The Conductor {Black Lightning}{Wattys2018}

Ch. 42: That Depends

Eugene was wiping the dried tears from her cheeks when her phone dinged. Putting her wipes down, she fumbled around her car for her glasses and turned on her lock screen.

Mr. Pierce had texted her.

Fine, he said. I'll talk to you. Meet me at my father's old house in an hour.

Her phone dinged again. The next text was an address.

"Thank you, Heavenly Parent," she muttered. "I don't deserve you."

***

Mr. Pierce's childhood home was a quaint, little white house on the edge of North Freeland. A decrepit toy swing still hung from the tree in the yard.

To account for the time she had left, Eugene sat in her car and graded papers. There was no way she was walking back into Gambi's apartment without being able to tell Anissa the truth.

Roughly half an hour later, Mr. Pierce's blue Volvo parked in the spot behind her. After getting out, he tapped on her window. Eugene waved awkwardly before getting out of her car.

"This house should be a safe place to talk," he said. "No one really knows I own it."

"Okay."

All the furniture inside the house was covered with bed sheets. Mr. Pierce pulled the sheets off of the couch so they could have a place to sit and Eugene sneezed.

"Bless you...sorry, it's dusty in here. No one's been in this house for years."

"No problem." She dusted off the couch and smoothed out her skirt as she sat down.

"So you wanted to talk about Anissa?"

"I have to tell her the truth--" Eugene paused. "--about me. But I don't know how much of the truth I should tell her."

Mr. Pierce furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you mean 'how much'? All of it, obviously!"

"She wants to know what happened that night. If I told her all of it, I'd have to tell her what you did too."

Mr. Pierce's shoulders tensed as he leaned forward, his lips quivering. "You mean how I saved your ass?"

Tears burned at the back of her eyes. He knew what he had done.

"I mean the reason you had to save me in the first place."

Mr. Pierce clenched his jaw. "You're full of bullshit."

The tears burst forward. "You killed me!"

"You've tried to kill me on multiple occasions, so you shouldn't be saying anything right now!" He had the same expression Anissa did when she was angry. The same furrow in her eyebrows. The same burning fury in her eyes.

God, this was so painful.

"So two wrongs make a right?" she spat. "I guess you should just kill me again and then we'll be even."

"You work for the man who killed my father right before my very eyes! I could hurt you in so many ways and we wouldn't be close to even!"

Eugene froze. "H-he what?"

"Tobias killed my father in this house - right before my very eyes." His eyes shone with tears.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. She couldn't do this.

Eugene squirmed in her seat. How could she sit on this couch now?

"Look, just tell her," she said softly. "She'll find out eventually and no matter how justified you are, she'll be really, really angry. Because after I lied to her for nine years, she's gonna rely on you. And then if you don't tell her now, she's gonna find out that you lied to her too. It's gonna be so painful either way, so just tell her now."

"You have no right to talk--"

"Exactly! Don't be like me."

He stared up at the ceiling for a moment and then looked back down to meet Eugene's eyes. "I see right through you, you know. You want me to tell her now so she'll be more angry at me than she is at you."

"No." Eugene shook her head. "I know I've lost her. Just don't lose her too. She needs you."

"If I don't tell her my part, what are you going to tell her?"

"I could come up with a lie - say my powers malfunctioned. Or we could tell her together and neither of us would have to lie."

His eyes widened. "You mean right now?"

"I can't go back to Gambi's without telling her the truth."

"Okay, fine. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for...for basically killing you. I'm sorry. I-I felt horrible--" He let out a strangled sob. "--horrible about it."

Tears poured down his cheeks now. Eugene turned her head away.

"Are you satisfied?" he asked. "I gave you your big apology. Please don't make me do this."

"I'm the last person who could make you do anything," said Eugene. She pulled a tissue out of her bag and handed it to him. "But I'm warning you. If you don't tell her now, you won't tell her...until it's too late."

"You act like this is my fault, but none of this would've happened if you had just come to me!" Although his voice was stronger now, it still held the same quivering sadness. "I could've helped you. I could've helped you get out from under Tobias."

Before Eugene could reply, her phone buzzed. Anissa had texted her.

I know Hoon Dok Hae doesn't take this long.

"Wonderful," she muttered.

"What?"

"Well, the thing is--" Eugene sighed. "--we could spend hours talking about what a terrible person I am. Trust me, I spend hours thinking about it. But, um, Anissa needs to know the truth now. And by now, I mean she just sent me an angry text and I have to go."

"Dammit."

"So...what do you wanna do?"

***

A/N: So what do you think? Do you think Jeff should tell Anissa with Eugene or do you think he should wait?