QUAESTIO

Isaac

I looked around at the towering adults surrounding me and felt my heart clutch. The town centre was heaving with people on their way to listen to the President give his speech. My mum and I included.

Without thinking about it I stepped closer to my mum and reached for her hand. Noticing my movement she smiled and gave my hand a faint squeeze. “This won’t take long, Isaac.” She said with a smile. “We’ll be home in half an hour with plenty of time to set up for our barbeque with your school friends. I promise”

I gave her a little nod and shot a glance over my shoulder. The town square seemed a little less intimidating with mum’s warm hand wrapped around mine.

“Why the long face buddy?” mum asked.

I didn’t want to disappoint mum by saying I didn’t want to be there, I just shrugged and looked at my shoes. I heard my mum sigh and squat down beside me. Gently, she reached out and lifted my chin. Her green eyes sparkled mischievously, albeit with a touch of concern. “Do you want a piggyback?” was all she had to ask before I forgot my fear of crowds.

I giggled, “Yes please.”

I wormed my way onto her back, gripping her shoulders with my hands. A moment later she had my legs hooked securely in her arms and I shot upwards. A smile played on my lips as all the towering faces came to rest below me.

A cool breeze blew through my shirt and ruffled my hair. I looked around the top of the crowd and spotted the stage. It was set up on a huge sweeping staircase that led up to the town hall. The stage jutted out from the middle of the staircase with a podium in the middle. As I watched, a chubby man in a brown suit walked up to the podium.

“Isaac, that’s the mayor of Lutum. He’s the man that runs the city.”

I let out a little gasp of awe and looked down at mum.

“But I thought we were here to listen to the President. Why isn’t he the one talking?” I asked.

“Well, he will be here in a minute. The President is a very important man. He’s in charge of the Quaestio space sector. So he’s kind of like the mayor’s boss.”

“Oh,” I whispered and my eyebrows shot up. “Why’s he here?” I asked as the mayor stepped back from the podium and the crowd let out a round of applause. I didn’t quite catch my mum’s response through the overwhelming sound of clapping. But, by the time the clapping died down I had completely forgotten I’d asked the question. Something had caught my attention.

Off to my right was a grumpy looking man in a funny grey overcoat. He had wild curly grey hair and eyebrows as thick as slugs. Sweat hung from his hair and ran down his face. He’d have to be insane to wear a coat in the middle of summer. I shuddered to myself as the man pulled a metal stick out of his jacket. I was about to ask mum what the stick was when she half jumped out of her skin. My head snapped back to face the stage as a deafening crack filled the air. I caught a short glimpse of a tall black man falling to the ground beside the podium. Then a hand was pulling me off of my mum’s back.

I cried out, but nobody heard me as the crowd erupted in panic. My mum lost her grip on my legs and I was yanked to the ground. My tailbone flared in pain. I yelped as a gruff voice shouted “Get up,” in my ear.

Surprised, I turned around to see the grumpy man reach down and pull me upright by my collar. My tailbone cried out in distress as I was abruptly pulled to my feet. Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes as my mum whirled around. I called out to her but instead of rushing towards me she froze. Her eyes grew wide. “Mum?” I whimpered softly.

At that the grumpy man started dragging me backwards, away from my mum. “Hey! Let me go,” I squirmed and kicked. My heart skipped a beat as my mum started to get further away. There were tears in her eyes now, and she took slow steps, as if to come for me. Mum?

Explosions suddenly erupted everywhere and I flinched at the sounds. Something cold and hard pressed against the side of my head. Shocked I twisted to see what it was, and tried to elbow the man in the balls at the same time. He was pointing the silver stick at me, the one I’d seen him pull out of his coat.

I’m not entirely sure why, but the silver stick struck a chord deep in my heart. I doubled my efforts to get away. I clawed and struck the man. Kicked and screamed. Then all of a sudden I went crashing to the ground.

Pain surged up my tailbone again and I felt my arm crack. Tears now flowed freely down my face. Struggling I got to my feet and saw what had happened. A man, a stranger had tackled the grumpy man to the ground. They were wrestling violently on the ground. In one swift movement the grumpy man smacked the stranger with the end of his silver stick. The stranger went tumbling to the ground, gripping the side of his head. At the same time the grumpy man stood up, pointed the stick at the stranger, and pulled a little lever.

I recoiled at the deafening blast that flew from the stick, and saw the stranger’s shirt spatter with blood. The grumpy man then looked at me angrily and marched over. My body turned to jelly as the man came closer, but somehow I found the strength to get up and run. I weaved in and out of legs, under and around benches and plants. All the while screaming “Mum!”