Duskwood After Story

The Party, Part 1

"Hey you, we should go get ready. The party's at 5." – I gently kissed Jake's face as I snuggled up to him, arms around his neck, while he was working on his computers.

"Alright." – He held one of my arms and returned the kiss.

Everyone had prepared a welcoming party for me today to celebrate my arrival and stay in Duskwood. This party would mark a number of firsts for us, including our first public declaration of our relationship, and Jake's first party in a very long time. I was no doubt feeling butterflies in my stomach. It was a mixture of excitement and nervousness, praying that everything would go well. But I knew my worry paled in comparison to Jake's. When I suggested that we join the group for a hang out one day, he was concerned that he would feel out of place. Though he hadn't said anything like that for this occasion, I had a feeling he was a nervous wreck inside. He was just extremely skilled at hiding it. So I made it my mission to do everything in my power to make sure he had a good time at this party.

The clock struck four. We had just finished getting dressed and were about to leave when Jake grabbed my arm.

"Wait a minute, Bailey. I have something for you."

Then he held out a tiny, black object, the size of a bottle cap. He continued.

"It's a scanning device that integrates with Nymos. It will alert Nymos on your phone if it discovers any tracking devices within a five-meter radius of you. I'm sure this will come in handy if ever I can't join you somewhere during our investigation of Michael."

Despite our rule #1: Always Do Everything Together, we realized that at times it would be difficult for one of us to join the other in our plan for Jake's ultimate freedom. When Jake couldn't be there to defend me, he felt this small gadget would at least help me guarantee that no one was following me.

To get a better look at the gadget, I held it up to the light. There came a moment when, if I precisely oriented its surface to reflect the light beam, an icon would emerge from the black hue. It was the Nymos eye, and its pupil was secretly bearing the letter B.

I gasped and turned to face him. As Jake chuckled, I stood there with my mouth wide open.

"Yes. "B" is for Bailey."

"Jake..."

"I called it S0L-1S, pronounced solis; a beam of sunshine, just as you are to me."

I wrapped my arms around his waist, stifling the tears that were streaming down my face. My lower lip quivered as I told him thank you.

Jake gave me a hug back as he softly stroked my hair with his warm hand. We stood there, forgetting about space and time for a while.

When the tears had subsided and the quiet shudder of my shoulders had passed, I was reminded of the party again.

"Oh no, we're going to be late!" – I exclaimed.

"Haha, don't worry. We have time." – He continued patting my hair, as if he wanted me to take all the time I needed to gather my thoughts.

"No, we should leave now. I wanted to come early to help out." – I wiped a drop of tears from my lower lashes.

"Helping out... at your own party?" – Jake laughed as I pulled him to the door.

"Y-yes... I guess." – I blushed as we exited the house.

***

We arrived at the Aurora just past 4:30pm. Jake parked his car and told me to go in first as he had something to take care of. We parted with a kiss, and I went to the bar.