Tyler Moore is sitting in my car, like a mass of bitterness. Although I am the older one, I don't know what to say in his situation. It is not my business after all. But seeing the fluttering curtain on the window, Jasmine Harris starts to remind me Vanessa Carpenter. I know the truth about this town, and this man doesn't . I have to tell him a few things. I can't do anything else.
"I don't want to tell you, what you should do." I finally start, and Tyler Moore watches me intently."But there are some things, you'd better know about, before you make a decision. Look around! Do you see this town? It looks like the quietest, most peaceful place in the world, and it seems every child is growing up in safety, and in loving, caring families. But this is the facade. Everything around is fake. Under the surface, the ugliest, the scariest things are happening. It is not visible. You won't see them, if you just visit this town, but those things are exist, and nobody could go against them. Nobody. This community is really cruel."
"My sisters haven't say word about suspicious things..." Tyler Moore becomes white from the shock.
"Your sisters aren't here long enough to experience them. Furthermore the Harris' and the Savages are shielding them for a while. But in the not so distant future the community's true face will show itself to them."
"Are they in danger?" The brother stutters from fear.
"No." I shake my head. "They are not in danger, death are rarely happens, but happens. I think they are already caught by the net, and it seems they will easily accept this life. They are not in danger physically."
"Sylvia..."
"Sylvia Harris is the part of the community. You cannot save her."
"Jasmine?"
"Well, Jasmine Harris is a poor girl. I don't think, that she is in danger now, because she is used as a bait for you. They want to capture you. You know, why."
"I have already known this much. I don't want to stuck here. So she is just a bait. What will happen to her, when I refuse Sylvia's request?"
"You know about Jasmine Harris' behavior. It is totally unacceptable for this community. That's why her real father have been revealed. They don't care what will happen to her, the Harris' only want to save their ass. I seems nobody wants Jasmine Harris, so she is soon become a disposable being."
"You are wrong. How can she be disposable, like a dirtied towel? She is a human, a living being!" Tyler Moore is getting shocked by my words.
"What I am saying is fact. I've already told you, that this town is hell itself, despite of the look. You don't know about the local community's inner laws. If somebody is disposable in their eyes, that one will be outcasted by the community."
"Outcasted?"
"The person's presence will be not wanted."
"It is not the dark, medieval age! The communities nowadays are not so rigid." he replies with disbelief in his voice.
"But we are speaking about this town."
"Okay, so outcasted means, that the family has to move from this town?"
"The person has to move from this town. Only the unwanted person. For a facility with bars on the window, or to the other world, either is fine for this community. An unwanted person has to be eliminated."
"Jasmine? She is a little child after all..."
"Are you willing to bring her with you?" I ask him, but I know the answer.
"I can't. If I would bring her home, me and my family would become the toy of Sylvia. She would destroy my loved ones."
"Yes. You are right. So that girl will probably die in the not so distant future. When it will be revealed, that her existence will not have benefits for her family anymore."
Tyler Moore is stunned. He doesn't really believes me from the start, but this information is beyond his boundaries. My face is straight, so it freaks him out.
"Could you help her?" He ask me desperately. I shake my head.
"No. I am not in the position to help her. I, myself is just a small tool in their hands. Small but somewhat important, so I have a bit of room for maneuvering. But your daughter is out of my reach. Otherwise, I have my own problems, and solving it is so risky, that I deplete all of my sources. Sorry, but I don't have enough energy and courage to save Jasmine Harris. If you could find a way for her not staying here, but not even staying with you, her life will be saved. Otherwise..."
"She will be dead."
"Within a year, judging by the circumstances."
Silence. Neither of us could say a word. Tyler Moore is sitting desperately, but his exhaustion is obvious. He is trembling. He is tired, and needs a good sleep.
"I am sorry to tell you bad news."
"How could you be so calm?"
"I am a doctor. I have had to do worse things. I had to see too much unwanted life to vanish into nothing, and I was always unable to help them. I ended up. Could you do the same?"
He doesn't answer.
"Come in, sleep a bit. Maybe it will be better after some rest."
He nods, and submissively follow me to the house. Vanessa is not shown, so I guide him to the attic, to Ivo's room. I promise him to wake him up in time tomorrow, and leave him alone.
"Why did you bring him here?" Vanessa asks, when I find her in the darkest corner of my bedroom.
"He has problems."
I answer to my daughter. She is also trembling, but this is from fear, not from rage. We have to wait for Tyler Moore to fall asleep, before I could get her cast off. We sit down in the kitchen, and eat a late dinner. Vanessa made a fruit pie in the afternoon. It is my favorite sweets, so I become a bit happy, and it makes her smile. I wish… I don't want to wish. Wishing her to stay here is forbidden. I have to send her off.
"Don't worry, the recovery requires some time." I console her, when she carefully watch her bare left arm after getting off the cast. "You've had it for six weeks, so the muscles are wilted a bit. Tone them back, before you start your carrier as a fighter."
"Some time? How many days to be precise?" She asks me desperately.
It is not my day, I could tell only bad news all day.
"Six to eight weeks." Vanessa doesn't say a word, but her face shows her emotions. Frustration and bitterness. "Don't mind! You have to find a stable work, and collect some money to start the real training. Those ones requires time. Two months will be enough, so you will be able to train your left arm properly."
Before she could get frustrated, I send her to bed. I collect her clothes, and make a pack from them. She can't leave them here. Vanessa is already sleeping, when I return to my bedroom. She has been always a good sleeper! The moon dimly lit the room, I sit down to the bed, and admires in her sleeping face. It is said, that when you are in despair, the nights are especially long. They are wrong. This night is the shortest one in my life.
It lasts for a minute, and I have to wake Vanessa up, and send her to take a bath, and doing the same with Tyler Moore. I make breakfast, and pack two boxes of lunch for them, to ease my nervousness. Put hot tea into thermo bottles, and water and make two big packs of food for my daughter and Tyler Moore. I don't know why I give him food, but I give him. Like this could save my daughter from the evil. Vanessa arrives first, sits down, and starts to eat the food, like a machine. Tyler Moore comes down to second, and his face shows his surprise, when he notices Vanessa. But he doesn't say a word, just sits down, and start eating.
"Jazz!" I say out loud my daughter's new name, and put down a small muffin to the table. I stick a candle to the top and lit it. "Happy birthday! Blow, and wish something!"
"My wishes never come true." She opposes me in a weak, crying voice.
"Maybe this time is different!"
She closes her eyes, have a big breath, and blows the candle.
"Happy birthday!" Tyler Moore and I wish her in unison.
"How old are you?" He politely asks my daughter.
"18" Jazz answers him after a long time.
"So you have become an adult." Tyler Moore smiles at her, but she doesn't reciprocate. She is tensed.
But we don't have time to ease her tenseness, or delay the departure. We have to go to the station. We put the bags, and the persons to the car. Vanessa lies down on the back seat, not to be shown herself to anyone, who is awake in this early hour, and slowly chews the birthday muffin. We arrive to the train, when she gets the last bite.
"Dad! I don't want to go!" She cries.
I also don't want it, but I can't ask her to stay. I mustn't. I have to send her anyway. I have to be the adult now.
"Jazz, come and get your bags!"
I reply, and she obeys to my harsh voice. Tyler Moore helps us with the bags and walks a bit farther from us, to leave some private space.
"Take a good care of yourself, okay?" I ask my daughter, and hug her. She is trembling. "Don't call me, just when it is life-threatening."
"Dad..."
"My thoughts and prayers are always with you!"
We don't have more time, the train stops at the small station. Tyler Moore, and Jazz get on the old vehicle. Jazz opens the door and we holds each other's hand for while. While we could do that. A whistle, and the train starts to go.
"Mr. Moore, please take care of her to the capital." I ask the man behind her, and run along the train just to hold my daughter's hand for a second more… But the speed of train increases, and I have to release her hand. In the next moment I just watch the scenery, where it is vanished.