"Where did this death occur? Can we send out EMTs to help them?" he asked immediately.
"No, I don't... EMTs can't help, it happened this morning. Out at the, um, the commune. The... I dunno what it's called... the paragon thing? I don't know. Look, there was an infant and it died. And-"
"Do you have physical evidence?" he asked. You paused. No, you had no evidence. You really had nothing, but you knew something had to be done. Your hesitation told him enough. "Okay, look. I'd love to help you, but without evidence of child abuse, we can't intervene." He pulled out a card and wrote on the back.
555-9278, Officer James Giamo
"Here. If you get photographic proof of child abuse, send it to this number. It's my personal number. I'll respond ASAP when you send me pictures. Without proof, we can't do anything. I'm sorry."
You trudged back to the library with the card in hand. There had to be a better way of doing this. When you walked through the doors, the librarian gave you a tired look and pointed at Ainsley, who was still exactly in the same spot. His dark brown eyes were focused intently on the children's reading group on the other side of the library.
You grabbed your phone, making him jump from his spot. You chuckled.
"You doing okay?" you asked him as you looked at your powering-on phone screen. 58%. Anything was enough at this point. You still needed some time to let your phone charge more. He nodded and set his eyes back on the reading group with the clown. You didn't like clowns. Not like a fear or a hatred of them, but they just weren't your favourite thing. "Do you wanna go to the kiddie reading group?" He looked up at you then to them.
"Kind of. I don't know what book they are reading." You pointed to a sign on the wall next to the opening to the children's reading area.
"Looks like they're reading some... grumpy monkey thing. C'mon, I'll bet there's no age limit." You kept an eye on your phone, but set your hand on Ainsley's arm to guide him over to the reading area. He seemed anxious, like he wanted to go but was scared. His knuckles were getting raw from how he was rubbing them. "C'mon, they're just kids. They won't bite." You stood outside the doorway, but ushered Ainsley in.
He looked at the small kids. They were all maybe eight years old, but there he was, a 16-year old outlier. He copied their sitting position, folding his legs under himself as he sat a couple feet behind the reading group. A couple parents gave him weird looks, but he didn't notice. The clown reading noticed him and cast him a great big smile before continuing on the story without
Even though he was joining halfway through, Ainsley was fascinated by the drawings. Ainsley decided then that monkeys were his favourite mythological creature. You smirked a little bit. He was like a small child in a way. You turned around and went back to your phone to put in Officer Giamo's number. Maybe you could go back to the compound later and catch a photo of the dead child, if they hadn't gotten rid of the body yet. The thought of it made the back of your throat go cold.
For almost thirty minutes, Ainsley listened intently to the story of a happy little monkey and the trees of which he climbed. But suddenly, the clown turned the page and stopped reading. The story didn't seem done. The small children clapped and giggled as the clown honked her nose once again. Ainsley rather awkwardly mimicked them by clapping his hands together slowly, still lost as to what was happening.
"Well, well, well, kiddos!" she chortled in a fake, honky voice. "We're halfway through the book! Will I be seeing you guys next week for the other half?" They all yelled out a unanimous 'yes'. Then, they all stood up and scattered through the library. "I hope you kiddos all enjoy the parade! Get lots and lots and lots of candy!"
The children around him began to stand up and go to their parents. There was a sense of joy in the air, like every breath Ainsley took was coated in sugar. Was this what life was like outside of the commune? He hadn't been here in years, but there certainly hadn't been a funny-voiced woman with a honking nose before. He would've remembered. You unplugged your fully-charged phone and went to grab him from the reading nook.
The clown approached the boy with a grin.
"Well, howdy!" she said in a funny nasally voice. "I noticed you joined our little reading group! What's your name, kiddo?" Her funny way of speaking made Ainsley smile just a bit.
"I'm Ainsley," he said with a small grin. There was something innocent about this performer reading to kids. Why had they never brought one of these people to the commune for the children?
"Well, Ainsley, I'm Ducky the Clown!" she reached into the abnormally large pockets on her extremely colourful coat and took out a dum-dum sucker pop to offer to him. "Will I be seeing you next week, Ainsley?" He took the pop with a bright smile and nodded. Of course there was no promise, but dang Ainsley wanted to come back. Ducky honked her big red nose at him and hyuck-ed her way to packing up some stuffed animals scattered through the room.
You tapped Ainsley on the shoulder. As he turned around, he had a great big childish grin on his face. You couldn't help but chuckle.
"Did you have fun?" you asked. He nodded, turning the sucker over in his hands like he wanted to remember what it looked like from every angle.
"I liked her. She said her name was Ducky. She gave me this!" He presented the mystery flavour dum-dum. You patted his shoulder, just glad you could share this outside world with him.
"That's great! I'm glad you like the clown. We have a while before Caleb comes to pick us up. Do you want to go check out that festival we saw coming into town? They might be throwing candy at the parade." Ainsley nodded, but he was fixated on his sucker.
He hadn't seen a parade before, nor had he seen a clown. But Ducky the Clown had personally presented him with a piece of candy, like you had given him this big fluffy coat. His grin was making his cheeks ache. Maybe the outside world wasn't that scary. Ainsley was having more fun than he had in years.
As you stepped into the street, you saw people lining up to watch the parade. The two of you sat on the curb. Ainsley wasn't sure what to expect, so when a massive vehicle covered in flowers and dancing people rounded the corner, he was shocked. The same children from the reading were now gathering with their parents and scattering into the street to pick up things that the people on the vehicles threw to the ground.
Ainsley looked to you for guidance, but you were also snatching the small things from the ground and giving them to him. It took a little bit, but Ainsley realised that they were throwing candy. Sugar, just like the dum-dum that Ducky the Clown had given him. Instantly, he was snatching up as much as he could and stuffing it all into the pockets of his brand new well worn jacket.
For hours, Ainsley was entrenched in the culture of the outside world. A parade! Candy! Clowns! Readings! People dancing! The music! You were just watching the culture shocked boy try to land on his feet after eating piece of candy after piece of candy, almost as fast as he was picking them up. You tried slowing him down once through the whole parade, but knew it was fruitless. This was the best day of his life. He wanted to tell everyone at the commune. Brie, Mom, Dad, Kalaya. But he knew he wouldn't be able to.
The parade was followed by street vendors filling up the street, a band playing on the corner. There was a banner high up hanging in the street.
THE 1 WEEK CELEBRATION OF THE CHELBA'S 168th BIRTHDAY!
The town was partying for a whole week to celebrate the founding of their town. That sure was a long time ago, too. The sun was starting to go down as the town's lanterns began lighting up. You looked at the darkening sky and sighed. Caleb would be coming for you soon. You pulled on the sleeve of Ainsley's 'new' coat, catching his attention. He was looking rather woozy.
"Hey, are you okay?" you asked. He nodded slightly, before immediately doubling over and releasing the contents of his guts onto the street. He knelt down, resting on the balls of his feet as he rocked himself back and forth. "Oh god."
People were looking in your direction, one person was coming up to ask if he was okay.
Ainsley had physically never had this much sugar in his life, or any sugar at all for years. His body was taking this sudden spike in sugar hard, making him vomit everything he had eaten. You simply rubbed his back and let him hurl directly onto the sidewalk, making sure everyone around knew he would be okay.
Finally, you pulled him to his feet, wiped a bit of vomit from his lower lip, and began half carrying him back to where Caleb would meet you. His blue sedan was parked near the sidewalk, ready for you to hop in. But as you shovelled the sick Ainsley into the back seat, you were caught by Father Carlisle's sharp and angry eyes in the front seat.
You drove back to the compound and now sat in the library of Carlisle's large house in the commune.
"What were you thinking!?" he barked at you and Ainsley as the two of you sat on the couch. "I told you to guard them! To protect them! And you allow them to leave into the dangers of the outside world!? I'm very disappointed in you, son!"
Ainsley hung his head in shame, tugging at the sleeves of the coat you pulled from the lost and found for him. You stood up and barked back at your father.
"Aye!" you yelled, "It wasn't his idea, it was mine! Leave him the hell out of this!" Father Carlisle was taken aback.
"Watch your tone! You may be the Paragon, but I am your Father."
"And I am a god," you spat back. You didn't believe it, but you knew that Ainsley didn't deserve this punishment. "How am I supposed to save the commune from the outside world if I am shut out from it!? How is Ainsley supposed to protect me if he doesn't know what he's protecting me from!? You are no god, you're a man. You have no right to yell at Ainsley for doing something I wanted to do!"
Father Carlisle glowered at you, flaring his nostrils out. Your use of your god status wasn't something he could disagree with, and you knew it.
"I demand that you allow both Ainsley and I to leave the commune whenever we want. I'll be able to know what to... to protect the commune from, and he'll protect me from sin. Okay?"
You didn't actually believe you were a god. But over several days, you were definitely learning how to talk to these people and get what you want. And right now you wanted to be allowed to leave, and be allowed to take Ainsley with you.
"Fine," Father Carlisle huffed as he perched himself on the couch across from the one you and Ainsley sat at. "But I have rules for this. Caleb will drive you everywhere."
"Deal."
"And you will be home before dark every night."
"No." Father Carlisle's eyes narrowed warningly at you, to which you puffed your chest out and held your head high.
"Fine. But you may never spend a night outside of the commune."
"Deal."
"And you are not to tell others of our safe haven."
Oops. Well, Chelba already knew about the cult outside its borders. If the child abuse was getting bad to the point of babies freezing to death, there was no way in hell you weren't getting Officer Giamo involved.
"Deal," you lied. Officer Giamo's number was safely in your phone under the name James. You stood up. "Is that all?" Father Carlisle hesitantly nodded, clearly fuming at the fact he'd brought in the one person in the compound that didn't quake at his commands.
"Go to bed. It's late now. Let me talk to Ainsley."
"He's not feeling good," you told him. "Just look at him." You didn't, under any circumstances, want to leave Ainsley alone with your dad. Father Carlisle clicked his tongue and shook his head.
"I'll guide him back to his home. Leave us be for now, YN." You rolled your eyes and left the room, closing the door behind you. Father Carlisle turned to Ainsley, who tiredly lifted his head. His stomach was both empty and churning at the same time. The poor boy wasn't doing great. "Ainsley."
"Yes sir," he managed, forcing himself to sit up straight.
"Watch them carefully," Father Carlisle warned him. "We cannot let them be corrupted. The Paragon is pure, as they must remain. Do I make myself clear?" Ainsley nodded. Father Carlisle grimaced at his sickly face. "Good god, my boy. You've been poisoned by the outside world. Take yourself home this instant."
Ainsley carried himself to his home, clutching his stomach. As he got inside the door, he emptied all the candy wrappers from his pockets onto the floor. He was so tired and so sick, but there wasn't a single thing he would've changed about the day. He pulled out the mystery flavour dum-dum that Ducky the Clown had given him and smiled.
He couldn't dare eat it, he would vomit once again. So instead, he gingerly placed it on the desk within his home and laid down in his bed.
The coat he wore was warm. It smelled of sweat, vomit, cigarettes, and candy. But it was clean, so the vomit and sweat must've been him. Nevertheless, Ainsley snuggled into it as he cuddled into bed. Afterall, it was a gift from the Paragon.
*****
Don't forget to vote and comment! Have a nice day.