Independent Puppets

Episode 1: The Man in the Woods [Part 3]

The very next morning after the events of that Tuesday evening, the sound of bike wheels crunching against a gravel path were heard once more as Jenna rode on her way towards the trio's AV club again. On some mornings, such as Wednesdays like this one, she cycled to school, so today she leapt at this opportunity to drop by the club building and see the man she and the other 2 had encountered last night, Connor, as she had a few minutes yet before she needed to arrive at school on time. None of the 3 girls had told their parents about them coming across him, because they themselves still felt a little bit nervous about interacting with an adult male who they didn't know, and they could always tell them later that night. 

Inside the club room, this man was sat in one of the chairs next to the computer desk, occupying his mind with many different topics of thought. He wasn't picky, he enjoyed deep thought about most types of subjects, and he was simultaneously holding a U.S quarter coin that he'd recently acquired, 1994 issue, in his hands, turning it over between its 2 sides and idly tracing his index finger along the outlines of the American eagle on one side. 

He lifted his head up and looked at the door as it opened for a few seconds, allowing a certain young female to step inside and shut it behind her. Some small strands of the mass of brown hair framing her head were dishevelled from the waves of wind that had blown them about on her way there.

"Hello, Jenna." Connor greeted politely with a slight tilt of his head. 

"Morning, Connor. How did you sleep last night?" She asked him graciously. She liked how the blue armband and the matching small triangle on the left breast area of the jacket he was wearing were somewhat luminescent, which was more noticeable in darker places and was something she'd noticed the previous night when he was discovered unconscious outside.

"Pleasantly, thank you." He nodded marginally. "How are you this morning?" 

"I'm alright, thanks. I take it your vocal chords are still hurt until midday today, when you said they'd be fully healed?" 

"Yes. I am gradually feeling better, however." A fraction of his upper lip turned into a smile like last night. 

"Also, I have a bit of a plan." Jenna began to say. "Andrea, Eve and I haven't told anyone else about you, but my plan is that I tell my parents at some point tonight, and then they can help you to get back to the place you came from-"

"No." Connor suddenly cut her off, his eyes widening a tiny bit.

For a second, she was startled to a small degree due to how quickly and instantaneously he'd spoken. "You don't want me to tell my parents about us finding you in the woods last night?" She asked for clarification, wondering why he looked tense at what she'd suggested.

He shook his head in reply.

"You ran away from the place you came from, didn't you?" The girl said, as this seemed like a logical reason as to why he wouldn't want anyone to know where he was.

He looked up at her, knowing she'd worked this out as the correct reason for why he ended up out there about 11 hours ago, and nodded. "I did." He answered quietly. "I'm hiding."

"From who?"

Because of him being reluctant to tell her in full yet, and additionally because of him being unable to say more than 8 words in a sentence right now, he took a couple of moments deciding on how exactly to put it before he said,
"From bad people."

"Why? What will these bad people do if they find you?" She queried further.

Once again, it took a bit longer for him to respond since he was thinking of how he was going to reply, and then he finally decided: to indicate the answer to her question she'd just asked, he made the fingers on his left hand into the shape of a gun and pointed his hand against the side of his head. And a few seconds later he pointed his hand at Jenna's forehead, too.