The Conspiracy Theory of June 17

by Alessia Holmes

  I really have no idea what I'm doing.

  Sure enough, as I'd predicted, Damon was there, sitting on the barrier that separated the grassland from the deep river.

  What should I do? Should I go up?

  Mustering up more courage than I would if I had to do a speech in front of a huge crowd, I quickly run up so I'm right behind him, but a little to his left.

  He doesn't notice me at first. He's staring out into the horizon, a blank expression on his face. Then, his head whips around and his eyes fixate on me.

  Ahh-

  He doesn't say anything for a while. I feel my heart race.

  "Um, hi," I awkwardly shuffle from foot to foot. "You-you weren't there for dessert." I mentally slap myself for saying that. Dessert?!

  "Oh, sorry," he says, running a hand through his unkempt hair. We stand in silence for a while before I ask, "Can I sit?" Beckoning the area next to him.

  He just nods and moves over a little as I sit next to him.

  Now what?

  "So," I start again. I cringe as my own shaky voice rings in my ears. "Are you ok?"

  He acts like he hasn't heard me. He's still staring out into the horizon, his eyes lost and hazy.

  As I open my mouth to ask again, he replies.

  "Not really." He twiddles his fingers. I wrap my hands around themselves and squeeze them as hard as I can. Why did I even ask?

  This time I keep my mouth shut. For what seems like ages we just sit there, no one saying a word.

  Then, finally, when he starts talking, I almost jump in surprise.

  "I'm very confused at the moment," he sighs. "I don't know what to do."

  "About what?" I ask, turning to face him.

  "Decisions," he says. "I need to make a very important decision," he stops, "very soon. And I'm kinda confused about it. But I think I've made my mind."

  I frown. "Sorry," he shrugs and a not-so-apologetic smile breaks out on his face. "That's very confusing."

  "Yeah," I say, "I think I've gotten used to that after the cons-, I mean, the thing. You know what I mean.”

  He chuckles. "So, how did you, Jessie and Jada find out?”

  "It was a synchronised dream," I answer nonchalantly. It'd become so familiar to me now. Before he can ask something else, I say, "How about you and Flynn?"

  My question lies in the air for a few seconds. Damon acts like he hasn't heard it.

  Um, hello...?

  "Family," he says after what seems like ages, making me jump (again).

  Geez! What’s his problem?

  "My dad knew about it all his life," he says. "I guess just like we will. And he told me. He had to, really. He was," he gulps and looks straight into my eyes, "dying. And he had to tell someone in his family – you know, like, pass the legacy along."

  He smiles. "I was pretty proud, you know. He picked me over my sister."

  I tried to smile, but my heart felt like it was being squeezed tight. "I'm sorry," I quickly say, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

  He smiles and shakes his head. "Oh Alessia," he says. "There's a lot you don't know about me- "

  "GUYS!"

  Both Damon and I jump up in our places and turn around.

  Jessie's standing there, in casual sleepwear, an excited yet nervous look crossing her face.

  "I think I've got it!" She tells me. Turning around to Damon, she says, "Remember when we got that box with the clothes back in the – well, the future?'

  "Yeah yeah yeah," he nods wildly, frowning.

  "Mrs Mitzeegh," she practically yells, "It was her clothes!"

  "No way," I say. Jessie refutes my answers by wildly nodding.

  "Yes way. Damon, that picture you showed us of Mrs Mitzeegh just then over dinner – those same clothes were in the box!"

  "Oh my god," says Damon, acting surprised, but when I looked at him, he didn't look like he was that enthusiastic.

  "So what do we do now?" I ask, clambering to my feet. Damon follows me up.

  "I don't know yet," she says, "but we need to tell Mrs Renee ASAP."

  "Right," I say, and start to walk vigorously behind Jessie, following her back to the hotel.

  But before we can go, I hear a loud splash from behind me. As I flip around, I notice Damon's absence.

  It can't be. Is it?

  As Jessie and I walk back to the edge of the pitch-black river, we see a spluttering Damon bobbing up and down, tendrils of hair stuck to his wet face, glistening in the moonlight.

  I can't help but giggle as Jessie rolls her eyes.

  "It's been a whole week," I say, pacing back and forth across the small yet cosy dorm room. In front of me, Jessie sits at the edge of the bottom bunk, staring at the ground.

  "A whole week," I repeat.

  Jessie finally stands up and comes next to me. "It's ok," she tells me. "Remember how we couldn't figure out what the coordinates meant? Well, we figured it out that night, didn't we?"

  "Yeah," I say, running a hand through my hair. "But still. Why do you think nothing's happening, even when we've come to the right destination?"

  Jessie sighs, almost in frustration. I must be a really annoying person.

  "Alessia," she finally says. "Mrs Renee is doing everything she can. She went to Murdoch Street again, she contacted Amanda, she tried to travel back to that future dimension which didn't work but anyway, she tried. Heck, she even tried to find Mackenzie-witch again! And we've been having meetings non-stop." She looks me in the eye, and then puts her hands on my shoulders. "It's going to be fine. You're overthinking this. Let's just enjoy ourselves here in Scotland while the mayhem doesn't start yet, okay?"

  I gently nod my head, defeated. "Ok, we can start by changing the subject," she says. As I look at her, I see her expression changing, the ends of her lips tugging upwards to create a mischievous grin.

  I think I know what's coming.

  "So," she starts. "What's been going on with you and Damon?"

  "Nothing," I say, a little too quickly for my liking. Acting casual, so she doesn't get the wrong idea, I add, "We've gotten to know each other a little better, but we still don't know each other that well."

  I look over to Jessie, realising that my answer made no sense at all. Her slight smile has turned into a huge smirk. I can't help but laugh, which prompts her to burst out in laughter as well.

  We both sit back down on the bed. Looking over to her, I say, "I wish I had someone to tease YOU about," Jessie lets out a muffled chuckle, "but I don't."

  I get back up and turn around to face her rather dramatically. "But don't worry," I say. "My time will come."

  As if right on cue, there's a loud knock at the door, which makes us both jump about a mile in the air. We quickly compose ourselves and I grab the door handle, twisting and pulling it open.

  Speak of the devil.

  "Hey, Alessia," Damon stands in front of me, wearing a faded Batman tee and sweatpants. "Dinner's ready." He pokes his head inside. "Hey Jessie. Nice to see you again,"

  Instead of answering, Jessie looks at me with a smile with a meaning only I know. Awkwardly looking away, I look back at the boy at the door and answer, "We'll be down in a second. Thanks for telling us."

  He smiles and walks away. Gently closing the door, I turn around and narrow my eyes at Jessie, who bursts out laughing once again. I try to open my mouth and object, but the words don't come out. I can't help but smile and I shake my head back and forth.

  The ensuite door clicks open and out comes Jada, her hair twisted inside a baby blue towel. Looking at both of us, she frowns and asks, "Did I miss something?"

  ∞

  The air is filled with quiet chatter. The members of the CSS, old and new, are sitting elbow to elbow in the quaint dining room table. At one end Mrs Renee is silently eating her food, staring down with a look of great concentration, listening to everyone's conversations, every word escaping everyone's lips and hovering in the air. Next to her sits Flynn and Shayleigh. Flynn is joking around, as he
usually does, while Shayleigh next to him is wholeheartedly laughing at his antics. Next to them sits Jada and Drew, engrossed in some secretive chatter that no one will ever know about, casually putting pieces of pasta in their mouths occasionally. At the other end of the table, there's Damon, Jessie, and then me. None of us are really saying anything, just eating quietly and thinking about what led to this even happening.

  Damon is the first one to talk. "Say," he starts, "Isn't it weird how things have changed so quickly?"

  I nod in agreement while Jessie says, "Yeah. I mean, just two weeks ago everything was fine. We still had Mrs Mitzeegh as a maths teacher. Isn't that what started everything? Just out teacher leaving?"

  Damon and I both nod.

  "Well, before that we had nothing drastic to worry about. We worried about our grades – which we probably still will when we get back – but there was never a threat to our lives. Nothing was ever so – complicated and confusing!"

  At this point Jessie looks so frustrated, it scares me. But after a while she smiles at both of us again. "Sorry, guys. Guess I must be a little tired of this too."

  Almost immediately after she says that Damon pulls his phone out of his pocket. I can't help but smile, thinking about the incident at the airport a couple of days ago.

  He doesn't see me. Instead, he flicks the brightness up and points his screen towards us.

  "See here?" He says, while Jessie and I lean closer to the screen. It's a picture of our maths class with Mrs Mitzeegh at the back. I realise it's the one we took on the last day – on Friday last week, but it seems like ages ago. Everyone's smiling, some laughing, and we all have a look of happiness written across out faces.

  "We're so...happy. Even though at that point we knew about the cons- I mean, you know what, but we were still content."

  "Yeah," Jessie nods, but her voice is unnaturally soft. As I look at her, I notice she's staring at the picture in intense concentration. Finally, she speaks.

  "The dress," she starts, "The one Mrs Mitzeegh is wearing. It looks...really familiar."

  I look over to see the picture again, but it's snatched out of my vision before I can really focus on Mrs Mitzeegh. I look at Damon. His face has suddenly gone pale, as if he's found out about some horrific news or he's just realised something groundbreaking.

  I open my mouth to ask what's going on, but he beats me to it. "Gotta go," he blurts out. "Bathroom."

  And with that he leaves, clumsily almost tripping over his chair in the process.

  ∞

  "You ready to carry out the plan?"

  "Not yet," he says, his throat suddenly dry, unfamiliar feelings rushing through him. "They still haven't found headquarters yet."

  A loud cackle comes through the other side. "They're dumber than I thought. But whatever. Remember, when the time comes, DO IT."

  "Ok," is all he says as he presses end call and slowly drops his arm to hang next to him. He'd been so sure of this before, so confident about it, but now...he didn't know what to do.

  It felt so much like a stereotypical scene from a movie with a spy or assassin – they try to only pretend to get really close with the other side, but they end up actually getting really close. And then, a wild conflict of good vs bad, light vs dark, runs through their brain.

  You have to do it. You made the promise.

  But I... can’t.

  You have to. You've already got another member helping you, how are you going to explain this to him?

  I'll just explain it to him.

  Don't worry about it. It's not a bad thing. You can't help being this way.

  Yes, I can. I can stop this. I can go on their side.

  He told you, you'll gain nothing from being on their side.

  But all my friends are on that side.

  No, they're not. Remember your dad?

  What about Alessia?

  The voices in his head pause, as he opens his eyes and looks around his surroundings. The chaos in his head comes to a halt as he finally comes to a conclusion.

  As he walks out of the bathroom, that one voice in his head finally utters its last words.

  What about her?

  ∞

  All through dinner I couldn't stop thinking about Damon. No, not like that – but I had a weird feeling that something was up with that boy. He left so suddenly, suddenly uncomfortable with us and being around us. That was so unlike him. I mean, at school he's one the most popular guys. Why would he shy away from public attention like that?

  Nah. He's probably just having a bad day. Just leave it. He'll be back soon.

  He wasn't there when we finished dinner, nor when we were handing out dessert or when we finished dessert and were heading up to our rooms. I hated caring about this so much, but I couldn't help it bugging me.

  I was curious to see where he went. So, after telling Jessie I was going to the bathroom downstairs (even though we had a perfectly good ensuite in our rooms, but she didn't ask about that) I tiptoe down to the girl’s bathroom.

  On the other side there's an old man, locking the doors to the men's bathroom. He gives me a friendly smile before leaving, mop in hand. I wait till he's out of sight, then I rush out of the bathroom precinct rather quickly and take the glass door marked EXIT.

  I really have no idea what I'm doing.

  Sure enough, as I'd predicted, Damon was there, sitting on the barrier that separated the grassland from the deep river.

  What should I do? Should I go up?

  Mustering up more courage than I would if I had to do a speech in front of a huge crowd, I quickly run up so I'm right behind him, but a little to his left.

  He doesn't notice me at first. He's staring out into the horizon, a blank expression on his face. Then, his head whips around and his eyes fixate on me.

  Ahh-

  He doesn't say anything for a while. I feel my heart race.

  "Um, hi," I awkwardly shuffle from foot to foot. "You-you weren't there for dessert." I mentally slap myself for saying that. Dessert?!

  "Oh, sorry," he says, running a hand through his unkempt hair. We stand in silence for a while before I ask, "Can I sit?" Beckoning the area next to him.

  He just nods and moves over a little as I sit next to him.

  Now what?

  "So," I start again. I cringe as my own shaky voice rings in my ears. "Are you ok?"

  He acts like he hasn't heard me. He's still staring out into the horizon, his eyes lost and hazy.

  As I open my mouth to ask again, he replies.

  "Not really." He twiddles his fingers. I wrap my hands around themselves and squeeze them as hard as I can. Why did I even ask?

  This time I keep my mouth shut. For what seems like ages we just sit there, no one saying a word.

  Then, finally, when he starts talking, I almost jump in surprise.

  "I'm very confused at the moment," he sighs. "I don't know what to do."

  "About what?" I ask, turning to face him.

  "Decisions," he says. "I need to make a very important decision," he stops, "very soon. And I'm kinda confused about it. But I think I've made my mind."

  I frown. "Sorry," he shrugs and a not-so-apologetic smile breaks out on his face. "That's very confusing."

  "Yeah," I say, "I think I've gotten used to that after the cons-, I mean, the thing. You know what I mean.”

  He chuckles. "So, how did you, Jessie and Jada find out?”

  "It was a synchronised dream," I answer nonchalantly. It'd become so familiar to me now. Before he can ask something else, I say, "How about you and Flynn?"

  My question lies in the air for a few seconds. Damon acts like he hasn't heard it.

  Um, hello...?

  "Family," he says after what seems like ages, making me jump (again).

  Geez! What’s his problem?

  "My dad knew about it all his life," he says. "I guess just like we will. And he told me. He had to, really. He was," he gulps and looks straight into my eyes, "dying. And he had to tell
someone in his family – you know, like, pass the legacy along."

  He smiles. "I was pretty proud, you know. He picked me over my sister."

  I tried to smile, but my heart felt like it was being squeezed tight. "I'm sorry," I quickly say, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.