“I know, but you still broke a rule. Now, tell me, what were you two doing out there? Did you go to the forest again?”
“Yes…”
Mary scooted next to him, wrapping her arm around his shoulders. “Thank you for your honesty, honey. Do you know why it worries me when you and Eva do that?”
Ethan shook his head.
“Because you could get hurt. You could get kidnapped by strangers. Do you know what kinds of things people do to kids your age?”
Ethan pondered for a moment. “Nasty things?”
“More than nasty. A lot of times, they do nasty things, and then they’ll kill you.”
“Couldn’t something happen to me even when I’m home? Like, if someone breaks in? Someone could kidnap me at school. The bus driver could drive all of us somewhere and kidnap a whole bunch of kids.”
Mary raised her hands. “Okay, baby, I get it. Bad things can happen anywhere, but we have to do the best we can to prevent them. Just because bad things can happen anywhere to you, doesn’t mean it’s okay to go wandering off on your own. Even if you’re with your sister.”
“I’m sorry, Mom. I won’t do it again, no matter what.”
Mary smiled. “I believe you. However, if your sister says that, I won’t believe it. She’s said that before. Okay, you’re both grounded from video games for a week. And I’m gonna make your sister stay in her room every minute she’s not at school or eating dinner with us. I’ll be easier on you because you were honest, and you had a good reason to break the rules.”
Ethan half-smiled. As Mary kissed the top of his head, his right hand squeezed her embracing arm. She let him go, then it was Eva’s turn to get talked to. While that was happening, Ethan bragged to himself a little, because compared to Eva, he was going to be rewarded.
As usual, Ethan helped his mother prepare teriyaki children for dinner. While they ate together, they didn’t discuss anything to do with the forest or the tent Eva found. Ethan obsessed over what Eva said about no longer believing in God, and that she recognized he was on the fence about it. How? he kept wondering. Later, everyone watched a short old Western until Mary dozed off. Ethan switched the TV off when the show was over, and Mary woke up just enough to kiss her children goodnight.
“Haha! You’re more grounded than me,” bragged Ethan when they went to their room.
“Yeah, well I’m still older than you.”
“Ugh! Stop saying that!”
Eva sighed. “I’m too bored to go to sleep. I’m gonna dance for a little bit.”
“Do you have to?” He stomped to his side of the room and jumped onto his bed, completely burying himself beneath the sheet. “Try not to trip.” He didn’t hear Eva say anything in response, but thought he heard a faint snicker. “Are you laughing at me?”
“Mhmm,” said Eva, grinning as she exhaled slowly, lifting up her arms.
“And what’s so funny?”
“You. Seriously, ‘try not to trip’? That’s the best diss you got?”
“No, I have a whole list of disses I could say.”
Eva stopped whatever motion she was making at the moment, then turned to face Ethan. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. You shouldn’t diss someone that can beat you up. Especially when that person is a GIRL!”
Ethan threw his covers off. “Really? You’ve never even been in a fight.”
“Actually, I’ve been in two. You have never been in a fight.”
“Really? When were you ever in a fight?”
“At school,” said Eva, shrugging. “A couple girls were annoying me, so I punched one of them in the stomach.”
Ethan was a bit at a loss for words. “Mom never knew about that?” he asked, truly surprised. “You didn’t tell me, either!”
“No, because they both started leaving me alone. Well, after a lot of crying. I was afraid they’d tell their teacher, or Principle Purcell, but they didn’t. I think they were too afraid to tell on me, which was good.”
Ethan rolled his eyes. “You know, one day it’s gonna come back to bite you in the butt.”
“What will?”
“The stuff you do. It’s wrong. But whatever, it’s your life. Have fun in jail when you grow up.” With that, he rolled over to go to sleep.
–––––––
A loud screech woke him. He had been peacefully dreaming, and for a few seconds he thought the noise belonged to his dream. His body knew better; it woke him up. The noise undoubtedly came from inside the house. He quickly leaned over the edge of his bed, gripping the wooden railing fiercely. From what he could tell, everything in the room was alright.
“Eva? You okay?”
“Yeah. What was that?” She sounded scared too.
“I don’t know. Did someone break into the h–”
They heard screaming, “You’re not my son! GET OUT!”
It was their mother.
“I’m just as much a son to you as the twins,” said the other voice.
Ethan recognized it…
“Bryan?” He asked Eva, “What’s he doing here? I thought he lived in Washington.” He checked the clock on the night stand close to their door, and it read: 2:36 AM.
“What’s he doing in Oregon at three in the morning?” asked Eva.
They climbed from their beds then leaned against the door to listen in. Ethan trembled, and it only worsened with each passing moment. Eva seemed more focused than fearful. Bryan and Mary increasingly raised their voices against each other, but Ethan couldn’t make sense of what they fought over.
Finally, he understood when Mary said something he knew about: “Not after what you did to my daughter. To your own sister! And now you want me to get involved with the mob again just to save you from your own sick choices? You’ll never change, Bryan. You’re not my son. You’re some slut’s reject, and a disappointment to your father. I have kids to raise. You’re an adult now; you make decisions, you face the consequences.”
Ethan heard Bryan’s voice turn weak, filled with terror. “The Krohns will kill me if you don’t vouch for me. They might kill me anyway, but… Please, just this one time, show me mercy.”
“I’ve prayed for so long to have the strength to forgive you, Bryan, but, I just don’t. And I can’t let you hurt anyone else’s child again. You need to face your actions for once.”
“You fucking bitch!” screeched Bryan. Ethan heard something blunt strike his mother, and she cried as she hit the floor.
Ethan flung the door open. “MOM!” Eva followed him. “Don’t hurt my mom!” he screamed. When he reached Bryan, he tried to throw the hardest punch at Bryan’s gut, but Bryan punched him in the right temple first. As Ethan fell, Eva attempted a strike as well, but he grabbed her hair and lifted her by it. As Eva flailed, Bryan carried her to the couch, throwing her on it before turning around. Ethan writhed, holding his aching head. He saw his mother starting to stand up, blood pouring from her forehead. She covered her wound with her fingers.
Bryan constricted his arm firmly around Mary’s neck, cutting her air supply as he dragged her to the fireplace on the opposite end of the living room. He threw her onto the brick layout then took a fire iron from the holder. “Last chance, whore!”
“Please don’t. Please, Bryan…” Mary could hardly breathe.
Ethan saw what his brother was about to do. He could ignore the pain in his head for a moment. He charged toward the fireplace, stumbling, nearly losing balance. “Leave her alone!”
Bryan turned, and with one swift swing, bludgeoned Ethan back to the floor. Ethan had shielded his head with his hands, but the force was too great to repel.
“I’m gonna beat your kid until you change your mind. Maybe I should strap Eva down and fuck her again. Would that change your mind?”
Mary’s tears dripped off her face. “Bryan, stop. Don’t do this.”
As if he didn’t hear her at all, Bryan proceeded to beat Ethan’s back repeatedly with the fire iron. Ethan cried in agony, louder with every
strike. “Changed your mind yet, bitch?”
Eva stabbed Bryan in the back, having snuck up behind him with a small kitchen knife. He screamed with rage. Eva had already run away before Bryan could strike back. It only made him worse, though. He withdrew from beating Ethan to return to Mary.
Bryan aimed for her head.
Mary fell to the floor, and after the second strike, she wasn’t resisting anymore. Ethan cried and cried, Eva stayed in a far corner. Once Bryan was finished, he put pressure on his back, and limped past Ethan slowly, approaching Eva.
“Well, if I’m going to be hunted, I may as well enjoy myself on the run.”
Ethan tried to stand, but just couldn’t. He knew Bryan was going for their sister. Though standing was impossible, he at least crawled. It wasn’t fast enough… If Bryan intended to kill her, he had plenty of time. As Eva shook, terrified and breathing laboriously, Bryan quietly walked behind her. He knelt down, extracting a small revolver from his pocket.
A man entered the house, pointing his gun at Bryan immediately after spotting him. “Leave her alone, Bryan.” The man had somehow come in through the open front door.
“Michael… Long time no see.”
“Put the gun down.”
“You’re two seconds too late, Michael. Shoot at me, and I’ll shoot the girl. I’m leaving now. You can tell your boss you were too late.”
“You won’t get far. Our people are right behind me.”
“You’re not alone? Good for you, but what makes you think you’re the only one with backup here?”
“Wherever you go, we’ll find you. Don’t forget that,” said the man named Michael. Ethan didn’t have any idea who he was.
“Probably,” responded Bryan. “But if you do track me down, you’ll be too late again.” With that, Bryan carried Eva with one arm, keeping the gun on her temple with the other. Ethan tried his hardest to stand and pursue, and even with Bryan’s wound, Ethan was still much slower. Bryan fled the house out the back door, where there was an easy exit through the fence into the neighboring properties.
Ethan froze. Everything had happened so fast…
“You okay, kid?” said Michael, who was putting his gun away.
Ethan said nothing.
“Find him! Don’t return to the mall until you’ve found him.”
He simply turned his body around on the floor, back to facing his mother. She was not breathing. He crawled up to her body, looked over her head and saw that her eyes were faintly open, but not blinking. She was dead. The blood flowing from multiple points in her head was the last thing he noticed.
“God! No! NOOO! MOM!”
He never cried so hard before.
Others started entering into the house. Michael had placed his hand on Ethan’s shoulder, but as others started coming in, he turned around. “I came too late, boss.”
“It’s not your fault, Michael. You still made it here first.” She approached Ethan, who was holding his mother’s hand, blood soaking into his skin and clothes. “Ethan,” she said gently, but he didn’t hear her. The woman patiently waited, allowing Ethan to calm and to release his pain. When his weeping quieted some, the woman said, “We have to find your sister, and we have to bury your mother.” She turned to the others behind her.
Ethan looked at the woman, seeing the others leaving. Michael stood first, then offered a hand. Ethan ignored it.
“My name’s Phoebe. I will take care of you until we find your sister.” She seemed to look at him the way his mother looked at him most times – with love. “We will find your sister. I promise.”
THEIA
She was now working on the math section, tackling some pathetic excuses for story problems. The questionnaire consisted of examples such as counting boxes and what percentage would be left if whatever amount was shipped away by whoever. She didn’t care. Apart from being easy, they weren’t at all useful. It seemed the adults that ran the school had either rushed to create the curriculum, or found it among some old, dusty collection of school books from a hundred years ago. To Theia, the adults didn’t know or care what they were doing.
Try being alone in a city where everybody’s dead, she thought, imagining saying that to the people that ran the school. She then stopped herself, admitting, Well, it’s not like I mastered building fires.
History, math, English… Every subject she was being tested on were fairly easy to figure out the answers to, though she had not been at school for over a year. The war had started before she could start middle school. At least I’m going back to school at all, she thought. Learning was always one of her favorite activities, but that didn’t entirely apply to attending school.
Now, it was time to find out where she belonged; who her peers would be. Which arena would she compete in next? I can handle any of them.
Once she completed the final question on the sheets, she walked out of the office, and turned it in to the lady at the desk.
The lady said to her, “Great! We’ll look over your answers. Now, wait right out there in the hall.”
Mercy, her new mother, had patiently sat in the hall the whole time. Upon seeing Theia come out, she asked her, “How’d you do?”
“I don’t know yet. They’re gonna tell me.”’
Mercy smiled. “I’m sure you did just fine.” Before Theia sat next to her, Mercy gave a warm hug.
“I think I’m gonna get held back. I haven’t been at school for a long time.”
“Same with most kids,” replied Mercy. “I’m surprised the schools are up and running so quickly, to be honest.”
Theia sat as stiff as a block. Nervousness overwhelmed her. “What if they hold me back, though?”
Mercy rubbed her back. “Why do you worry about that? It’s like worrying about … about, like, walking down the street then falling into a large pit of quicksand. Sure, it’s possible, but it’s so unlikely, there’s no reason to worry about it.” Theia didn’t reply, so she asked, “How did you feel answering the questions?”
“Like they were easy.”
“Well, there you go. You wouldn’t think they were easy if you didn’t understand the questions, right?” Theia nodded. “It’ll be fine.”
Mercy turned out to be correct. The principal had called them in a short time later and eventually told them that not only did Theia test well, but that the Board felt she should be placed in the 8th grade. What a relief it was – confirmation that her knowledge wasn’t fading. She was still smart; still in good shape.
Older kids, she realized while Mercy drove them home. I’m going to be in a class with older kids. Regret was primarily how she felt about it; regret that she didn’t speak up to the principal. She didn’t want to be a grade ahead of kids her age. Knowing her miniscule stature, and being a girl… She almost started to sweat with fear merely thinking about being bullied by bigger kids. Also, 8th grade meant only one year before she would have to join the ‘recovery effort’ as they called it. Cleaning up the city, probably helping with the farms in the area, rescuing survivors of battles between the troops and the Reformists… Kids in 9th grade and above attended school only part time, while the rest of the time they had to help around. Theia wanted to help everyone who needed it, but she feared it would resemble slavery – short breaks, not having the freedom to go home before a certain time, not getting paid in any way…
This is what she pondered the entire drive across Fallon’s sheltered zone back to their house. Finally, when Mercy parked along the sidewalk in front, she shut off the engine then turned to ask Theia, “Are you nervous? Is that why you’re so quiet?”
Mercy wore a particular expression; one that signaled she was about to say something encouraging. “Yes,” Theia answered. “Please don’t tell me how it’s not so bad, or something.”
“I wasn’t going to,” Mercy chuckled. “I was just going to say that I know exactly how you feel. In a way, you skipped two grades – missing out on one, then being pushed up through another… I’m impressed. Proud,
actually. You’re bright. A bright young girl.”
Theia paused, thinking deeply; questioning a variety of things in her head. All her thoughts stemmed from that word: ‘proud.’ She looked up after staring at the floor for a brief moment, locking eyes with Mercy. “Do you care about me, or are you just trying to do a favor for my dad?”
Mercy’s smile faded. She looked offended. “Both, Theia. I would never have chosen to take care of you if I didn’t care about you.”
“You never met me before. How could you care about me if you didn’t know me?”
“I’m an excellent judge of character, I think. Or, maybe I’m just foolish. Your dad described you to me. Every word he spoke about you was like … it was like he was describing an angel. This perfect being that he was blessed to have in his life. When I met you, though, I saw who you were, just by the way you looked at me. Your eyes displayed everything. You were afraid. Terrified. I wasn’t sure if you were scared of me, or scared of everything. I knew from the first moment that you’re a good person. You were broken, though. You’ve suffered too much.”
“So, you felt sorry for me?” said Theia, turning away to look out her window.
“Can’t lie… I did a little. Truth is, Theia, you can’t describe love. It’s something you have for someone, or you don’t. If love could be explained, it wouldn’t be an emotion. There are plenty of good people out there that I don’t love. There are plenty of bad people that I do love, even though they don’t deserve it. In the short time I’ve known you, I have come to love you, but I don’t know why. Did you ever ask your dad why he loves you?”
Theia made a confused face. “Because he’s my dad.”
“Many parents don’t love their kids.”
Theia lowered her head. “Like my mom…”
Mercy simply said, “One day, you should ask your dad why he loves you,” then moved to get out of the car.
Despite not getting a clear answer regarding her original question, that was apparently the end of their talk. Following close behind, Theia wanted to say something, but couldn’t find any words.
Resurrection Page 2
