He Was Right

Emma and Leo ***

“I really do not know what we can do, Leo. I am scared. These files. So much violence, so much mystery, so many children impacted. We are talking about serious crimes here – human trafficking, in fact Leo! Single unavoidable truth. He is a monster. He must be! There is no other explanation for this, surely, you must agree”, I stated feverishly, even though I heard much protesting from my inner voice on this topic. She somehow disagreed, despite it all, she somehow still thought that Mr. Locke deserved trust and urged me to reconsider my opinions. I however, could not focus – I had all my alarm bells dinging in my head. Leo looked over the files Ro and Myra brought over. The evidence surely looked condemning, but my brother, a kind, considerate soul as always, had his doubts. “I am not sure what to think, Emma. There is a lot here, that much is true. But a lot of this can be conjecture – there is not a single shred of real evidence, not a single firsthand story. With the number of these stories, surely there would be at least one???? No??? These are all third-party stories, and some guesswork if you will. Is it perhaps possible that he has placed those children in some type of a protective program??? Also, I do not think we should be too quick to condemn him just because his companies are somehow on paper tied to this. How do we even know this has something to do with him directly???” A shadow passed over his handsome face. I could tell he was apprehensive; I could tell he did not know what to say, but as usual, he wanted to see the best in people. He had a connection of some kind to Mr. Locke, this much was clear to me. I could see how he reacted to him, how his eyes lit up, how he relaxed around him, how he smiled readily. I guess I could not blame him. After all, we never knew our father and grew up without that influence in our lives.

“Emma, these stories, these poor children, they all come from horrible backgrounds, abusive experiences, tragic upbringings. What if he was protecting them like he is doing to us?? In a way, we are also hidden from the world and look at our own history, look at what happened to us? I mean, I understand your suspicions, but he has been nothing but kind to us, and has done nothing but help us” Leo was further reasoning with me, his hand going through his tasseled hair nervously, convincing himself and me at the same time.

Of course, I had considered all of this to be a possibility. I had considered so many different possibilities, so many options, in fact that I was getting lightheaded, and my head was swimming with ideas. Part of me wanted to believe that this was some type of a deception, or perhaps that this was some type of a misunderstanding… perhaps. However, what possible reason would Myra have to trick me? To lie to me? To us? We grew up together, lived together, laughed together, shared our dreams and fears, shared childhood and were lifelong friends. I trusted Myra with my life. “We should trust Myra Leo. I am sure she had her reasons for bringing us this information, and we all know that she loves us and wants to protect us. Both her and Nick. They always had.” My brother’s green eyes were looking at me intently, his handsome face etched with worry. I was trying to figure out what he really thought of all this, as his energy was pulsating strangely, unlike I had seen it before. The thoughts of our childhood were playing between us, the sounds of water echoed in my mind and reminded me of the camping trips Myra and Nick’s parents would take us on every year. We always had a blast. As a family, we never had much, but they always treated us as their own. I remember the camping cabin fondly – it was modest, sitting on the edge of this tiny lake adjacent to the woods. The cabin was rustic, one master bedroom and two tiny, tiny rooms we kids shared – I always bunked with Myra – we would braid each other’s hair and at times sneak out at night and chase fireflies while the boys snored the night away. I vividly recall the wonderful deck directly above the water with a small fishing boat next to it. At night, we would put the fire together and roast marshmallows and their parents would tell us fairytale stories, stories of dragons, brave kings, pretty princesses, and warriors, ancient kingdoms, and magical creatures.

Faced with the dilemma right now, those memories flashed before me, as clear as day, my emotions and Leo confusing me further. No… No.. Never… No! The little girl that chased fireflies with me could never lie to me, I thought to myself.

“Maybe Myra was simply thinking that she was doing the right thing, Emma. I mean, she and Nick have always tried to protect us. So, perhaps this is the reason as to why now too?”, Leo rationalized in a soft spoken voice, the stress of the situation evident on his face as he was pinching the bridge of his nose. “We could always investigate independently”, he pleaded. I disagreed, albeit reluctantly. “Myra said we did not have enough time. And that woman with her, she was stressing the urgency of the situation too”, I said nervously. Leo was now pacing around the room, his distress obvious on every level, his whole being pulsating. “Do you not think this is strange, Emma? Why the pressure of timing? What is happening now??? And Mr. Locke did not give us any indication or reason to doubt him really. So, why now? Why is this mystery woman appearing now?”

He had a point, but I could also see that he was afraid. We were alone. All alone in this world. At moments like this, I missed our mother, our father, I missed the life we never had and likely never would. We did not have a family that loved us, we only had each other. “I can talk to Cassius”, I heard him say with determination. “Our relationship may be young, and we may be new to all this, but I trust him, Emma. I trust him completely. He would not betray me, betray us. He is worldly and educated, he may have some ideas or be able to help in different ways”, Leo suggested. I did not want to impose on him or his relationship. I knew and could see Cassius was smitten with him, but did I want to risk my brother’s happiness because of my doubts? Another thought occurred to me. The image of the kind, silver-haired lady with silver eyes flashed before me, and I knew what I needed to do. “There may be another way, Leo”, I said, with enthusiasm this time.

Leo nodded, encouraged. We had a plan. A soft knock on the door revealed Celia standing there, her beautiful smiling face looking at us. “Mr. Locke got delayed during an important meeting. He has asked me to reschedule the dinner for tomorrow if possible, please?”, she said apologetically. Her face was smiling, but I could sense she was tense. Did she hear us? I smiled back, this in fact was good news. I was a mess and sitting for dinner with him tonight would take away all my energy, something I was running low on now anyway. “No problem, Celia, thank you for letting us know”, I replied and she simply smiled and left. Leo’s eyes locked on mine. “We have a lot of work to do before seeing him tomorrow”, he stated gravely. And he was right.