The Pact - Season 1: Episode 10

The taxi pulled up in front of this nightclub. I looked out of the window. It seemed like this was quite a popular hang-out spot, judging from the amount of people, and considering this was a weekday. I paid the driver, and got out. I started walking inside. I also guessed that this place was frequented by the usual crowd, and it was not often that someone new came here, because as I was walking inside lots of people were looking at me in wonder.

I didn’t know anyone in this place, but I slowly started looking around, hoping to see Tyrone and his gang. But they were nowhere to be seen. In the end, I gave up my search, and decided to just go and buy a drink. As I was approaching the bar, I suddenly spotted Tyrone sitting alone at the bar. I wondered why he wasn’t here with his friends, but I was also glad that I had found him. I walked over to him, and greeted him,

“Hi Tyrone.” He looked up surprised.

“What are you doing here?” I shrugged.

“I’ve heard about this place, and decided to come down to check it out.” From the look he gave me, I know that he didn’t believe me.

“Alone?” he asked.

“So what? You are here alone too.”

“Yes, but my friends wanted to go to this end-of-summer pool party, and I didn’t want to go.”

“Same here,” was my reply.

“Ok, nice seeing you,” he said as he turned away from me. I wasn’t ready to give up so soon, and so I moved closer to him, and said,

“Now that was very rude of you, you know.” He turned to me again,

“Why? I just don’t feel like talking to you, that’s all. I think I have a right to choose not to speak to someone, don’t I? After all, this is a free country.” I was getting a little angry by then, but I tried to keep cool.

“Come on, don’t go all lawyer on me now. You are here alone, and so am I, so why can’t we just order a drink, and try to be friends?” He shrugged, and so I called the barman, and ordered a Tequila for myself, and a beer for Tyrone. When the drinks came, he turned to me, and asked,

“So how did you know I would be here? I never mentioned where I hang out.”

“I didn’t know. I heard about this place, and I decided to come down here tonight.” Tryone frowned.

“Listen, if you want me to stay for at least this drink, you can at least try to be honest with me. You came here to see me. Otherwise, you would have gone out with your boyfriend tonight, or you could have come down here with a friend. But you came here alone, and it’s obvious that your intention is purely to talk to me.” I sighed and said,

“Ok, you’re right. I found out from Lynn – I wasn’t asking, though. She mentioned that you come down here, and so I decided to come too.”

“But why?”

“To find some answers,” I replied. He looked at me quizzically. “Oh, come on,” I said. “This morning you seemed fine, and I thought you liked me. You even invited me to hang out with you and your friends. And then when I mentioned my brother’s name, you went all cold on me. I want to know what happened between you and Steve.” He looked down.

"Michelle, nothing happened. At least not recently. But it’s a long story. And I don’t want to talk about it.” I tried to get him to talk about what had happened, but he refused to speak one word about it. In the end, he got off the stool, and said,

“Listen, you are here tonight, and alone, and so am I. Maybe, for this one night, we can hang out together, and try to have fun. But don’t ask me about that anymore.” I knew that I needed to win Tyrone’s trust, if I was going to get him to talk, so I said,

“OK, let’s party then.” The night went on, and although we didn’t speak of that incident again, we talked about a lot of things. I learnt that Tyrone had moved to Lenton one year before, just around the time that my brother had, and he had come down here with his best friend. At first I had thought that his friend was one of the guys that he usually hung out with, but when he said, “She looks after me,” I realised that she was a female. He never mentioned her name, and I didn’t like to ask. He also said that he had bought a garage, so that he could tinker with his motorbike in his free time, and that was the place where he spent most of his free time, when he wasn’t at University, or out partying. He said that his garage was in Claryton too, and I was surprised to find out that it was quite near David’s house. At that moment, I thought how hard it must be for Lynn, to pass by his garage everyday, knowing that he is so close, and yet she cannot talk to him.

We drank a lot of tequila and beer, and we danced all night. For a short while, I forgot the reason why I was here, and I was really having a wild time with Tyrone.

“This place is great, isn’t it?” he shouted over the music.

“Yes,” I shouted back. “I’m really having a great time with you.”

And I hugged him, and we continued dancing, and drinking.

By 4am, I was totally drunk, and exhausted, and so Tyrone said,

“Come on, let’s go upstairs on the roof, and chill out.” We sat down at a table, and I smiled.

“This has been a really great night – probably the best in my life so far.” He smiled back, and said,

“I’m really glad that you have enjoyed yourself tonight. But listen to me now, this was just one night, ok? There will be no more. Don’t try to find me again, promise?” I was stunned.

“But why?” I asked. He shook his head.

“Don’t ask why. You’ve had one wild night with me, and now from tomorrow you can go back to your perfect life, and enjoy everything you have. You don’t need me to mess things up for you.” I sighed.

“If only you knew how perfect my life was! No one is going to mess up my life, because my life is already messed up. Too many questions, not one single answer. Too many people acting weird, no one wants to say why. I feel like I’ve suddenly been dropped into some reality show. Everyone is acting strange lately, David, Lynn, my brother, you. It seems like everyone I meet is somehow involved in this thing, and yet when I ask, everyone seems to hide away and avoid answering. I just wish I could wake up, and find out this is all a dream. Everyday, I am waiting for someone to come up to me with a mike and a camera and telling me that this was all a setup, and it’s only been some freak reality show.” Tyrone sighed at my words,

“Yeah, tell me about it. I’ve been feeling like that ever since I moved to this island.” I looked at him, puzzled.

“Why Tyrone? Can’t you at least give some answers?” He looked at me seriously,

“Michelle, you don’t really remember anything, do you?” I was getting more and more confused now, and I asked,

“What is there to remember? Is there something I should know?” He gave me a half smile, as he said,

“You’re really lucky, you know. You guys were taken away, and you forgot. And yet, I had to stay, and remember every single day. Don’t ask anymore. Just know that you are really lucky not to remember anything at all. Think of tonight as an adventure away from your boyfriend, and then from tomorrow pretend you never knew me, and live your life.” I shook my head, and stood up.

“No, Tyrone. I can’t live my life the way that I want to. Besides this thing between you and Steve, there is something going on between David and Steve, and I know that someday soon I will have to choose between them. And it’s not fun. I see Lynn hurting everyday, and I feel sorry for her. And yet I can’t help thinking that soon I will be in her situation.” He stood up, and came over to me. He put his arms around me, and said,

“I believe that everything happens for a reason – or at least my friend from Sherwood believes that, and she keeps telling it to me every single day. This is an advice from a really messed up guy, but try to take it: Live your life one day at a time, and try not to think about things that much.” I looked into his eyes, and at that moment I knew that he was being totally honest, and he was saying that because he understood exactly what I was going through.

Suddenly, without us knowing how, our lips touched and we were kissing each other. I know now that probably it was all the Tequila and the beer that made us do it, but at that moment as we were kissing each other, I had this feeling that Tyrone was right, and there is a reason behind everything. Somehow, it’s all part of the big picture, and yet at that moment, it was too dark to see things clearly. Tyrone pulled away, and looked at me in wonder, as if he too was asking me what we were doing kissing each other.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“Don’t be. It just happened, all right? Maybe it’s the drinks, maybe it’s what we talked about.” He smiled, and said,

“Come on, this night has gone too far now. Maybe it’s time we went home.”