Purgatech: Jess' Horror

Chapter Four

The drive home was a blur. Jess's thoughts whirled over everything that happened at the Purgatech offices. Everything Dylan had talked about sounded almost too good to be true. But she so desperately want to believe that the technology Purgatech was working on what allow her to further explore her beliefs.

But her excitement wasn't only about Purgatech and what they had to offer. Seeing Dylan again was a shock to the system. It stirred up so much. She was already reflecting on so much that it happened in her past, but not to have Dylan back in the mix, Jess ‘s emotions were all over the place.

She was confused. She was excited but still on the fence about Purgatech. And the fact that her relationship with Kyle hadn’t been the best these past few weeks were all weighing on her so much that she honestly didn't know what she was going to do.

Unfortunately, when she pulled her car into the driveway and saw Kyle's car parked at the curb, she realized she was going to have to deal with at least one of those things head on.

She turned off the ignition and sat there in the driver seat for a few moments. She hadn't even told Erica about going to the Purgatech offices. She wasn't exactly sure how she was going to bring it up to Kyle. But she did know now wasn't the best time to do that. She snatched the envelope off the passenger side seat and shoved into her bag opening the door next in the car.

By the time she walked up the steps to the porch, she saw Kyle standing in the front window looking out at her. He gave her a weak smile and a sheepish wave. Jess took a deep breath before she went inside.

"Hey babe," Kyle said softly from the living room.

"Hi."

"I've been trying to reach you and Erica didn't know where you where. Everything okay?"

Jess’ cheeks flushed at this question. Could he tell? Did he know where she had been?

"Yeah, I'm alright. I've just got a lot on my mind that's all."

"Yeah, well I guess a lot of that's my fault, isn't it?" He walked towards her and pulled her in for an awkward hug.

"I'm just as much to blame as you are I guess," Jess said pulling away from him. She took off her jacket and made she made sure to cover her bag with her jacket as she placed it on the couch.

"No, you aren't. After everything that you've gone through lately, I should have been more understanding. You were right."

Jess cringed. She felt like a jerk. He was here to apologize and she’d been off with her ex doing something that she knew full well Kyle wasn't going to approve of.

"Look, you could go on all day about who is more at fault but why don’t we just try and put it behind us and move forward?"

"That's exactly what I thought of when you came over here and I couldn't get in touch with you."

Jess plucked her cell phone out of her back pocket. "Oh, sorry about that. I had my phone on silent. I just needed to think and needed to clear my head so I went for a drive to the country.

“Let me guess. You went leaf peeping, huh?" He reached forward and put his hand on her back. Jess's heart skipped a beat. Dylan had just done the same.

She edged away from him. "Yeah.”

"And?"

Jess spun around and looked at him wide-eyed, but the way he was smiling at her made her realize that he had no idea what she’d done.

"Did it help I mean?"

"I guess so. It was kind of bittersweet to be honest."

"I know how much You & Gram used to love to do that. Maybe next time we can go together."

Jess nodded quickly. But the feeling in her stomach made her sick. Especially when Kyle looked at her with a strange look on his face, frowning and studying her face for a few moments.

"What?” he said. “What's going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you look off. What's bugging you? Did something happen while you're out?"

Jess closed her eyes and sighed deeply. "Fine, okay. Something did happen."

He must've known. For all Jess knew, he followed her seen her or something. She might as well come clean. He was going to find out anyway.

"Look, babe we can talk about this. You know you can talk about anything with me, don't you?"

"I used to think that,” Jess said, “I used to think a lot of things about us. But now –"

Jess bit her lip. What the hell was she doing?

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Kyle said, his voice raising.

"You know exactly what I mean. I used to think I could go to you with anything. But now but when I try to talk to you about what's going on with me, you either get angry or tell me not to continue with my…what did you call it? Foolish theories?"

Kyle rolled his eyes at her. "Don't even tell me we’re going to talk about this again."

"Uh, didn’t you just say I could tell you anything?”

“Yeah, but I thought it was going to be something real, not this…” Kyle stopped short of finishing his sentence.

“This? This what? You can even say it can you?"

"No, I can't. Because it's ridiculous. Look, babe I know you want to believe in the stuff that it helps you feel better and makes you gives you hope that maybe your Gram or your mom and dad are there somewhere, hovering around, watching over you. But it's not healthy. You’re becoming obsessed. I'm afraid what it’s going to do to you."

Jess threw her head back and laughed. "If that's what you really believe, then what are you even doing here?"

"I came here because I wanted to fix things between us but it's obvious you're not interested in doing that, are you?"

Jess crossed her arms over her chest and looked out the front window. The sun was starting to set and everything was all aglow in orange. It was beautiful but it only made the painful conversation that much worse.

"Honestly? I'm not even sure how to fix things between us Kyle. I want to, I really do. But this attitude you have towards me and the things I believe? It’s not going to change unless you want to change it."

"You don't know that, Jess. If you would just try –"

"I do know that. You want to know how?"

Kyle simply nodded.

Jess stomped across the room and went for her bank throwing her jacket aside. She pulled out the over-sized envelope from her bag and held it up to him.

"What's that?" He asked.

"This. This is where I've been today."

She stomped back towards him and shoved the envelope against his chest. He took it from her and looked at the label plastered across the front.

"Purgatech? What does that even mean?"

"It's a new startup. A scientific research development group who've created some new technology that they are hiring people to test for the next month."

"I don't understand what this has to do with you. What kind of research? What technology?"

Jess hesitated. She wasn't really sure how she was going to explain this without sounding like she's gone completely crazy. But then that thought made her angry. It was exactly what Kyle was trying to do to her. To make her feel like these beliefs she had were so crazy that she should shut them deep inside or not even voice them at all.

But Dylan? He was the complete opposite. He believed. He didn't make her feel like she was crazy. He didn't look at her like she was about to be hauled off and locked away in some insane asylum when she was only allowed to go outside for half an hour the time to get fresh air she wouldn't wither away into nothing.

"Paranormal research. Supernatural occurrences. Cutting-edge technology that allow people to discover energy and detect spirits around them."

Kyle didn't react. In fact, the blank expression on his face and his silence made Jess nervous. But then he got this look on his face. It wasn't the usual annoyance or even concerned that she had lost it. He looked like he pitied her. He tilted his head to one side and sighed.

"Well? Are you going to say anything? Tell me him crazy, do you want me to stop, give up these pipe dreams? Anything?"

Kyle raised both hands in the air and shook his head. "Why? It's obvious that you haven't been listening to anything I've said to you these past few months. Not even these past few months…our entire relationship. It's obvious you're going to do whatever you want to do regardless of my say in things. So… maybe it's best if I just let you do that."

The silence in the room hung between them like a weight. They simply stood there staring at one another, neither of them daring to move or to speak. Jess barely dared to breathe.

Finally, Kyle shifted his weight from one foot to the other. The floorboards groaned underneath the weight of his body. Jess hoped in the deepest part of her heart he was going to come towards her, wrap his arms around her, and pull her towards him. But instead, he moved toward her, and handed her the envelope. He looked at her coldly as if they didn't know one another and then turned and headed out of the living room.

Jess held her breath, waiting, hoping, but the sound of the door closing behind him as he left the house made her stomach dropped.

After a few moments, she heard movement in the Hall when she looked towards the doorway, she found Erica poking her head around the corner.

"So, I guess you heard all of that that didn't you?" Jess asked.

Erica nodded.

"And I guess you're going to tell me that I'm a complete i***t for screwing things up the way I have, aren't you?"

"That's the last thing I want to do." Erica edged around the corner and started into the room, shaking her head at Jess. “Is this about what happened the other night at Gram’s?”

Jess shook her head.

“You mean you haven’t told him yet? Jess!”

“You saw the way he just reacted! If I tell him what I saw…or what I think I saw…it’ll only make things worse.”

“Wait…what you think you saw? Don’t even tell me you believe him. That it was all just a dream?

Jess shrugged. “What if it was? Maybe I just saw what I wanted to see. Maybe he’s right. Maybe I am crazy, and I’ve taken things too far this time."

Erica came toward her and put one hand on Jess's arm. "Look, I love my brother. You know that. But I love you too. And I’ve known you long enough that when you believe in something, you’re not just doing it out of stubbornness or even some misguided sense of nostalgia. If you believe, I believe."

Jess smiled at her weakly. "The last thing I want to do is drive a wedge between you and Kyle. I mean, he's your family."

"You're my family too, dummy."

Before Jess could respond, Erica pulled her into a hug and squeezed her tight. Jess wrapped her arms around Erica and closed her eyes. Why couldn't Kyle be this way? Wasn’t love supposed to be unconditional?

"So, I guess you had quite the day than didn't you?"

Jess pulled away from girlfriend and gave her a look. "You don't even know the half of it."

Erica raised her eyebrows. "Oh? From what I heard, this sounds pretty interesting."

Jess pursed her lips together. She was hesitant to say anything but Erica was her best friend. Usually, she told Erica everything.

"Well, everything I told Kyle was true. I clicked on some Internet ad last night. That's how I found out about Purgatech in the first place."

"So, that happened pretty fast."

"You can say that again. By the time I got up this morning, there was an email in my inbox inviting me to their headquarters to find out more about what they were doing. And you’re never going to believe where it was."

"Ooh! Tell me more!

"Remember the old Ridgely House?"

"Of course I do."

"Well, this Purgatech company? That's where their headquarters are based."

"Are you serious? Don't even tell me you went back there?"

Jess nodded.

"And? Did it look the same?"

"Pretty much. But that's not even the most interesting thing that happened. You’re never going to believe who is running the recruitment side of things."

Jess paused. Should she even tell Erica? It would undoubtedly get back to Kyle no matter what kind of loyalty Erica had for her.

"Well?" Erica said, slugging Jess on the arm. "You have to tell me now!"

Jess swallowed hard and licked her lips. "Dylan Nixon."

Erica blinked a few times and shook her head. She looked around the room. It was obvious she was processing what Jess had said. She pursed her lips together, tilted her head to one side and nodded a few times.

"Well? Are you going to say something?" Jess asked.

"Just that…it kinda makes sense."

"How's that?"

"Dylan never second-guessed your experiences. I know you guys had trouble but that part of your relationship was never a problem. He was always the one who encouraged you to explore your experiences, to stick up for you when other people made fun of you. When those catty chicks at school tormented you so much. And well, I know for a fact that he never got over you."

Jess crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh? And how the hell do you know that?"

"I ran into Dylan a few months ago in town."

“And you're just telling me about this now?!"

"Well, what was there really to tell? We just chatted for a few minutes. He asked how you were doing. I told him. That was it. He didn't elaborate on what he was doing here or how long he'd been here or even if he was saying in town. He didn't ask to see you or talk to you, so I figured he was just, you know…passing through."

Jess’s mind reeled. All this time and Dylan had been in town? Why hadn’t he called her? And why hadn’t he said anything to her earlier?

"So, what are you going to do?" Erica asked.

Jess sighed and looked at the envelope. "I'm not exactly sure yet. But what they showed us at the Purgatech offices? It was interesting, I'll give them that much."

"Well, I'm with you whatever you decide to do. But let me just say this. I know you love my brother. And even though he isn’t exactly being fair right now, I hope you'll take into consideration what he said. Think long and hard about what you decide to do and how can affect what you guys have. Okay?”

Erica smiled at Jess and gave her a hug before turning and leaving the room.

Jess sunk down onto the couch and stared at the envelope. She knew Erica was right. She and Kyle had been through too much for her to just throw it all away for a little taste of nostalgia.

But somewhere in the back of her mind, Jess already knew. Whatever she decided, things would never be the same again.