Chance came in to work the following day, after having talked to Claude the night before. He was planning on telling Lucius what Claude had said about a letter, but there were things to handle first. It was just after lunch was served when he got to Lucius and pulled him aside for a talk.
“I wanted to let you know that I spoke with Mandy’s father last night on your behalf.”
“R-really?” Lucius said, looking hopeful.
“He wasn’t happy, I’ll let you know that up front. As for seeing Mandy, he makes a good point – what if she doesn’t want to hear from you?”
“Oh.” he said, looking dejected. “I…I hadn’t thought about that.”
Chance sighed inwardly. He felt bad for the guy, he really did. That’s why he brought up the part about a letter. “What if you wrote a letter for her? I can drop it off at her place on my way home. that way, there is at least a potential that she’ll read it, and you’ll be able to get your point across.”
“That’s…that’s a really good idea. Umm…I don’t have anything to write with.”
“I’ll get you paper and pen from the office, and an envelope too. Just get it back to me later, okay?”
“Yea. Sure.” he said.
Chance went to the office to procure supplies for Lucius, and watched as he headed for a table so he could sit and write out his thoughts. During the time until dinner, he sent Blade out to pick up a phone and a phone card or two so that Lucas would be able to contact people, should he have the need or desire. After dinner, Lucius approaches Chance and, true to his word, he had written out what he wanted to stay, and had placed it in the provided envelope and handed it to Chance.
“You’ll let me know if they take it?”
“I promise I’ll let you know. In the meantime, take this.” he said, handing Lucius the phone and cards. “I’ve already taken the liberty of putting in a few numbers for you, incase you need to reach anyone.”
“Thank you, like…a lot. This means a lot.” he said.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s what we do here.” he took hold of the envelope. “Get some rest. Tomorrow I’ll have Blade take you out to see about landing a job so you can get on your feet.”
“Alright. Good night.”
“Night man.”
Chance drove over to the Winchester place and knocked at the door, which Jacqueline answered in short order. “Oh, Chance. Can I help you?”
“Is Claude around?”
“Yes, but he’s in the shower at the moment. You can come in and wait if you’d like.”
Chance shook his head. “No – I want to get home to Trish and the baby. Can you see that he gets this to Mandy?”
“Of course.” she said, taking the envelope from him. “Goodnight. Tell Trish I said hello.”
“Will do.” he said, and gave a short wave over his shoulder as he headed back to the car.
Jacqueline looked down at the envelope and flipped it over, noting that the flap wasn’t glued down. Initially, she was going to hand it to Mandy directly, but thought better of it. Instead she took the envelope to Claude’s office, and left it on his desk – she would tell him about it when he finished up.
((The envelope is a small, plain manila one, with Mandy’s name written in calligraphy on the front. On the back, the flap is not glues down – only held down by the prongs.))
Mandy,
First let me say that I don’t blame you in the least for not wanting to see me, and I thank you for keeping your father at bay (I assume it was you). I figure that, if I explain where I am coming from, you’ll understand things better, and that’s all that I’m asking.
I’ll start with my family – I’m sure you remember my parents, Rick and Sandy; after all, they tried to recruit you. I’ll get to that in a moment. My parents are members of a zealous religious cult called the Serpents of the Light. I didn’t know about it when I was younger, not much at any rate. It wasn’t until high school that my parents started slowly teaching me about their faith, having me study West African religion and culture. I first watched simple rituals, then at my parents’ behest I began to practice them.
I was never into it – I didn’t care for it and told them so, on several occasions. When I started dating you, they thought that if they could indoctrinate you, that I would more willingly fall into line. I am so grateful you didn’t take them up on the offer – it worries me what might have happened to you if you had.
My life in the cult was not a great one, as I was not allowed to be my own person for the most part. When you came into my life, I was happy. I felt like I could break free when I turned eighteen, that I could endure until then, so long as I had you by my side. I won’t lie – I sunk into a deep depression after we broke up, and my parents took the opportunity to throw me into the deep end. I started witnessing blood drinking rituals and white goat sacrifices…thinks so dark and depraved to me that I broke.
All I can remember from that time is that I needed to find you so I could be whole again. So I did what I could to track you down. I have a vague recollection of making it to Willow Creek, but things beyond that are difficult to remember, like a haze in my brain. My first real lucid moment after I broke, I had been on my medication for about a week and found myself in the lockdown unit of a mental hospital. The doctor there worked with me, and I made sure people know that if my parents came to visit, I didn’t want to see them.
To this day I don’t know if they ever showed up.
I continued to respond well to the medication and therapy I was receiving, and was recommended for parole since I had been cooperating so well and hadn’t shown any sign of violence since the meds had started taking effect, contingent upon the fact that I find a therapist and stay on the medication. I have some refills, but I need the psych. Fortunately I ran into my cousin, Lucas. He led me to the outreach center, and the man who runs it, Charles, has some experience with cult deprogramming, according to Lucas’ roommate. I’ll be working with him to work through and around my issues.
In the end though, I’m not asking you for forgiveness – I just want you to understand. it would mean a lot to me if the one person I cared more about than anything else just knew where I was coming from. I hope you’re well and happy, and that your Timur takes care of you – you deserve nothing but the best.
Lucius