The End of Yardale Part I

Conversation Interrupted

After Mole stomped off to the room he'd been staying in for the past week, he sat on his bed silently and went back to grieving- a thing he'd become more familiar with recently. He wished Gregory was here and that things didn't have to be the way they were. 

To Mole's slight surprise, Estella softly knocked on the door and walked in. Not having to ask what was wrong, she sat beside Mole. 

"Shouldn't you be angry at me?" Mole asked, hugging his knees close to his face. 

Estella tilted her head. "For what?" 

"I didn't do enough to save Gregory. Now he's gone." Mole answered. 

Sighing, Estella replied, "Life's too short to be angry at someone for such a stupid thing." 

The two were silent before Mole quietly sniffled. "I really miss him." 

"I know." said Estella, wrapping an arm around Mole. She wanted to say how much she missed him to, but she didn't want to appear too sad when she was trying to be helpful. Neither Mole nor Estella enjoyed appearing vulnerable towards other people. Because the two had become good friends over the years, though, they weren't scared to be emotional around each other. "Y'know, Mole," Estella then said, "you're kind of like another brother to me." 

"Really?" asked Mole. After Estella nodded, he said, "You're like another sister to me." 

Confused, Estella asked, "You have a sister?"

Mole nodded. "I used to. She died when I was young. Got attacked by a bunch of fucking dogs."  

"Oh." said Estella. "I'm horribly sorry." 

"It's fine." Mole stated. "I guess losing a sibling is something we'd both understand." 

Estella then curiously asked, "What was her name?"

"Ellise." answered Mole. 

"Hm." Estella started. "That's a nice name." 

Just then, the door to Mole's room suddenly opened and Dogpoo walked in. Annoyed with this interruption, Estella questioned, "Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" 

"Sorry-" Dogpoo said, "it's important, I promise. Just- come out here with the rest of us for a second. Please." 

Estella rolled her eyes. "Fine." The three walked out to meet everyone else sitting around a dining table looking at a laptop. 

Mole and Estella took a seat and Mole asked, "So what's this shit for?"

"This had better actually be important." Mark warned. "My daily reading was interrupted for this." 

"Oh, boo-hoo." said Damien. "Poor Mark doesn't get to read his dictionary for the millionth time today."

"The dictionary is important!" Mark argued.  

"Guys, let's listen to what Dogpoo has to say." Gary then said. 

"Thank you, Gary." Dogpoo said. "First off, I know where the Yardale organization is keeping Pip." 

While Damien lit up in excitement, Mark raised an eyebrow. "How?" 

"When Leslie attacked us, I put a tracking device on her." Dogpoo replied. 

Shocked, Mark then questioned, "Where the hell did you get a tracker?" 

"What did I say about phrasing your sentences?" Damien annoyedly said. 

Ignoring Damien, Dogpoo said, "I know a guy." 

"What guy?" Mark suspiciously asked. 

"None of your business." answered Dogpoo smugly. "Anyways, my second point- I think some people survived Leslie's killings. Five people, to be specific." 

"Really?" Rebecca asked. "Who?" 

" I don't know yet." replied Dogpoo. "I've theorized that two of those people are Mr. Havisham and Mr. Cotswolds since they've been running the Yardale business, but I don't know who the other three would be." 

"And- what exactly is it that makes you think others have survived?" Estella questioned. 

"I did some math and found out exactly 172 people were killed by Leslie by adding up the 154 people attending the party- excluding Damien, Mole, and Estella, and the 16 family members that we visited for answers. When I then went to research how many people were found dead, there were only 167. Either some bodies weren't found, or some people were spared." 

"Maybe some people just didn't go to the party." Mark shrugged. 

"No. Exactly 155 people were there. I counted them all on the Havisham mansion security footage." Dogpoo claimed. 

"How did you get into the security camera footage?" Mark asked. 

"I know a guy." replied Dogpoo. 

"Stop saying that!" Mark complained.  

"Wait." Damien then interjected. "My dad was at that party. Could he have been one of the survivors?" 

"Maybe." Dogpoo said. "Have you seen him at all recently?"

Damien paused and sighed. "No." Damien had always been pretty close with his father, and finding out he was most likely dead hurt.    

Then, with some hope, Mole asked, "Could one of them be Gregory?" 

"We literally watched him die." said Mark. "Get over it."  

"Maybe some of them are my family members! Gosh, I miss my family." then said Gary.

"Gary, you're a great guy and I really don't want to disappoint you," Dogpoo began, "but they're probably not your family members." 

"Awh." Gary simply said.  

"So what are we meant to do now?" asked Estella. 

"We could find the Yardale headquarters and break in to save Pip and see if they're keeping any of the survivors there." answered Dogpoo. 

"Could we do anything about Leslie?" asked Rebecca. "I feel bad for her. She shouldn't have to be controlled by them." 

"She doesn't deserve to be saved." Mole stated. 

"But nothing she did was truly her fault- and if we do nothing about her, she'll continue to be controlled and be used as a weapon against us." Rebecca argued. "We should help her."

The statement seemed to be controversial amongst the group, so Dogpoo said, "Rebecca is right. Whether we like her or not, Leslie is dangerous to us and herself and needs to be helped." 

"Fine then." said Mark. "So how do we begin all of this? Do we just go straight for the Yardale headquarters?" 

"That's probably not a good idea." replied Dogpoo. "I know of someone we should probably visit first." 

"Is this the person you were talking about when you said you 'knew a guy'?" asked Mark. 

"Yep." said Dogpoo, picking up his laptop and getting up from the table. "You guys will like him."