Halcyon

C H A P T E R S E V E N: WHISTLEBLOWER

This draft is unedited.

          

The knock came on our front door not three days after I returned from the hospital. The clunky cast on my leg made it hard to walk so I sat at the kitchen table, woozy with pain medication, as my mother cooked something with tomatoes at the stove. She paused her stirring, mouth set in such a stern line that I wondered if she'd ever smile again. Her knuckles were white around the wooden spoon. Marley peeked over the cover of her book where she lay nestled in the window seat, as we all waited for my mother to make a move.

With a deep sigh, she wiped her hands on her apron, then strode from the kitchen, hair dancing like a stray beam of sunset down her back. We all sat frozen in our seats, even Toby was quiet, a chubby fist, still loaded with cheerios, halfway to his mouth. The sound of the front door opening cracked through the house like a gunshot, followed by the quiet murmur of voices. A moment of silence passed and I held my breath, trying to listen over the frantic pace of my heart.

Loud footsteps pattered back to us down the hall and I struggled to my feet with the aid of the crutches. My mother hurried back into the kitchen, paler than before, followed by two men. They were both dressed professionally, equally blank looks adorning their faces. "Girls," my mother spoke softly, "I'm going to need you to get on your shoes and coats and follow these gentlemen outside."

"What's happening?" Marley quavered, standing from her seat in the corner, looking very young with her bare feet and mess of tangled curls. Toby began to cry.

"No questions," Jill intoned firmly, my mother seemed like she was trying her best to smile but it trembled at the edges, "just do as your told, while I get Toby."

With a frightened glance, Marley scurried over to help me get the crutches underneath my arms, before fisting a shaking hand in the back of my shirt and following me as I hobbled out into the hall. "You're going to need to help me get my shoe on," I whispered, feeling my cheeks color the slightest bit in shame. The two men watched us without speaking as we struggled. There was a bulge under each of their jackets that looked like suspiciously like a gun. In my fear, my mouth felt like it was filled with cotton.

My mother emerged from the kitchen a few moments later, struggling to slip Toby's booties on his little feet as he squirmed in her hold. The two men still said nothing as they ushered us out of the house, not even bothering to lock the door. A dark van sat in the driveway, another man at the wheel, watching us warily as we all clambered in. It was only when I sat down that panic truly began to set in as I realized the windows were blacked out. Marley must have noticed too because she squeaked, "where are you taking us?"

"Stop talking!" the taller of the two that waited in the house with us snapped, as he raised the partition between us and the driver, cutting off all line of sight from the outside. My head whipped to my mother in askance but she sat, dazedly, with a crying baby Toby in her lap as she whispered, "I forgot to turn the stove off."

The van rumbled to life and we felt it pull from the driveway and take off down the street. Marley was crying silent tears into my shoulder, making the bruised muscles and tissue there ache. I wasn't sure how long we drove for before the vehicle finally came to a halt. My heartbeat quickened in my chest as the sound of the driver's side opening seemed to echo in an enclosed space, before the door to the right slid open and the one who had yet to speak pushed us from the interior.

Casting a quick look around I realized we were in an underground garage of sorts, with other cars like ours parked in its shadowy bowels. "Move," one of the men ordered, as me and my little ragtag family were ushered towards a thick metal door to the right.