by Andi J Feron
“What? Why?”
“I think we should stay here and play some one-on-one games.”
“Talon, you’re a nerd.”
He walked across the room and kissed me. My pulse picked up at the excitement of feeling his lips pressed perfectly against mine.
“Okay, maybe just one round,” I said, my breathing erratic.
We made it to the rec center on time despite the slight divergence from our schedule. Talon and Ajax rehashed a diplomatic missions they went on with Elliott a couple weeks earlier.
“You should have seen the look on Elliott’s face when the slug dropped right into the stew he’d spent all morning on.” Talon snickered.
“See his face? More like feel his horror of having to serve slug goulash to the Reitianite ambassador,” Ajax practically cackled his words.
“Hey, an alliance was hanging in the balance,” Elliott said.
Ajax smirked. “All it would have been is a little protein.”
“Deal the hands already,” Petra demanded.
Fayard dealt the cards, and the game began. We made it through a couple rounds.
Talon glanced at his com device. “Sorry, guys, I’m going to have to forfeit.” He jumped out of his seat.
“Come on Talon. Having a bad hand is no reason to throw in the towel,” Ajax said.
Talon gave no further explanation, and I could tell by his tightened jaw that whatever appeared on his com device probably wasn’t good. I followed after him. He was making large strides down the hall, and I was struggling to keep up.
“Talon, what is it?” I called to him.
“I’m not sure. The message said to report to Admiral Park’s office immediately. I have a level one emergency from Earth. What emergency could there be other than something with Allie?” There was a tremble in Talon’s voice, as though he was trying not to fall apart.
We made it to Admiral Park’s office, and Talon went in to talk to her. I waited restlessly outside, trying to dwindle my anxiety. I knew by my frequent glances at my com device that he was gone for about five minutes. He walked purposefully out of the Admiral’s office and into the elevator. I made sure to keep up, as it seemed he was lost in thought instead of putting effort into telling me details.
I climbed into the elevator with him. “Talon, what was the message?”
“Allie’s been in a car accident.”
“How bad?”
“I don’t know, but they told me to hurry back, and I’m being put on immediate leave.”
The news was too vague to feel any kind of reprieve from my worry. Talon gave a paper to the docking bay Captain, and he called Talon a shuttle. He kissed me and hugged me tightly as if holding me stabilized his shaken nerves.
I gave his hand a squeeze. “Call me when you can, and if you need me there, I’ll take leave.”
He nodded, and I desired intensely to soothe away the tension locked on his face. I wanted to go with him, but I knew the arrangements would take too long. With no words, he disappeared into the shuttle. Allie had to be okay. I wasn’t sure how Talon would be when he finally returned to me.
Chapter Eleven
Talon - November 12, 2008
I was shaking and found breathing difficult. Even with folding, getting back to my hometown would take hours. When I concentrated on seeing Allie, all I saw was that she was in a hospital room. Childhood flashbacks of her unconscious in our wrecked car came rushing through my mind. I was terrified this would be a repeat of that wreck, and I would lose the last member of my family.
Not Allie. She can’t die.
The thought of burying my baby sister made me want to crawl into a ball and never stop crying. Fourteen months had elapsed since I left for active duty. For the most part, I was good about returning to Earth to see Allie every other month; we also corresponded frequently through email. Lately, however, missions were increasing, and it had been three months since I last saw her. I was flooded with guilt over missing her fourteenth birthday a couple months back.
After a long afternoon, I made it to the Earth base, and all I was told was she had been transported to the hospital about half an hour from my hometown. I loaded onto my motorcycle and went into tracker mode. I sped, going 150 mph. My tracking ability helped me maneuver flawlessly and made that speed safe.
Upon entering the hospital, I flew to the elevator, desperate to reach her. I made it to her room and could see her tiny form in a hospital bed. She was sleeping, so I set off to find a nurse or doctor to tell me how she was. I rounded a corner and saw John at the vending machine.
“John, what happened?”
“Talon!” He ran and hugged me. “You got my message. I went through Allie’s phone and found your work number. A man named Mr. Fausto answered, and he promised to get the message to you.”
“Thanks John. I owe you one. Now, tell me how she is and what happened.”
“Doctors are saying she’s going to be okay. She has a compound fracture on her left arm. She had surgery on it, so she’s really tired from that. She also hit her head, but they don’t think it’s too serious.”
I sighed in relief, releasing the tension that had formed throughout my body. “How did this happen?” I repeated the question, and John glanced at the ground, looking hesitant to speak. “You can tell me. I promise I won’t get mad,” I would try hard to keep that promise no matter what words came out of his mouth.
“I tried to stop her from getting in the car, but they wouldn’t let me.”
“Who’s ‘they’?”
“Seniors. Allie has been hanging out with this new girl Carrie who likes to party, and Allie thinks she’s cool. She invited us to a party, and everyone was drinking. I kept telling Allie we should leave, but she kept saying she was having fun. Then when they wanted to go for a joy ride, I tried to stop them from taking her, but there were more of them. I was riding my bike back home when I saw the crash. They had taken her to the hospital already. I called a cab to rush here and then called you.”
I was trying to contain my anger. “John, was Allie drinking?”
He looked at the ground again, and I knew she had been. After a couple minutes pause, he said, “I think that’s the only reason she got in the car. She’s been different lately.”
“Different how?”
“Missing class. Not wanting to do things that we used to do. I go to your house, and she’s in bed a lot.”
I was angry at Allie for the first time in my life, but I was more angry at myself for leaving my fourteen-year-old sister alone. I left her without anyone but her fourteen-year-old best friend. I couldn’t expect her to make the right choices when no one was there to guide her.
I went back to her room and sat in the chair next to her bed. I sent John home and told him I would get ahold of him if anything changed. A doctor and woman walked in. They looked surprised to see me and motioned me out to the hall.
“Who are you?” the doctor asked.
“I’m Althea’s brother, Talon Cooper.”
“We’ve been trying to reach your dad, but he’s not returning our messages.”
“He’s on a trip. And the place he’s at doesn’t have the best reception.”
“I see.”
“Talon, I’m Gina Ferguson, social services,” the woman spoke, and her introduction caused my heart to drop to my feet. The woman continued, “Your sister had a blood alcohol level of point ten, and she’s only fourteen years old.”
“I was told she went to a party and someone spiked the punch,” I lied quickly.
“Even so I’m going to have to open an investigation. We’ve already established emergency custody through the court to enable her to get proper medical care.”
The doctor explained one of Allie’s upper arm bones broke and cut through her skin. They performed an operation to correct the injury. She had also hit her head pretty hard, but her MRI looked good. Lastly, they placed ten stitches in her left leg. He told me she was lucky to have walked away, as the ca
r looked like it had been in a trash compactor. When the discussion was over, I went back to my spot in the chair next to her bed. When Allie woke up, I said nothing. She looked scared, and that weakened my anger.
“I’m sorry Talon. I messed up.” She burst into tears, and I held her while she cried.
I still felt very angry, and we had a lot of talking to do, but right now, my sister needed me to hug her. After she calmed, I sat back down in my chair.
“Now you want to tell me what you were thinking?” I looked at her sternly, waiting for an answer.
“I guess I wasn’t.”
“At least you can admit that.”
“I know you’re mad, Talon. I’m sorry.” She sniffled.
“Allie, look, I am mad. When I got that phone call that you’d been in a car accident, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. It brought back memories of Mom and Malcom, and I thought about losing you. You and I have been through a lot. We’ve been all each other had for a really long time. I love you, and I can’t let you be destructive. Our dad is an alcoholic, Allie. I know it would be easy to go there, but you can’t follow his path. You are too amazing, and I love you too much to lose you to the bottle too.”
As I spoke, I realized our dad’s alcoholism was a big part of why I was angry at the moment. His drinking was all Allie ever saw from him, and I had left her alone with him.
Her voice quivered as though she was trying not to cry further. “I don’t know. It’s the start of high school now, and I want to have friends, but I feel so invisible. I come home every night and eat dinner alone. I have John, but he has his own family. They always welcome me, but I’m not really in their family. No one else even knows I’m alive.
“Part of me felt like not even being here anymore. When this girl Carrie started talking to me, I was excited. She’s the prettiest girl at school. Then she invited me to the biggest party of the year. Everyone else was drinking, and it looked fun. The more I drank, the freer I felt. I don’t even remember getting in the car.”
I had been so caught up in the war and Seraphine that I wasn’t around enough to notice my sister was struggling. There was so much weight in what she told me. I knew there would be a lot to work through but, at the moment, I needed to protect her.
“I want you to promise me something, Allie. More than anything you’ve ever told me, I need you to mean this most of all. No more drinking, not a single drop. It would be too easy for either of us to go there.”
“I promise Talon. I won’t drink again.”
I gave her a hug and told her I would be back soon. I needed to take care of some issues that were arising from Allie’s accident. I called Mr. Fausto first and asked for a favor. He said not to worry about social services, that he would make sure they left us alone. He would also help me become Allie’s legal guardian. He asked me if I was sure I didn’t want to recruit her; if I did, then she could live on Saturn base with me.
Saying yes would have solved a lot of issues, but I didn’t want Allie anywhere near what I had seen in the past year. The normal stuff of her growing up was scary enough without worrying about her having her head removed by a Khalbytian. I would keep her in her normal life, even if it made things more complicated for me.
I knew the Loctorians and my higher-ups were itching to get their hands on her, but the protection in place for her was a level fifty-four order, which meant it came straight from the Loctorian council. The Council was the highest level of authority for Loctorians and humans fighting the war. A level fifty-four order was seen as an oath and could only be broken for two reasons. The first was by the person the oath was to, and since that was me, it would never happen. The second was if I broke my contract and refused to follow Loctorian council orders.
It had always felt unsettling that the council was so quick to give her protection. I almost felt that the path we followed was exactly the one they wanted us to. I went home to confront my dad. I realized more than at Allie or myself, I was angry at him, and I had been for a really long time. I found him in his chair, passed out with a half-empty whiskey bottle clenched in his right hand.
I stood in front of him. “Wake up!”
He startled awake, and his brow furrowed. “What do you want boy?”
“Where’s your daughter?”
He glanced at the clock. “Probably at school. Get the hell out of here!”
He closed his eyes again, and I knocked the bottle out of his hand, causing it to fly and shatter on the hardwood floor. This resulted in him jumping up, but he was too drunk to stand straight. How he hadn’t been consumed by liver failure at this point was an unfortunate mystery.
“You have no idea she’s been in the hospital for the last two days, do you?” My volume was increasing as my anger continued to mount.
“She okay?”
“No, she’s not okay. She was drinking and got into a car with other drunk people, and it crashed. She has a head injury and a broken arm.”
He stumbled to the kitchen and opened a cupboard. He pulled out another whiskey bottle.
“Are you kidding me?! Did you hear anything I just said?!”
“I heard you.” He opened the bottle.
“You have anything to say? I tell you your fourteen-year-old daughter got drunk and was involved in a serious drunk driving accident and your response is to grab another whiskey bottle! What the hell is wrong with you?” I roared at my dad. I was infuriated that he was so complacent with my sister’s life.
“Show some respect,” was all he could throw my way.
“Respect! To the man who walked away from his kids, not giving a single damn if they starved to death. Not caring that at nine years old, I had to raise my little sister. No shits were given that my childhood died the day we buried my mother. Not because she died, but because your ass was so bottom deep in a whiskey bottle you couldn’t pull yourself together long enough to hold Allie when she screamed for her mother in the middle of the night.
“You couldn’t pull yourself together long enough to go to my science fair and see me win first place. You couldn’t pull yourself together enough to make sure we had heat in the winter and three meals a day. You were so consumed you now have a fourteen-year-old daughter who doesn’t even remember a time you were a dad to her. I was her dad! You were nothing!” My anger spilled out as years of bitterness and resentment unfolded themselves in front of the shell who used to be my father.
I didn’t even give him a chance to answer. I advanced swiftly to the doorway and slammed the front door. I would never acknowledge that man again. He died nine years ago with my mother, and I would push for that be the only aspect of him I remembered. Mr. Fausto called to tell me he arranged for there to be a hearing in a week where Allie’s guardianship would be decided. I returned to the hospital to check on Allie. She was sitting up in bed, and John was on the bed facing her. They were playing chess and laughing.
“How you feeling sis?” I asked.
“Better.”
“You need anything right now?”
“No, I’m alright.”
“Doctor come in yet?”
“Yeah, he said to let him know when you arrive.”
I put on the call light and informed the nurse I needed to talk to the doctor. When he arrived, he called me out into the hall.
“Overall, your sister is doing well, and I should be able to release her today. But there’s one last thing. Is there a history of mental illness in your family?”
Only a catatonic father who had an extreme reaction to my mother’s death.
“Maybe a little depression on my father’s side,” was the real answer I gave.
“It seems your sister is severely, clinically depressed. I had psych come by, and they would like to start her on medication. I know that a guardianship hearing is in the works but we need a guardian signature, so I’ve made her an appointment for a day after the hearing. Please make sure you keep it. I think everything that led us here has been a sign of a bigger problem.”
>
I thought back to what John told me about Allie being different lately, and there was what Allie said about not knowing if she wanted to be around. She was slipping down a dark path like my dad. I would be damned if I didn’t turn her the other direction.
“We’ll keep the appointment. I promise.”
“Talon, Althea is lucky to have you,” the doctor said.
“Family takes care of family.”
“I wish everyone was that way. I’ve seen what happens to the unlucky ones. But with a brother like you, I think Althea will be okay.”
I went back to Allie’s room. John had to leave, and she was sitting alone. I saw her untouched lunch tray. She was glancing out the large window to the right of her bed.
“You going to eat that? The pudding looks like it might be edible.” I smiled.
She looked at me. “What? Oh yeah, maybe. I’m not hungry.”
“How about I head down to Franny’s and get you a grilled cheese and fries?”
“No, I’m fine. Really. Thanks though.”
She went back to looking out the window. I turned on a movie, glad Allie watched it with me. A couple hours later, a nurse brought in discharge instructions, and I called a cab to take us home since my motorcycle wouldn’t be ideal at the moment. I needed to buy a car. I certainly had plenty of money to.
My dad was sleeping in his chair again when we arrived home, and I wanted to tip him onto the floor. I called Mr. Fausto to see if he could get a message back to Seraphine that Allie was okay and I would have more details soon.
I saw Allie brighten a little over the next week, and the day of the hearing arrived. When the judge asked Allie what she wanted, she didn’t hesitate. She said, “I’m not sure why we even need a hearing. Talon has been my guardian far back as I can remember. He kept me safe, warm, and fed. I owe him my life.”
The judge appointed me Allie’s guardian. My dad was given the opportunity to contest, but he didn’t show. I would have to get back to Saturn base, but it was a priority that I made sure Allie was in a good place before I left.
