Summers' Purpose

Chapter 3 (1996, flashback)

Y/n felt herself being laid down on a bed. She knew her father was tucking her in as she felt him pull the blanket over her before kissing her forehead. She missed her father dearly. It's been so long that sometimes it feels like she's losing her memory of him under all the repressed emotions. The way he would banter with her and Louis, how he'd laugh at the TV, how he'd talk gently with her mother, how he'd always wait with open arms for his family to welcome him home. Forgetting that and more felt like a living nightmare in itself for her. She refused to think about it, preferring to enjoy the moment she has with him while she still can.

She was slowly drifting into sleep until she heard a rather loud conversation from downstairs. She wanted to ignore it and go back to sleep but couldn't help caving in to her curiosity. She groggily got up, and opened her room door, only to see a sleepy Louis also peeking his head out his door across from her room.

"What's going on Louie?" she asked him quietly.

Louis looked at her, shaking his head. "I don't know y/n. I think mom and dad's just talking loudly. Maybe we should go back to sleep," he suggested.

Y/n almost agreed to his suggestion until she heard another man's voice, this time unfamiliar to her ears, speaking to their father. Y/n and Louis looked at each other, both hearing the same thing. Y/n proceeded to sneak out and walked towards the stairs with Louis whispering, protesting her actions.

"Y/n, go back to bed!" Louis said urgently, finally having to catch up to his little sister as she wasn't showing signs of stopping. He quickly sneaked up to walk in front of her.

"Y/n! What are you doing? Mom and dad's gonna be mad that we're not in bed at this time!" he tried to whisper to his sister.

Y/n ignored Louis and peeked through the stair banisters. She can barely see what's going on. The light from the TV and the dining area was the only thing illuminating the hallway leading to the front door so it was fairly dim. She can see the vague outline of someone near the front door. Louis finally joined beside her at the stair banister, distracted by the commotion as well.

"Come on Derek, won't you give your old friend a warm welcome?" the stranger's voice called out.

"I don't know what kind of warm welcome you'd expect when you show up at someone's doorstep in the middle of the night. Who are you and how did you find me?" Derek spoke in hushed tones, trying not to alert his wife and children to the unwanted visitor's presence. Or rather, it was the other way around. He'd give anything so that the person on his doorstep wouldn't know of his family's existence.

"Well, I just came here to collect on an old debt. A debt you owe me. Or rather, us," the man said, with a half-menacing smile, removing his gloves and placing them in his suit's front pocket. Derek shuddered when he saw the scar on the man's hand, recalling when he last saw a scar that prominent.

"I know who you are now. Yeah, I remember you. What do you want, huh? Tell me so we can end this quick," Derek said. The man smiled when he noticed Derek looking at his hand. Derek fought back his fear, remembering this man who sold him and his project out to their enemies. Jude. He was there when they took him in and used his invention against him. Derek regrets participating in the creation of the very object that holds his family's safety by a thin thread right now.

"Honey, who is that? It's pretty late to be having visitors, don't you think?" Jenny called out as she approached Derek when she heard the conversation from the kitchen. Derek gasped, realizing that Jude was looking at Jenny with a pleasantly surprised look. He could only look Jude in the eye, trying to conceal his emotions. Derek didn't dare look away for fear of betraying his own feelings. He cannot look weak right now or Jude will use it to his advantage. They always do so. They have no moral codes. He knew that from personal experience, something he hated looking back at.