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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Miss Parker stood there, frozen, while Broots and Molly eyed her cautiously. She turned back around, "What are you two looking at? This isn't WWF!"
And then she was gone. Like a tornado in Kansas she had disappeared in a huff.
"I don't wanta be the one to settle that argument," Broots muttered.
"You won't have to be," Molly assured him mysteriously.
"You know its just a little weird that you can do that. I mean, does it ever freak you out that you can know what people are thinking? Telling the future? Hey, I once had a college professor who just dropped her classes and left to go give people their fortunes; she said that she could tell the future and that we weren't worth her visions. She was always kind of weird though, with thick black frames on her glasses and her hair in one of those tight scary buns. She kinda looked like a beaver. I mean- not that you're weird. I like you and all and you definitely don't look like a beaver-"
"Stop. You lost me a few beavers back," Molly's blue eyes were wide, but smiling.
"Oh, sorry. I tend to have like a twenty track mind. You know, your eyes look exactly like Miss Parker's, only yours are more um, I don't know, innocent. But uh- please don't tell Miss Parker I said that."
She laughed, "I won't."
"Wow. Miss Parker doesn't laugh much but yeah, you sound alike when you do."
"I'm kind of tired, Broots. Where do I sleep?"
"Oh um. Well, just find a room I guess. I never really got the chance to ask Miss Parker."
"All right. Goodnight then."
"Night," Broots watched her leave. Then, reaching around the couch he picked up the one constant in his life. His computer. Flipping it open on his lap, his face was soon illuminated from the light it cast. Fingers flying wildly, he searched through the mainframe for any scrap of knowledge that their presence had been detected. When he found none he contemplated his next move. Chatroom Charlene's or snooping? He really didn't want Miss Parker to walk in on him and catch him in Charlene's so he decided to search for anything of any use to either she or Jarod. After about forty minutes of some wandering through cyberland and some interesting yet irrelevant facts he was left with nothing except the knowledge that The Centre had raised a clairvoyant who had succeeded in predicting that llamas would one day rule the world. As interesting and disturbing as this was to him, it wasn't what he was looking for.
"You've got mail."
"I've got mail," Broots said to himself.
Opening the file, he waited for it to download. Curious as to who CJ was, he tried to think back. Still clueless, Broots waited. When his screen was full of words and pictures, his eyes scanned the screen with a deep sunken look glazed over them like a lurking shadow.
*****
"Under the circumstances, Nurse, I'm afraid the security has got to be maximized for both patients."
"I understand, Mr Parker, but all these clearance checks make it difficult for me to attend to both of my patients."
Mr Parker growled, "As I've said before, it won't take long for Jarod and my daughter to discover where your patients are. You are just a caretaker. You can be easily replaced, so do as I say."
"How do you know that they will even find out about the child and the woman?" The nurse replied boldly, her chestnut brown curls bouncing with every syllable.
"Ever since they were children they've managed to get into things together that they had no business getting into. I have no reason to believe it will stop now. And when they do find out. They will be back. And we will be ready."
"What if they don't come back?"
"They will. Jarod can't let the ones he cares about suffer for long. He's too weak."
"And Miss Parker?"
"I have my ways with her," scratching his chin in the dark room, Mr Parker suddenly met the woman's green eyes, "why am I telling these things to you? Get back to work, Nurse!"
Narrowing her eyes, she obeyed and left the room without a word. Mr Parker paced towards the center of the room stealthily eyeing the solitary occupant. Leaning over the rail, he bent down into the crib and lifted the young boy into his arms. Milk chocolate eyes returned his gaze, and the infant suddenly began to shriek as though the world was coming to an end. Gently placing the child back under the pale blue blanket, he muttered under his breath, "The last piece. This is just the beginning." Eyeing the camera's snooping lens, he quickly exited the sterile room.
*****
Jarod sat in the chair beside Sydney's bed pondering his earlier eruption. He had never snapped at Miss Parker like that. Call her father? Why on earth would she want to do that? Sometimes, Parker was completely unexplainable. He needed Sydney. Sydney would know what he should do. Just feeling his familiar presence was a comforting thought though. Standing, he walked over to the window. He wondered what his family was doing right now. Were they together? Were they safe? Were they even alive? Sometimes that question snuck up on him and it put him to shame thinking thoughts like that. The full moon was up now. The same moon that his father or mother or sister or brother could be staring at right at this very moment. How had his life ended up this way? Jarod remembered asking Parker the same thing once. Parker. Sighing, he turned away from the view of the glistening lake outside. She was out there. Every time he thought about her he felt guilty all over again. The surge of emotions couldn't be stopped, so he had finally let the dam break.
"What did she do?" a soothing yet raspy voice whispered.
"Sydney?" Jarod swept beside the bed and dropped to his knees smiling, "you're awake! How do you feel?"
"Like I've been shot. I didn't think I'd make it. Must have been some operation you performed," he searched for the wound and then resumed contact with his young pupil, "what time is it? How long have I been out?" his accented voice enveloped Jarod who was in awe at this miraculous recovery. The peace of knowing he was okay was overwhelming.
"Well, I thought you'd be out for a lot longer. You really gave us all a scare, but its uh," Jarod looked at the clock for the first time in a few days, "wow, its two in the morning."
"What are you doing in here then?" Sydney mocked.
"Up past my bedtime, Syd?" Jarod grinned.
"You never answered my question, Jarod. Miss Parker, what did she do" his voice was now serious.
Jarod sighed, looking out the window once again at the image of the brunette tossing stones into the water, "she didn't do much. I just lost it."
When Sydney remained silent, he continued, "Parker wanted to use my phone to call her father. I wouldn't let her and we argued and-" his voice trailed off.
"Your intentions were fine, Jarod, but could have been done more tactfully I'm sure. You know how Parker is. She dances to the beat of a completely different drummer."
"Yeah, I know I should have gotten all the facts before making assumptions."
"I've been telling you that for years, Jarod," Sydney smiled.
Shaking his head, Jarod smirked, "I know! I can't help it. I just don't know what to do now. Do I apologize?"
"You know how hard a time she has with apologizing. It might be more wise if you make the first move."
"That's what I thought. Thanks, Sydney. What would I do without you?" Jarod's smile was sincere and Sydney's full of paternal affection. Unsure of what to do next he stood there awkwardly.
"Go to her, Jarod. If I know you as well I think I do, then you'll never sleep if you don't."
Jarod smiled, "Call for Broots or Molly if you need anything. I won't be long."
Nodding, Sydney watched as the pretender left the room.
*****
Angelo peered through the vent openings at the woman sitting on the cot in her tiny cell. She felt lonely and pain. For Jarod. She wanted her family. She had suffered all of her life. Her autumn-colored hair hung low down her back as she clutched her biceps, seeking a warmth that only her heart desired. The empath placed his palm against the chilling shaft of metal separating him from this woman. Angelo couldn't feel. So, he wondered why it was that he wanted.
Wanted to take her pain away.
*****
A chain reaction. The rings repeated one another again and again until there was nothing but a few solitary bubbles left. The water, still and steady as sunlight, was broken once more by a small stone thrown by a guilty woman. Guilty of feeling. Was feeling a weak thing like her father had always told her or a precious thing like Jarod had always told her? It was so hard to tell.
"Feeling lonely?" a deep voice questioned.
Speak of the devil.
"Jarod. To what do I owe this pleasure?"
Jarod sat down on the little dock next to Miss Parker, grasping one of the stones in her plentiful pile rounded from the lake's shore. Tossing one in, he sighed, "I'm sorry, Parker."
"For what? Apparently I'm just a hazard to all of you. Why even bother communicating?" she snapped back. When he started to explain she cut him off, "I'm through with remorse. Right now I'm just a little pissed!"
"With every right. I shouldn't have made assumptions. I never did hear your side of the story. And I'm sorry, Parker. I'm really sorry I snapped at you and said all of those things about you endangering us. You don't, but you do ignore the truth and stick with the perfect Centre routine," Jarod persisted in an almost whispering voice.
"I know," Miss Parker admitted, folding her arms and staring at the glistening waters.
The two remained silent for minutes, both pondering what had led them to this moment.
"Sydney's awake," Jarod stated.
"Really? He's okay and everything?" Parker's face was one of joy, at this hour even she couldn't conceal all of her emotions.
"He'll be fine if nothing goes wrong," Jarod reassured her.
"Thank God. I thought you might have been tricking me again," she muttered, feet dangling carefree.
"I wouldn't joke about something like that. And you have always been the one who manipulated me!" Jarod protested.
"How could that be true? You are the one who had lead me on a wild goose chase for the last five years of our lives. You always manipulate me!"
"Well, you started it!"
"Please. You sound like a nine-year-old."
"And that was about the time you did start it. 'Oh, Jarod, look its a dead body! We should follow it. Mr Raines will never notice!' Remember that? Or, 'my daddy has a present for me hidden in his office why don't you figure out where it is?' 'Come with me in the ventilation system! You can see the rest of the world!' You have always been the troublemaker!" he contradicted with an imitating child's voice.
"You enjoyed that!"
"No I didn't," he replied.
"Yes you did! It was the only excitement you ever had."
"For the purpose of this conversation, no I did not enjoy it."
"Well, maybe if you had used some of that genius ability, we wouldn't have ever gotten in trouble. Its just as much your fault as mine."
"'Let's play with the rabbits, Jarod.' There's one experiment down the drain for The Centre. We were the only ones who actually saw the results! 'Jarod, if you go up to the roof you can see the snow!'" he continued on.
"I get the point! You can stop now!"
"'Jarod do you wanta-'" But Jarod's next recitation was short-lived, for he was now wet and visiting the fish. Parker remained on the dock laughing. Laughing, that was a new one. Her head was propped up against her knee while she laughed hysterically. When Jarod's head erupted from the water, she looked at him for a moment and proceeded to crack up completely. "You think this is funny?" Unable to halt her laughter, she nodded dramatically.
Death wish. He must have had a death wish. She looked around from her view in the water. Jarod had pulled her in and now he was having his own giggling fit, "Well, I think that was funny!"
"You do have a death wish! I'm going to murder you and every fish that gets anywhere in my proximity what so ever on the spot!" she spat out.
"That's not very good for the environment," Jarod said, his eyes twinkling with laughter while he shook his head.
"You'll get over it, Captain Planet! This was an expensive outfit!" she splashed her hand down into the water, spraying Jarod's face and causing him to wipe his eyes.
"That was intentional."
"I know."
She kicked her way to him and thrusted out of the water like a rebellious dolphin and landed with her palms on Jarod's shoulders. The surprise attack worked like a charm and she began laughing again. She leaned back and floated peacefully. Wondering what he was doing, she looked around. Before she could reach a logical verdict she felt a tug on her foot and she was instantaneously seeing the coal-black view of nighttime water. That jerk had dunked her, too.
Returning to the surface for a great gasp of air, Jarod pulled up his captive as well, "There's one thing you have never learned, Parker. I never lose."
"Neither do I, Wonderboy."
He pressed her shoulders up against the post of the dock, "Everyone's gotta go sometime."
A bead of water dripped down his face. Their eyes locked and the world seemed to go away. Things weren't amusing anymore, but perfectly serious. Time stopped and things were suddenly more clear than ever to both of them.
"You're forgiven," Miss Parker whispered, cocking her head to the right slightly.
Jarod smiled though she remained immobile. Their faces, mere inches apart, moved inward and their lips barely brushed.
Realizing what she was doing, Miss Parker sliced into the water swiftly before activities went farther. Jarod remained on surface and let loose a small painful smile.
Reappearing behind him, she rested her chin on his shoulder and sighed, "I'm sorry."
"I know," he whispered back.
She propelled her way to the rusting discolored ladder, emerging out of the water upward to the dock, she grasped the metal and allowed a tear to fall silently. Taking a deep breath, she climbed, with Jarod watching from below, up to the dock. Standing on the wooden planks, shivering, she watched Jarod follow suit and they slowly ambled toward the rest of the world; his arm wrapped around her, comfortably shielding her from the cold.
And then she was gone. Like a tornado in Kansas she had disappeared in a huff.
"I don't wanta be the one to settle that argument," Broots muttered.
"You won't have to be," Molly assured him mysteriously.
"You know its just a little weird that you can do that. I mean, does it ever freak you out that you can know what people are thinking? Telling the future? Hey, I once had a college professor who just dropped her classes and left to go give people their fortunes; she said that she could tell the future and that we weren't worth her visions. She was always kind of weird though, with thick black frames on her glasses and her hair in one of those tight scary buns. She kinda looked like a beaver. I mean- not that you're weird. I like you and all and you definitely don't look like a beaver-"
"Stop. You lost me a few beavers back," Molly's blue eyes were wide, but smiling.
"Oh, sorry. I tend to have like a twenty track mind. You know, your eyes look exactly like Miss Parker's, only yours are more um, I don't know, innocent. But uh- please don't tell Miss Parker I said that."
She laughed, "I won't."
"Wow. Miss Parker doesn't laugh much but yeah, you sound alike when you do."
"I'm kind of tired, Broots. Where do I sleep?"
"Oh um. Well, just find a room I guess. I never really got the chance to ask Miss Parker."
"All right. Goodnight then."
"Night," Broots watched her leave. Then, reaching around the couch he picked up the one constant in his life. His computer. Flipping it open on his lap, his face was soon illuminated from the light it cast. Fingers flying wildly, he searched through the mainframe for any scrap of knowledge that their presence had been detected. When he found none he contemplated his next move. Chatroom Charlene's or snooping? He really didn't want Miss Parker to walk in on him and catch him in Charlene's so he decided to search for anything of any use to either she or Jarod. After about forty minutes of some wandering through cyberland and some interesting yet irrelevant facts he was left with nothing except the knowledge that The Centre had raised a clairvoyant who had succeeded in predicting that llamas would one day rule the world. As interesting and disturbing as this was to him, it wasn't what he was looking for.
"You've got mail."
"I've got mail," Broots said to himself.
Opening the file, he waited for it to download. Curious as to who CJ was, he tried to think back. Still clueless, Broots waited. When his screen was full of words and pictures, his eyes scanned the screen with a deep sunken look glazed over them like a lurking shadow.
*****
"Under the circumstances, Nurse, I'm afraid the security has got to be maximized for both patients."
"I understand, Mr Parker, but all these clearance checks make it difficult for me to attend to both of my patients."
Mr Parker growled, "As I've said before, it won't take long for Jarod and my daughter to discover where your patients are. You are just a caretaker. You can be easily replaced, so do as I say."
"How do you know that they will even find out about the child and the woman?" The nurse replied boldly, her chestnut brown curls bouncing with every syllable.
"Ever since they were children they've managed to get into things together that they had no business getting into. I have no reason to believe it will stop now. And when they do find out. They will be back. And we will be ready."
"What if they don't come back?"
"They will. Jarod can't let the ones he cares about suffer for long. He's too weak."
"And Miss Parker?"
"I have my ways with her," scratching his chin in the dark room, Mr Parker suddenly met the woman's green eyes, "why am I telling these things to you? Get back to work, Nurse!"
Narrowing her eyes, she obeyed and left the room without a word. Mr Parker paced towards the center of the room stealthily eyeing the solitary occupant. Leaning over the rail, he bent down into the crib and lifted the young boy into his arms. Milk chocolate eyes returned his gaze, and the infant suddenly began to shriek as though the world was coming to an end. Gently placing the child back under the pale blue blanket, he muttered under his breath, "The last piece. This is just the beginning." Eyeing the camera's snooping lens, he quickly exited the sterile room.
*****
Jarod sat in the chair beside Sydney's bed pondering his earlier eruption. He had never snapped at Miss Parker like that. Call her father? Why on earth would she want to do that? Sometimes, Parker was completely unexplainable. He needed Sydney. Sydney would know what he should do. Just feeling his familiar presence was a comforting thought though. Standing, he walked over to the window. He wondered what his family was doing right now. Were they together? Were they safe? Were they even alive? Sometimes that question snuck up on him and it put him to shame thinking thoughts like that. The full moon was up now. The same moon that his father or mother or sister or brother could be staring at right at this very moment. How had his life ended up this way? Jarod remembered asking Parker the same thing once. Parker. Sighing, he turned away from the view of the glistening lake outside. She was out there. Every time he thought about her he felt guilty all over again. The surge of emotions couldn't be stopped, so he had finally let the dam break.
"What did she do?" a soothing yet raspy voice whispered.
"Sydney?" Jarod swept beside the bed and dropped to his knees smiling, "you're awake! How do you feel?"
"Like I've been shot. I didn't think I'd make it. Must have been some operation you performed," he searched for the wound and then resumed contact with his young pupil, "what time is it? How long have I been out?" his accented voice enveloped Jarod who was in awe at this miraculous recovery. The peace of knowing he was okay was overwhelming.
"Well, I thought you'd be out for a lot longer. You really gave us all a scare, but its uh," Jarod looked at the clock for the first time in a few days, "wow, its two in the morning."
"What are you doing in here then?" Sydney mocked.
"Up past my bedtime, Syd?" Jarod grinned.
"You never answered my question, Jarod. Miss Parker, what did she do" his voice was now serious.
Jarod sighed, looking out the window once again at the image of the brunette tossing stones into the water, "she didn't do much. I just lost it."
When Sydney remained silent, he continued, "Parker wanted to use my phone to call her father. I wouldn't let her and we argued and-" his voice trailed off.
"Your intentions were fine, Jarod, but could have been done more tactfully I'm sure. You know how Parker is. She dances to the beat of a completely different drummer."
"Yeah, I know I should have gotten all the facts before making assumptions."
"I've been telling you that for years, Jarod," Sydney smiled.
Shaking his head, Jarod smirked, "I know! I can't help it. I just don't know what to do now. Do I apologize?"
"You know how hard a time she has with apologizing. It might be more wise if you make the first move."
"That's what I thought. Thanks, Sydney. What would I do without you?" Jarod's smile was sincere and Sydney's full of paternal affection. Unsure of what to do next he stood there awkwardly.
"Go to her, Jarod. If I know you as well I think I do, then you'll never sleep if you don't."
Jarod smiled, "Call for Broots or Molly if you need anything. I won't be long."
Nodding, Sydney watched as the pretender left the room.
*****
Angelo peered through the vent openings at the woman sitting on the cot in her tiny cell. She felt lonely and pain. For Jarod. She wanted her family. She had suffered all of her life. Her autumn-colored hair hung low down her back as she clutched her biceps, seeking a warmth that only her heart desired. The empath placed his palm against the chilling shaft of metal separating him from this woman. Angelo couldn't feel. So, he wondered why it was that he wanted.
Wanted to take her pain away.
*****
A chain reaction. The rings repeated one another again and again until there was nothing but a few solitary bubbles left. The water, still and steady as sunlight, was broken once more by a small stone thrown by a guilty woman. Guilty of feeling. Was feeling a weak thing like her father had always told her or a precious thing like Jarod had always told her? It was so hard to tell.
"Feeling lonely?" a deep voice questioned.
Speak of the devil.
"Jarod. To what do I owe this pleasure?"
Jarod sat down on the little dock next to Miss Parker, grasping one of the stones in her plentiful pile rounded from the lake's shore. Tossing one in, he sighed, "I'm sorry, Parker."
"For what? Apparently I'm just a hazard to all of you. Why even bother communicating?" she snapped back. When he started to explain she cut him off, "I'm through with remorse. Right now I'm just a little pissed!"
"With every right. I shouldn't have made assumptions. I never did hear your side of the story. And I'm sorry, Parker. I'm really sorry I snapped at you and said all of those things about you endangering us. You don't, but you do ignore the truth and stick with the perfect Centre routine," Jarod persisted in an almost whispering voice.
"I know," Miss Parker admitted, folding her arms and staring at the glistening waters.
The two remained silent for minutes, both pondering what had led them to this moment.
"Sydney's awake," Jarod stated.
"Really? He's okay and everything?" Parker's face was one of joy, at this hour even she couldn't conceal all of her emotions.
"He'll be fine if nothing goes wrong," Jarod reassured her.
"Thank God. I thought you might have been tricking me again," she muttered, feet dangling carefree.
"I wouldn't joke about something like that. And you have always been the one who manipulated me!" Jarod protested.
"How could that be true? You are the one who had lead me on a wild goose chase for the last five years of our lives. You always manipulate me!"
"Well, you started it!"
"Please. You sound like a nine-year-old."
"And that was about the time you did start it. 'Oh, Jarod, look its a dead body! We should follow it. Mr Raines will never notice!' Remember that? Or, 'my daddy has a present for me hidden in his office why don't you figure out where it is?' 'Come with me in the ventilation system! You can see the rest of the world!' You have always been the troublemaker!" he contradicted with an imitating child's voice.
"You enjoyed that!"
"No I didn't," he replied.
"Yes you did! It was the only excitement you ever had."
"For the purpose of this conversation, no I did not enjoy it."
"Well, maybe if you had used some of that genius ability, we wouldn't have ever gotten in trouble. Its just as much your fault as mine."
"'Let's play with the rabbits, Jarod.' There's one experiment down the drain for The Centre. We were the only ones who actually saw the results! 'Jarod, if you go up to the roof you can see the snow!'" he continued on.
"I get the point! You can stop now!"
"'Jarod do you wanta-'" But Jarod's next recitation was short-lived, for he was now wet and visiting the fish. Parker remained on the dock laughing. Laughing, that was a new one. Her head was propped up against her knee while she laughed hysterically. When Jarod's head erupted from the water, she looked at him for a moment and proceeded to crack up completely. "You think this is funny?" Unable to halt her laughter, she nodded dramatically.
Death wish. He must have had a death wish. She looked around from her view in the water. Jarod had pulled her in and now he was having his own giggling fit, "Well, I think that was funny!"
"You do have a death wish! I'm going to murder you and every fish that gets anywhere in my proximity what so ever on the spot!" she spat out.
"That's not very good for the environment," Jarod said, his eyes twinkling with laughter while he shook his head.
"You'll get over it, Captain Planet! This was an expensive outfit!" she splashed her hand down into the water, spraying Jarod's face and causing him to wipe his eyes.
"That was intentional."
"I know."
She kicked her way to him and thrusted out of the water like a rebellious dolphin and landed with her palms on Jarod's shoulders. The surprise attack worked like a charm and she began laughing again. She leaned back and floated peacefully. Wondering what he was doing, she looked around. Before she could reach a logical verdict she felt a tug on her foot and she was instantaneously seeing the coal-black view of nighttime water. That jerk had dunked her, too.
Returning to the surface for a great gasp of air, Jarod pulled up his captive as well, "There's one thing you have never learned, Parker. I never lose."
"Neither do I, Wonderboy."
He pressed her shoulders up against the post of the dock, "Everyone's gotta go sometime."
A bead of water dripped down his face. Their eyes locked and the world seemed to go away. Things weren't amusing anymore, but perfectly serious. Time stopped and things were suddenly more clear than ever to both of them.
"You're forgiven," Miss Parker whispered, cocking her head to the right slightly.
Jarod smiled though she remained immobile. Their faces, mere inches apart, moved inward and their lips barely brushed.
Realizing what she was doing, Miss Parker sliced into the water swiftly before activities went farther. Jarod remained on surface and let loose a small painful smile.
Reappearing behind him, she rested her chin on his shoulder and sighed, "I'm sorry."
"I know," he whispered back.
She propelled her way to the rusting discolored ladder, emerging out of the water upward to the dock, she grasped the metal and allowed a tear to fall silently. Taking a deep breath, she climbed, with Jarod watching from below, up to the dock. Standing on the wooden planks, shivering, she watched Jarod follow suit and they slowly ambled toward the rest of the world; his arm wrapped around her, comfortably shielding her from the cold.
