The Letters

Aristide kills one of the few things that keep Jake going.

Jake is focusing a little too much on his mother coming back and it's affecting his work performance.

Aristide shows Jake a box of all the letters he thought he had sent to his mother. In reality, the letters were never sent, it was to give Jake a false sense of hope until he was old enough to handle the hard news of his mother being “dead”.

A small part of Jake dies in this scene, even if Jake doesn't show it. He has three things in his life that he has going for him, and one of those has just been crushed. Aristide's end goal is achieved by showing Jake the letters. Jake ends up detaching himself a little more from his emotions after this, focusing on devoting his time to the organization, taking it more seriously.

"It doesn't matter, mom's still here even if it's not physically," Jake said grabbing an energy drink from the fridge and cracking it open instead of shotgunning it like he usually does. Today was his day off and he wasn't in a hurry to be anywhere or need to be awake for the next few hours, still, energy drinks tasted good and he drank them like soda.
"We just need to wait for her to save up enough money to buy that ticket here" Jake continued and he leaned back against the counter of the kitchen, looking at his father, Aristide.

"Jake. She's not coming and I think it's time we had this talk." Aristide said rather coldly. Jake waved him away.
"You're just saying that because you don't like her anymore, but she was the love of your life at one point. She never forgot her kids. She didn't pawn them away for a higher position in the government like you did and I think that eats you up inside" Jake drank a bit of the fruit punch drink. "I've written to her ever since she left and not once has she failed to call you and tell you how much she misses us and that she plans to come get us, you know this"
Aristide was quiet at that which gave Jake a sort of satisfaction, a small grin appearing on his face. He knew he was right.
"Come here, I have something to show you," Aristide said as he walked down the hall of their house and into his room, only to open another door that led to an even smaller room which was his office.
Jake rolled his eyes and followed.
"Nothing you show me or tell me is going to change my mind. She's been the better parent this entire time" He spoke as he waited at the door of the office and watched his father pull out a large box and put it on the desk.
"Open it" Aristide commanded. Jake just stared, a sort of glare appearing on his face as he was given yet another order. He begrudgingly walked over to the box, setting his drink down beside it. He opened the top only to find a bunch of papers inside. No. Not papers, envelopes. His face lit up suddenly, a hopeful smile on his face.
"She wrote back this whole time, didn't she?!" Jake said rather excitedly. "You're sick you know, hiding this the whole time" Jake turned to his father, liking this man a little more in this moment for showing him this.
"No Jake," Aristide said again. "Pull one out, open it." Another order. Jake was getting sick of all these mind games. Why not just tell him what was going on?
Jake reached in to grab one and when he pulled it out and looked at the front of the envelope, his whole demeanor changed. The once hopeful smile fell so quickly that he opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out.

It was dedicated to someone named on the top left side "Sienna Grey Satori", there was another name on the bottom right. "Jake Grey Satori (your son)". An address under both names. The envelope was already opened, the stamp left untouched. He pulled the letter out, it was decorated nicely with a soft black aesthetic, elegant in a way against the milky white paper, the cursive handwriting in dark ink immediately recognized by Jake. His handwriting.
Hey Mom!
It's Jake again, I know you're doing your best to get by right now and try and save money to come to visit us. I know it's unfair to keep pressuring you about this, but I really miss you. I think about you a lot and I really want to see you. Aster's still in a coma, she'd be happy to know you were here when she wakes up. I've been having a difficult time and it would be really nice to hear your voice again. I love you. You say you do too, or well, you tell that to Aristide so he tells me. I don't understand why he won't let me talk to you. It's not fair. I don't even get a letter back. Even if it's just something you wrote, it would help to see that and know you still think of us.....

The letter then goes on to say what Jake's been up to, talking about his jobs and updating Sienna on Astrid, going into detail about what the doctor has been saying.
Jake holds the letter, not reading it, just staring blankly at it. He sets it down, his heart pounding a little faster and he reaches into the box again, this time digging all the way to the bottom to pull a different one out.
This one was titled the same with the exception of there being a "(your favorite son!)" beside his name this time, the handwriting was different, more sloppy, and sort of shaky. He sets that one down too and reaches into the box again.
This goes on for a while and when Jake's done, the letters sit in front of him, all pulled out of their envelopes. They range from heartfelt words and thoughts to expressing his anger in harshly scribbled writing, some of them having been crumpled up before having put in the envelopes.

"It's better if you forget about her. This will only get in the way of your work. Remember what I've always told you. Feelings have no place inside a weapon,-"
"- it makes it volatile." Jake finished. He skimmed over the letters one more time. He seemed to be taking this surprisingly well.
"Why did you make me believe she cared? Did you care?" He looked over at Aristide, shoving his hands into his pockets, waiting for an answer.
"You were young. I was told that for someone your age, you would take this hard and you did. So we came up with a plan to help you. This was the best we could do along with putting you in therapy." Aristide's face remained the same the entire time he talked, with no hint of remorse or sympathy. Jake remembered the first time his father had pitched the idea of writing to his mother. Jake had been so excited when Aristide told him she had called. He would ask him to tell him everything she had said in detail, slowly. He had held those words close to his heart. He remembered the therapy sessions at the time too. The therapist always seemed to dismiss his feelings for his mother and focused more on what he should be doing in his work. Now that he thought about it, they were probably hired by Nexus to help him be more focused on what they wanted him to be.
Jake pulled his hands out of his pockets and grabbed his drink.
"And the father of the year award goes toooooo!!" Jake makes a drumming motion with his hands, the drink still in his hands and spilling slightly. "Aristide! Knox!! Satoriiii!!!" Jake says in a sort of announcer's voice, dragging out his name for effect. He snickers as he walks out of the room.
"You're a fucking asshole," Jake says loudly, biting back the emotion that threatened to spill into his voice as he disappears behind a door down the hallway, his room, the basement.