Where We Come From

Chapter 11 A Lot of Nothing

Perspective: Rose

"Just haaad to take your truck, didn't you?" Stacy asks dejectedly as we hurry back into town. We made it about a mile down the road before my truck completely died. How I had forgotten that I was out of gas is beyond me. I let her complain tough, I have plenty on my mind at the moment. We make it to the edge of town soon there after and rush towards her house.

The town is still empty, more so than before. Where is everyone? Are they all at the church still? Did something else happen? Could they have found Mathew? I shake all of the questions from my head as I focus on hurrying to Stacy's house. There's no need for working myself up over something that doesn't concern me right now. I just need to stay focused on the task at hand.

When her house comes into view I book it down the street. I have a lot to say and I'm done waiting. Stacy started yelling something at me, but I ignored it as I burst through her door and rush upstairs. I go to the office and pause at it. Slow and easy, no need to worry him any further. I open the door and slowly step inside, feeling my palms start to sweat a bit.

"Mathew?" I call quietly, looking around the study. There doesn't seem to be anyone in here, but this is where she said she left him. Maybe he's hiding? He did get in 'trouble' and he is pretty sensitive. I step in and shut the door behind myself, locking it. This needs to be just me and him.

"Mathew? It's me, Rose. You can come out now." I keep my voice calm and quiet. If he's hiding, he probably doesn't want to be seen right now. Maybe that's alright. What I have to say would be easier if he wasn't looking up at me. No, no, I have to say it to his face. He has a right to know everything.

"Mathew, I'm sorry." I check under the desk, but he's not there. "I shouldn't have let Stacy take you like that. There are a lot of reasons why she did what she did, and why I did what I did. And you have a right to know, Mathew. You have a right to know because... because I care about you."

I pull open every drawers, check every cabinet, and on top of every bookshelf in this room. When he doesn't show up I start to double check them all again. And again. And again. I start throwing books off their shelves and turning drawers over in my attempt to find him. But he isn't here. In desperation I start to go through the piles of books and papers that I've thrown in the middle of the room. Maybe I scared him off and he hid in here! Pile after pile I search for him. He has to be here! Where else could he have gone!?

THUD

I slip over something and fall on the floor. I let out a few sobs as I sit up and look over the room.

"I'm worried sick about someone who's basically a stranger Mathew," I cry to him, rolling to my and pulling my knees into my chest. "I just wanted everything to turn out okay. I didn't need happily ever after, I just wanted to be okay. But she wouldn't stop crying. I didn't know what to do. I was alone, afraid, in way over my head. What would you expect from a seventeen year old kid? How was I suppose to have the answers when no one was there to help me?

I've been bitter ever since. Figured... figured it was just the person I was. What else was I supposed to do? What else would a kid do? I pushed everyone away, and worked. It was all I knew to do. I'm not like other people Mathew, I know that. I'm blunt, forceful, I can even be mean sometimes kid. I guess it was my way of getting back at the world. I wasn't given anything, why should they, right? It's bitter thinkin, but it's the way I am. Until I saw you...

I don't know what it is about you Mathew. I found you in that little crater with that brat and... I was drawn to you. Like, I had to take care of you. That I needed to take care of you. I know that sounds mighty silly, but it's true. I saw you there, laying in bed, and I knew we had to protect... that I had to protect you. I wish I could tell you more, but that's just how I felt. I guess... I guess that's just how I've been then, huh? Living by how I feel and never considering how others might. If you're mad at me, that's fine. You are right to feel that way and I deserve it. But you need to do better than me and tell me. I didn't face my emotions and it destroyed the person I was. Please Mathew... please-"

THUD THUD THUD

"Mathew ran off!" Stacy yell from behind the door.

"... WHAT!?" I yell as I jump to my feet and run to the door, throwing it open. "How do you know that!?"

"I stepped out back to... what did you do to my study!?" she yells as she looks behind me. I grit my teeth and take her by the shoulders, shoving her against the wall behind her. She lets out a small scream and freezes up, shaking slightly.

"How do you know?" I ask with heavy breaths. She tries to speak, but the words escape her. "Stacy!"

"My garden!" she yells back in fear. "All of my flowers were flattened and there were hoof prints all over! That, and the window is open." I think about what she said before finally setting her down. I take a few steps back and begin to chuckle to myself. I just said all of that, to no one. I literally spilled my heart and soul... to no one. I BROUGHT UP MAGGIE... to no one. I think about it a little more and start to laugh harder. Stacy presses herself against the wall and forces out a few chuckles and she watches me carefully, unsure of what to do.

"Are you... are you... okay?" she asks carefully.

"Me!? Oh I'm just peaches and cobblers! I couldn't be happier!" I tell her, laughing even harder.

"Oh? Do tell-"

"I'm so happy I could strangle something. Something small, blue, with wings! In fact! I'm going to go find something that fits that general description and tan its hide! Isn't that funny!?" I ask as I rush forward and grab Stacy again. She lets out a small yelp as I start to spin around with her, laughing hysterically.

"You're joking... right?" she asks me carefully. I come to a stop and start to walk down the stairs. Check list: get gas and gas can, pick up Lynn, find Mathew, capital punishment. "Rose?"

--o-0-o--

Perspective: Mathew

"*Achoo*" I shake my head after a rather powerful sneeze takes me by surprise.

"Bless you!" Stephanie yells back to me as she hops from one boulder to another.

"Thank you!" I yell back. We've been following the road back to her home, but then she remembered these rocks and we've been having fun on them for awhile now. We're still heading to her home, we're just taking a slightly longer method to get there. It's been fun though, so it's been worth it.

--o-0-o--

Perspective: Lynn

After getting decent, Jason and I made our way back to town. It looks as if there isn't anyone here, which means one of two things. They're all talking to Ben, or hunting Mathew. Along the way I brought Jason up to speed and he's... taking it pretty well. He didn't laugh or anything. He just asked why we avoided the government and nodded in agreement. I'm a little shocked he's this excepting, but we can talk about it another time. With little other options, we make our way to the church where we hear the murmur of conversation. We share an uneasy look before opening the doors and entering.

The pews are filled to the point where even the only room left to enter are the side aisles, and even those are filled. There's a loud murmur in the audience, but it's nothing compared to the people yelling up front. It looks like the Mayor Al Slouzy -a middle aged European man with a receding hair line and a large nose-, Sheriff Mouldouth, and Ben -for some reason- are all trying to discuss something at the front. But the sheriff and mayor are just yelling at one another. Ben seems lost in thought, something that scares me even more than the yelling. Jason and I step to the side and just watch. It looks as if all of town is in here. I knew our town was small, but it's weird seeing how small it is.

"LYNN DARENGER!" I jump when someone yells my name. I look around in confusion when I realize the person yelling was Sheriff Mouldouth. I look around as everyone suddenly turns to look at me. Some people look mad, while most are just curious. "Get up here!"

"Um.... why?" I ask timidly, looking to Jason for support. He just shrugs... thanks Jason.

"NOW!" I jump again and hurry to the front, feeling every eye on me. "Tell everyone what you know about this horse."

"Um..." Shit! Did they all see him? Where is he then? "Where is he?"

"He ran off with that Stephanie girl," Al tells me. "What do you know? Please, there are a lot of people here who are confused and would like answers. Just take a deep breath and let us know when you're ready." I take his advice and breath in a long breath, letting it out slowly. Hey, that kind of worked! I take another long breath and let it out even slower, feeling a bit better. Maybe one more-

"Spit it out woman!" I jump when the sheriff yells and start to talk.

"I was in bed when Rose came to me asking for help because something happened and she needed my help badly enough to hog tie me and toss me in the back of the truck and didn't let me in until we were halfway there but I-"

"Slower dear. Slower," Al tells me, rubbing the bridge of this nose. I nod to him and take a breath. This is going to take awhile.

"The... person you saw is Mathew. He... appeared on Roses farm recently and I was called in to give him a check up. We didn't know he was sentient until a little afterwards. We; by which I mean Rose, Barbra, and myself, took him in to hide him from some... official looking people. Our fear was that they were going to take him away and do... things to him. After talking with the kid, because he is just a child, it was the unanimous thing to do. But things got complicated when those people started searching the town. And now-"

Before I continue the room explodes in debate. A lot of the yelling is directed at me, but there are a lot of people arguing between themselves. The general gist I get is people being mad that we hid him from the government and what that means for them. Are they accomplices? Will they get in trouble? Should we turn him in? All of that general stuff. I look back to Jason for help, getting him to rush up to me.

"You okay?" he yells over the others. I shake my head, getting him to take me into his arms. I didn't want it to come to this, but there was no avoiding it. People were going to find out eventually, I just didn't think it would explode like this. Or be pointed at me, for that matter.

"WAIT!" Ben yells as she jumps to her feet. The room goes silent as we watch Ben, waiting for her to speak. "Mathew... is a horse!"

"..." The room stays silent.

"Mathew is a living, breathing, understanding, talking horse!" she yells at us, stepping forward to be the center of attention. "... why didn't anyone tell me!?"

There's a collective groan from everyone as they return to their seats. Leave it to Ben to diffuse the situation with ignorance. Sheriff Mouldouth steps forward and guides Ben back to her seat, whispering something to her. She doesn't look happy about it, but nods anyway.

"Look everyone," he starts out, turning back to us. "This is clearly something that this town doesn't need. Not like this. I'll have my deputies search out these officials and bring them in so we can have an understanding. While they do that, I'll go find the kid and bring him into the sheriffs office. Just to have him somewhere safe for the time being. The rest of you need to go back to your lives and worry about this another time. We'll gather everyone when we have the answers. But we won't have any answers until we get all of those people together, understand?" Everyone murmurs to themselves before starting to file out of the church. I try to leave with them, but Sheriff Mouldouth grabs my shoulder to stop me.

"You know you can't do that, right?" Jason asks, eyeing him.

"I have a right to detain anyone who could be involved in a missing persons crime," he retorts, eyeing him back. "Now, Lynn. We need to know where that kid is so we can bring him in. This is for his safety, okay?"

"I actually don't know where he is," I tell him as I wiggle out of his grasp. "The last place I saw him was here, when I dropped him off for program." He nods to me and walks past me, roughly brushing against Jason along the way. He glares him down as I try to ignore it. He's an ass. Always has, always will be. Ben walks up and motions for me to come closer, so I do.

"This is very important," she whispers to me. Words I never thought she'd say. "But you have to be the one to find him."

"Why me?"

"Because he is just a child. And if the police take him in, it won't be good for him. He needs someone there for him, to tell him that everything will be okay. And that person shouldn't be wearing a gun with them." I nod to that. He's a sensitive kid, that wouldn't end well for him. "Do you have time to tell me everything?"

"That was pretty much all of it." I tell her. She puts a hand on my shoulders and looks me in the eyes. I try to stare back at her, but she's unmoving. I look away, getting her to rub my shoulder a bit.

"From the beginning." I nod and take a deep breath. This is going to take awhile.