trees. There were even raised beds, enclosed by low wooden fences, full of ripe and healthy bearing plants. A huge cherry blossom tree towered over a trellis arch where a white wrought-iron loveseat sat. It was a beautiful little paradise in the midst of the concrete jungle.
"Great, isn't it?" a voice asked.
Rey gasped and nearly dropped her mug when she saw a figure, that she hadn't noticed leaning over a rosebush near her, rise and stand tall.
"It's a work of art, really," he continued, tucking a pair of shears in his back pocket and wiping his hands on the front of his jeans. He tossed a handful of sunburnt clippings into a small green waste bin. He grinned a wide grin, flashing his perfectly straight and white teeth, a bright contrast against his dark, rich skin. Rey was intimidated by his musculature and size, but his face was kind and gentle. Her guard relaxed.
"Are-are you the gardener?" was the only thing she could stammer. She hoped he couldn't see her blushing.
"The gardener?" he practically hooted. "Well, I guess you can say that since I'm the only one that really cares about the yard. Maz is lucky to have such fresh produce in our backyard!"
Our backyard. Rey's eyes cast downward as she stupidly realized her mistake. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were part.. of the, uh.." She gestured around her, unable to really call it what it was.. whatever it is.
"HOTH? Yeah, I am." He smiled again, extending a hand. "I'm Finn." His hand was big, strong, warm. Rey's proffered hand felt small in his grip.
"I'm, uh, I didn't see you last night," she commented, lamely.
"That's a strange name," Finn remarked. "I thought it was Rey?"
Are all these people dad-jokers? "Yes, it is. I mean, it's Rey. And I guess it's strange, too."
"I was busy last night," Finn said. "But it's nice to finally meet you."
"Finally meet me? What on earth have they been telling you? I've just met them yesterday." Rey suddenly remembered she had her coffee in her hand, so she took a long and lingering sip to hide her red cheeks and sat down on the edge of a chair, the plum clutched tight in her other palm.
Finn took that as an invitation to converse, so he dropped down on the chair next to her. "Not a whole lot," he said, casually. "Little bit here and there."
"How could you hear much about me if you were gone last night?"
Finn's gaze was fixed, unblinking. "Well, HOTH has been watching you for a while, of course."
Rey huffed. "Of course." She put her mug on the little table near her and took a bite of her plum, which she immediately spat out, gasping and cursing.
"Who taught you to eat passionfruit that way?" Finn managed to say after he had stopped laughing hysterically.
Rey scowled and ptooed a piece of tough and thick skin out of her mouth. "A what?"
"Passionfruit! What did you think that was?"
"A plum," she muttered miserably.
Finn jumped up and crossed the yard to a corner where a wide horizontal trellis was heavy with waxy, green leaves and a wide breadth of vines that crawled up, over, and down it. He reached around between the leaves then plucked a couple of big fruits, round and purple. He sat down next to Rey and pulled out a knife from his pocket.
"Some people think the passionfruit plant is a pest. An invasive species. Like pike in lakes and dandelions in yards." He flicked open the blade and expertly carved through the hull of the fruit, bisecting it around its middle. "Once its roots establish, it's an almost uncontrollable explosion. I swear, these vines erupted almost overnight. Some people can't understand it and appreciate it. It's quite beautiful, with white and purple petals, and during the spring, it'll be the home of emerging butterflies." He carefully broke the fruit in half, handing one to Rey. "It's beautiful. And tasty."
Rey accepted the strange-looking fruit, cupping it in her hands. It reminded her of an egg, but instead of a yolk, there was a slimy, golden center dotted with tiny black seeds. Her skin was sticky with the juices that escaped. She lifted the unfamiliar fruit to her nose and tentatively sniffed.
"It won't bite, I promise," Finn said. He cupped his half of the fruit in his mouth and slurped the insides out. "Mm, mm! That's perfect!"
Rey followed his lead, sucking the pulp and seeds out in one enthusiastic slurp, and her mouth flooded with a delicious sensation – all tangy and tart and sweet and soft and crunchy all at once. It tasted vaguely like a mango married with a pineapple and a hint of something creamier – papaya, maybe? She had one of those once, long ago.
"That's incredible!" Rey exclaimed, wiping her sticky mouth with the back of her hand. "Why would someone not love that?"
"Because they don't want to see what's inside," Finn said. "All they see is something strange and intrusive, alien and unusual. If it's not a banana or an apple, some people don't want it. And they don't even know what greatness awaits inside!"
"Just like us," a voice chimed in.
Rey nearly jumped from her skin, not expecting to hear Luke standing right behind her. "Warn me next time, will you?"
"Sorry," Luke said, but he wasn't sorry with that smile on his face. "You need to be more aware of your surroundings, Rey. Can't be so easily startled all the time. You remind me of a skittish cat."
"What's wrong with being a little cautious?" Rey frowned. She didn't like being chastised, especially since she's had to glance behind her back ever since she was a child. She never felt safe, never felt secure, never felt much of anything but fear and anxiety since her parents died so many years ago.
"Perhaps this will be your first lesson," Luke mused, half to himself. "We can go over ways to help meditate your anxious feelings away before moving onto other things."
"Whoa, hold your horses," Rey said. "You've assumed that I'm all in in whatever this is. I still haven't made my decision if I'm joining this. You. HOTH. Whatever."
Luke's eyes widened. He wasn't expecting that. "Sure," he finally said. "Whatever you want to do." He shrugged, grabbed the other passionfruit lying on the table, and sauntered back inside the house.
Rey furrowed her brow at Finn. "What is that guy's deal?"
Finn opened his palms out as if saying "who the hell knows?" but instead just smiled again and said, "That's Luke for you."
"I'm beginning to wonder if this was a mistake," Rey muttered. "Maybe I should have gone back and begged forgiveness and for my job back. At least that was normal. That was something familiar."
Finn leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. "Rey, you can't do that."
"I can't, can I?" Her eyes darkened.
"No! That-that-that's not what I meant!" he stuttered. "What I mean is – Rey, they'll find you. They'll get you. You could die."
Rey grew cold, even with the hot sun beating down on her. "What do you mean?"
Finn sighed. "I'm not supposed to show you." He unsnapped his phone from its holster on his belt, tapped something quickly on the screen, then turned the phone to show Rey the video playing.
Dramatic, late-night-news-style music play over a black screen. A red logo that resembles a sun ringed with four points, each bursting into three more points, burned onto the background and pulses like a heartbeat with the beat of the music. "Emergency broadcast. It is the 2nd day of February. I'm your host, Dalraga."
"I've seen this logo before," Rey whispered. "Where have I seen this?"
"Just watch it," Finn said sadly.
The screen wipes to a middle-aged man, slightly balding and chubby, with wideset eyes that look almost all black, sitting at a desk with a microphone. The background looks rather professional, as if he was a real newscaster on a real news station. "News tonight from southern California, the same place that brought you hedonism, liberalism, and other social diseases." The screen wipes again, this time to a shaky video from the inside of a rather familiar restaurant.
"Oh, no," was all Rey could choke out.
"An attentive viewer brought this to my attention. Thank you to Patriot76 for live streaming this video."
The video, unstable and with crackling loud audio, still manages to show exactly what Rey was afraid of.
"We see here, in our midst, walking among our citizens, taking part in our society, acting like she is one of us, a filthy, real-life, in-the-flesh Jedi!"
The camera focuses on Kelly and the toddler, with the tray of drinks hovering above their heads, then nauseatingly pans across the room to Rey. It is undoubtedly, unquestionably, recognizably Rey. She is frozen in mid-step, lunged out like she's about to take flight, her arms poised elegantly before her with her hands spread wide and shaking. She is totally, utterly lost in the moment, focusing all of her energy on keeping the tray afloat. In the background of the video are the shocked faces and dropped jaws of the patrons.
"Holy shit." It's the voice not of the channel's host, but the person recording. "It's a fucking Jedi!"
There's a camera flash that momentarily whitens the video, then Rey on the video is startled out of her reverie. She is panting, heavily and anxiously. She scans the room frantically and runs out of frame. The video wipes back to the host, who is now ranting and raving about the invasive Jedi and their filthy ways and how the government must simply do something to keep these parasites out of the gene pool and away from their borders.
Rey couldn't continue listening to what the host said. She stared, shocked and unabsorbing, as the video continued to play. Finn had to finally, gently, unravel her fingers from his phone and turned it off.
"I'm sorry you had to see that," he said, after a long while.
"It's okay," she said, not feeling the tears that had streamed down her cheeks. "It's not your fault." She swallowed hard, trying to suffocate a sob that threatened to crawl up her throat. "I'm glad you showed it to me. It makes this decision easier."
"So you'll join?" Finn asked. "You'll join HOTH's cause?"
"Yes." Rey nodded. "I will join this resistance."