South Days

Missing Parents

Desmond and I almost got caught again. I think it's my fault but he keeps blaming his stupidity, prolly just to make me feel better. Even though it was out of place of the scolding he gave before when we first tried to find Mom and Dad.

Desmond said he knew exactly where they would be, it would be a walk in the park through a deep dark hallway with blinking lights.

We walked in silence for a bit... I don't know where these questions I asked him came from but I had to get my nosiness out of me.

"So uh, about you and Clarissa..."

"Oh um, yeah she looks older than I do right? I'd say she's about... 13, 16 years older? I don't know but somewhere around there really. Before Wilmington took office they'd let us not suffer here for a long time, we'd go home and rest for up till about a week. So, I saw Clarissa... As a lonely woman. Like, I felt she needed someone in her life. Felt weird for a man my age to ask an older woman like her out but I felt it was right being there for her. Eventually, one thing lent to another, things and other things I'd rather not talk about heh... We got married."

"But... How come she didn't know that you were not actually-"

"Oh, that well ahem, I wanted to get out of here... So I did what I had to do. She didn't want to take care of me because of this place, so she put me in that retirement home. I can admit though; for my age, I have gone off the deep end. I got to know your parents very well before that, your Dad was one real worker, so was your Mom but I think the reason I still worked for more years was your Dad. We'd get in trouble just for hanging out and slacking even though your Dad wasn't up for that but I still got to him. It was thanks to his smart mouth we'd get away with almost anything. I would have rather taken care of the mess in Somalia. None of you guys deserved to come back here..."

If he was special or crazy he'd think they should have come back here sooner. What I'm hoping for is that we get out of here sooner. There were bugs and many other questionable things we saw as we walked through the hallway. We reach a rusty old door that was left open a crack.

"If you're wondering why I know you're parents are here well, this was our secret hang out spot. It sucks but it was the only place to get away and relax. They have to be here."

We open the door. It was nothing but silence and darkness. Desmond struggles to find a light switch.

"C' mon its usually right here... There we go!"

We say a hand pop-out behind an old desk, no signs of anyone. We rushed to see who it was, it's Maria.

"Oh no, hey! Maria! Are you okay?!" Desmond asked as he picked here up shacking her. I yelled at him to stop and then he remembered what happened to her, at least it worked.

"Oh I'm so sorry I forgot what happened- Maria are you awake? What happened here?"

"They... They took them."

"Ren's parents? Did they say where they're going?

"They said they were going to a scary place "Ark"."

"Oh no. C' mon! We need to hurry!" Desmond says as he carries Maria in his arms.

"What if it's a trap!?"
"Trap or not we need to save them, I'm willing to give my own life if I have to. Your parents are what's important here, let's go!"

We ran all the way back to that big door Desmond tried to open earlier. The same ARK sign is written on top.
Except for this time, it was completely open. It was just as big as Somalia but without the messiness and other disturbing things I'm glad I didn't mention while we were there.