Chapter Three

Breathe

Cynthia messed with the cuff of her black shirt, fighting with the button that refused to stay in place. All considering, she was in a good mood. She had found a replacement for their temporary exhibit that was about to return to its owner, and it had all been done before her first tour group of the morning.

"Hey, you need help with that?"
The redheaded desk attendant caught her attention. Grimacing in defeat, she walked over to her. "Yeah, probably."

She stood up, reaching for Cynthia's hand.

"How's your morning been, Skyla?" She asked, watching her mess with the button.

She forced a quick laugh. "Been better, Cynthia," she answered.

"Getting close to midterms?" She guessed, taking her hand back once she was done. Being one of her personal hires, she tended to take more interest in how she was doing more so than some of the other employees. She was only a part-time employee, finishing up her aviation degree at the local university, so it was only around the weekends that she actually saw her.

Skyla shook her head, sitting back down. "No, not yet. Just dumb personal stuff continuing from last week," she answered.

She hummed in response, leaning against the desk. "Did you follow any of my advice?"

Her sheepish look told her all she needed to know. "No," she said, dragging it out.

Cynthia laughed lightly, pushing off the desk. "I'm telling you, you just have to go for it. She's your best friend. You having romantic feelings for her isn't likely to change that."

She gave a noncommittal shrug. "It's just…yeah, she's my best friend, but she's on her way to being a model, and I'm just…I'm just me."

It almost made her laugh. Maybe her attachment to Skyla came from how much she saw herself in her. "Trust me. Been there, except for being a model, my friend was on her way to being a movie star. I sat on my feelings for too long, and my confession was messy." She hadn't thought about it in years but the memory was still clear as day.

"I wanna hear about that one day," Skyla responded with a grin.

"Make some progress with Elesa and I'll consider it." Digging up those old memories more than she already had might not be fun, but if it got Skyla to stop being so mopey in the morning, maybe it would be worth it. Besides, she had faith that her friend felt the same. Just from the day Elesa came to visit her she could see that there was something between them. The only problem was that they were both dancing around their feelings, likely worried for the exact same reasons.

Skyla shrugged, looking over to the entrance as the doors opened. Some school busses had pulled up just as the man and woman walked in.

"Good morning!" Skyla greeted, putting on a smile.

The man returned the greeting, looking between Skyla and Cynthia. "I'm Damion Maddow, and this is Samira Ravenna my student teacher. We're apart of the Riverbend Elementary group that's touring today."
"Of course! I'll get you checked in, and Cynthia here is one of our curators, and will actually be your guide today!" Skyla introduced.

Cynthia nodded, stepping forward with an extended hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you both," she said, shaking Damion's hand. She turned to Samira to do the same. Her bright smile and rich brown eyes momentarily captivated her.

Once done speaking with them, and giving them the appropriate amount of arm bands to distribute, she turned back to Skyla. Now she was grinning at her. "What?"

Skyla raised her eyebrows. "She was so checking you out."

Cynthia rolled her eyes. "Oh, please."

"She so was. Trust me. When you were talking to him, she would give you a look over, and man. Trust me," she said with a laugh.

"She's probably your age, so that's a definite no from me," she said, watching as she then rolled her eyes.

"You're no fun, Cynthia," she whined.

"I'm a tour guide with a job to get to," she responded, turning back towards the entrance as the students began to file into the building. The day had begun, and she was looking forward to it.

Elementary schools were among her favorite tour groups. Unlike high schoolers, or even middle schoolers, they were generally eager to explore and learn. They would ask the most off the wall, yet inspired, questions. There was a genuine passion behind their every word.

Sure, a good number of the questions she would be asked didn't pertain to what they were talking about, but there was something charming in that. Besides, she didn't want to be someone who trampled over their curiosities just because it wasn't related. It wouldn't make them want to learn.

While in the geology wing, a young boy who barely stood height with her hip wandered up to her, asking, "What would happen if everyone on the planet jumped at the same time?" His tone was very serious.

She fought the temptation to laugh. It was close enough to geology, anyways, so she might as well entertain it. "That is a very interesting question." She glanced up at Samira, who was looking as amused as she felt. Her focus remained on Cynthia, as is waiting for an answer. "Everyone on our planet is spread out enough that nothing would really happen, because all the jumps would just cancel each other out." She started to second-guess herself. Had that been simple enough?

"Hmmm," the young boy responded, rubbing his chin very dramatically. "But what if we all got in one spot?" He continued, much to her relief.

"That might make a difference, but it would probably be very, very small."

"Darn," was all he responded with before turning back to one of the displays. To that, she allowed a quick giggle. Why it ended up being such a disappointment to him, she would never know. At the very least, she was thrilled she actually had an answer for him.

"Sorry about that," Samira said, approaching Cynthia once more.

She waved it off. "I was actually asked that not too long ago, and so I'm just glad I had an answer."

She was about to say something else when a wave caught both their attention.

For the past minute or so, one of the other guides had been trying to grab Cynthia's attention. Now that they were at a spot where they kids could be turned loose, it was as good of a time as any to speak with him.

"Excuse me just one minute," she said before dashing off.

David gave her an apologetic look. "I'm so sorry to interrupt, but Steven says he needs to see you right now," he told her.

"Even though I'm in the middle of a tour?" She asked, trying to imply that this had to be more important. Though, Steven wasn't known to ask for her to abandon her tour groups. Her curiosity was going to get the better of her eventually.

He shook his head. "He said it's an emergency. Something about a phone call? I'll take over your group, don't worry."

Her heart dropped, and her mind jumped to about fifty different conclusions. The only person who would call her for an emergency would be her sister. She wasn't sure what she would do if anything had happened to Avery.

With a quick apology, she introduced him to the teachers, then headed off towards Steven's office. The look he gave her when she walked in only increased her worry.

"Cynthia," he began, standing up from his desk. "I'm sorry to pull you from your group, but there's a call for you and it sounds serious." He motioned towards the phone before walking out of the office to give her some privacy. "It's on hold."

She took a quick breath before picking up the phone and taking it off hold. "Hello?"

"Miss Cynthia Jenness?" The gruff male voice took her by surprise.

"Yes, this is her." She felt her voice crack. Fifty new conclusions.

"This is Officer Bayer with the Easton Police. I hate to call you at this time, but your sister, Kay Beecher, has been admitted into the Easton Hospital."

She felt her knees wanting to give out under her. "Is she okay?" Was all she could think to ask.

"She was admitted for appendicitis, and is in emergency surgery. She will likely be in the hospital for a day or so for recovery, and we need to see if you will be able to care for her child who is at school right now."

Her hands were shaking at that point. "Yes, yes! I will— I will leave work immediately. It will take me about an hour to get to Easton…"

He asked a few more questions and gave some vague instructions, but with her mind racing a mile a minute, she could hardly concentrate on any of it.

Slamming the phone down, she tried to figure out what she needed to do first.

"Cynthia—"

"Steven! I have to leave! I'm sorry! I—" she raked her fingers through her hair.

He had barely stepped foot back into his office when she tried to storm out. "Hey, wait!" He knew the frantic tone of her voice. He hated grabbing her arm, but he couldn't in clear conscience let her storm off without at least knowing what was wrong.

"Kay's in the hospital I have to go, now."

The storm in her eyes made him recoil a bit, but he kept a steady grip on her arm. "Cynthia, listen to me, breathe. You can leave, but I need you to breathe first. I don't want you getting yourself in a car wreck on the way to Easton."

As much as she wanted to just rip out of his grasp, she understood the sentiment. Getting there maybe a minute sooner likely wouldn't change anything. After a few deep breaths, she looked him in the eyes again. "Okay, I'm good. Thank you, but I need to leave."

He let go of her. "Be safe, and let me know if you need anything."

With a nod, she was out the door.


Diantha walked around the classroom at a leisurely pace, looking up from her book as she posed a question to her class. "So, what do we know about Mr. Gulliver at this point? Is he really all that grand?" She posed.

After a few seconds of silence, Avery's hand shot into the air, much to Diantha's inner amusement. Any question she asked, she was always ready to give an answer. It was a saving grace, but at the same time, she was worried her class was growing too dependent on her answering everything.

Giving her class a few seconds, she instead called on Lina.
"Oh, uh…Vick really seems to like him, I guess?" She answered, unsure.

She smiled at her. "Good observation! Is there anything we can infer from this?"

Avery's hand went right back in the air, and the look in her eye told Diantha she couldn't pass up whatever answer she had. "Avery?"

"He's not a reliable narrator!" She said, more excited than normal.

"Excellent! But elaborate a little further, please." She was thrilled beyond belief. Normally she had to bring that to her classes' attention.

She started to gesture with her hands. "He's like…He sounds so—" what was the word her aunt had used? "Enamored! With what he thinks Gulliver is! He doesn't want to really see him as anything other than a cool rich dude."

She bit her tongue to keep herself from laughing at her choice of wording. "How did you come to that conclusion?"

She shrugged. "The way Vick describes him sounds so fake."

"You know? That's what I was thinking!" The girl next to her added. "Just —he can't be that cool."

A murmur of agreement passed over the class, bringing a small sense of satisfaction to her. So far everything was going very smoothly.

The rest of the class passed in similar fashion, making her hopeful that her other classes would be catching on as well. With the approaching end of the block, she returned to her desk to grab the set of worksheets for the next few chapters.

As she neared the other side of the room, she happened to glance out the window into the visitor parking lot. The person walking towards the building caught her attention. Their long blonde hair, pulled back in what distantly looked like a ponytail, stood out to her.

However, being on the second floor, the complete details of the person were lost to her. Maybe they were tall, maybe not.

"Mrs. Gardner…?"

She jumped at her name, turning towards the row of desks. Handing the small stack of papers to Ian, she laughed lightly at herself. "Sorry about that. I thought I saw someone I knew. Anyways," she began, moving to the next row of desks. "This is a worksheet to go along with the next two chapters. Have that done by class tomorrow."


Cynthia sat in her car for a few seconds, looking up at the high school in front of her. She had hardly stopped shaking since she left the museum, but didn't want to go into the school looking like a mess. With one last deep breath, forcing herself to be as calm as possible, she got out of the car and made her way into the school.

Looking around the hallway, the school's main office seemed to be on the right. If all else failed, she'd just play dumb until she got directions on where to go.

"Hi! How can I help you?" The young girl, maybe a senior, said, standing up from her chair.

"I'm here to sign out Avery Beecher," she said, approaching the counter.

She nodded. "Your name?"

"Cynthia Jenness. I'm her aunt." Was that necessary? She wasn't too sure.

The girl ducked away into one of the side offices. "Miss Amy, we need to sign out Avery Beecher. Her aunt is here to get her."

The distinct sound of a rolling chair on linoleum followed her exit of the room. The girl returned behind the counter, sitting in front of the computer.

A tall woman strolled out of the room, greeting Cynthia with a smile. "I'll need to see some ID."

Cynthia dug her wallet out of her back pocket, struggling to get the ID out of its sleeve. The woman barely glanced at it.

"This might take a minute or two. The bell's about to ring, and so the school's about to go to lunch. Rachel, pull up her schedule. Maybe we can catch her in whatever class she's in now."

"Alright," Cynthia answered, tapping her fingers on the counter.

Rachel hummed, grabbing for the office phone. "Looks like she's in Gardner's class right now." She said, just in time for the bell to ring. "I'll see if she can get her before she leaves."

She spoke with the teacher briefly, then looked to Cynthia with a smile as she put the phone away. "She'll be here shortly."

Amy looked to Cynthia once more, passing her a sign out sheet. "Just sign here, print please, and put the time."

Cynthia snatched the pen, hastily writing things down. By that point, she was too anxious to worry whether or not she was overtly showing it. She just wanted confirmation that her sister was going to be alright.

After a few minutes, "Aunt Cynthia?"

She turned to the door, relieved to see her niece. "Hey, Avery."

Confusion was clear across her face. "Why are you here?" That attracted the attention of the office workers.

She wanted to wait until they were in her car before she started explaining, but with the office workers now listening in, she might as well get it over with.

How such a promising day had gone to hell so quickly was beyond her…