Birdy Anders
Birdy stuck close to Sarah, trying not to let any fear enter her eyes. She was terrified, though, and she was absolutely sure that it showed. She tried to make sure that her shoulders weren’t hunched and her back was straight. Confidence is the key. She had to be confident.
Crash!
The door was kicked down by the police officer in front, and suddenly, they were all moving in. She wasn’t sure why she was allowed to be here when all that she’d done is give a tip, Sarah had even done most of the actual researching and piecing together, really.
Nonetheless, here Birdy was, stomping into the small house that was supposed to hold the person who had kidnapped and fake murdered her brother along with Sarah’s brother. She had been acting all tough before when finding him seemed so far away, but now that they were so close, she realized that she wasn’t ready. No, no, she really wasn’t ready.
How could she come to face that monster? What was she supposed to say? Was she just supposed to go up to him and throw a good punch? That sounded like a good idea in her head, but realistically, that would just end up with her getting detained as well. Which wouldn’t be good.
They came closer to the last door in the house that they hadn’t been in and walked in. There was a man on the floor getting handcuffed by an officer and pulled up into a standing position. Birdy wasn’t surprised to see a man that she had never seen before, until Sarah gasped.
Then, Birdy realized that she had seen him before, in some very bloody crime scene photos. After that, she realized why Sarah had gasped in the first place. It clicked in her head.
This was Jacob Hensen.
Going into this, Birdy had thought that Sarah would have to hold her back from going up and punching Tempest right square in his stupid face. She did not expect that she would be holding back Sarah from going up and hugging Tempest right around his stupid body.
“Wait, wait, wait, Birdy Anders?” His voice held an accent now. “Whoo-hoo, I haven’t seen you in a while. I guess you got your brother’s attractive genes.” He looked her up and down before letting out another whistle. The police officer, who didn’t speak English, had obviously gotten enough from the situation to be upset because he suddenly tightened the handcuffs greatly. Which made Jacob let off a very high-pitched wince of pain.
His eyes widened when he actually saw Sarah, and she looked him dead in the eye. She seemed a bit disgusted by his comment but still relieved to just see her brother alive for a second.
Then, it clicked in her head as well, and her face dropped. Her smile disappeared, and her eyes began to fill with tears. But she still couldn’t accept the truth, so she asked him, “What happened?...” Her voice wobbled, and for some reason, it broke Birdy’s heart to hear that.
Then, a rush of voices happened between the three of them.
“I can explain.”
“Sarah, he’s Tempest.”
“No, he’s not.”
“If you’ll give me a minute.”
“Yes he is. You have to accept it.”
“No, no, no, no…”
“Seriously.”
“Sarah, it’s true.”
“Just listen to me, SarBear.”
“DON’T CALL ME THAT!”
Her scream echoed around the room with all its emotion. The officers, all of them knowing no English or very little, looked confused about what was happening between the three of them.
Sarah breathed in heavily before saying out of the corner of her mouth, still not taking her eyes off of her brother, “Tell them to take him away.” Birdy was surprised to hear that.
She was about to speak before he did, “C’mon Sarah. I’m still your brother. Your flesh and blood.”
“He’s just playing with your emotions, Sarah.” Birdy said quietly to the woman's ear.
“Are you really gonna do this to me?” Jacob looked sad, but Birdy didn’t give a shit.
Finally, Sarah tore her eyes away from her brother. She pointed them directly on Birdy. Her voice cracked with her tears as she said the words, but she still said them nonetheless. “Tell them to take him away.”
Birdy nodded and spoke, “Sacar el.” The officers nodded and exited the room quickly.
He continued to yell at her as they took him out the door about how horrible she was for doing this. Birdy wished that she had decided to actually punch him, but she didn’t.
She didn’t because she heard a thud behind and turned around to see Sarah collapsing onto the floor. She had begun curling in on herself as sobs wracked their way through her body. Birdy sighed and knelt down next to her, taking a seat on the cold, hard ground.
Birdy wound her arm around her friend’s shoulders and pulled her closer in an awkward sort of half hug. No matter how uncomfortable it was, Sarah still leaned over to her and gladly cried into her shoulder, which was steadily getting wetter with fat, heavy tears.
Neither of them talked for a good long while. They simply sat there in each other’s presence, watching as the clock in the corner ticked by. Eventually, though, Sarah’s shoulders stopped shaking quite so much, and her eyes dried up from all the water that had previously escaped them. She turned to lean against the wall as she sniffled a couple more times.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Birdy echoed the words that had been asked of her when she had fought with her own brother. This was different, but maybe it could still help a bit.
“Ha, maybe. I just, I mean, I’ve been looking for my brother’s killer, or maybe kidnapper, for so long and for what? Only to find out that he not only faked his death and left our family crumbling on purpose but also that he’s a disgusting pervert that hurt and took advantage of your brother when he was just a kid. I mean, fuck, I’m only a couple years older than your brother. And the way he fucking looked at you, like he knew you when he didn’t. I just, it’s hard Birdy. And I don’t fucking know what to do right now. Okay?”
“Okay.” Birdy replied.
She knew why Jacob had acted like he knew her. One time after a nightmare when Holiday had been comforting him, he had confessed that he used to threaten to hurt his sister if he ever went out of line. That he had kept tabs on them. She hadn’t been meant to hear that, but she had been eavesdropping from across the hall to see what was wrong with him.
“I’m sorry…” Birdy wasn’t sure what else to say right then.
“Kid, it’s not your fault. I just need some time to process I guess. If anything I should be sorry, I shouldn’t have fucking dragged you into this mess. I should’ve done more to get you off the case.”
“You and I both know that I wasn’t going to just get off the case.” Birdy looked over at her.
Sarah wiped away the rest of tears, though her eyes were still red and her face was still puffy. “C’mon, we should head back to the hotel. I have to get packed up for our flight tomorrow.”
✵✵✵
“¡Ay, Luz! ¡Fernanda!” Birdy looked over at the lady yelling at her and waving for her to come over. She thought they had mistaken her for someone until she looked back and saw Yolanda and remembered the false name she had given the other lady a couple of days prior.
“Hola, Yolanda. ¿Cómo estás?” Birdy pulled Sarah behind her.
“Muy bien. ¿Y tú?” Birdy smiled at the older lady. “Muy bien, gracias.”
Birdy then took notice of the other lady next to Yolanda, who looked confused by the exchange. She had a fiery orange head of hair that was steadily turning gray and clear blue eyes that seemed to stare straight into her. But yet she still seemed to have a soft air around her.
Yolanda noticed the confusion and cleared it up. “Oh, Luz, mi esposa: Renata. Renata, mi pana: Luz y su prima Fernanda.” Renata looked thankful for the explanation and turned to Birdy again.
“Hola Luz.” Her voice was gentle, but still firm.
“Hola Renata.” She replied. She felt a tug on her sleeve again and looked over to see Sarah pointing at her watch. Ah, right, they still had a plane to catch. They really couldn’t miss that.
“Yo necesito verte. ¡Adiós!” Birdy began to walk away and two more ‘¡Adiós!’ followed her.
The last thing she heard was Yolanda yelling out to her at the last second before she entered the airport building, “¡Decir tu hermana yo habla ‘Hola’!” She would make sure she did.
Sarah and her sat down in their seats after going through all the needed checks, finally somewhat relaxing after all the stress of the last couple of days. Birdy looked over at her friend and already saw her holding out the neck pillow for Birdy’s use. She rolled her eyes dramatically but still took it.
“So, what were those old ladies saying anyways?” Sarah’s voice wafted into her ears.
“Eh, it doesn't matter. Just nice old lady things.” Birdy whispered back as she got comfortable.
“Alright, but I’m taking your word that they weren’t just cussing me out.” Sarah bumped her shoulder and the two of them laughed, both trying not to think about what had happened.
Birdy closed her eyes and readied herself for sleep.
(Spanish Translations:
Sacar el. = Take him.
Hola, Yolanda. ¿Cómo estás? = Hi, Yolanda. How are you?
Muy bien. ¿Y tú? = Very good. And you?
Gracias = Thank you
Oh, Luz, mi esposa: Renata. Renata, mi pana: Luz y su prima Fernanda. = Oh, Luz, my wife: Renata. Renata, my friend: Luz and her cousin Fernanda.
Yo necesito verte. ¡Adiós! = I need to leave. Bye!
¡Decir tu hermana yo habla ‘Hola’! = Tell your sister I said 'Hi'!
Hope you enjoyed! Bye!)