Stay Inside

22. Hannah

"Now drop the weapon and come out with your hands up!"

I knew Lothryn couldn't understand her. For a moment, I thought about yelling just that. Then I asked myself why. Why would I do anything to protect him? And realized I felt sorry for him. Whatever had made him into the person he'd become, it wasn't his fault. Whether or not he survived his encounter with the police, that would be part of the tragedy. People would cheer the death or incarceration of a murderer without taking into consideration how a seventeen-year-old boy came to be one.

"Alright, nice and easy, now," said Jarvis. "Come out with your hands up."

I heard more creaking in the floorboards and then a sound I couldn't place. A harder thud rumbled the floor and I wondered if Lothryn had tackled her. But why wasn't there another gunshot?

Then came a woman's voice. It was so soft, I could barely hear it.

"Lothryn Odris? Tet ynca felet. Von encali. Tet von tak fur secrah."

I could hardly believe my ears. What woman was speaking the same language as Lothryn? How was that possible? And why did the voice sound familiar?

"Tet ume noya go."

Her voice became even quieter. Lothryn was speaking with her, but I couldn't make out what they were saying, not that I could understand either of them.

"Tara?!" It was David's voice. "We shouldn't be in here. Hannah?!"

I couldn't believe he was there. His voice was like a warm blanket. And I was immediately worried for his safety. I called his name, my voice breaking through my tears.

But he didn't come to me. There were more footsteps, steady and fearless, belonging to at least half a dozen more people. And then the person I least expected to see opened my door. There was Tara standing in the doorway peering down at me. She wasn't sympathetic and she didn't rush to my aide. She looked at me with a sort of cold intrigue.

"The girl is unharmed," she said.

A voice I couldn't make out spoke into an earpiece.

"Understood," she said. She walked towards me and crouched. She had Lothryn's keys and she unlocked my shackle. As she did, I watched a man in a black suit walk out of the other Bedroom with Lothryn draped over his shoulder. Two more men walked in with cardboard boxes and began to collect anything and everything from the room.

"What's going on?" I murmured.

"We're here to take you away from this place," said Tara. "Are you alright?"

She asked me like she was reading a line. She didn't really care. Why was she there? I nodded dumbly as she helped me to my feet. I could see Detective Jarvis on the floor being slipped into a body bag. I was walking before I knew it. The air and my mind both felt foggy like I was in a dream.

"Did I hear David?" I asked her.

"Yes, he's here."

She walked me through the hall. There was blood all over the floor. A body bag was in the bathroom next to a broken pike. My eyes swept past it and I found David in the living room, beyond a stream of crisscrossing men in suits.

"Hannah! Oh my god."

I ran into his embrace. I knew he would search for me, I just couldn't believe he would find me so soon. I cried into his shoulder.

"I was so scared for you," he told me. "And I didn't know why! I can't believe you're here. I'm so glad I found you."

"Thank you," I managed to say. "Take me out of here please!"

Tara's voice rang out again. She was notably unmoved.

"She'll have to go with Agent Cooper," she said. "He'll make sure she gets the attention she needs."

"Umm, okay," said David. He was even more confused by Tara than I was. "Can I go with her?"

"There's a car downstairs. We'll meet her down there."

"Okay," said David.

I felt a hand on my elbow. A sharp-faced blonde man I presumed to be Agent Cooper was pulling me away from my best friend. In hindsight, I should have insisted that I stayed with David. But I was so willing to believe my nightmare was over. I was willing to believe Tara despite the mystery of who she truly was. And David, understandably wanted answers. Who was the too-good-to-be-true woman who found him on a dating app?

"See you soon," said David. He smiled at me as Agent Cooper led me out the door into the warm air.

But I never saw him again.

The company Tara worked for didn't like loose ends. She apologized to David moments after I left them behind. He assumed the apology was for deceiving him. Then he felt Tara's silencer against his heart and the agents unrolled another body bag for my best friend.

Like Tara, Agent Cooper was all business. His grip on my arm was tight and unpleasant. There was a black car with tinted windows waiting for me outside the apartment building. I had expected an ambulance or maybe a medical technician on standby. Didn't Tara say I would be getting the attention I needed? There weren't even camera vans.

Agent Cooper opened the back door. "Get in."

I frowned and did as I was told. There was a woman in the backseat seated beside me. Her long legs were crossed in a black pencil skirt and black high heels. She wore dark sunglasses, had red lips, and a shock of white hair sprouting from her widow's peak. She flicked her cigarette out the window and rolled it back up. Then, the car took off.

"Wait," I croaked. "I thought we were waiting for David."

"They'll take him in a different car," said the woman.

She had a hybrid accent, German and English. She enunciated every word. I found her unsettling. If I had been rescued by my abductor, why did I still feel scared? She turned to me and smiled. It was a fake smile, like Tara's; the sort you would receive from a frenemy at a cocktail party. It lacked any empathy for what I had just endured.

"When I was in grade four, this little boy called Phillip had a crush on me," she said. "But he didn't know how to express it. I, of course, had no idea that him chasing me, calling me names, and punching me meant that he actually desired my company. Nor did I, when, after months of bullying he tied me to a tree with a jump rope and stuck his hand down my leggings."

I stared into her. I had no idea why she would tell me a traumatic anecdote, especially in my given circumstance. She shrugged at me.

"Hmm... Not even a smile? I was hoping you might relate."

I didn't believe her. She was callously toying with me.

"Who are you people?" I asked her.

"Well, you can call me Agent Hutch," she replied coyly. "Josephine, Jo, Dr. Jo- I am a doctor. I actually am not sure who's driving right now; I only know about half of their names."

I opened my mouth to interrupt her, but she talked over me.

"-And I know that's not what you were asking, but I'm giving you the answers I can. Hell, you might be able to figure it out yourself. I know you've been to our website."

I scrunched up my face. Delphi House Publishing, that place in the strip mall. But that's not what they were really. Clearly, they were some sort of government entity.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked.

"I can't answer that either," she said. "But I assure you, Hannah, when we get to where we're going, you'll be privy to more information than you ever wanted. For the time being, sit back, enjoy the ride and your blissful ignorance while it lasts. And help yourself to a water."

I spotted the bottled water in a cup holder on the floor between the seats. I didn't reach for it. Instead, I stared at it with the same skepticism I felt towards anything Lothryn offered me. I had traded one prison for another, complete with darkened windows, and dangerous company. I stayed silent for the rest of the ride.