We watch as the Hummer diminishes in size and eventually fades away into the horizon.
I’m happy she’s gone.
But I’m concerned for Kade and Kelly.
In their faces I see: shock, confusion and hurt. The knowledge their parents could have staged their own death and abandoned them to work for a monster is a considerable burden.
……
We are outside, on our way to retrieve an envelope The Surgeon deposited under a rock before she departed, “I wanted to give this to you in person,” she said, before adding, “be kind to my husband, don’t keep him captive too long otherwise you’ll regret it.” She said. Her last sentence carried the threatening tone that she delivers so well.
......
We walk in silence. It’s not an awkward quiet, I feel comfortable enough with Kade and Kelly to understand and respect their thinking time.
……
I take in the landscape and for the first time I see a beauty in it’s broken, barren vastness.
The flash of another world flickers into my head: this place packed with smiling families riding rollercoaster’s and roundabouts, eating hot dogs and ice-cream. I see, hear and feel the vision Kade and Kelly’s parents had for this landscape and a shot of shame slaps me when I realize it’s my parents who may have pulled them from their dream.
......
Kade tears the envelope with a slow precise movement and removes a card. With a dismissive smile and head nods he hands it to Kelly; she does the same and hands it to me.
I look and linger a little longer – the black and white photograph shows a smiling Brogan, now Brigitte with his/her arms draped lovingly around Charlotte, now Charlie. It’s a forced and grotesque parody of a romantic union that should be the other way around. The accompanying words in a sweeping decorative font read: Please save the date for the wedding of Brigitte & Charlie. Full formal invitations to follow.
.......
On the way back, we stop at a huge metal frame like structure, the remaining shell of a storage building. Kade sits on the rusting remnants of a piece of machinery, “What you gonna wear to this wedding, Tan – a dress or a suit?” he asks.
The question surprises me on many levels, “Why would you ask that, you’re not thinking of going to this charade – are you?”
“Sure I am,” he looks at Kelly, “we need answers, sis,” he says. Kelly sits crossed leg on the cold concrete floor, “We need confirmation our parents are alive first, then we want answers,” she says this with a cautious voice; I can tell she’s still unsure of The Surgeon’s motives – that’s a good thing.
Kade dives onto the floor and begins a furious set of press-ups. He leaps back to his feet, strong and energized, “That’s why we gotta go to this wedding,” he says, jumping up onto a metal bar and doing an impressive set of pull-ups.
I’m worried the need to know about his parents has affected Kade’s judgment, “It’s most probably a trap, you know the score with my parent’s, Kade?” I say, in an effort to appeal to his rational side.
He drops back onto the floor, “Sure I do, but we have to takes risks, we can’t keep running from them, we have to confront it to stop it. I know I goofed up last time and nearly had my innards emptied, but this time, I’ll,” he circles Kelly and I with his finger, “we’ll be prepared,” he says with an enthusiastic air punch.
