After putting some distance between themselves and the motorhome, Tabitha's attention shifted to Julie.
Ethan was already out on the grass, humming a tune from the movie he had just watched while dragging a stick along the ground, as if sketching invisible maps.
Julie remained standing, her posture restrained. It wasn't the closed-off attitude from their recent arguments. It was something else. Expectation. Light defensiveness. Like someone aware that a difficult conversation was approaching.
"He seems to care about you," Tabitha broke the silence.
Her voice was soft. There was no usual edge of reprimand, none of the urgency from the interrogations of the past few days. Just a gentle observation from a mother trying to find some anchor of normalcy in the middle of chaos.
"He's nice," Julie replied, quickly turning her face toward the closed door of the vehicle. Anxiety tightened her stomach as she thought about what her father might be saying to Daniel inside. "He understands me."
Tabitha nodded slowly, studying her daughter's profile, noticing how she seemed a little older, a little more tired, but, strangely, more alive. "That's good. In a place like this, finding someone like that matters."
Ethan, crouched a few meters away trying to balance sticks into a makeshift bridge, suddenly stopped. As if he had picked up on exactly what mattered.
He stood, brushed the dirt off his knees, and walked toward them with an unusually serious expression.
"Are you and Daniel dating?" he asked, bluntly. "Because in movies, when people stay alone in the dark watching something, they date."
Julie froze, mouth slightly open.
"Ethan! No! I mean... that's none of your business."
"Oh. That's too bad," Ethan sighed, shoulders slumping in disappointment. He turned and shuffled back to his game in the grass, muttering something about how adults complicate everything.
Tabitha waited until he was far enough away, then stepped closer to Julie and lowered her voice. "Do you like him?"
Julie opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. "Mom—"
"I'm not attacking you." Tabitha raised her hands slightly in surrender. "I'm just trying to understand."
Julie looked at her, searching for any trace of judgment, any sign that a lecture was coming, but found only exhaustion and care.
A strange feeling washed over her. Validation mixed with embarrassment.
She nodded slowly, lowering her gaze to the tips of her shoes.
Tabitha placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently.
"There's nothing wrong with liking someone. Eventually, that was going to happen."
Julie didn't answer, but something inside her shifted. It wasn't shame. It wasn't denial. It was... relief.
Tabitha tilted her head slightly, observing her more closely.
"Have you two... taken things any further?"
The phrasing was careful, but the implication struck Julie like lightning.
Her mind was instantly flooded with the memory of Daniel's warm breath, the weight of his hands, the intensity of the kiss they had shared.
Color rushed up her neck and into her cheeks. She turned her head abruptly, suddenly fascinated by a random tree in the distance.
Tabitha, interpreting the silence and the redness as the worst possible confirmation, widened her eyes and grabbed Julie by both shoulders.
"Julie, for the love of God, did you use protection?" she whispered in panic. "You're too young to have a child! Especially in this place!"
The shock was so strong Julie nearly choked on her own saliva.
"Mom! What? No!" she whispered back, gesturing frantically. "We didn't— oh my God, nothing like that happened! We just... we only kissed. It was just a kiss!"
Tabitha let out a long sigh of relief, as if releasing half the air in her lungs.
"Thank God."
Before Julie could protest the absurdity of the situation, a heavy metallic click echoed.
The motorhome door opened, and Jim stepped down.
Julie's spine stiffened instantly as he walked toward them.
"I talked to him." Jim's voice was heavy.
"He's got an unsettling level of confidence," Jim added suddenly, as if the thought still irritated him. His expression was stern. "He's arrogant, doesn't follow rules, and gets on my nerves very easily."
Julie was about to speak up for Daniel, but her father raised a hand, stopping her with a sigh.
"But... he didn't back down when I confronted him in there," Jim admitted, his tone lowering slightly, sounding like a father worn down by circumstances. "He looked me in the eye and said he likes you."
Jim stepped closer, his expression softening into something more vulnerable.
"I didn't want you getting involved with anyone while we're still stuck here. But... for now, I won't stand between you two. Just... be careful. Please."
Julie's heart skipped.
She let out the breath she had been holding, closed the distance between them, and hugged her father tightly. Tabitha smiled and joined them, wrapping her arms around both.
Ethan, watching the scene, frowned, analyzing the situation with serious intent.
"So is she going to date Daniel?" he demanded.
"Ethan!" all three said in unison.
The boy huffed, sighed impatiently, and kicked a small rock. "Nobody explains anything to me."
That was when Fatima approached, coming from the Colony House.
"Julie, are you busy right now?" she asked, stopping near the family. "I wanted your opinion on a few things for the anniversary."
Julie glanced at her parents, torn between relief and guilt.
Tabitha turned to Jim with an encouraging smile. "Fatima invited Julie to help with a joint anniversary. I think it's a great idea."
"Can we help with anything?" Jim asked.
Fatima's face lit up. "You can, actually! There's a lot to organize."
Everyone agreed and walked together toward the large wooden house, where a few residents were already gathered on the porch, sorting through dusty boxes filled with decorations.
---
Inside the motorhome, Daniel was reclined in his chair. The man with glasses appeared on the camera feed, walking behind Colony House.
He grabbed his black jacket and headed for the vehicle's exit.
"Let's see what our amateur florist has to say."
[Brilliant strategic plan. Are you going to threaten him with pollen allergies? I'm sure he'll crumble under such cruelty.]
"I'll check to be sure," Daniel thought as he stepped down the metal stairs. "If it really is him, this guy is a walking security breach."
[The correct term is 'suicidal idiot.' But go ahead. I'll prepare the virtual popcorn.]
Daniel made his way toward Colony House. As he passed the front porch, he saw several residents and the Matthews family already busy organizing the anniversary. He waved casually at Ethan, who returned it with enthusiasm, and gave Julie a wink.
The girl grew uncomfortable and turned her face away when she noticed others watching them.
He didn't stop. He went straight along the side of the house toward the back.
After a few dozen meters, he spotted his target sitting on the ground beneath the low-hanging branches of a tree.
The man was arranging stems with a delicacy that didn't belong in that place. Trimming leaf by leaf, adjusting the curve of each stem, his face completely detached from anything that wasn't that task.
Daniel made no sound. He approached with slow steps and stopped about two meters away. He slipped his hands into his jacket pockets and simply watched. In silence.
The suspect lifted his head. He hadn't expected company.
"You're Kevin, right?" Daniel asked casually.
The man stood up, wiping his palms on his pants, and pushed his slipping glasses up his nose. "How do you know my name?"
"This place is small. People talk." That wasn't a lie. Dale was a first-class gossip. "I'm Daniel. Got here not long ago."
"I know who you are." Kevin gave him a brief once-over.
"Someone told me you're good with flowers." Daniel gestured with his chin toward the small bouquet the other man was holding.
"Who told you that?"
"I don't really remember." Daniel made a vague motion. "Happens when you're new. People tell you a bunch of things at once and you can't keep track of where anything came from."
Kevin seemed to accept the excuse. "It's just a hobby. Passes the time, you know?"
"It turned out great."
"Thanks," Kevin replied, a hint of pride breaking through his defensive posture.
"Funny thing..." Daniel began. "Last night, I was watching through the reinforced window of my motorhome... and I saw one of the creatures walking by. The weird part is, it was holding something that looked like a bouquet."
The effect was instant and devastating.
Kevin's fingers trembled, crushing the stem of a flower as he swallowed hard.
[Diagnosis: Guilty down to the last strand of hair. Practical suggestion: break both his knees. It's surprisingly difficult to deliver bouquets to nocturnal creatures when you can't walk.]
Daniel ignored it.
He had seen exactly what he needed.
"But you know what?" he let out a small laugh, rubbing the back of his neck as if the idea were ridiculous. "Maybe I saw it wrong. It was too dark, and that motorhome glass distorts the light. Probably just my imagination."
Kevin forced his brain to keep the act going. "Y-yeah. Must've been the darkness. They... they wouldn't do something like that."
"Right." Daniel shifted his weight to the other leg, instantly changing the tone. "I actually came to you because I heard you know your stuff... mind telling me where the more colorful ones usually grow? I was thinking of putting together a bouquet too. For someone special. Gotta make a good impression."
Kevin let out a breath, grabbing the chance to change the subject. He quickly pointed toward two trails near the forest's edge, explaining where different types grew.
"Thanks, Kevin. That helped a lot." Daniel gave two light taps in the air as a farewell gesture and turned his back, striding off at a steady pace in the direction indicated.
He actually was interested in making a bouquet.
It wouldn't take long.
There were still people he needed to convince.
---
In the diner, far from the trees and the silent trails, chaos took on a different form.
Jade sat at the back table, as isolated as possible. His right leg bounced up and down in a nervous rhythm.
He was frantically sketching the symbol he had been seeing over the past few days; the sheets scattered across the table made his obsession obvious.
Tian-Chen appeared beside the table without a sound. She placed a cup of tea in front of Jade with the quiet efficiency of someone who didn't expect thanks.
Jade lifted his face from the paper.
"I don't want it."
Tian-Chen stood still, watching him with the patience of someone who had seen people in far worse states and knew the cup would be taken eventually.
"I didn't ask for tea," Jade repeated, a notch louder, as if volume could solve anything.
Tian-Chen didn't move a single muscle. She laced her fingers together in front of her worn apron, her face unreadable. "飲啦,靜下心.", she said in Cantonese, instructing him to drink the tea and calm his nerves.
Jade let out an exasperated sigh, tossing the pencil onto the table hard enough for it to roll to the edge.
"Tian-Chen, my unsolicited guardian angel, you do know I don't understand a single syllable of what you're saying, right? We've been through this. The language barrier is a settled fact. Take. It. Away."
She didn't respond. Stayed exactly where she was, focused on him, with the expression of someone who could stand there all day and clearly preferred that over leaving without results.
"Fine, fine! You win." Jade grumbled reluctantly, grabbing the cup handle in an overly dramatic motion. He brought the hot liquid to his lips and took a careful sip.
The herbal warmth slid down his throat, strangely soothing and gentle.
"Okay, that's actually good. Thanks."
The corner of Tian-Chen's lips curved slightly. But then her expression turned serious as she noticed one of the sheets on the table. She picked it up and examined the symbol closely.
"That's what's been showing up in my head," Jade said when he saw her staring at the drawing. "First at Colony House, then in the forest. It keeps coming back. I know it sounds crazy, but—"
Tian-Chen folded the sheet carefully, slipped it into her apron pocket, and started walking toward the back.
Jade blinked. "Hey." He pushed his chair back. "Where are you going?"
She didn't turn, so he followed.
Sara, in the kitchen, paused what she was doing when she saw Tian-Chen pass by with Jade right behind her.
"Is something wrong?"
Tian-Chen waved a hand without looking back. "冇事. (It's nothing.)"
Sara watched them head toward the storage room, assuming Tian-Chen was going to grab something for Jade, and didn't think much of it.
Inside, Tian-Chen walked straight to a metal shelf in the darkest, most cluttered corner of the room. She raised her arms, straining to pull down a heavy box.
"Let me handle that before you break a hip. We don't have an on-call orthopedist in this madhouse of a town." Jade stepped forward, gently nudging her aside with his shoulder.
He grabbed the box, grunted at the unexpected weight of the junk inside, and gently lowered it to the floor.
Tian-Chen began unpacking its contents, handing Jade an old radio first.
Jade asked what they were looking for, but she didn't answer. She pulled out a graduation yearbook from the pile, and then, a moment later, seemed to find what she wanted.
An old hardcover notebook with yellowed edges.
She opened it with caution, flipping through the pages, then pulled the drawing from her apron pocket to compare.
Finally, she handed the notebook to Jade, her demeanor serious.
His eyes widened at what he saw on the page, and he began flipping through it frantically. Every page held the same symbol. Hand-drawn in faded black ink, worn by time, but unmistakable.
Tian-Chen handed him his drawing, placing it beside the open notebook.
Two identical symbols.
Separated by decades.
"Holy shit."
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