Sublime Messages

Two, B

The motel outside of Lone Rock that Vanessa checked into was nothing short of seedy, but she had few options, considering her current salary and the last-minute nature of her trip. It was either the motel or a youth hostel, and she was way beyond her hostel days. Besides, her stay would hopefully be short. It needed to be short, really, because every minute mattered—Eli had certainly made that clear.

Oh, how had she let Eli talk her into this? What exactly did he expect her to do? Dig into the past, that's what. This Damien Jensen, whoever he was, presented the entire world with a riveting mystery: who was he? Where had he come from? Why was he doing what he was doing? And most importantly—how could he be stopped? His name hadn't been released to the public yet, but surely his mysterious and dangerous maneuvers were on everyone's mind.

News from Palm Valley hadn't changed in the six hours since Vanessa had sat down with her old coworker. She knew Eli would keep her up to date, and yet the fact that information was so slow in coming was itself worrisome. In most hostage situations, the demands or desires of the perpetrator were clear within under an hour of their actions. To not only claim an entire building of people but also take time in communicating terms was unprecedented. Whatever this Damien was getting at, whatever fueled him, it was something more important to him than money or safety or even prestige. He'd have surely announced himself if he wanted fame; he hadn't been lacking security prior to his actions; and money? well, surely he would've asked for that by now, if it were his motivation. The whole thing was bizarre and unpredictable, as were many conflicts with cults.

Eli had told her how the event had occured, based on the limited footage from a neighboring house's front door camera. At around three o'clock in the morning, some unidentifiable figure had approached the outer gymnasium doors of the high school and hovered for a while. Within fifteen minutes, a total of something like twenty or thirty other darkly-clothed people who looked to be carrying packages (the low graphics quality of the camera hadn't made it clear enough to tell) had arrived on foot in small groups and waited until one of the gym doors opened, apparently from the inside. After that, all of the figures sneaked in. Being an older building in a quiet town, the high school had a poor security system, consisting only of basic locks and a few indoor security cameras which were never in use. Law enforcement learned of these nighttime activities only long after it was too late, when they'd been given the footage and had time to review it.

The fact that the gym door had opened from the inside was a point of intense interest because it indicated that someone in the high school, possibly a member of the janitorial crew or maybe even a coach or a teacher, had known these people were coming and prepared for it. Much fuss was being made over investigating the staff of Palm Valley High, but that was none of Vanessa's concern. She had her own criminal to worry about.

Entering her dark and dingy room, tossing the key onto the bedside table, and sinking onto the squeaking mattress, Vanessa closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She couldn't remember the last time she'd stayed in a motel (although she knew she had) but it hadn't been so long that she'd forgotten the abject depressiveness of them. This one was like any other: sagging bed, cigarette-stained walls, dated decor, unraveling carpet. It was clean, or at least it smelled of cleaner, so that meant something, and on her own, she didn't require amenities or luxury anyway. She'd spent enough time in rugged and remote areas to get over any pretension when it came to a place to stay.

Still, Vanessa wasn't going to stay in this room. Though night had settled in, every passing moment made it more likely the situation at Palm Valley would worsen. Eli would keep her updated on each development, but that didn't mean she could waste time. Her starting point? Dive bars, always the place to begin when one wanted local gossip and insight.