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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Hidden Truths
Parker, in the midst of hearing a story about her mother's favorite tree, turned just in time to see Lily in Jarod's arms. Anger swelled inside and she abruptly left Becky in mid sentence and moved over to the duo.
"Sharing shop secrets?" Parker snapped.
Lily looked embarrassed, as she backed away from Jarod and once again sat on the grass. She didn't know why she felt embarrassed when she knew that she hadn't done anything wrong.
"We were discussing the Centre Miss Parker." Jarod said as he smiled at her.
"Yeah, looked like it." She retorted.
Jarod turned back to Lily and decided to speak frankly. "You know I can't stay here indefinitely."
"Well you're not the hell going to leave me here." Parker added pushing herself between Jarod and Lily. She tried every which way to sit down without actually having to touch the grass.
"I know. You're going to have to be careful. I'm sure Joan is also expecting the same thing and she will carry out her threat Jarod. Angel's Hope is everything to her. It has been her whole life. If you try to escape, I won't be able to help you."
"I know." Jarod responded. "There is one thing that perplexes me. Why has she kept Catherine Parker's office the same as the day she left? She obviously knew Mrs. Parker was dead. Why keep the office that way?" He looked at Parker who had lowered her head, saddened by the mention of her mother's death.
"I assumed it was as homage to a great woman." Lily pondered.
"Lily, I have to ask you something. I know I should not ask you to do this. Can you get me into Catherine Parker's office?"
*************
Debbie was on her way to school. She was walking with her friends chatting about boys, what the boys were doing, and how to meet a particular boy. She had a huge crush on the boy who was playing the Prince to her Cinderella.
A car parked in front of the Broots' house proceeded to follow Debbie by half a block. When she reached the school he drove past the school and parked the car. The driver took out a notebook and made notes.
"Debbie Broots - arrived 8:15. Accompanied by three companions. Note - must review class schedule."
The driver started the car, drove down the street, and got lost in traffic.
************
Lily escorted Miss Parker and Jarod to their rooms. She went to her own room and lay on the bed. She had allot to think about. She had already broken Joan's trust once. If she did it again, Lily knew she would never be trusted again. But Jarod thought that there were answers to their questions in that office. And she agreed. Something wasn't right and they had to find out what it was. Lily dropped off into an unrestful sleep.
The next morning Lily got up and got dressed. Instead of going to breakfast, she proceeded to her office. She went and sat at her desk, moving the papers around but not doing anything. She periodically looked at the door in her office that connected it to Catherine Parker's office. She was looking at it when there was a knock on the door. "Come in." Lily called out.
Jarod stuck his head in the door. "Good morning. We missed you at breakfast. Can we come in?"
"Sure. Come on in." Lily smiled.
Jarod came through the door followed by Miss Parker. "I brought you a muffin. Chocolate chocolate chip, your favorite according to Becky. I thought that maybe you might be hungry since you missed breakfast." Jarod brought the muffin over and placed it next to Lily.
"Not very hungry Jarod. Thanks anyway." She pushed it away.
"I would take it. He's the defender of the weak and abused. If you don't eat it, you may have to suffer his wrath. Believe me - you don't want his wrath." Parker said as she sat herself in one of the office chairs.
"I know that you are upset about what we talked about last night, but we have to find out what the secrets are." Jarod looked at Lily with longing eyes. He had been looking for the truth for so long.
"The Centre was built on secret and lies. Afraid we'll find the same thing here?" Parker added smugly.
Lily looked at Parker. "This institution was not founded in lies, but something tells me that there are secrets. Though I don't think that they are secrets that would hurt people. Joan just wouldn't do that."
"Listen Tinker bell. Anyone is capable of anything to preserve their way of life. She ain't no saint, so never say never." Parker was in rare form this morning. Especially since she had been thinking all night about how the two of them had been hugging last night.
"Was Joan at breakfast with you?" Lily asked moving from behind her desk.
"Yes. She said that she was going to the children's lab to judge a science fair." Jarod responded.
"Good. I think we may have some time before Joan comes back to her office." Lily said as she walked over to the door of Catherine Parker's office. "It's locked."
"No problem." Jarod had that grin on his face that always occurred when he was planning something. He went over to Lily's desk. "Do you mind?" He asked as he motioned to her desk drawer. Lily shook her head that it was OK and Jarod opened the drawer. He shuffled through its contents and came upon some items he could use. He then proceeded to the door..
"What are you going to do?" Lily asked.
"I was a safe cracker once. Same principle." Jarod took the long piece of metal and started to maneuver it in the locking mechanism. In a few minutes the lock clicked.
"Good going Boy Genius." Parker said as she got up out of the chair and followed Jarod into the room. "I love it when a plan comes together."
The three entered the dark office of Catherine Parker. Miss Parker immediately started hearing the voices she had grown use to hearing over the past two years. Especially that of her mother. The trio moved to different parts of the room. Lily went to the large oak desk that sat at the farthest end of the room. Jarod was looking at the bookshelves that lined the one wall of the office. Miss Parker was looking at the wall opposite Jarod. Tears welled up in her eyes as she viewed the numerous pictures that covered the wall. In the middle of all the pictures was a portrait. It was an exquisitely painted picture of Catherine Parker holding Miss Parker as a baby on her lap.
"Your mother was a beautiful woman." Jarod noted as he came up behind Parker and put his hands gently on the rounds of her shoulders. "Just like her daughter."
Parker half smiled as she moved from under Jarod's hands. "She was never allowed to have many pictures in our house. Daddy didn't like it." She said as she touched delicately the portrait. Another picture caught her eye. "Here's a picture of my mother and her sister. I guess she hung the pictures here so that she could still treasure them."
"Remembrances of a life she left behind when she married your father and joined the life of the Centre." Jarod added.
Sitting at the desk, Lily tried to bring back her memories of Catherine Parker. "I remember her letting me sit at this desk. I couldn't have been more than five or six. When she brought me here, I always felt safe."
Jarod looked puzzled. "Lily. If life here were ideal, then why would you have a recollection of having to feel safe?"
Lily looked at Jarod and Parker. "I don't.... know. I just remember that I was safe here, with her. I don't know why."
Jarod looked at the bookcase. "I'm going to go through over here. There may be something here in the bookcase. Parker, you and Lily go through your mother's desk."
Parker went over to the desk after looking at the portrait one more time. She opened the left-hand drawers. There was a row of files. She started pulling files out and skimming through them. Lily was doing the same thing on the right side.
"What are we looking for Jarod?" Lily asked not really sure what she was looking for.
"I don't know. Something to do with the red files. Prodigy. Mirage. I'm not sure."
"Mirage?" Lily asked.
"In the last year of her life, my mother was impregnated by Mr. Raines with Jarod's father's sperm. The result was our brother Ethan. It was the reason she was killed."
Lily felt sick to her stomach. "What kind of man is Raines that he could do that to somebody as wonderful as Mrs. Parker?"
Parker looked up from the files and felt a lump in her throat. "A monster." And she thought, "That monster is my father."
Lily pulled out a file and began to read. "Jarod, come here." Jarod came over and looked over Lily's shoulder. "A list of children and dates." Parker came over and looked at the list.
"So many names. How long had my mother been bringing children here Lily?" Parker asked shocked that the dates ranged back before her birth.
"I know that there were children brought here that were older than me. Some of them were so bad, that they didn't survive past their early teen years. Others into their twenties. Some are still here in a catatonic state.
Jarod took the file from Lily and started looking at the papers behind the list. "Look at these. Copies of death certificates."
Lily looked at the names on the certificates. "Wait. That can't be right. Cecelia Barnes is still alive. She's one of the catatonic= patients I was telling you about."
"Why would my mother have death certificates for children that were alive?" Parker looked puzzled.
"Because that's how she got the children out of the Centre." Jarod looked at Parker with a gleam in his eyes. "She faked their deaths so Raines wouldn't look for them."
"The guardians. They must have been helping her get them out. Shuttling them here." Lily added and then grabbed the file back out of Jarod's hands. She started thumbing through all the certificates. After about twenty five of them she stopped. "Well it's official."
Jarod looked at her inquisitively. "What's official?"
"I'm a ghost." Lily held up the certificate with her name on it. "I'm Lily Davidson and I'm dead." She let the certificate fall slightly forward. "My last name is Davidson. I never knew my last name before."
Jarod put his arm around her shoulder and squeezed. "Congratulations." Parker's eyes narrowed as she witnessed this show of affection. "Yeah, we'll throw you a ticker tape parade."
Lily was smiling. "I wonder where Becky's is?" She started thumbing through the next few certificates when the smile faded from her face. "Wait. This can't be right."
"What's wrong Lily?" Jarod asked.
"Becky's certificate has a different last name." Lily showed Jarod and Parker the certificate that stated the name Rebecca Prescott. "We are twins. Why would Becky have a different last name?"
Jarod knelt down and started going through the rest of the files. "Lily, where did you pull that one from?" Lily pointed to where she had pulled the file. Jarod looked at the next file. "This is why." Jarod showed Lily and Parker the contents of the next folder. "Adoption certificates."
"I was adopted?" Lily looked confused.
"Lily. Do you remember anything before coming to Angel's Hope?" Jarod asked trying to piece the puzzle together.
"I remember..........I........" Lily was thinking. She looked up at Jarod with fear in her eyes. "Jarod, why don't I remember? I was only four years old; I should have memories of before I came here. The first thing I remember is being brought to my guardian, Jacob, by Mrs. Parker."
"Jacob. You're guardians name was Jacob?" Jarod asked looking at Parker.
"What? Why are you saying it like that?" Lily looked at the two of them.
"The man who raised me at the Centre was named Sydney. His twin brother was named Jacob and he was hurt by the Centre for betraying them." Jarod had that look like he was in deep concentration. "Ties Miss Parker. We're finding ties that bind."
"Lily, keep looking over there. I'll keep looking over here." Parker said as she started going through the drawer again. Jarod looked at the first list of children.
"Oh no." Jarod hit the file against his leg.
"What Jarod? What did you find?" Parker asked going back over by him.
"Here are our names." Jarod pointed them out.
"As is Angelo's, Lyle's, Alex, the rest of the red files. So what Jarod?" Parker looked confused.
"Parker. Look above our names." Jarod pointed to the previous names.
"Get out of here." Parker said as she took the file from Jarod. "Can't be. Not the lovable moron."
"Broots, Miss Parker. He's part of the children of the Centre." Jarod confirmed.
"Who's Broots?" Lily asked. "Is he someone important?"
"He's important to me." Parker stated.
"He works for the Centre Lily and is a very nice man." Jarod explained.
"Is he your boyfriend Miss Parker?" Lily asked innocently. Both Parker and Jarod laughed.
"No. He's more like a brother. He runs the Computer Science department for the Centre." Parker explained.
The trio continued looking through these files, but didn't find anything else of significance. Jarod thought, he knew they were running out of time. "If you had really important papers that no one else should see, where would you put them?"
"In a secure location." Parker added. "In a safe?"
"In a safe." Jarod looked around the room. He moved to the portrait of Catherine Parker and Miss Parker. He felt around the picture. By now Lily and Parker had joined him. He found a small button on the side of the frame. He pushed it and the picture swung open. "A safe."
The three looked at the safe. It was a square safe with a small screen next to it with a keypad underneath. "What kind of lock is that?" Parker asked.
"A computer generated lock." Jarod pushed some buttons and the screen came to life.
"Please enter the password phrase" appeared on the screen.
"Password phrase. How the hell are we suppose to know the damn phrase?" Parker said frustrated.
"There's one person who might have been in the room when the phrase was used." Jarod said looking at Parker. Parker smiled and they both looked at Lily.
"I don't know what the phrase is." Lily responded feeling like a mouse being looked over by a pair of cats.
"Lily there's a possibility that you may have heard it as a child and not even now you heard it." Jarod stated.
"So how does that help us now?" Lily looked at Jarod puzzled.
"Lily, let me hypnotize you and see if you know the phrase." Jarod proposed.
"You know how to do that?" Lily asked cautiously.
"Yes. Will you allow me to do it?" Jarod took Lily's hand. "I promise you will not be harmed and I will make sure you remember whatever we find out."
Lily looked at Jarod and Parker. "OK."
Jarod sat Lily in the office chair and took a crystal that hung on a chain he had found in Catherine Parker's desk as the focus point. He swung the crystal in front of Lily until he had her in a relaxed hypnotic state. "Lily. Go back. Go back to when you were a small girl." Lily's face showed signs of distress. "Lily what do you see?"
"Men. Men coming to take me away. I try to scream for my mommy and daddy, but.....Their there. They know the men are going to take me. NO. NO MOMMY. I don't want to go. Please."
"Lily, it's OK. The men are gone. Where are you know?" Jarod asked.
"A big house. Lots of tubes and needles. I'm afraid of the needles. Dr. Jacob says to stay quiet. He's going to help me."
"OK Lily. Let's go forward a little. You're at Angel's Hope now. In Catherine Parker's office. What do you see?" Jarod prodded.
"Mrs. Parker. She smells so sweet. She's telling me a nursery rhyme. Every time I come into her office she tells it to me. She says never to forget it." Lily was smiling as she spoke.
"Lily, what is the rhyme that she is telling you?" Jarod asked anxious to see if it worked.
"Cree Craw Toads Foot" Lily started singing.
"Geese Walk Bare Foot." Both Lily and Jarod sang at the same time.
Jarod looked at Parker with wide eyes. "Lily, when I count to three you will wake up feeling refreshed and remember everything. One. Two. Three." Lily blinked her eyes. Jarod turned to the computer keypad and typed in "Cree Craw Toad's Foot, Geese Walk Bare Foot."
The safe lock clicked open.
