12. Emory's Tale

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I started at Emory in shock. I am sure my mouth had dropped so low that it hit the floor. I was in shock. I was frozen. I was confused, lost and scared all at the same time.

I had always had stability in my life. It was difficult for me to cope without it. I always knew what was going to happen. I had a routine and a plan for everything. It did not sit well with me to be faced with so much unknown. I hated the fact that I did not know anything about what was happening to me and around me.

Emory had started telling me a long story about my life. He mentioned things that I knew and things that I could not seem to remember. He had told me all about what my Unit Lessons  were about and what my training held. He also mentioned personal things about my life, things that had happened in my Home  life. There were all things that I never expected him to know. To think of it, I did not even think that Hope knew half of what he said. I was extremely confused as to why he knew all of this and that confusion was only increasing with every minute that went by as he spoke.

Everything he said seemed to be true. It just instinctively felt right and I could not understand why. He was in the middle of explaining what I had learnt at my tenth Excursion and test when I had no choice but to interrupt him.

"Emory...", I began.

He paused his sentence and looked at me. He was worried. I could see how tense and stressed he was but I knew I had to interject at some point or else we would be here all night.

I was still tired but at least I was not hungry. Emory had found an entire cabinet full of prepared powdered meals and had prepared them for us before beginning his story.

"How much longer is this story going to be?", I asked stifling a yawn.

He looked taken aback and shocked to say the least.

"Giana, this is your life we are talking about", he said pointedly.

"I know that, but why do we have to talk about this right now?", I snapped back.

Emory sighed. He looked at me and then looked down. He appeared as if he had given up. I did not want to feel relieved but I really needed to get some rest. I needed to sleep if I had any hope of getting through tomorrow successfully.

"Wait here", he said suddenly, whisking me out of my thoughts. 

He grabbed his backpack and started rummaging through it frustratedly. He pulled things out and searched frantically through it.

"Where are you?", he yelled at the bag.

I looked up at him, startled. What was he looking for? He continued to rummage around his backpack for a few minutes more. Then suddenly, out of absolutely nowhere. He started laughing to himself. He repacked his backpack and came and sat down at the table and dropped his head into his hands, still laughing to himself.

"Are you going to tell me what is so funny or continue to sit there laughing like a lunatic?", I said rolling my eyes.

He stopped laughing and looked up at me. He moved to get a cassette playing device and brought it to the table. He turned it on and then dug into his pocket for something.

"Yes!", he cried whilst pulling out a familiar looking cassette.

I stared at them curiously. They looked so very familiar but I just could not recognise where they came from.

"Giana?", Emory called.

I looked up at him apologetically and realised that I had been stuck in my thoughts again. 

He handed me the corded headphones that were attached to the cassette player. He smiled at me before inserting the cassette into the device player.

The cassette player started up with an even more familiar sounding whir. I stared at it in disbelief. Where had I heard that sound before?

Emory chuckled in response to my confused expression.

"You really are your mother's daughter", he said adoringly.

I froze. How did he know my mother? How did he know all of these things about my life? He seemed to sense my concern and put an arm around my shoulders comfortingly.

"It will be okay", he said reassuringly. "Just listen to what she has to say", he said quietly.

She? Who was 'she'? Why did I have to listen her? As if he could read my mind and could hear my hesitation, Emory took the headphones from my hands and gently placed them over my ears.

"Do not worry Giana. All your questions will be answered soon", he said quietly.

I wanted to argue. I wanted answers. I wanted to know what was going on. But most importantly, I was curious. Curiosity always got the better of me.

I took a deep breath and  focused my attention on the sounds coming from the headphone speakers. At first there was silence and infrequent surges of static sounds.

Emory took his seat across the table from me. He seemed nervous and kept shooting me concerned glances. I blocked out all the outer noises and distractions and instead focused on the static sound that was coming from the cassette player.

I was about to remove the headphones and just go to sleep when I heard a noise. As if on cue, a perfectly timed gentle and calm voice came emerged through the static frequencies of the headphones and through to my ears. I recognised the voice instantly and nearly jumped out of my own skin.

I had not heard her voice in what seemed like an eternity. Tears sprang to my eyes and my heart ached.

It was my mother, Anura.

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