Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story 
Chapter or StoryAuthor's Chapter Notes:
Please don't sue, Jarod and Co. are not mine, I am just borrowing them. If they were mine, things would be a lot different. Thanks to my reviewers, you're great.
Jarod woke early the next morning. He had gotten his usual nights sleep; a sleep filled with nightmare images from his past that left him trembling and sweaty. Past SIMs and dead eyes had populated his dreams, but that was nothing new for him and he knew how to deal with the memories.
He looked over at the sleeping figure in the bed next to his. Emily had one pillow tucked under her chin and the other scrunched up against the headboard just barely cushioning her head. Jarod shook his head in wonder. He couldn’t imagine voluntarily sleeping in a more uncomfortable position, but, since she growled at him when he tried to ease the pillow back down, he guessed she was content.
Next, his attention was drawn to the sprawled body of his sleeping younger brother. Jarod grinned, but a small twinge of jealousy ran through him. He couldn’t remember ever being safe enough to sleep like that. The younger man was on his back with one leg hanging off the side of the bed. Both arms were outstretched, as if welcoming someone and a small smile graced his face. Jarod picked up the blanket that Ryan had kicked to the floor and recovered him before heading towards his laptop.
A few hours later, the whole family was up. Jarod had checked on the Centre’s activities, nothing new happening there according to Angelo, Miss Parker and Co. were still unaware of his latest lair ,but Mr. Broots should be changing that soon, and Lyle was being his normal self. So, for now, Jarod felt free to enjoy the newness of being with his very own family.
“Jarod, I need you to go the store with your father, please,” Margaret called out. “We need some milk, cereal, bowls, spoons, and maybe some breakfast rolls. Maybe some fresh fruit, too. Oh, and make it a healthy cereal. Some granola or oatmeal, maybe, none of that sugar laden stuff they advertise on television.” She ordered in a no-nonsense, “I know best because I am the Mother,” voice.
Jarod grimaced. He had thirty-three years of healthy eating crammed down his throat by the Centre and he really enjoyed the sugary stuff he ate now. Giving it up, even for his mother,
“Wouldn’t it be easier to just grab some stuff from McDonalds, Mom?” he asked hesitantly.
“Easier, yes. Healthier, no. And, after seeing the way the men in this family have been eating; nutritious items are on the menu for quite a while. No, go to the store so we can all eat at a reasonable time.”
And with that, Margaret shooed her two oldest men out of the hotel.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Breakfast was finally eaten, showers taken, and the rooms straightened up. Margaret conceded that they didn’t need to make the bed since the maid was coming, but she did insist that they each at least pull the blankets up and place the pillows back on the bed. Jarod watched in amusement as Ryan lip-synced to Margaret’s “Just because we live on the run, doesn’t mean that we must live like heathens” remark. From everyone’s reaction, it was something she said quite often. Jarod couldn’t help smiling as he thought that maybe he too would soon be tired of hearing his mother repeating things.
That afternoon, Margaret told Charles to take the younger two siblings out for a while. She wanted some private time with her oldest child. Jarod shivered; there was something ominous about how she said that. She had the same tone in her voice that Jarod could remember hearing in Sydney’s voice when he was saying something Jarod would not want to hear. A tone of voice that said “this is gonna hurt, but that’s the way it is”.
“Jarod, I know you don’t like to talk about what happened to you in that horrible place and I can understand that, really, I can. But I do want to know what your life was like. How you were treated, how Kyle was treated. Your father told me about Sydney, I think he said the name was, but what about friends and social activities?”
“Mom, that part of my life is over. We don’t need to talk about it. I’m just glad to be back with my family.”
He grinned at her, trying to distract her, but the grin faded when he realized that she was determined to hear about his past. He swallowed and hoped that she didn’t want the in-depth details, details that filled his dreams and that he didn’t want to fill hers.
“Sydney was the person who trained me. He led the SIMs, taught me what I needed for the SIMs, and tried to protect me from some of the other… uhhmm, scientists there. Mrs. Parker helped for a while, but she died a long time ago.” He looked up at his mother, his brown eyes showing how badly that loss had affected him. “I only meet her a handful of times, but she would bring her daughter and let us play together. That all stopped after her death. Mr. Parker sent his daughter overseas to boarding school and then it was just Sydney and I and our work.”
Jarod looked up at his mother to see if she was satisfied with his explanation, but she gestured for him to continue. He thought about some of stunts Parker had bullied him into and decided to share those with his mom. Hopefully, it would keep her from digging into how the Centre used him.
“I had a couple of friends while growing up, but we had to sneak around to see each other. Miss Parker was probably my very best friend and Angelo, too, when he could sneak away from wherever Raines had him stashed. Miss Parker was the chief troublemaker of the three of us, but Sydney protected all of us from the wrath from above.”
Jarod couldn’t help smiling as he remembered some of the trouble the trio had gotten into as youngsters. He knew now that Sydney had covered for them multiple times and he had never discouraged them from their activities. Oh, he had made comments about the risks involved in doing this or going there, but he had never tried to demand their obedience the way the Tower had.
Jarod thought back to how he blamed Sydney for the Centre’s misuses of his SIM and how Sydney had done his best to see that Jarod had gotten to play with his friends and he knew that he owed his old friend a huge apology. ‘Maybe that is why he never wanted to be my father,’ Jarod thought to himself, ‘he was protecting himself from me.’
“What about Kyle, Jarod? You haven’t mentioned Kyle even once. Surely, you protected him. That’s your job as his older brother.”
“I didn’t see Kyle until I was about 10, 11 years old. Somewhere around there, I guess. Time doesn’t have any meaning inside the Centre. The area they kept me in was 100’s of feet underground and I was never allowed outside, so there was no way to keep track of the time. No TVs, no radios, or holidays; if they wanted me working the lights were on, if they wanted me to sleep, then the lights were off. Even the meals were the same and there was no difference between what was served for breakfast and what was served for dinner.”
Jarod swallowed, he had the feeling his mother was not going to like what he had to say next.
“When we finally did meet, we didn’t know we were brothers. Your friend Harriet told us just before you and I saw each other in Boston. And even in the Centre, we only worked together a couple of times. We did find out that our cells were close together, but they separated us when they figured out we were communicating with each other.”
He saw that she didn’t understand. How could she? That anyone could treat another human being the way the Centre did was beyond cruel.
“Mom, you have to understand what it was like in there. We were kept isolated from everyone and everything except our work. Even my first meeting with Miss Parker was part of a SIM. And everything about our lives before the Centre was wiped from our minds.”
Jarod could see that his mother was not happy with him, but she didn’t understand that he had absolutely no control over things that happened in the Centre. He did what he was told or else. When Sydney was there, the “or else” had options. But when Sydney was gone, Jarod was truly at the mercy of some merciless people. He shivered as he remembered some of the punishments Raines had authorized.
“What do you mean, your life before the Centre was ‘wiped’? How can they make you forget something as important as your family?”
Jarod could see that his mother was puzzled by his explanations, but he didn’t know how to explain it to someone who had not lived within it’s walls. Even he didn’t understand how or why things happened the way they did in there. And Jarod was determined that his mother would never see his DSAs. Never.
“I’m not exactly sure what they did, Mom. But the whole time I was in the Centre, I knew I had a family, I just couldn’t remember what it was like. I would draw pictures of you and Dad, I would him and sing the nursery rhyme you taught me. I tried to do things that would make you proud of me. But I never knew I had a brother.”
“You forgot about us,” Margaret stated in a monotone, hurt beyond words that her beloved baby boy would forget about her. Her defenses rose and she attacked back without thinking; she just wanted to hurt Jarod as badly as she was hurting. “Let me guess, Sydney became ‘daddy’ for you.”
Jarod looked down at his feet with tears in his eyes. That was exactly what had happened, but he had a feeling that if he admitted it all hell would break loose. He knew he deserved her anger; he should have done more, should have escaped earlier.
“I thought I was at a special school. Remember, you said...” Jarod couldn’t continue. The tears in his eyes were streaming down the back of his throat, making him swallow..
“And while your at it, explain to me how Kyle died in your arms. You were both free from the Centre. You just admitted you knew his was your brother by the time he died. But he still died and you didn’t protect him.”
“I thought he had died in the van explosion just before Boston. Then he showed up in Dry River, Arizona. Saved me from Lyle and then we worked together to save the sheriff’s pregnant wife. He felt so good about himself then, Mom. He felt like a hero. But then Lyle showed up again and shot at me. Kyle jumped in front of me. I couldn’t stop him. Please, Mom, believe me. I never wanted Kyle hurt. I wanted to show him all the good in the world.”
Margaret knew it wasn’t right to blame Jarod, but emotions are rarely about what is right. She got up from the table and left the hotel room without saying another word to Jarod. Jarod just put his head down and sobbed.
He looked over at the sleeping figure in the bed next to his. Emily had one pillow tucked under her chin and the other scrunched up against the headboard just barely cushioning her head. Jarod shook his head in wonder. He couldn’t imagine voluntarily sleeping in a more uncomfortable position, but, since she growled at him when he tried to ease the pillow back down, he guessed she was content.
Next, his attention was drawn to the sprawled body of his sleeping younger brother. Jarod grinned, but a small twinge of jealousy ran through him. He couldn’t remember ever being safe enough to sleep like that. The younger man was on his back with one leg hanging off the side of the bed. Both arms were outstretched, as if welcoming someone and a small smile graced his face. Jarod picked up the blanket that Ryan had kicked to the floor and recovered him before heading towards his laptop.
A few hours later, the whole family was up. Jarod had checked on the Centre’s activities, nothing new happening there according to Angelo, Miss Parker and Co. were still unaware of his latest lair ,but Mr. Broots should be changing that soon, and Lyle was being his normal self. So, for now, Jarod felt free to enjoy the newness of being with his very own family.
“Jarod, I need you to go the store with your father, please,” Margaret called out. “We need some milk, cereal, bowls, spoons, and maybe some breakfast rolls. Maybe some fresh fruit, too. Oh, and make it a healthy cereal. Some granola or oatmeal, maybe, none of that sugar laden stuff they advertise on television.” She ordered in a no-nonsense, “I know best because I am the Mother,” voice.
Jarod grimaced. He had thirty-three years of healthy eating crammed down his throat by the Centre and he really enjoyed the sugary stuff he ate now. Giving it up, even for his mother,
“Wouldn’t it be easier to just grab some stuff from McDonalds, Mom?” he asked hesitantly.
“Easier, yes. Healthier, no. And, after seeing the way the men in this family have been eating; nutritious items are on the menu for quite a while. No, go to the store so we can all eat at a reasonable time.”
And with that, Margaret shooed her two oldest men out of the hotel.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Breakfast was finally eaten, showers taken, and the rooms straightened up. Margaret conceded that they didn’t need to make the bed since the maid was coming, but she did insist that they each at least pull the blankets up and place the pillows back on the bed. Jarod watched in amusement as Ryan lip-synced to Margaret’s “Just because we live on the run, doesn’t mean that we must live like heathens” remark. From everyone’s reaction, it was something she said quite often. Jarod couldn’t help smiling as he thought that maybe he too would soon be tired of hearing his mother repeating things.
That afternoon, Margaret told Charles to take the younger two siblings out for a while. She wanted some private time with her oldest child. Jarod shivered; there was something ominous about how she said that. She had the same tone in her voice that Jarod could remember hearing in Sydney’s voice when he was saying something Jarod would not want to hear. A tone of voice that said “this is gonna hurt, but that’s the way it is”.
“Jarod, I know you don’t like to talk about what happened to you in that horrible place and I can understand that, really, I can. But I do want to know what your life was like. How you were treated, how Kyle was treated. Your father told me about Sydney, I think he said the name was, but what about friends and social activities?”
“Mom, that part of my life is over. We don’t need to talk about it. I’m just glad to be back with my family.”
He grinned at her, trying to distract her, but the grin faded when he realized that she was determined to hear about his past. He swallowed and hoped that she didn’t want the in-depth details, details that filled his dreams and that he didn’t want to fill hers.
“Sydney was the person who trained me. He led the SIMs, taught me what I needed for the SIMs, and tried to protect me from some of the other… uhhmm, scientists there. Mrs. Parker helped for a while, but she died a long time ago.” He looked up at his mother, his brown eyes showing how badly that loss had affected him. “I only meet her a handful of times, but she would bring her daughter and let us play together. That all stopped after her death. Mr. Parker sent his daughter overseas to boarding school and then it was just Sydney and I and our work.”
Jarod looked up at his mother to see if she was satisfied with his explanation, but she gestured for him to continue. He thought about some of stunts Parker had bullied him into and decided to share those with his mom. Hopefully, it would keep her from digging into how the Centre used him.
“I had a couple of friends while growing up, but we had to sneak around to see each other. Miss Parker was probably my very best friend and Angelo, too, when he could sneak away from wherever Raines had him stashed. Miss Parker was the chief troublemaker of the three of us, but Sydney protected all of us from the wrath from above.”
Jarod couldn’t help smiling as he remembered some of the trouble the trio had gotten into as youngsters. He knew now that Sydney had covered for them multiple times and he had never discouraged them from their activities. Oh, he had made comments about the risks involved in doing this or going there, but he had never tried to demand their obedience the way the Tower had.
Jarod thought back to how he blamed Sydney for the Centre’s misuses of his SIM and how Sydney had done his best to see that Jarod had gotten to play with his friends and he knew that he owed his old friend a huge apology. ‘Maybe that is why he never wanted to be my father,’ Jarod thought to himself, ‘he was protecting himself from me.’
“What about Kyle, Jarod? You haven’t mentioned Kyle even once. Surely, you protected him. That’s your job as his older brother.”
“I didn’t see Kyle until I was about 10, 11 years old. Somewhere around there, I guess. Time doesn’t have any meaning inside the Centre. The area they kept me in was 100’s of feet underground and I was never allowed outside, so there was no way to keep track of the time. No TVs, no radios, or holidays; if they wanted me working the lights were on, if they wanted me to sleep, then the lights were off. Even the meals were the same and there was no difference between what was served for breakfast and what was served for dinner.”
Jarod swallowed, he had the feeling his mother was not going to like what he had to say next.
“When we finally did meet, we didn’t know we were brothers. Your friend Harriet told us just before you and I saw each other in Boston. And even in the Centre, we only worked together a couple of times. We did find out that our cells were close together, but they separated us when they figured out we were communicating with each other.”
He saw that she didn’t understand. How could she? That anyone could treat another human being the way the Centre did was beyond cruel.
“Mom, you have to understand what it was like in there. We were kept isolated from everyone and everything except our work. Even my first meeting with Miss Parker was part of a SIM. And everything about our lives before the Centre was wiped from our minds.”
Jarod could see that his mother was not happy with him, but she didn’t understand that he had absolutely no control over things that happened in the Centre. He did what he was told or else. When Sydney was there, the “or else” had options. But when Sydney was gone, Jarod was truly at the mercy of some merciless people. He shivered as he remembered some of the punishments Raines had authorized.
“What do you mean, your life before the Centre was ‘wiped’? How can they make you forget something as important as your family?”
Jarod could see that his mother was puzzled by his explanations, but he didn’t know how to explain it to someone who had not lived within it’s walls. Even he didn’t understand how or why things happened the way they did in there. And Jarod was determined that his mother would never see his DSAs. Never.
“I’m not exactly sure what they did, Mom. But the whole time I was in the Centre, I knew I had a family, I just couldn’t remember what it was like. I would draw pictures of you and Dad, I would him and sing the nursery rhyme you taught me. I tried to do things that would make you proud of me. But I never knew I had a brother.”
“You forgot about us,” Margaret stated in a monotone, hurt beyond words that her beloved baby boy would forget about her. Her defenses rose and she attacked back without thinking; she just wanted to hurt Jarod as badly as she was hurting. “Let me guess, Sydney became ‘daddy’ for you.”
Jarod looked down at his feet with tears in his eyes. That was exactly what had happened, but he had a feeling that if he admitted it all hell would break loose. He knew he deserved her anger; he should have done more, should have escaped earlier.
“I thought I was at a special school. Remember, you said...” Jarod couldn’t continue. The tears in his eyes were streaming down the back of his throat, making him swallow..
“And while your at it, explain to me how Kyle died in your arms. You were both free from the Centre. You just admitted you knew his was your brother by the time he died. But he still died and you didn’t protect him.”
“I thought he had died in the van explosion just before Boston. Then he showed up in Dry River, Arizona. Saved me from Lyle and then we worked together to save the sheriff’s pregnant wife. He felt so good about himself then, Mom. He felt like a hero. But then Lyle showed up again and shot at me. Kyle jumped in front of me. I couldn’t stop him. Please, Mom, believe me. I never wanted Kyle hurt. I wanted to show him all the good in the world.”
Margaret knew it wasn’t right to blame Jarod, but emotions are rarely about what is right. She got up from the table and left the hotel room without saying another word to Jarod. Jarod just put his head down and sobbed.
Chapter End Notes:
tbc, .....sometime, reviews encourage my muse to write faster.
