Betrayal at the House in the Woods

The Theatrical

After a full day of planning the day after, the big day finally came. Jean arrived in Duskwood at noon and I met her at Sheila's house. After briefing her with today's plan, we went together to the church. 

When we arrived, Hannah was already waiting at the entrace to the woods. We then walked in together.

I had a thing for the theatrical. There was this show called Psych that I loved. The main character, Shawn Spencer - whose last name inspired my undercover last name - was a modern "Sherlock Holmes", very observant and sharp, but he took the comedic side of it. He pretended to be a psychic and helped the police solve crimes. He was all about the performance and the theatrical. His conclusion of the crimes usually consisted of a "psychic episode" that brought him to a place that had all the evidence he needed to solve the crime. Then he sometimes did a series weird moves before doing the traditional monologue, revealing all the answers to the crime.

No, I was not going to do that today, but I did ask the group to meet me where Jennifer was buried, as I thought what a better place to reveal all the answers than here. And I might have staged a few things to make a point - or more likely, to drive it out.

We got there early and Hannah and Jean went to hide while I waited next to the "grave" alone. Not long after, the group arrived together - I presumed they also had a little meeting beforehand. Lilly was there too.

Everyone just smiled thinly upon arrival. It felt a little awkward. It was even worse when Cleo and Jessy patted my whole body for wires, but of course, they didn't find anything.

"So," I was the one who started, trying to cut to the chase. "What would you like to talk about?"

Richy stepped closer. "Let me start with a question. What would you do if you figured out your parents' darkest secrets, Eira?"

It was almost a rhetorical question, but I answered anyway. "I would accept the fact that my parents aren't perfect and move on." Knowing full well where this was going.

None of them looked surprised. They  probably already guessed it.

"But what if it was in danger of being exposed?" Dan asked.

I shrugged. "They're adults and can take a full responsibility of their own actions."

"Even if it will affect your own life?" Richy asked.

"Of course it will, but I am still my own person, separate from them. We don't carry our parents' sins nor the consequences."

Dan snorted. "But we do."

"Every action doesn't only have an equal opposite reaction, but sometimes it's like dominoes. There are always collateral damages," Richy added.

I nodded. "But it's a privilege to share the burden. I guess that's what's families are for. We're not only there for the good times but also the bad times." I clearly didn't plan this to be a lecture, but they were asking for it.

Dan rolled his eyes. "Didn't realise we're dealing with a saint."

Richy ignored him. "Well, we all have different ways of dealing things. For me, ever since Tool Tastic started up, our business was already struggling. And with my mother's condition and my father having to care for her, I'm the sole provider. I couldn't possibly let this ruin everything we had worked for. And we were already picking up the pieces of the collateral damages from his crime to begin with."

"Yeah, we can't possibly watch it get destroyed again," Dan added.

I raised my eyebrows. "You do know all you do is ruining your own lives, not in any way saving it?"