Attached [Rewritten Version]

22. Truth be told

Monday, October 17th, 2016

It had only been three weeks. Three. Short. Weeks. Since they had gone into the woods despite all warnings.

By now, Sid could not even imagine not having a ghost following him around all day, every day. He could not picture himself in a carefree life any longer. All he did, was go to school, research the woods and all weird events connected to it, pay extra attention during History and scan his surroundings non stop, since the dark entity seemed to be lurking around every second of every day.

It just did not dare to come any closer whenever he was accompanied by Angela or Annika.

That Monday, however, he was on a mission, and scanning his surroundings was forgotten. Not that it mattered, as Angela was dutifully shadowing him every step along the way.

He waited for the class to settle and for Mr. Brightwaters to take attendance, wondering if he should just ask about the possible second child of Baywick, or to wait for the right moment.

Mr. Brightwaters started by explaining more about the group presentation they were supposed to give later that year, writing down all subjects chosen. It was the fourth group's topic that woke him from his train of thoughts. As they mentioned the school Elizabeth started—which was an early establishment of the school they were currently attending—he saw his opening.

"Mr. Brightwaters?" he asked while Mr. Brightwaters wrote down the topic, "do you know anything about Thomason's second daughter?"

Davy smirked, Cory hastily grabbed a pen and paper, clearly not expecting him to ask the question in that moment.

"Baywick's second daughter?" Amara asked confused, skimming her notes on anything about the topic. "Baywick only had one daughter, Elizabeth."

"Plenty of rumours throughout history say he was having an affair, and even had a daughter with another woman," Sid countered, staring daringly at Mr. Brightwaters, "Do you think it's true, sir?"

He flashes a small, proud-like smile. He always encourages his student to be critical thinkers, question events in history and me sceptical about sources. "I know there are indeed a lot of stories out there stating the fact Thomason Baywick wasn't true to his wife, especially after she fell ill," he confirmed while nodding, pushing his glassed back up his nose before he continued, "However, it was never proven. Nor the affair, nor a second child. But Lucia Baywick herself is mentioned as a source of those rumours. Again, unconfirmed. But this isn't important for today's class..."

"But, it is." Sid said, cutting him short, preventing him from fully ending the discussion. "If it is part of our history, I think we should know about it to know as much as possible during our tests."

"Mr. Hayes, I can assure you, Thomason Baywick's rumoured affair isn't going to show up in any of your tests."

"So, it isn't part of history?" Sid asked, trying to push him to spill more. He clearly knew more. He just didn't want to spend class talking about it. "Or is it something we yet again sweep under the rug, like all bad things?"

"Like all bad things?" Mr. Brightwaters, who had just grabbed the papers for today's class, placed them back down again.

"The fact that Baywick might have been innocent in those accidents. The fact twelve people decided on taking faith into their own hands and kill him in a horrible way. If you think about it, people of this town almost literally swept that one under the rug by placing Hunter's Lodge on top of the remnants of his burned down house..."

Sid stopped listing secrets in their history, since he too had no idea where the information came from. Was Hunter's lodge actually built on top of Baywick's former cabin? And how would he know? Angela was staring at him strangely, and Cory had stopped writing altogether with his mouth slightly open in surprise. Davy sent him a questioning look.

"Someone has been doing his homework," Mr. Brightwaters replied amused, visibly pleased with the amount of knowledge Sid had gathered on the topic. If only he knew why he had such an interest in the topic.

"Could you reward my extensive search by filling in the missing pieces?" he asked, deciding on ignoring the fact he somehow pulled information out of thin air, just knowing it didn't matter where he got it from; he felt like it was the truth.

He held his breath for a short while, staring at Sid intently. It was like he was contemplating whether or not Sid was worth the effort of telling. But then, he nodded, once, twice, sat on the corner of his desk and crossed his arms. "A short summary. If anyone wants to know more about the topic, I suggest you take notes for further research." Then, he sent Sid a look, like he knew exactly why Sid was asking about it. He even looked a little worried. "Thomason Baywick supposedly had an affair during the last three years of Lucia Baywick's life. During her sickbed. Supposedly, in one of her delirious states, she confined in one of her friends, how this other woman had been in their life ever since they moved here, but when it started was never really clear. She did claim she had already met the other daughter of Baywick, and she was around Elizabeth's age. This would mean Baywick had the affair before even moving here, which is why the story was never truly looked into; the timelines seem to miss align."

"So there was never mention of a name for this woman?" Amara asked curiously, clearly writing everything down.

"If the affair took place in Lucia's last years, people mentioned one woman; Jessabelle Conrad. If it happened before, three woman are mentioned, since they had all been pregnant around the same time Lucia was; Corina Fernandez, daughter of the local butcher, Morena Middleton, daughter of a local carpenter, and again, Jessabelle Conrad."

"Which means it could be both, "Sid mumbled, finishing his writings before he continued, "he could have been with this Jessabelle, had a child, moved to the area for them, and restarted the affair when Lucia became ill."

This time, Mr. Brightwaters didn't even hide the fact he was proud of him. "Which is the most sought-after theory. But do keep in mind that the child Jessabelle had was left at the local church, and Jessabelle left the area. Him moving here for her didn't make sense."

"What happened to the children of the other two woman?"

"They were all unmarried, and back then it was not done to have sex before marriage. Corina gave her child up for adoption too and left town as well, while Morena married another man who claimed to be the childs father."

"Wait, isn't Morena Middleton the woman who married Edward Miller? Their son founded the Rhodes Mill?" Amara perked up, "which means technically it could be their daughter who is actually Baywick's daughter?"

"Wouldn't that mean Elizabeth married her brother?"

"Anthony didn't share blood with her. His sister might have," Cory chimed in, "this actually makes a mess of our history if that's true."

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|| "Those who do not remember the past, are condemned to repeat it" ||

— George Santayana

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