𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐊 . . . 𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐭𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝

𝟐𝟒. 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨'𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤

24. guess who's back

season three, episode ten: the world closing in

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"God, he looks awful."

Nessa and Zach were sitting in Zach's bedroom before they had to go to school, scrolling through the latest edition of the Register, the county newspaper. This morning, the front page was a blown up picture of Clay Jensen, with the headline reading "PERSON OF INTEREST" in big, bold letters.

"Yeah, well how would you look if you were just named the person of interest in a murder, Zachary?" Nessa asked as she looked over at her brother, who was sipping his coffee with a judgmental look on his face.

"I would have at least brushed my hair." Zach retorted as he looked at the picture again. "Maybe closed my mouth a little."

"You are ridiculous." Nessa said as she shook her head. "I wonder how he's doing."

"Well, it's Clay, so." Zach said as he grabbed both of their backpacks and threw them on his shoulder, starting to head toward his door. "He's a bit erratic even in normal times."

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"Yeah, she texted me." Jessica told Clay in the library.

"Me, too." Nessa offered. "Said she wanted to check in and see how we were doing, or whatever."

It had barely been ten minutes that Nessa was in the library, cramming for a Physics test with Jessica when Clay barreled in, insisting on talking to the two girls. He was panicking about a text that he had received from Olivia Baker. Jessica and Nessa had received the same texts as well, around the same time. Both messages said about the same thing.

"And how is she doing?" Clay asked the girls, and they shrugged.

"Fine." Jessica told him. "I guess."

"Did she mention me at all?" Clay asked worriedly.

"A little bit." Nessa told him. "She asked how you were doing."

"Did she ask about Bryce?" Clay questioned, and Nessa knew where his mind was going. She didn't blame him, he was trying to get the heat off of himself.

"She very specifically did not mention Bryce, and we very much appreciated that." Jessica told the boy.

Clay nodded. "Uh, so what did you guys talk about?"

Nessa tensed up, remembering the conversation that she and Jessica had with Hannah's mother a few weeks ago. "A lot of things."

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"I like your look, Jessica." Mrs. Baker complimented the Davis girl as they walked along the docks, Nessa in tow beside them. "It's new."

"Right?" Nessa said as she looked Jessica up and down. "She's giving very much badass, which she is."

Mrs. Baker chuckled, a hearty smile on her face. "You look like a warrior, both of you."

"Do you girls remember when Hannah used to wear that green army jacket everywhere?" she asked, and Nessa nodded. She remembered that fondly. "I used to tease her. I'd ask her 'What war are you fighting?' Then I found out."

Mrs. Baker sniffled, looking over at the peaceful water. Nessa could tell she still held so much pain, and she hated that for her.

"Yeah, well." Nessa said to loosen the moment. "If it helps, we're still fighting."

Mrs. Baker looked over at the girls, a proud smile on her face. "It really does."

"Yeah, well it turns out this whole 'toppling the patriarchy' thing is um, totally hard." Jessica admitted, to which Nessa nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, well, you only have all of history ever working against you."

"True." Nessa muttered, and the women shared a laugh. "Sometimes, I feel like we are making a real difference, you know?"

"And then other times, I feel like we have changed nothing at all." Jessica finished for her.

"Yeah, but you two have changed." Mrs. Baker told the girls, stopping in her path. "And you two did it all right here, which is more than I can say for myself. I had to get the hell out of here."

Jessica and Nessa stepped in front of the woman, allowing themselves to stop and feel the breeze of the ocean beside them.

"I wouldn't have blamed either of you if you did, too." Mrs. Baker told them.

"Is it better?" Nessa asked the woman solemnly. "In New York? I've always wanted to move there."

"It's different." Olivia told her. "I mean, sometimes I'll find myself swept up entirely in this sea of people, this...this thing that's bigger than me. In those moments, I find that I have completely forgotten who I am and what happened. Other times, no matter how many thousands of miles away I am, I'm still here. Right back here."

"Why are you back here?" Jessica asked after a few moments of an emotional silence.

"Oh! The old house, we finally found a buyer for it." Mrs. Baker told the girls as they continued walking down the cement path. "It's not easy selling a house with that kind of...history, you know?"

"But, we closed on it last week so I'm here, signing paperwork, clearing things out, you know, taking care of some other...unfinished business."

"Well." Jessica said as she put her hand on Olivia's shoulder. "You seem great."

"Yeah, Mrs. Baker." Nessa agreed with a soft smile on her face. "Really, I'm so happy you reached out to us today."

"I'm not over it, though." Mrs. Baker admitted. "I had myself convinced that I was, that it had gone away, but being back here, selling that house. I'm still sad. I'm still so fucking angry."

She put her hands on both girls, giving them a sense of comfort. "But, you know, I prayed that it was different for both of you. Is it different?" she asked as she played with Jessica's hair and rubbed her hand against Nessa's shoulder. "Has it gone away?"

"No." both girls said at the same time.

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"Did she say what other business?" Clay asked.

"She didn't, and we didn't ask." Nessa said sharply.

"And what did she say about me?" Clay asked, circling back to himself yet again.

"She just asked if you were okay." Jessica told him. "You could just reach out to her, you know?"

"Yeah." Clay said as he nodded, looking concentrated. "I'm seeing her soon."

"Fantastic." Nessa said to him as she playfully tapped his arm. "You can ask her yourself."

"Yeah." Clay said as he got up from his seat, putting his backpack over his shoulder. "Will you tell Justin that I'm going to be home late tonight, Jess?"

Jessica's face faltered as she looked down at the table, a sad look in her eyes. "We're not talking. We broke up."

"What?" Clay asked, shocked.

"He said that he cheated on me, which Nessa and I do not believe. And that he's better off without me, which I don't get." Jessica explained, and Nessa leaned forward.

"The Justin Foley special, I'm telling you." Nessa told her. "He's full of shit."

"Oh, shit." Clay muttered as he sat back down. "There's something you need to know."