Six months before the particle accelerator explosion
SHE WAS GETTING TIRED of the way the creepy old, bald guy was looking at her. She was never the one for attention.
She flit her light blue eyes towards the bald guy two tables away from her and saw him quickly look down at the newspaper that he was reading. She cleared her throat and returned her gaze towards her laptop.
She really wished that she brought her best friend, Vince. Vince's six-foot height might have scared the creepy guy out of CC Jitters. Without taking her eyes off her computer screen, she reached for her cup that was placed beside her laptop.
She closed her hand around the cup and slowly lifted it up to her lips. She winced a little when she felt the searing hot coffee hit her lips. She pulled the cup away from her mouth and brought her right index finger up to her mouth to soothe the pain. Sometimes she hated how coffees can be so hot, but she needed a boost of caffeine to help her through the day. When the pain was slightly gone, she brought it back near her lips and blew on the little opening on the lid. She took a sip of her coffee and placed her coffee back on the table.
She could still feel the stares of the old man, but she decided to ignore the feeling of being watched and instead focus on the fact that she needed to come up with another idea for her report/project. Being a freelance journalist was harder than she thought.
She recently quit her job at Daily News Central City. DNCC was the second largest newspaper company at Central City and they were known for not hiring more than one applicant from the internship program. She applied along with twenty more people. She was surprised when their editor-in-chief, Mr. Turner, called her and said she got the job along with another intern Of course, she celebrated because she couldn't believe that DNCC hired her and another person which meant she was special.
However, it turns out that she only got the job because her big shot scientist of a father decided to sue the company if they did not hire her. Her first week at DNCC was nothing, but paperwork and errands from her boss and some of her co-workers. Her only true friends in DNCC were Dane and Cara. They made her work at DNCC bearable. Two months in to the job and she noticed that she didn't really feel like a journalist, but more of an assistant to her boss. Every time she would suggest an idea Mr. Turner would simply ignore her or say that her idea was irrelevant.
Five months passed and Dane broke the news to her on how she got her job. Everybody at DNCC knew except for her. She cried for a solid week and did her best not to call her father and scream at him. After learning about what her father did, she went up to Mr. Turner and told him that she was quitting and never returning. She walked straight out of his office not giving him any chance to say anything because she didn't want to hear his voice. Her dad, Theodore Pierce, CEO of Pierce Pharmaceuticals, was rarely around while she was growing up. She mostly lived with her mom, Lacy Reid, but she recently got an apartment at 22nd Pioneer Street. Her older sister, Natalie, lived at Starling City. She was a lawyer there and she visits when she can.
Her parents got divorced when she was ten. Her mother never told her the reason why they decided to get divorced. She would always change the topic and say that it wasn't important. Until now, it remains a mystery. A part of her wants to know and understand what happened, but another part of her doesn't want to know.
She never really knew her father that much. She would rarely see him at their home. She remembered walking into her parents talking with each other, their voices slowly increasing with each sentences. She didn't get the chance to properly listen to their fight because her older sister pulled her away from the scene. That was the last time she heard her father in their house. It has been over a year since she last spoke to her dad. She had seen him in newspapers and in TV, but she never seen him in real life.
She never uses her dad's last name whenever she introduced herself because people would automatically say, "Wait, is your dad the owner of Pierce Pharmaceuticals?"
She hated it and, now, because of him, she was jobless. Her fingers moved across her keyboard while her eyes were trained on her screen. She decided to update her blog after two months of not being active.
Her blog was kind of a personal blog. Her posts were about her in depth reviews on the latest controversies and, sometimes, it would be a personal thought. Today was one of those days. She was writing about her current situation and how she was going to pay for her rent. She needs a job—asap.
"Excuse me, anyone sitting here?" A gravelly voice said, interrupting her train of thought. Her fingers stopped their movement and she looked up to meet the eyes of the stranger. It was the creepy old, bald guy. Great, she thought sarcastically.
She forced a smile towards his direction. She tried to conceal her annoyed expression, but failed miserably. His wrinkled hands rested on the chair across from her. His dark brown eyes resting on her light blue ones. He was waiting for her to accept his request.
"Um—I'm kind of waiting for somebody," she lied to the stranger. She brought her left hand up to tuck her hair. She was not going to let this guy who had been staring at her for the last fifteen minutes sit in front of her. Surprisingly, the old guy let out a small laugh. He gave her a kind smile which showed his laugh lines.
"I didn't expect you to remember me. I guess your father never got the chance to introduce me to you," he said.
She tilted her head to the side and scrunched her eyebrows. His vague reply made her stare at him a little longer. She tried to remember a man with no hair, dark brown eyes, and squared face, but no familiar face showed. She concluded that she had never seen this person in her whole life.
Without waiting for a reply from her, the man pulled back the chair and sat down with a grunt. He placed both his arms on the table and laced his hands together. She reached for her laptop, closed it, and moved it aside to give space for the newcomer.
"Who are you?" She asked in a hushed whisper. She was getting creeped out by the second. The man did not seem to hear her.
"Last time I saw you, you didn't have teeth," he chuckled while pointing to his own teeth. Before he could utter another sentence, she said, "Who are you?" This time with much assertion.
His smile fell and he sighed. He looked at his hands that were interlaced with one another. It took him awhile to be able to answer the question because he was not sure if she was ready to hear the truth of who he was. He opened his mouth, but closed it again. He did not know what to say.
She noticed his trepidation and decided to ask one more time, but he looked at her and said, "I'm your grandfather, Arden—well, according to your father, I am dead." His voice was dripping with hate at the mention of her father. His kind smile was gone and was replaced by a stone cold glare.
Arden gulped nervously and fidgeted in her seat. She placed her hands on her lap and looked at him. She had so many questions for the man in front of her claiming to be his dead grandfather, but she did not know how to begin.
She always wondered why she never got to see her grandparents. Her father always said that they were dead. Her grandmother died because of cancer, which was true, and her grandfather was killed in a car accident. He also told her to never speak of it again. Being an eleven year old who rarely sees her dad, she ignorantly agreed.
"I—I don't understand. How can you be...here? Who are you?" Arden's voice was taut. She was so overwhelmed and nervous about this sudden revelation that she considered visiting her dad.
"My name is Marcus Pierce. I'm currently working at S.T.A.R. Labs," he replied. His face did not show any signs that he was as shocked as she was.
She raised her eyebrows and slightly leaned forward. "You're a scientist, too?"
He smiled and chuckled. He brought his hand up to scratch his greying stubbles on his chin.
"Where do you think your father got his interest for science?" He said with his fingers still on his chin. She shrugged and said, "I just didn't expect that you would—uh—be a scientist too. I thought you're more of a..." She squint her eyes and stared at his wrinkled face.
She was babbling again. She really didn't know what she expected him to be. She just, maybe, expected him to be some normal guy; not some scientist like her father.
Marcus waited for a reply, but she just shook her head and crossed her arms across her chest. Her scrutinizing eyes were back on his.
"Why did my father said you were dead?" She asked. She didn't mean to be blunt, but she really wanted to know why her father would lie about someone special to him.
She noticed a changed in his expression. One minute he was "happy" to see her and, now, he was frowning that she started to regret asking. Marcus brought his pointer finger and thumb to rub his forehead. He lets out a low chuckle.
"Where do I even start?"
Arden didn't reply, she waited. It was obvious that Marcus did not want her to know anything. He let out a huge sigh and leaned forward on the table.
"Look, your...father and I, we didn't really agree on a lot of things back when I was still the CEO of Pierce Pharmaceuticals. He had his own goals, I had my own goals. He had different plans, I had my own plans, and it was just—difficult for the both of us. We were at each other's throat every single day. I spent my years as CEO researching on ways to make the world a better place. It took a lot of effort and sacrifice to get me to where I am right now," he paused to gauge my reaction.
Arden was intently listening to him. She was hooked on every word she was saying. She had her elbow on the table and her chin placed on her knuckles. She didn't know what to say so she nodded at him to continue.
"After months and months of research, I finally discovered something that could change the future of Pierce Pharmaceuticals and the whole world," he paused and exhaled deeply, "but your father, of course, said it was a foolish and dangerous idea to even attempt such hypothesis," he stopped and drank from his coffee that he brought from his table.
Arden waited for him to finish. She watched him place his cup down and continued his story, "My colleague, Dr. Harrison Wells, found it brilliant and decided to do the impossible with me. We have been working on this idea for three years now and we achieved it. In just a few months, the world will see the future," he finished. He stared at her light blue eyes as he finished. He wanted her to be impressed.
Unfortunately, her face was showing nothing. She did not know how to react because, first of all, she was not into science and, lastly, she was terrified by the way he explained everything. His expression and that gleam in his eyes showed that what he was doing was something really bad.
"So did my—uh—dad kicked you out of your job?" She asked awkwardly. Of course, Arden, you had to ask that, she thought.
"Out of everything I said, that's what you ask?" He chuckles and shook his head. She lets out a nervous laugh and scratches her head.
"Yes, he 'kicked me out'," he said, air-quoting the words.
She nods her head and looked at her closed laptop. She brought her right hand on top of her laptop and drummed her fingers against the smooth surface to fill the void of silence between them.
"W-what is this discovery that you had?" She anxiously asked. She placed her elbows on the table and laid her chin on her open palm.
"A particle accelerator," he said with a confident smile.
"Okay...obviously, I don't know what that is. Care to explain?" Arden asked.
Marcus shook his head and looked at her. "Soon enough you will see," he vaguely replied. She scanned his face for any emotion, but the old man was mysterious as ever.
He pushed away from the table and leaned his back on the chair. He brought his left arm up to look at his watch. He lowered his left arm and placed both his hands on his lap.
"Well, this has been a very fun reunion, Arden," He said and reached for his coffee. He brought it to his lips and his face scrunched up in disgust.
"Cold," he commented and placed the cup down on the table. Arden watched him closely. It was weird that she just met her supposedly dead grandfather and that he shared his life story. Why introduce himself now?, she thought.
Marcus placed his feet on the floor and moved away from his chair. His gaze travelled to Arden's face and he gave out a small smile.
"It's really good to see you again, Arden," he said and turned around, but before he could take another step, Arden slammed her hand on the table and leaned forward. The sound made Marcus halt and he slightly turned his face to look at her.
"Yes?" He asked.
"That's it? That's the only thing you're going to say to me. No 'I miss you' or 'Sorry for pretending to be dead'. I would have trusted you if you just said those words, but you didn't. You just randomly appeared in my life and that's what you say. A story about some dispute that I really have no interest in! Why are you really here, Marcus?" She sternly asked.
Her face set in a glare. She was a journalist and she knew when a person was being cryptic or lying their ass off. Earlier when he was explaining everything to her, she noticed his hands fidgeting now and then. His eye was noticeably twitching every time she would ask a question. Something about his behavior disturbed her. It was obvious he was anxious about something.
"You didn't come here for me, did you?" She tersely said. Marcus turned his whole body towards her and looked at her with a knowing smile.
"As I said, Arden, a very fun reunion, indeed," he replied. He turned away from her and walked towards the glass doors of CC Jitters.
She let out a huge sigh when he was out of sight. She leaned forward and placed both her elbows on the table. She placed her forehead on the palms of hand and closed her eyes. After meeting his creepy grandfather, she suddenly had the urged to call her dad and ask if he was alright, but she decided not to because she hadn't talked to him for a while now.
A sick feeling went through her stomach at the thought of meeting her father again. She just couldn't bring herself to talk to him again not after what he had done to their family. She didn't know what happened, but the fact that he wasn't socializing with his daughter means that he was at fault.
She turned her upper body to look at her purse that was hung on the chair. She opened her pursed to grab her cellphone to text her dad.
She entered her passcode and clicked on the message application.
To: Dad 12:42 PM
Hi, Dad! Long time no talk. I was wondering if I could visit you at Pierce Pharmaceuticals tomorrow.
From: Dad 12:44 PM
Of course. What time will you be here?
She read his reply and she tilted her head to the side. She didn't know what time. She was planning to go visit Vince tomorrow and grab lunch with him. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard. She bit her lip as she thought of a reply.
To: Dad 12:44 PM
Is 2pm, okay?
From: Dad 12:45 PM
Ok. Do you want some food afterwards? We should talk soon. I am assuming that you are busy because of work.
She rolled her eyes. I guess Mr. Tanner didn't tell him I quit, she thought. Also, "we should talk soon" made her stomach feel queasy. She typed her reply.
To: Dad 12:45 PM
Yeah, food sounds nice.
She hit send and stashed her phone in her purse. She didn't want to see his reply. Honestly, she was scared to meet her dad again. A lot has changed lately and seeing his familiar face felt unfamiliar to her. He was a stranger again and she was forced to eat lunch with him.
She grabbed her laptop and pushed it inside her laptop case. She pushed herself away from the table so she could place her feet on the floor. She grabbed her purse that was hanging on the side of her chair and slung it on her shoulder.
She pushed her chair back into place and walked towards the exit of CC Jitters. She wanted to go home and rest. Today has been bizarre and she did not want any more surprises.
She decided to just finish her project at home where she was comfortable and away from millions of eyes. She didn't want the day to end because tomorrow was judgement day to her.
She was going to meet her dad.