The Cult of Silence (Complete)

Chapter Five: Victory is Possible

"This is crazy," Shannon says staring in awe at the feed. "How should we handle this?"

"I don't know, however, I already see one; well two problems," Jared says.

Tomo's shoulders slump, he was inspired by Jared's words before the broadcast. He looks guilty at the Twitter feed, "What is the problem?"

"We all need sleep, but we need to begin reading these. First problem, not enough hands or should I say eyes. The second is," he swipes his thumbs up his screen sending the comments scrolling fastly upward. As much as he wants to trust people there are those who can make up good and legit stories. Jared wants to make sure that he help get the ones who really have no means of getting to L.A. on their own. "How do we know if they actually telling the truth about their inability to reach L.A.?"

"That's easy." A voice sounds behind them.

The band turns to see Arvin standing there.

"Hi, don't tell me we got you fired?" Jared asks.

He shakes his head looking out of breath, "Quite the opposite actually. You opened my eyes to the harsh and mean reality that is journalism; exposing the weakness in people and making up falsehood to spruce up a news report or to steal ratings. My dream was to bring people truths, for the last six years I have been field reporting. Telling the truth have gotten me nowhere; not the message I want to send to my kids." Arvin stops with a slightly horrified expression on his face, "sorry, listen to me rattle on. How to tell if people are telling the truth? Since you have chosen to use the Twitter platform. In the public sector your fans a can only Tweet with 280 words, just enough to get your attention. While in direct messages, the word count is longer. Here are a few ways to help you pick out truth tellers from the stories tellers." Arvin stops himself, he hears some commotion from the right.

Tomo hears it as well. It is a large group of people coming toward them, "Jared? Should we retire inside somewhere."

Jared lazily followers Tomo's gaze to the approaching group, he feels suddenly very weak. He knows he should be running away but he can't move, "Shannon," Jared says as he stumbles into him, "we need to get back to the hotel."

Shannon looks that the brilliant eyes, still very bright and very aware. Seeing this helps him relax, "Alright, little brother. Sleep," Shannon says picking his brother up in a bridal carry. "Tomo, Arvin, come on."

Once inside Tomo's room, Shannon lays his sleeping brother on the bed, in the tiny room to the right of the living room just as they walk into the room. Shannon smiles when he sees Jared roll to his side and curls into a ball, something else that reminds him of childhood. A simpler, easier time; before back out to join the other two in the living room. He whispers, "Love you, Jared." The image of Jared dying right in front of him flashes again, causing tears again.

"Shan, you okay?" Tomo asks.

Shannon nods and waves it off as he walks to the bathroom to splash water on his face. Also to get a drink he is getting a headache, not to mention he is starving. After down four small cups of water, he looks at Arvin, "Well?" Shannon asks.

Arvin has been seemly to be daydreaming, "What?" He asks shaking his head in attempts to focus.

"You were going to tell us how to pick out the fakers, right?"

"Right," Arvin says.

"Okay, as you talk I am going to order room service. Hungry?"

Shannon orders food for all of them including Jared.

"How to tell the truth tellers from fakers? If indeed, there is something really troubling going on. Truth tellers will be more reserved about what is going on; as for the fakers will come out on it full voice. Within the full out voice ones, look closer at the writing. If the writing if not punctuated and seemingly to be a wordy mess, these are the fakers. If the writing is punctuated and not full of shorthand writing, this means that this person wants to tell. But is worried about sending so they read it over and over again until they send it. Also, truth tellers will always put others needs before them." Arvin explains.