Dear Readers,
I followed Bea into her room. She was already lying flat on her back, exhausted.
The music sounded like it was coming from a Hi-Fi. It had a nice beat and personality to it. She laid on her bed, which was this low, flat thing on the floor. The rest of her room was bare, save for some boxes around.
I asked her if they just moved in? She said 10 months ago. I asked her why she wasn't unpacked?
She gave no answer.
I said "Pretty cool record player." as far as record players go. She said it was her mom's. I said I didn't have any records and I didn't get records. She said her mom was into them. She laughed a bit and said they were retro when her mom was her age even! I said they were retro now and she said that's how retro worked.
I then said I had a question. She murmured. I asked "What exactly does your dad *do* at the store?" She said these days? Not much. Just some administrative stuff. She said he hired the repair guys and sometimes went out on jobs, as that was kind of his whole area. That was about it though. I said yeah but it was still his name on everything. She said yep. I said meanwhile she was running basically everything. She said yep. She added AND! AND! Working there every day too, saying yep again.
I then said I just thought she shouldn't. She said ok. I said "I just think you're like selling yourself out." and she said sorry, what? I continued, saying she not doing anything about it just reinforced... and she butted in, asking me if this was really the road I wanted to go down with this?
I then said "I'm saying you should stand up for yourself or just like... quit!" and she said quit? Really? Just quit. Then she said I was seriously detached from reality. I said she was doing all the work and he was getting all the credit! She said oh go to heck.
I said "What?!" and she said I heard her. I asked her what her problem was?
Bea then said here was some reality for me: She asked if I knew Creek the repair guy at the shop and I said "No?" and she said I've seen him. He talked a lot. Worked for them since forever.
Bea continued, saying when she was 15 he asked her dad if he could teach her how to drive. Her dad said no, and then told her she wasn't to be alone with him. I said "What the?" and she said yeah. Exactly. She then said he still worked for them! I was just like !!!!
I asked her why she hasn't fired him!? and she said she couldn't fire people! And even if she could, he was on the crew.
The music had slowly faded out.
She said frankly, he was their best guy and practically headed up the repair team, since her dad was barely doing anything! He also had a family and needed the work. I said "That's disgusting!" and raised my arms, saying it wasn't her responsibility to... and she butted in, saying she knew! and didn't I think she knew that?
I lowered my arms and said I was just saying if she kept letting these dudes off the hook and she butted in with off the hook?! I then told her she was stronger than this. I told her she was like... badass and stuff.
She sat up and looked at me, repeating the word badass. She said her mom dying was not very badass and her sitting in this room right now wasn't very badass.
I said I was sorry, that I... and she told me I was such a s#!thead. I went "Aaaaargh!" and she said aaaaargh? Aaaaargh what?! and continued, saying a lot of time folks couldn't just choose to do whatever it was I decreed to be the right thing! She said a lot of times people do the things they do because they can't do anything else! I said "You always have a choice." and she then said says the child-woman with no job, no rent, no responsibilities, and no consequences for my stupid actions. She said she was seriously going to punch my gosh darn lights out :( She said I came in here and started telling her how she was screwing things up? That I wanted to come in here and say oh yeah just ditch your dad, who is both getting old and can barely get off the couch half the time? That I wanted to come in here and say oh yeah just start this big drama and make your life way more stressful?
I said "It's just not right is what I'm saying!" and she said yeah, it wasn't. Nothing was right. The whole effing world wasn't right. She said Gregg was probably off doing gosh knows what wacky crap right now and here she was making dinner and doing payroll. She said I knew like, nothing about her life. I only knew what she supposedly should do. She said I was the last person she'd ask for advice.
I said ok ok I'm sorry. She said yeah, I was sorry, everyone was sorry. But I didn't get it. I said I thought we were having fun! We went to the mall! We got stuck in a basement! She said yeah, and that was all I did those days. She said she had worked a good 6 hours before I even woke up probably and I came home each night after she and I were done to pay bills and figure out how we were making next payroll while dad slept on the couch. She said this wasn't fun.
After a pause I said I should go. She said I should go. I left her room.
On my way out, I passed by her dad, asleep on the couch. He murmured about bad beef in his sleep. I continued until I was gone from their apartment. No running or jumping here and I could feel the dramatic weight of not being able to do so.
Wow this was heavy stuff. I never saw this scene in any playthrough I had watched on YouTube and it was one of the big things I was wondering about while playing through the game now a second time, taking Bea's path instead of Gregg's. As for this Creek guy, I don't know what other boundaries he may have stepped over, but if her dad thought she wasn't to be around him alone and he still let him work for them, all while she still has to work in the shop too, that's not a nice thing.
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