The Winter Rivals

Chapter 11| Secrets

29th September 2008
"My gosh... I had no idea," my lip quivered gently. Mariam drew a slow breath, her fingers toying with the hem of her shirt, "I know... I know." The three of us were gathered closely on the forest green bed in my room, revisiting the footage from Mariam and Rowen's interview. She had already edited it and sent it off to Riera, leaving Tora and me as the last to view it.

"I can't even begin to imagine the way their father must have made them feel." Tora's hand hovered over her mouth, processing the newly discovered information. When Mariam posed the same questions I had asked Jess, his responses were raw but haunting. Throughout their upbringing, their father had projected the image of a perfect man, a 'family man,' a facade that couldn't have been further from the truth.

It brought back memories of my own childhood when everyone believed I was well cared for and loved, but eventually, they saw my parents for who they truly were. I shuddered, hitting the unpause button on the video. We sat quietly and continued to listen.

Rowen spoke, "Jess was eleven at the time, and I was ten. That was the age we were when our mother was diagnosed with arrhythmia and angina. We were oblivious to what was going on when we were at school or out with friends because she protected us from finding out. A few years later, she passed away. The angina had caused her to have many strokes leading up to her death, but the final cause was a heart attack. We only found out through the doctors after she had passed that all of the problems she faced were a result of brutal punches to the chest. It was our father who had done it. Jess has held a grudge ever since, and rightly so."

The footage came to an end. My cheeks were stained with salty tears, and I could barely find my voice. "I don't believe Jess did it," I croaked out, "I don't believe that after that, he would then leave Luke Quinn to die out there on that mountain." Mariam and Tora were silent, absorbing the weight of it all.

"The storm appears to be settling. Tomorrow, when we're back in Spiez, I'm going to make sure we work as hard as we possibly can to get his story out into the open. I can only hope we do him enough justice," Mariam gently wiped away my tears, her voice filled with determination and reassurance.

We spent that night huddled up in one bed. There were no light snores or whispered dreams spoken in our sleep. Instead, we lay awake restlessly, the video replaying in our heads, leaving us with nothing but the tragic story we had heard.

The Next Day

The majority of my morning had been spent half asleep, being tossed around in the passenger seat of Jess's car. During our sleepless night, Tora mentioned that a close friend of Rowen's had taken them back to Spiez to retrieve our things and Rowen's car. Consequently, instead of cramming into one car, we had no choice but to split up. Again.

"Elora?" Jess's voice rang through my drowsiness, awakening my brain.

"Jess?" I echoed childishly.

"Why do you look so tired this morning?" he inquired, eyebrows furrowing.

A grin so fake, I thought my face would crumble under the pressure, found its way onto my lips as I remembered what I'd learnt the night before. "Do you always observe my morning appearance so closely?" I teased, attempting to act as my regular self.

Jess let out a loud scoff, rolling his eyes playfully. "You wish, winter."

"Why on earth would I wish for somebody to prod me with their eyes when I've just woken up?" I threw him a pointed look.