People Change

Chapter 3

// Jerome //

Jerome heard voices shouting from the corners of his brain as it made his reality into an alternative. He shook himself, forcing him to wake up from his deadly imagination.

He glanced around, hoping to find himself in his warm bed, sunlight seeping through the window sill, just like every morning. Birds chirping from the trees, singing their songs as they always did on the days of the weeks.

But sadly, imagination was not one thing Jerome's mind was fond of.

He quickly snapped it out of his head, and focused on what was happening. Instead of seeing broken pieces of wood covering the room, he saw Cory wearing a facade of panic and fear, with poor Mina's head in his hands, body still on the floor.

Jerome tried his best to arise from the chains of agony weighing him down, to get Mina to safety. That was his priority. Just as Jerome regained his footing, Cory turned around, with frantic eyes darting up and down, looking for an escape. Then Cory's pupils fixed onto Jerome.

Jerome shot back a look, fixated on Cory. Cory glanced down to Mina, then dropped her down.

"Look, I know you think I killed her, but she's not dead." Cory said slowly, as he was talking to a mental patient.

Jerome tried to say: 'You did this, you caused all of this!'

But the words just wouldn't come out. There was a lump stuck in his throat, enforcing the words down.

Since Jerome didn't say anything, Cory continued, "I promise I'll tell you everything I know. You just have to hide me. Please."
Jerome still couldn't trust him.
Cory knew what he had to say. "I'll make sure Mina will be okay. I swear on my life."

That was a sentence enough to convince Jerome. 'As long as Mina is safe,' Jerome thought.

"Upstairs," Jerome leaked.
"Thank you," Cory said.

As Cory reached the foot of the stairs, Jerome pulled him back for a few words.

"Hide. Clarice."
Cory nodded in agreement.
And Cory flew up the stairs in a hurry.

Jerome turned back to the door, that was blocking the voices that were prying into the room.

He stopped in his tracks. Something in the room wasn't right. There was that feeling, he had felt since the day he was born.

Being watched.
He scanned the room for any sights of unfamiliar objects. His eyes fixated on the small corner of the room, where Mina loved placing her plants on the shelf. Jerome always suggested that the plants could grow better in broad daylight, with the rain to quench its thirst, but she kept reassuring him that it would okay if the plants stayed in that dark damp corner.

Now Jerome understood why she had pressed him for the plants. It was hiding a surveillance camera. Small, micro-like, but big enough for the naked eye. It was like a small black box, with a clear camera locked onto whomever in sight range. It may be small, but Jerome had his fair share of being watched. For 5 years in this house, he had been watched. Every 365 days of the years. Every hour, every minute, every second.

Jerome already knew who planted these here. Mina. The Union observed them for the past 5 years. He recalled all those small odd details of Mina. That picture he disliked on the wall, the black working table that never fit in with the colourful room, that book on the shelf that they never read. Literature. Jerome never liked it, and neither did Mina or Clarice.

He knew his actions, he had to act. Luckily, from the past years, Jerome had gotten convincing to the audience. He dashed upstairs, taking the stairs three at a time.

"Cory!" Jerome called.
"Yes?" Cory cried back.

Jerome wasn't expecting Cory to answer back. He thought he would stay quiet. Perhaps he knew about the cameras?

Jerome creeped up the stairs, peering at the hollow misty corridor. Besides the dusty reflection on the hallway mirrors, everything stood still. There was very little light shone into the corridors, making the dust visible in the dim light. He walked on the creaking floorboards, confidently, as the nervousness would give him away from the cameras.

Entering the room, he could hear the distant sounds of heavy breathing, coming from the crooked cupboard with that missing leg. As Jerome closed in on it, the heavy breathing slowed, and a figure popped out.

It was fast, as if in a flash, he had Clarice in his peripheral vision, and Cory in front of his eyes.

"Look, I know about the cameras, I found a few in your room. Broke them," Cory said. He took a pause then continued. "Scientists will be coming in sooner or later. We have to conjure up a plan. Something that even the smartest of the smart will buy it. We just have to handle some effects."

"I think I can do that." Jerome answered.
Cory looked at Jerome like he was observing a wild animal he had never interacted with. He gazed across to Clarice, sitting in the cupboard unwilling to step out.

Then he nodded to Jerome.

"What's the plan?"

Clarice got up suddenly, and crawled to Jerome's side. Jerome gazed across to Clarice, her innocent face buried in his chest.

"Okay, so if they want a show, then can get a show," Jerome started. Cory didn't interrupt, he just crouched there and stared at Jerome in silence.

"So firstly, there's a camera on the shelf downstairs, with a lot of plants on, which is the only one that you're going be unable to see. You disable all the others. Then, I grab the baseball bat, and act out an invisible fight with you, a shove here, a punch there. After that, I'm going to throw the baseball bat at the window, away from the camera, and it would sound like you ran away out though the window. When instead, you will be hiding in my secret room upstairs here."

He spoke so fast that he had to take a few breathers.

"What secret room?" Cory questioned, a puzzled look displayed across his face.

"This one."

Jerome stood up, holding Clarice with one hand, pressing his other palm against the wall for stability. He limped across to the wooden closet,and pulled the handle. The doors creaked open, showcasing hangers and coloured clothes.

"Some secret room, you have there," Cory taunted.

"Oh, this isn't it." Jerome smirked.

Jerome pushed aside the tattered and wrinkled clothes, where a safe was kept. The safe was small, but was the size of a vent. It wasn't a enormous safe, unlike those in the bank vault. But it was still larger than the average safe. He bent down to the keypad, and inputed a series of numbers. The small metal door clicked, loosening the locks. As Jerome tugged on the door, he could see faint light glowing inside. He slowly, got down to his knees, and started to crawl through the safe.

He called for Cory and Clarice to follow. As Cory's eyes met Jerome's, Jerome announced, "This is it."