Episode 58: Scene Four
Karen brushed a side a strand of her silky brown hair. The southern wind had begun to pick up, clear evidence that a storm was coming. Nevertheless, she continued pressing on towards the park. It was the only place that she knew she could find some peace and quiet before she went back to the dormitory.
By now, the sky had turned to a soft, velvety indigo with tiny white pearls resting quietly in the folds of the night sky. Karen took a moment to just stare up at the comforting twinkles. She always managed to put aside just enough time to look at the stars before she went to sleep. After her breakup with Carson Love, Karen had looked up at the stars often as if asking them to lead her into the right direction so that she wouldn't get lost among the crowd.
She shrugged off thoughts of Carson and walked faster. Karen refused to let herself get caught up in all of the drama involved in romance. She'd concluded that it just wasn't for her.
A small sniffle halted Karen. Her eyes strained to see through the darkness, but she could only make out shadowy, undefined figures. When she heard a choked cry, she began to walk towards one of the figures.
"Are you okay?" she asked when she reached it.
Tanner immediately tensed at the sound of Karen's voice. "What are you doing here?" he asked gruffly.
Karen was shocked into a few silent seconds. When she could regain her voice, she explained, "I thought I heard someone crying. I must have been mistaken."
"Yeah, I guess you were."
There was no mistaking the strained tone in Tanner's voice. Karen was almost ready to turn and walk away, but something was tugging at Karen's curiosity. "Are you sure you're okay? I could have sworn I heard a cry."
"Look, I said that I was okay! Why don't you just go back to your dorm and hang out with your friends? I don't need you interrogating me every five minutes!"
The explosion dealt Karen a hurtful blow. However, she remained staunch in her belief that something wasn't right with Tanner. "I understand if you don't want to talk about it, Tanner. But if it's something serious, then find someone that will. Maybe Kendall can help you with whatever the problem is."
"Why are you being so nice to me?"
The question was quick, pointed, and effective. It caused Karen to frown and look towards the dark ground. "I just know what it's like to be hurting and have no one to talk to."
"Do you really?" Tanner spat out sarcastically. Though he tried to appear unrelenting, something inside of him was genuinely surprised by Karen's unnatural gentleness towards him.
"Yes, really," Karen replied firmly. "It's not a good feeling. The best thing to do would be to talk to someone."
Tanner hesitated from responding. He looked down at the patch of flowers that he was standing over. His hand slowly reached down to pick the bulb flower of one of them, then he held it in front of Karen. "It's a summer lily. It was her favorite."
"Whose?"
"My," Tanner began, then choked up. He tilted his head back and sniffed. "It was my...my mother's favorite."
"I don't understand."
"M-my mother l-loved s-summ-mer lilies-s-s," Tanner was now slipping into a sobbing hiccough. "I always tr-tried to b-bring them to her wh-when they f-first c-came out."
"But why is it making you cry?"
"Because I c-can't take th-them to her an-any-anymore," Tanner wiped his eyes and threw the flower to the ground. "I can't take them to her anymore!" he screamed.
"Why not?"
"B-because she's d-d-d-dead!" Tanner broke down. He fell down into the flowers and continued sobbing loudly.
Karen kneeled by Tanner, unable to take in what he had just said. "I'm so sorry, Tanner. I didn't know."
"I j-just want to t-talk to her, K-K-Karen. I c-can't t-talk to her an-anymore."
"Oh, no. Did your mother...die?" Karen's eyes were pools of shock and sympathy. She tried to come up with something to say. "Have you called your dad to talk about it?"
Tanner withdrew from her as if she were poison. "No! He's d-dead t-t-too!"
Suddely, Karen was struck dumb. Her hand flew to her mouth as she sank back into the cool, moist grass beneath her. She tried to take in all that she'd learned from Tanner. On top of it all, she felt extremely guilty for treating him the way she had.
Tanner unexpectedly reached out and grabbed Karen's shoulders. "Don't you tell anyone, do you hear me?"
Karen was frightened by his suddenly wild eyes, deadly voice, and strong hands. "Of course I won't!"
"Because if you do, I'll kill you. I swear to God, I'll kill you. No one can know about this. The only person who knows is Kendall, and he's not telling anyone. This is going to be a secret, do you understand?"
"Yes! Yes!" Karen cried out. How she was going to keep a secret like that was unknown to her. One thing was for sure though: Tanner was in dire need of help. From this outburst she was quite certain that he was going through emotions too complex for her or any other untrained person to understand. One way or another, she was going to help Tanner. Enemy or not, she had to help Tanner get through it. The only question was how.