Returning to No Applause, Only More of the Same

Chapter 94, Witting Pawn

The cold air of autumn rushed past her as she biked without thinking about much of anything. Normally, in a situation as strange and incomprehensible as this one, her mind would be bustling with thoughts and ideas and possible explanations of what was happening. But not here. Not now. She had already considered all the possibilities here.

Thinking any more about it would make her feel dizzy.

She was well outside the city now, cycling on a little path lined with red and yellow leaves.

Undulat Park was a rather large park on the outskirts of the city, usually seen as more of a contained forest than anything you would actually walk your dog in. Jay had only been there as a kid, when her mother would take her there to jump in the leaf piles and climb the trees.

A tree unlike all the other trees Jay could only think of one such tree.

Most of the park was made up of birches, standing white and tall and pretty. But there was one tree of a different kind.

Jay could see it even from this great distance.

An oak.

It was massive and shot above all the other trees, easily overshadowing them in mere might. Since its lower trunk was bereft of branches, only the most stalwart and determined of kids could climb it. Jay had never climbed it herself, so she was happy knowing that the prize was supposedly among the roots.

A little hole Jay couldnt remember ever seeing anything like that.

The small path she was on quickly broadened into a larger one and she entered the park. The setting sun, now hidden behind the red leaves of branches, only flitted in intermittently, blinding Jay every now and then with a tactile ray of light. The path led straight to the oak so she felt no need to think much about it.

The path began to twist and wind, but Jay had played this game before.

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Before she knew it, she stood before that massive, looming oak. The entire forest floor was covered in a layer of red and yellow, giving the impression that the whole forest, including the treetops and even the sky, was on fire.

She parked her bike a few paces off and approached the oak, both of her hands in her pockets. She could feel the key coldly touch her fingers. She gripped it tightly.

This was so stupid. She was being a total idiot here. Just going ahead and following whatever directions some lunatic groundskeeper wanted to give her. At least this would make for a good post.

Cursing in her mind, she went down on her knees and began fumbling and groping around the thick roots of the tree. This would never work. The ground - and the roots in adjunction - were completely covered in leaves. After only a few minutes of shovelling wet leaves, her gloves had turned totally wet and her fingers felt stale and cold. Shed be lucky if she didnt wake up with a cold or something.

Roots, roots, and more roots. No matter how many rounds she took around the oak, she neither felt nor saw anything.

Yeah, a complete waste of time.

Jay stood up and shook her hands, shaking the water from her gloves. She looked down at her gloved hands.

...Maybe, if she did one round without her gloves, she might actually feel something? Either that or she wouldnt have to go to school tomorrow.

Fuck it, she mumbled to herself and removed the completely soaked gloves. Back to her knees.

She touched every root as carefully as she could, feeling them with her hands without relying on her eyes in the least. But even after going halfway around, there was nothing. Not a single thing. No hole.

But right as she was about to give up and just head home for the night before the sun fell completely, she felt something. A little groove. Something completely invisible and strange. If she looked at the groove, it seemed like a bump at most. But her fingers felt a little more. Carefully, still holding one hand on the groove, she removed the key from her pocket.

It slid inside the groove perfectly.

There was a click.

At first, Jay thought she was hallucinating when a fingerprint-sized piece of the bark on the root slid away to reveal a small, metallic surface. She stared at it with wild eyes before shaking her head. It was still there. Hunching down, she swung her head about, scanning for anybody else. There was nobody. She turned back to the metallic thing.

Without knowing exactly what to do, she placed her right finger over the flap. There was a prick and her hand jerked back. A little droplet of blood was forming at the edge of her finger.

Turning back to the root, she found that the flap had closed again.

A hallucination? No, she could still feel the sting in her finger. Then

There was another click.

Jay whipped her head around and bore witness to how a hatch opened in the ground. She crawled over to it on her hands and knees. The hatch apparently opened into a small compartment, wherein she could find files upon files and tapes and letters. She felt numb as she carefully removed them.

Some were dated from six months ago, detailing the appearance of a powerful Otherworlder. Others described the detainment of that same Otherworlder. A few were more recent, going over the mundane experiences of his everyday life or describing the life of a seemingly unrelated young Otherworlder. The letters were dated a little less than five months ago, inviting someone to meet their brother.

Somehow, Jay felt strange. Wrong.

Who had done this? Who would have the resources needed to do this? It couldnt have been a single person. There was too much. The words of the groundskeeper echoed hollowly in her head.

This had to be the work of some faction. It might be a single government, or a group of truthwanters, or Or something. But why in the world would they give this to her of all people?

She doesnt have all that many readers on Reddit, which would leave her with the simple possibility that shes mostly unrelated to them. Or maybe that she has a direct connection with Wiedermann. Or maybe they just want someone disposable to handle this. Maybe having a young girl doing all this is somehow more believable than if they were to make a move.

...It didnt make any sense. This whole situation felt unreal and strange, but wasnt this what she had always wanted?

She had the proof now. She had this, and she had Annies letter. Did she really need any more?

Who cares if she was being used as the unwitting pawn of some corporation? That didnt matter.

The only thing that truly mattered was that the truth was brought to light.

That was all.