Twenty-Five: Amara And Markus
Amara was tense the entire ride back to Uva Academy. There was a feeling of creeping dread hanging in the air. Penny and Nemona had tried to cheer her up, but neither had managed to do the trick. As the three of them ascended the Great Staircase, every footfall built more fear into Amara's mind. She shook off a dissociation and kept walking. She'd climbed the stairs and was standing outside Vaughn's door. It was now that her body had locked up. She couldn't find a way to get her hand to knock on the door. After a few minutes the door opened.
"Come in, I guess. I was on my way to get snacks. I wasn't expecting you to get this far. Actually, come with me. I want the cupcakes they put in the snack machine." He walked past Amara and took a few more steps before he noticed Amara was frozen. "I'd ask if you're good, but the answer is most likely no. Go inside and have a seat. I'll bring you a water."
Amara stepped into Vaughn's office and sat in the chair beside the door. Vaughn returned a few minutes later with a pack of cupcakes and a bottle of water. He handed her the water and sat down in his desk chair. "So, Amara Plowman, huh?"
"That's me." She said with a shaking voice. "Look, let's not be coy, Vaughn. Odds are you have my personnel file and know what all I've done. I figured you have your old police buddies on their way here." Amara tried to sound firm, but the quiver in her voice wouldn't go away. Vaughn pulled a stapled set of papers from his desk.
"It would be that way, but I didn't just secure your personnel file, Ms. Plowman. I was also able to get ahold of this particular document. This is your copy." He handed her the papers and upon reading the title, she nearly fainted.
Mission Report
18 Oct. 2036
"Vaughn, how did you get this?" She looked over the document one more time to make sure it was all there. "I'm not really sure what to say, to be honest." She had clenched the report in her hands, to the point her knuckles were white. Vaughn took a breath and spoke.
"Drink some water, Amara." She did as instructed. It helped her feel a little calmer to focus on the bottle and its contents. "As for what you do with that document, that decision is yours, and yours alone. I am behind you no matter what you choose to do with it. My people and I are at your back." Amara blinked twice as Vaughn finished speaking. She looked at the paper again and felt herself slipping from the front. "Amara, stay with me." Vaughn's voice broke her out of the dissociation. She shook her head and looked back to him.
"You've given me a lot to think about, Vaughn." She put the report into her bag. "As for how independent study is going, one hundred and fifteen kinds, three gym badges, one titan Pokémon, and one really traumatized girl back at the academy." Her voice was stronger now, and she'd even managed a smile.
"Congratulations. As promised." He handed her a Lure Ball. "I'll give you the next one at one hundred and forty kinds. Have you found anything you'll be keeping treasured forever?" Amara thought for a moment, then looked at Vaughn again. This man was supposed to be her enemy. This was her series arc. Her father had been grooming her for the sole purpose of being good enough to kill men like him. Yet she sat, drank her water, and thought back to the report in her bag. That's my fucking golden ticket. She thought. And the man I'm supposed to kill gave it to me. Fuck.
Amara shook herself out of the thoughts and looked to Vaughn. "I'm starting to." She thought of her mother, who had no idea of the report's contents. She thought of Silver, who fled the worst of her father's cruelty. She thought of Penny, who knew it all and stood behind her. "I think I need to make a trip home for a couple days, honestly. I think I know what I'm going to do with this report." Vaughn nodded at her statement.
"I've hated your father for almost two years now, Amara. My grief is yours at what he did to you, both what I know and what I don't." He pulled out a bottle from under his desk and took a large swig. A knock came at the door, and after swiftly hiding the liquor, he called for the guest to enter. It was Miriam. "Markus, I got your text." She noticed Amara sitting in the chair. "And you must be Amara. Markus wanted me to check you over. When's the last time the body had a physical?"
Amara laughed aloud. "I have no fucking idea, Nurse Miriam. I won't lie." Nurse Miriam frowned. "And when is the last time you had any medical care for anything?" she asked. Amara's laughter turned to tears. "August fourteenth, twenty thirty-five." As she finished, Amara came to understand the phrase 'Fit to be tied'. Nurse Miriam looked as though she would start foaming at the mouth at any second. Instead, she looked to Vaughn.
"Babe, can I get that Galarian from you?" Vaughn passed her the bottle, and she tipped it upside down into her mouth. One second, then two. She turned the bottle back and put the cork in it. She looked at Amara again. "My office, sixty-five minutes. Be there and I'll check you over from head to toe as best I can. Yes, I'll be good to work. That sauce ain't got shit on me. Miriam out." She opened the door and headed out. Amara turned to Vaughn.
"Is she always so surly? I was told she was bubbly and nice." Vaughn laughed. "She's one of the best people I know, Amara, but the sunshine got beaten out of her after treating some wicked cases. She was here before the staff turnover."
"Say no more." Amara said as her thoughts wandered back to her mother. "Big trust right now, Vaughn." She scrawled her address onto a scrap of paper along with the word "Red". Vaughn pulled out his phone and gave Amara his number. "Alright. I hope it doesn't come to that." Vaughn muttered. "I'll put in the marks for this meeting. Head on home, Amara."
Amara nodded and stepped out. Penny and Nemona were waiting for her in the hallway. Amara took three steps, closed Vaughn's office door, put her head on Penny's shoulder, and started to cry. Penny wrapped her arms around Amara, and Nemona rubbed Amara's back. "That bad huh, 'Mara?" Nemona asked.
Amara sniffled. And said a simple "No." between sobs. "I have an appointment with Nurse Miriam in an hour, then I need to go home and talk to my mom." Nemona staggered backward. "I thought you said it wasn't bad. What happened?" Amara dried her tears on her sleeve and led the three out of the building and back to her room in Dragontongue Hall. She pulled the document from her bag. "Penny, do you remember the story of when I was twelve?"
Penny nodded. "Vaughn gave me the Team Rocket record of that event. He gave me physical evidence of what happened to me." Nemona sat, confused, but didn't speak. Amara looked to Nemona. "You don't know because you saw dad interact with Elaina. He's a monster, Nemona. He sold me to a creep to gain something for Team Rocket. I don't even know what he traded my innocence for."
Nemona's face contorted in a way that defied language, then she looked down at the document Amara was holding. "And that's the proof of it, right there?" She asked. Amara nodded, and Nemona stood. "I'm behind you. No matter what." Amara sat the document on her side table and hugged Nemona.
"Let's go to Amara's house, huh, Penny?" There was a knock at the door. Amara opened it to find Arven, Trish, and Allie. "Welcome to Respite Week." They said as Amara waved them in. As they filed in, Trish spotted the document on the side table and looked at Amara.
"Oh, hey, Amara." Trish said nonchalantly as the three sat in their places in the circle. Amara grabbed her document and took her place in the circle. She looked at everyone, document in hand, and spoke. "Big trust right now, everyone. This document tells one of the horrible things that people have done to me throughout my life. I'm going to give it to my mother, but I can't go alone."
"I'll go with you." Arven spoke first. Then Allie, "I'm behind you, Amara." Next Trish nodded her assent. "No one should have to do this alone. I'm in too." Nemona reaffirmed she'd be going, then Penny squeezed Amara's hand. "It seems like everyone agrees." Penny said with a smile. "You have a doctor's appointment, then let's hit the road."