Four Weeks - The Beginning

Eventful Non-Events

Matt and Rachel continued to sit by the lakeside. Matt was still experiencing a blitz of concerning thoughts, all coming in too fast, percolating through the neurons in his brain at an unsteady pace. Being from the Midwestern world of Minneapolis, there was a quality to the surrounding that immediately soothed his anxieties; the seemingly pristine water, the magic of the nature around, the uncomplicated, if slightly conservative – well, by American standards anyway – families having a wonderful time. It just seemed like the perfect get away spot, whether you were trying to get away from a hectic work life, bustling city activity, the dullness of a suburban atmosphere, a mysteriously inexplicable, serendipitous sequence of life changing events or a chaotic, tumultuous and seemingly unbreakable situation.

At this point, Rachel's primary concern was not to let Matt explode. She watched as Matt sat alongside her, looking lost, his face as sallow and lifeless as it was determined and focused. Rachel was as enamored of his fortitude as she was concerned for his health and well-being. She did, however, have a genuine desire to help Matt as of that moment, wafting somewhere around inside of her mind. Regardless of the kinds of pressure they had both been feeling, it was almost equally hard for both of them to maintain focus on the task at hand – waiting for Julian to make a slip, for her to shed some much needed light on whatever was going on.

Both of them kept their phones on the side.

'Matt, don't do this to yourself,' said Rachel, wishing he would nap.

'Huh?' Matt said, having barely been able to comprehend that – a rather slow response for which his lack of rest was responsible in part with a deep engagement in other thoughts.

'Hey, listen to me. Don't do this to yourself,' said Rachel, again.

Matt gave her a momentary, rather cursory look and then looked back ahead.

'How did you do it?' he asked.

'Do what?'

'Put the software on her phone?'

'Well, I went up to her as an anonymous detective when she arrived at the party. I said that since a Corino would be attending, I needed to check her phone to avoid risk of any kind of cyber threat and well, she gave it to me. It's not surprising considering how desperate she was to be there and find answers. It was probably the only thing on her mind. I'm sure all she took from what I had told her is that I wanted her phone and I'm pretty sure she gave it to me just to do away with the hassle she perceived, getting through,' said Rachel.

'Sounds like you really rode your luck there,' said Matt.

'Well, look on the bright side. At least we know God's on our side,' beamed Rachel.

'I wonder if there even is a God out there,' said Matt. 'Why would he let this happen? I mean they're perfectly good people and they're both still so young and should have had so much living ahead of them'

'Why? Why would God let something like this happen?' Matt reiterated his question as Rachel looked on at his fallen face.

'Well, maybe He has a bigger purpose for them, one that can only be fulfilled by this design. You know what? If we all just follow through on what we're expected to do about all of this, I feel like we will all end up learning something or taking away something enriching at the end of it,' said Rachel.

'Bull,' said Matt, dismissively.

'Matt, come on, let's just stay focused. Don't be morbid,' consoled Rachel.