Difficult Decision

In the next moment, he turned to Natalie and asked,

"What fuels the lamp, mom?"

With a subtle frown, Natalie scratched the back of her head.

"The best person to answer your question could have been your dad, but unfortunately, he is not here with us. All I know is that the lamp doesn't use any fuel and that's what makes it difficult to explain it to you. I would say, I am not that well versed by what powers it and therefore, I don't guarantee answering your question now. Perhaps who knows, I might end up deducing what powers it now that we stay here."

Jean was frustrated on hearing what Natalie had to tell him about the lamp, but still his speculations about the lamp being out of the ordinary still held, as the lamp didn't use fuel yet it was an ancient device.

'I shall still find out.'

Jean thought to himself.

Now that his second question had been answered, though not in a satisfying manner, he had to ask the next one.

Shifting a little in the coach he was seated in, Jean glanced at Natalie and let out a light smile.

"I have another question that I would like to ask, mom."

When Natalie heard this, she let out a tired yawn and nodded.

Without a second thought, Jean went ahead and asked,

"During our brief tour, the previous day, you happened to mention that there was a main function of the gate apart from acting as an emergency exit. But from what I observed, the gate can't serve as an exit as instead of taking someone out of the compound completely, it leads the person to another compound in the name of a forest."

Jean had studied the nature of the perimeter wall during their forest tour, and never for once did he spot any other opening on the perimeter wall. That was the reason he regarded the purpose of the narrow gate serving as an exit as vague.

At that moment, Natalie turned to Jean and let out a wicked smile, prompting him to look away in frustration.

"If I may ask, what is the purpose of an emergency exit?"

Natalie asked while staring at Jean.

Lingering for a few moments, Jean rubbed his eyes and shifted his gaze towards Natalie.

"Of course, to serve as an escape route during the times of danger"

Jean said with a hint of anger in his voice.

"Now that you know the purpose of an emergency exit, let me explain something to you."

Pausing for a moment… she then continued…

"Let's take it for example there is a sudden danger and you escape through the narrow gate. When the enemy decides to follow you all through to the forest, you can easily coil the enemy through the forest as it serves as a barrier between you and your enemy, and if you can, you can still circle around and return to the compound. And if the enemies happen to be more in numbers that others wait for you in the compound, you can just climb the grills and hope to the outside and escape them. So, tell me where you can't understand about the exit."

With that, silence settled in the room like a third person. Moments later, Jean perked up and glanced at Natalie. From Natalie's explanation about the narrow gate serving as an exit, it was difficult for Jean to object. The explanation was satisfying, but that didn't answer his main question about the gate.

"In terms of exit I now know, but what about its main purpose the way you said earlier?"

The moment Natalie gave a clear explanation about the gate serving as an exit, Jean couldn't help but counter with the most disturbing question about the gate.

With a grim expression, Natalie blinked severally.

"I think you remember me telling you that the answer to that question lies behind the gate."

With that, Natalie paused for a while and shifted her gaze towards the wall-clock on the adjacent wall. The time read 7:55PM. This means they have been in a discussion for more than one hour after their supper.

Shifting her gaze back to Jean, Natalie continued,

"Just to let you know, you will have to find it out yourself. I don't think that would be a challenge to you because is a straight forward thing."

Natalie said while spreading her arms out wide.

When Jean heard this, he felt the strings of his heart being tagged. He didn't expect this kind of answer from Natalie, but since he had his own potential answer, he still had hope.

'But this is going to be risky and I don't think I am ready to repeat that…'

The potential answer that was lingering in Jean's mind about the main purpose of the narrow gate, was the mysterious spot in the middle of the forest. And judging from the last experience, Jean was wary of the place. But basing on his findings, he had a strong feeling that the spot had something to do with the main purpose of the narrow gate.

'How am I going to inspect the spot when it is that dangerous?'

Feeling puzzled by the choice at hand, Jean couldn't help but ground his teeth out of anger. He didn't like the fact that in order for him to find out the main purpose of the gate, he had to inspect the mysterious spot that almost cost his life the last time he made contact with it.

What angered him the most, was the fact that Natalie had said that him finding out the main purpose of the gate was a straight forward thing. This statement from Natalie made Jean doubt his speculations to some extent.

'Could it be that I am overthinking? Even if I am, I think there is still a strong reason to why I need to inspect the spot. But what if I lose my life in the process?'

Jean felt undecided to whether he should try inspecting the spot or just forget about the whole matter. With Natalie giving him a go ahead to find out the main purpose of the gate, it was clear that she wasn't going to give a helping hand in anyway when it came to the matter itself. So, if Jean was going to take the matter of finding out more information about the spot, he was going to do it alone.

Knowing that Jean must have learnt from the previous encounter, Natalie didn't dare to warn him any longer about the mysterious spot in the middle of the forest. She seemed indifferent when talking about the main purpose of the main gate knowing very well that in order for Jean to find out about this, he would have to visit the forest.

When the matter about the main purpose of the gate was settled, it was time for Jean to ask another question. But at that moment, Natalie cleared her throat and faced Jean.

"Since it is getting late, I give a chance to ask only a single question out of your remaining questions, I need to get some rest."

That was the moment Jean felt how tender his muscles had grown, it was like a wave of tiredness hit him the moment Natalie talked about having a rest.

Despite the state he was in, he still needed to remind Natalie something.

At that moment, Jean rubbed his eyes tiredly and glanced at Natalie. With a haggard tone he said,

"You had promised to call my grandparents in the village so that I could chat with them, but now that time has gone, I don't think that would be possible. We have to do it some other time."

With that, Jean got to his feet ready to leave. He was feeling spent, the tiredness that the debilitating tour had subjected to him, was eating on his little remaining strength.

Natalie was feeling the same and when she noticed Jean was about to leave, she heaved a sigh of relief and also got to her feet almost immediately.

"That is wise of you. You really care about your mom."

Natalie said with a grin.

In response, Jean raised an eyebrow and excused himself.

A few moments later, Jean could be seen ascending the stairs with dropped shoulders. He was heading to his room so that he can have a rest after having a long day.

Natalie who was still down stairs could be seen locking the doors of the house and then turning off the lights in each and every room that had its lights on and finally the living room. She then climbed the staircase and headed to her room to have a rest. The day was over.

Entering the room and turning on its lights, Jean looked tired. He immediately threw himself in bed like a luggage, but after resting for a while, he quickly woke up. He had remembered something. He had forgotten to put on the night dress before sleeping, he had also forgot to take off the safety shoes she was given by Natalie. He only woke up to put on the night dress to save himself from the dramas that he was likely to face from his mom the following morning. This was after remembering how infuriated his mom was in the morning when he found him without the night dress.

Five minutes later, Jean was lying on his bed on his back as he gazed at the ceiling, although tired, he still found it difficult to sleep.

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