Let's Play a Game - Chapter 10
Sitting there in a silent daze, I spent the last several minutes trying to wrap my head around what just happened. We stood there for what felt like hours, her sobbing and muttering apologies for…something, and me just standing there, awkwardly trying to console was a small moment where I was livid with her because I thought that she knew about what Emma's doing at school, but that died in a flash when she mentioned something about… Mom in her apology.
I'm again thankful for Gamer's Mind, since if I didn't have it, I'm sure I would have lashed out at her and left without another word. With all of her blubbering, I couldn't understand her. When she finally quieted down—after my clothes were absolutely soaked—I asked her what she was apologizing about.
She just slowly disengaged from our hug…the first one anyone besides Dad had given me in over a year…and looked at me in absolute bewilderment, as if I were the weirdo. Her face twitched between several different emotions like a roulette wheel as she thought. Finally when her face settled for—despite her spilt tears and running snot—a determined look, she asked me to come in.
So, here I am, currently in the Barneses' living room, waiting. Mrs. Barnes asked me to sit on the couch while she made some tea. Not much has changed since the last time I was here. The furniture is the same; the pictures on the wall are unchanged, everything is just so apparently… copacetic.
It's like I was here just yesterday…
I even remember the multiple times Emma and I would set up our pillow forts in here when we were only six years old. How we'd hog the TV until dawn for movie and board-game marathons. We would spend hours talking about which superhero we'd want to be like when we grew up. Well, actually, it was mostly me. I always did most of the talking in those kinds of conversations, but Emma always took it in stride with laughter and a big smile on her face.
When she started talking about which Disney Princess she'd want to be, I'd let her gush in the same way. I'd hit her with a pillow for choosing Aurora over Belle since she was wrong, but it was all in good fun. Nowadays, she tells me how no one wants anything to do with me and how I should just do everyone a favor and go die.
It's funny how people change.
If she had come to me a few months into the bullying, explained everything, and begged for me to forgive her, I'd probably have done it depending upon what had happened. However, after what she did to Mom's flute, I don't really see us ever going back to the way things were, and that's ignoring the if this isn't about forgiveness, I'll still want some closure out of it. Finding out what happened to change her like this will be enough for now.
I'll worry about justice and due punishment later.
Gathering some evidence that can't be denied and finding someone who'll actually do something about it will take a bit more effort than just a few uncomfortable talks and an Observe or two. My musing is interrupted by the clacking of a hot cup of tea being placed in front of me.
I look up into the sad, smiling face of one Zoe Barnes. She washed up, but I can still see the redness from her crying. She has a cup of her own in her hands. I nod at her and, muttering a quiet "Thank you," take a sip.
My eyes widen.
Oh. She remembered my favorite was a small gesture, but… I look at her. I'm still a bit hesitant about talking with her about Emma. Even if my depression is gone, I can admit I still have issues with trusting others. Fortunately, I have a bit of a cheat sheet.
Observe.
Your "Observe" skill has increased by 1!
Name: Zoe Barnes
Title: N/A
Profession: Professional Caterer
Faction: Civilian
Sex: Female
Class: Aristocrat
Level: 24 EXP: N/A
Age: 44 Race: Human
HP: 500/500 MP: N/A
STR: 11
VIT: 13
DEX: 15
INT: 21
WIS: 20
LUK: 24
Status: (Early Onset Arthritis)
Biography: Zoe Barnes, after her train wreck of an attempt to earn a bachelor's in journalism, decided to take a chance and spent her young adult years in the pursuit of her childhood dream: to become a chef. Through hard work both in culinary school and the workplace ladder, she became an executive chef at a premier restaurant in Brockton Bay at the young age of twenty-three.
In the Bay, she met the love of her life, Alan Barnes, who, after only a few months of dating, she married. As the years passed, Zoe gave birth to two daughters. The parents did their best to juggle both their family and their dream jobs, but eventually Zoe had to step down as a chef. She didn't stay idle however, and started her own catering business, an occupation that gave her the best of both worlds: cooking for other people and a flexible schedule for family.
For a long time, life was great. Her daughters were growing to be fine young women, and Alan was quickly climbing the firm's corporate ladder. Her youngest daughter connected with a girl at grade school, Taylor Hebert, and eventually, both the Barneses and Heberts were practically one big family by themselves. In those happy years, Annette Hebert, Taylor's mother, was her best friend, while Daniel Hebert was Alan's.
However, a string of tragedies eventually divided the two families. With Annette's death, Daniel's depression, Emma's traumatic event,—
My eyebrows rise a bit. What traumatic event?
…That's why she's been such a bitch? And she went to Sophia first and never told me about it!?
-and Taylor's absence: the two families have drifted apart. At first, when Daniel began neglecting himself and his daughter, Zoe was willing to adopt Taylor if he didn't snap out of his initial crash.
My eyes widen. She'd…she'd do that for me?
While thankfully, Daniel recovered, Zoe has always felt that Taylor was practically her third daughter, and the recent distance between the Barneses and Heberts has weighed heavily on her heart.
Emotions: Happiness. Regret. Sorrow. Love.
I choke a bit as I read that last one, feeling my throat tighten on me. Slowly, I mentally close the screen, and focus back on her. I see her smile become a bit less sad and a smidgen happier. I feel drops of liquid on my cheeks…and damn it, now I'm crying too.
I was told by Emma several times that her family no longer wanted anything to do with me, that my whole depressing and sad family was nothing but a blight and burden on them and that they'd have been better off never seeing me again.
Even though I knew at the time she had to be lying, day after day of hearing her say the same hurtful things took their toll. Our families used to spend weekends, birthdays, and holidays together to the point that Emma and I weren't just best friends. We were sisters, and our families were pretty much one. My Mom and Dad were an aunt and uncle to Emma, and vice versa.
Emma and I even did that hokey ritual where you make a tiny cut on your palm and shake hands, and bam, you're suddenly blood relatives. Thank god neither of us had blood borne diseases.
But because of all of what Emma did, I slowly just withdrew. Phone calls and invitations from the Barneses were both ignored. Emma didn't just push me away from her family. I actively helped her do it…
With Mom gone and Dad in his funk, it was only really up to me to keep that relationship alive…and I let it die. Between all the lies and growing depression, the idea of confronting the Barneses at their home was unthinkable.
Now that I have though, at least with Emma's mom, it's like Mrs. Barnes was waiting for me this entire time. As if I finally came home after being away for a long time. This place, despite how it reminds me of everything that Emma did to me, is still my second home.
Mrs. Barnes was actually happy to see me. She missed me. She even loves me. The realization of that means more to me then I ever thought it would. Because, in a way, I may have lost my sister, but Istill have my aunt. I never really noticed when she sat down beside me nor when she began to hold one of my hands.
Amidst all my thoughts, this time she was consoling me and she did a much better job than I did for her. I don't even know when the tissues appeared in my lap, but there they are. I'm not sobbing like she did, but it's not one or two tears either. It takes me a few minutes and several sips from my very delicious tea to compose myself. Finally I turn towards her.
"Thanks, Aunt Zoe…I needed that."
I see her tense up.
Crap. Quickly, I blurt and stammer out: "I can still call you that… can't I?"
As quickly as I spoke, she replies. "Of course you can, dear." She deflates a bit. "I just didn't think you wanted to anymore."
I reel my head back a little. "Why?"
She looks at me for a few seconds, sighs, and leans back into the couch, shaking her head. "Honey," She glances away from me. "Emma told me you didn't want to. She said you felt like I was trying to replace your mother; that you didn't want to see me anymore or have…really anything to do with me anymore." She winces a little as if in pain. "Emma was very…adamant about your feelings there."
…What?
She looks over at me and sees the look on my face. "But she lied to me about that, didn't she?"
I nod while sipping a bit more of my tea.
A hiss of air escapes through her teeth. "What am I going to do with that girl?" I see her face tighten. "If those words were from you, that's one thing, but she had to have known how much a comment like that would hurt me. So, why did she do it?"
If I were in any mood to, that comment might have made me laugh.
Zoe continues. "I thought about maybe driving over and talking to you and Danny about it, but Emma," she looks down "convinced me that it would be better for her to try and talk to you about it. The two of you were practically sisters…"
She looks back at me, and hesitates a bit at the confused expression on my face. I see her eyes tighten for a second before relaxing. "She never talked to me about it, and I got caught up in work. The next thing I know, it was months before I brought it up again; and by that time, she said you both had a falling out, that you weren't friends anymore. That it didn't matter, and if I got involved, it would make everything worse for the both of you. God, I knew something was wrong about the whole thing." She shakes her head, and sighs. "But at that point, I just didn't know what to do. No one answered the phone when I called and neither you nor Danny showed up for the holidays. I hoped…" She frowns. "…you both could fix it on your own, but I was wrong. I pushed her a bit on the subject now and then, but she refused to tell me anything more, and the way she clammed up about it…it reminded me of when…" She pauses with a pained expression.
And there's an opening. "When what?"
She stares at my befuddled face with one of her own. "The incident she had before high school…"
I give a small shrug, while drinking some more of my… I frown. Fantastic. I'm out.
Her eyes widen. "She…she never told you?"
I blink a bit. My lips straighten into a grim line. I hide my displeasure (at Emma, not at the lack of tea) to the best of my ability. "Told me what?"
She closes her eyes, and speaks quietly to herself. "Emma never told her…" She shakes her head. "What is wrong with…" She tapers off too quietly for me to hear anymore.
I stare over at her cup. Her full cup. I point over at it. "Do you mind if…"
She waves me off and shakes her head
Yes! As I sip from my new acquisition, she finally opens her eyes and looks back at me, and thinks for a moment. "Taylor, right before both of you started high school after you came back from was it summer camp?" I nod. She continues. "Do you remember when Emma stopped talking to you for a while?"
My expression hardens. "Yeah, that's about the time she met Sophia, right? Sophia Hess?"
She looks a bit curious, but nods all the same. "Yes, it is." She takes a deep breath. "Taylor sweetie, Emma went through something traumatic that summer. She was attacked by the ABB. They just…ripped her right out of Alan's car."
"Wait. What? They were attacked!?"
Zoe nods solemnly. "If it weren't for Shadow Stalker…I may have lost both of them…"
Shadow Stalker… "The new Ward?"
"She was a vigilante at the time, but yes."
"But wait? Emma almost died?"
Zoe simply nods.
The room is quiet while that revelation rolls around in my head. Before I can do anything else, a box interrupts me.
Completed: Talk to Zoe Barnes.
At the same time, the little icon above Zoe's head disappears. Huh…well, that's one down. I focus back on Mrs. Ba-Aunt Zoe. I can just leave. I got everything I came here for.
…but I owe it to her. My power hasn't led me wrong yet, and it says she loves me. I think I can talk to her about this. She isn't like the teachers from school. If anyone can punish Emma, at least a little, it'll be her own mother. Maybe something will actually come from this…
I take a deep breath, and another sip of….
I'm out of tea.
Again…
Great…
Whatever.
This is it. Once I do this, there's no going back. I can't tell her everything, not before Dad. I need to tell him the full version first, with all the gritty details that my journal documents. But, I can at least tell Aunt Zoe something about it.
I finally break the silence. "I… didn't know. She never told me. But, that's the strange thing, Aunt Zoe. Emma was the one to cut off our friendship. Not months into high school, but as soon as I got back from camp. Which apparently according to you, happened almost right after she was almost killed. Why would she do that?"
Zoe's face tightens a bit and she frowns, but there's no surprise.
"She said I wasn't fun anymore. That she had been waiting to end her friendship with me and would have done it before if…if Mom hadn't kicked the bucket."
I see her eyes widen just a bit.
"After that point, she hasn't been any sort of friend to me. She had already replaced me with Sophia. The reason I came here at all was… well, to see if you knew why? You've kind of helped me a little, but I still don't know why." I let out a sad laugh. "In fact, I kind of have more questions now." I shake my head a little. "But the big one is still unanswered. Why did Emma do that?" I chew on my lips a little. What's the best way I can put this… "Why does Emma… hate me now? Especially after something like that?"
I see her pause; her eyes dart here and there, before she looks back at me. "Taylor, what do you mean Emma….hates you?" She whispers the term like it's a curse.
"She's bullying me. Saying hurtful things and doing pranks. I'd rather not get into the details though…I haven't even told my Dad yet." I sigh. "I'd rather tell him the whole story before I told anyone else."
"Bullying…" She runs her hand through her hair. "God, that makes too much sense… I told Alan we should have…" She stops herself and focuses back on me. "Listen sweetie, I'll talk to her about it. See why she's doing this. Even if you aren't" She grimaces. "friends anymore, that behavior is unacceptable." She pauses. "Why haven't you talked to the school about this?"
"I have. It's my word versus theirs of course, and no one backs me up."
"Wait, you're being bullied by more than just…" Her eyes narrow. "Is Sophia also a part of this bullying?"
I blink. Huh. I give her a nod.
Aunt Zoe puts the palm of her hand to her face. "I knew it. I knew she was…" She looks at me for a second. "You said you wanted to tell your Dad the whole story first, right?"
Again, I simply nod.
I see her stare straight at my eyes. "Honey, is Danny taking care of you? Properly?"
What? Oh. Oh! "Of course he is! Dad hasn't been that out of sorts since… you know."
She nods a bit but still has a laser focus on me. "Are you sure? You're not just protecting him?"
"Yes, Auntie, I'm sure. It's just after Mom… I didn't want to worry him, you know? I thought it was my problem to deal with for a long time and I've only recently been well...overwhelmed by it. I kind of already promised him I'd talk to him about it."
Again, the familiar term she hasn't heard in over a year hits her almost with physical force. She relaxes a bit, and gives me a nod. She looks down sadly. "Taylor, I'm sorry I haven't been there for you. If I had done something more this whole mess could have been resolved a long time ago." She rises up, her back straight. "However, that's in the past, all I can do now is focus on what's ahead. I'll talk to Emma, see what's going on in that girl's head." She looks at me with a thoughtful expression. "Honestly, at this point I'd offer you and your father over for dinner, but I doubt that would be the best idea at the moment."
I shake my head while frowning with my eyes wide open. "No thank you." I lick my lips. "I've kind of been distancing myself from Emma. I don't think I could stand having dinner with her right now."
She agrees, sadly. "I figured as much. Well," She smiles a bit. "regardless of this whole situation, you're still welcome here at any time. If we can get to the bottom of this maybe you two could even be—"
My raised hand cuts her off, and her smile dims. "Aunt Zoe, I don't mean to be rude…but it will take much more than you and Mr. Barnes talking to her for me to ever even conceive the idea I can forgive her, let alone us being friends again. Maybe her being through a traumatic episode puts things in a slightly better context than her doing it all with a clear head, but that still doesn't change what she did to me, and how I feel about it. How I feel about her."
Her eyes droop to the floor. "How… how badly did she bully you Taylor?"
I peer into the bottom of my empty tea cups. "Very badly." I turn to stare straight at her eyes. "I wasn't kidding when I said she hates me."
Slowly, she pulls me into a hug.
We stay like that for a few minutes.
She pulls away a bit, a few tears falling. She snorts a few times, before looking over at a clock. "It's almost time for lunch. You could stay if you wanted to?"
I regretfully shake my head. "I'd really love to Aunt Zoe, but I'd actually wanted to talk to both you and Mr. Barnes today." I shift my head a bit from side to side. "I was kind of hoping to catch Mr. Barnes on his lunch break anyways."
She nods a little. "You'll need to leave soon then. Alan and Emma never told me the full details of what happened that night, and I don't know how relevant they'll be to you, but you should be fine asking him. He might not answer you though. I did pack him something today, so he should be eating in his office. I'll give him a call to let him know you're coming. I'll even give him some details alright?" She frowns. "You know, you can still call him uncle?"
I smile sadly. "I'm not comfortable doing that just yet."
She gives me another slightly slower and sadder nod. "Alright." Her face becomes serious. "Taylor, regardless of what Emma's done or how distant we've been this last year, I want you to know I do love you." She looks down. "You're like a daughter to me sweetie."
I pause and close my eyes. "I… I love you too Auntie."
Quickly, I pass the street where I fought nutless earlier. There are no ambulances, but the few cop cars keep me from dropping off that knife. Then again, leaving a military-grade weapon in the middle of an abandoned alleyway is probably a bad idea.
Due to common sense, your Wisdom has increased by 1.
...Sassy, but fair. I don't see any PRT vans or troopers, but I do see some guy in a suit named Alfred Bester with a PRT detective title.
So…yeah. I am not getting near that.
I let my fists fly once more at invisible opponents, skyscrapers looming on the horizon. As I sprint through the streets, this time I'm in a different outfit and my new Egyptian skin. Going off of the preview, I look like an entirely different person. Dark brown skin instead of my normal pale white. Hair that isn't wavy but straight. Lips not as wide and a bit fuller. Eyes a rich brown instead of green, and so on.
I'll have to check myself with this skin in a mirror back at home. And take care of my perks, I can't forget that. it is a bit weird though. With a flick of a button, I'm an entirely different race. Wonder what Martin Luther King would think about that? It would probably have made the Civil Rights movement more interesting…
I shake my head. Off topic. Alright, let's think about this. So, Emma got attacked by gang members, got saved by Shadow Stalker, didn't talk to me at all until I got back from camp, suddenly had Hess as her new best friend, and then ended our friendship for...reasons.
Oh, and started the bullying campaign at school, of course. Because she hates me…right?
That doesn't add up… I'm missing something here. I guess that's why there are three icons and not just one. They're all relevant. Hopefully there's a tidbit from Alan that clears some things up.
The longer I can put off seeing Emma, the better. As my brown-colored fist cracks an imaginary Nazi's jawbone, I think back to what Emma could have done.
If she came to me for help and support… If she told me about the ABB attack rather than her "cutting cords"… Hell, if she just let me talk to her over the phone while I was still at camp… Or if she….
God damn it! If. If. Fucking if. She made her fucking choice.
I mean, this is better than taking her words at face-value of course, but even if she's got some sort of PTSD over this shit, that doesn't make what she did to me go away in a magic puff. This almost pisses me off more than if she was just being a bitch because of… I don't know, evil puberty? Because now, I actually feel a bit sorry for her, and I can't fucking help it.
Why did she choose fucking…Hess to confide in, and not me? The rest of my trip, I think only about the phantasms I'm hitting. Soon enough, the skyscrapers on the horizon are coming up to my left and right.
It takes me just a little longer for me to switch back to being…me. The streets are a lot more crowded due to the lunch rush, so finding a place I can "change" is a bit harder. I stare at the imposing skyscraper in front of me: the Topher Law Firm. It's one of the biggest firms in New England, with several branch offices here and there.
A tiny, little icon superimposed over it shows me where Mr. Barnes is. It isn't intimidating…talking to a lawyer in their own office that your ex-bestie/nemesis threatened you with repeatedly…not at all. My eyes are glued on the front door.
Just put one foot in front of the other, Taylor. The sooner you get this done, the sooner you'll be walking out the door. I straighten myself, and begin walking.
Walking in was easier than I thought, because actually getting to his office is proving harder.
After missing his floor with the elevator twice, because I'm bad at judging floors apparently, I finally give up and decide to take the stairs. Wherever the hell those are. The floor I'm currently on is devoted to records and attorneys with a focus on criminal law. The floor I need to get to is the one for family law.
Not really sure what made Mr. Barnes decide on a career as a divorce attorney, but I'll find out soon with Observe. You know, maybe looking at people's private histories isn't exactly—
My thoughts are cut-off by a hand gripping my shoulder.
"Young Lady…" I hear a rather stern female voice behind me.
I slowly turn around, and my eyes widen as I see the words above her head.
"…would you mind explaining to me what you're doing out of school today?"
(?)
LV ? Carol Dallon/Brandish
