'That was the beginning' Jebediah said to Tamara. 'I know its weird, but I knew I immediately liked him. We clicked, we worked together so well.'

'You don't really have asthma do you' Tamara said to him then. 

'No' Jebediah spoke to his feet then. 'I don't.'

'I didn't think so.'

'I feel like I am caught in this trap now' Jebediah went on. 'I normally keep my distance from people, but I spoke to him because I didn't know him, and back then he didn't matter to me. But things slowly changed and I began to develop these true feelings for him. I love Carl. And I don't know what to do.'

'Well...' Tamara began, but she said nothing. 

'What would you do' Jebediah asked her, 'if you were in my position?'

'That's an interesting question.' She fell silent for a moment in thought. 'I guess I would carry on as normal' she answered after a time. 

'You....' Jebediah began. 

'What exactly are you thinking?' Tamara asked him. 'Are you asking....if you should leave him? Or tell him the truth?'

Jebediah bowed his head. 

'I don't want to break his heart. I don't want to lose Carl. I love him. Even though he can be so moody sometimes. I love him but....'

'What is it?'

'He says sometimes that I am cold' Jebediah replied. 'I think sometimes that he feels I don't really care for him, or that maybe I don't really love him. But I do, I feel it in my heart and soul.'

'Then you should stay with him' Tamara answered. 'Whatever will happen will happen. You should live life to the fullest. None of us know how much time we have left on this earth. You are worried for yourself....how do you know I won't be hit by a car today, or stabbed by a stranger. Maybe.....I will drop dead from a heart attack.'

Jebediah's eyes slid back towards her. 

'You shouldn't worry too much about death and dying' Tamara said to him. 

Jebediah was silent for a moment, staring at her. 

'How' he began, 'how did you cope....all those years you were locked away? Did you think you were going to die?'

'I did' Tamara replied. 'My father....was so evil. I hated him....now though.....I feel nothing towards him, nothing at all. Do you find that strange?'

Tamara glanced towards Jebediah, but he said nothing. 

'He would beat me a lot, outright attack me. It didn't take much to provoke him, he would almost..... no he would try to find an excuse to hurt me, then act like it was my fault. He was drunk a lot. On one of the worse nights um..... I accidentally spilled some water on the floor, it was just a drop. I was doing the dishes, I cannot even remember how I did it. But I remember he was drunk that night and....it was so horrible, I remember him staring at me, I could feel his eyes staring at the back of my head, staring at my whole body. It made me feel so dirty. I think I accidentally splashed some water when I was washing one of the pans, and I tensed, I remember, I got so scared so fast when I heard him rise from his chair. He hit me over the back of the head. I remember.....he forced my head in the sink, under the water. I was so afraid, I thought I would drown. I couldn't hold my breath for much longer, but he pulled me out again, then threw me to the floor and started to smack me around.'

Tamara swallowed then, shifting slightly where she sat, arms around her knees as she sat with her feet up on the bench.

'He always hit hard, and I remember the pain erupting in my body, blossoming all over. After a short time he dragged me out of the kitchen by my hair, and back to the bedroom.'

She stopped then, falling silent. 

'I feared death everyday' she continued, 'either by my father, or by my own hand.'

'What stopped you from doing it yourself?' Jebediah asked her. 'You said it was a hell you were living everyday.'

'The only thing' Tamara said, speaking slowly, thinking carefully about her words, 'was the knowlegde, that there was a chance, that I would one day be free. I didn't know what a normal life was, but I knew that that was not it. I wanted to be happy, that's all I wanted. That is the one thing that kept me going everyday. Every morning when the sun rose, was the start of a new hell, but...' she let out a sigh. 'I was found in the end, my mother who had been searching for me my entire life since my father first stole me.' Tamara turned to Jebediah with a smile. 'I love the rest of my family. They understand me in a way that no one else does. They don't think I am cursed. That is what the other kids at school used to tease me for, before they started ignoring me altogether.'

'They're just being jerks' Jebediah answered sourly. It annoyed him that people had treated Tamara that way, after everything she had been through. She couldn't socialize, had been alone all her life near enough. And so people teased her, but she couldn't recognize that they were doing that, and so they did it more. 'You shouldn't listen to them' Jebediah said. 

'I don't. But I'm glad that you came to speak to me. You're the only one I can speak to outside my own family. I feel I can relate to you. It's weird.'

'Yeah' Jebediah mumbled to his lap. 'I get that.'

He lifted his head, seeing across the grounds on the other side of the field, Carl hanging out with a group of his own friends. 

'Must be nice' Jebediah lamented, watching as Carl laughed and talked with the small group. 'I sort of envy him at times.'

At that moment, Carl happened to look up then, casting his eyes towards Jebediah, their eyes met.

'He's not happy with me' Jebediah said then, staring back at him. 

'Why do you say that?' Tamara replied, watching Carl as well. 

'I can't explain it. I just know. I've spent so much time with him. I know when he's moody, and its a lot.'