The Gate

Chapter 5

Something was wrong.

Faye couldn’t understand how she knew this, but she could feel it deep within herself.  Something was terribly wrong.  As she looked around the room, at the police women, at her mommy, she could feel worry unfurl in her stomach.  Her mommy was crying.  Why was her mommy crying?  She never cried.

“Mommy, what’s wrong?” Faye whimpered.  When her mommy didn’t answer, she asked again.  “Mommy, what’s wrong?  Where’s Terra?”

Terra’s absence frightened Faye.  She was always around, especially when something important like this was going on.  She wouldn’t leave Faye and their mommy to be alone with the police officers.  No, she would want to be here to support them, to help them through whatever problems had aroused. 

“Mommy, why aren’t you answering me?” Faye shrieked, grabbing at her mommy’s shirt.  Her mommy finally looked at her, and Faye could see the tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Mommy will be right back,” her mommy murmured softly, kneeling in front of her and holding onto her arms.  “I need to go with these nice people, all right?”

“Why do you need to go with the police ladies?” Faye mumbled, glancing discreetly at the two police women standing awkwardly next to the kitchen table.  “Mommy, what’s going on?”

“Everything will be all right,” her mommy whispered.  She kissed Faye softly on the cheek.  “Stay here.  Errika and her mom will be over any minute now, okay?”

Faye nodded, sniffling.  Panicked tears pricked her eyes.  She was scared.  She needed Terra to comfort her, to tell her that everything would be all right.  When her mommy couldn’t succeed, Terra always could.  A tear fell down her cheek.  Where was her sister?  Where was Terra?

Faye watched silently as her mommy stood up and followed the police women outside.  She glanced around, nervous.  She didn’t like being home alone.  Even if it was for only a little while, she couldn’t bear the empty house.

She glanced toward the front door.  Any moment now Errika and her mommy would come through the door, swearing that everything was fine.  But nothing was fine.  Her mommy was crying and Terra was nowhere to be found.

Before Faye could even think about what she was doing, she rushed to the front door, throwing it open.  The police women and her mommy had disappeared down the road in the police cruiser.  Faye bit her lip.  She couldn’t follow them if she had no idea where they were.

But she had to try.

Faye hurried down the front porch, hopping onto her bicycle that leaned against the side of the house.  She pedaled down the road, following it even though she didn’t know if she was going the right way.  She glanced at the houses to her right as she passed, noting that people were standing on their porches, speaking in hushed voices and discreetly glancing at her.  She knew immediately that her mommy had gone through here.

She kept straight.  She didn’t want to turn down any roads and get lost in the process.  Her mommy would never forgive her if she got lost while leaving the house when she wasn’t supposed to.

The sound of sirens almost sent Faye flying into a bush.  She gripped the handlebars tightly, searching fervently for the source of the sirens.

And then she saw it. 

It was a group of people flowing beside and around two police cars, an ambulance, and a fire truck.  She spotted her mommy standing beside the two police women that had been at her house.  Faye’s stomach clenched when she saw that they were standing over something.