The Fledge Effect

by R. J. Henry

  “Did you ever figure out where Jane came from? What country?”

  “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

  “Where?” Nick pressed.

  He hesitated with his answer. “Another planet.”

  Maddie nudged Emily. “Told you,” she whispered.

  “Well, good night everyone. Trudy can always tell you where to find me.”

  “Night,” everyone said to him when he walked out the door.

  Emily rose from the table, headed up to her room, and took a peak at Katie drawing on piece of paper. “What are you making there?”

  She looked up as Emily brushed her hair back with her fingers. “I’m drawing a picture of me and my daddy. Next time I see him; I want to give him a hug just like I am doing here.”

  “It’s beautiful. And I’m not just saying that because you are a kid, but because you have some serious talent here.” The picture, almost perfect stunned her. “How did you learn how to do this?”

  “After spending almost every day, you find things to do in the meantime. I read all the books at home, so this was the next best thing.”

  “Okay, well if you need anything let us know.”

  Before Emily closed the door, Nick snuck up behind her in the hallway. He dipped his head towards her, making her heart feel as if it jumped straight out of chest. His scent intoxicated her senses.

  “We could have had this. A little girl. That’s always been my dream.”

  Then, she snapped out of his hypnotic trance he held on her. “I’m not talking about this.”

  “Why not? We’re not married anymore. Why can’t we just be adults about this?”

  “I have nothing to say, Nick.”

  “Can you at least answer me one thing?”

  She vacillated between the choice of returning, back, into the kitchen, or talking to him. Against her better judgement, she asked, “What is it.”

  “Why didn’t you want to have kids?”

  Her chin wobbled. “I-I just don’t, okay? I mean, ugh, I do, but…”

  “Not with me?”

  “No, no, that is not—.”

  “Save it. I guess I’m not father material. Is that right?”

  “See? This is why I didn’t want to talk about this with you. You always assume it’s you, when it’s not.”

  “Oh, you know what? You are a cliché. It’s not me it’s you. Right? Just, just shut up.”

  Tears welled up in both of their eyes.

  Emily tried to defend what she meant, without saying what she means to say without actually saying it, but decided against dragging up the past. She crossed her arms, tight, across her chest. “I-I,” she failed talking through her burst of tears.

  Nick, unable to allow himself the stabbing pain in his gut, pulled her into his chest. “I’m sorry, Emily. You know I hate seeing you upset. I just wish you would open up to me, and tell me what is on your mind. Stop bottling things up.”

  “I wish I could tell you.” But, it was just that. She could tell him, but didn’t want to. She feared, more than, him hurting her because he would never dare lie a hand on her, but more of him hating her. That, alone, would shank her in the heart. She would keel over where she stood.

  Marcel, flustered, met with them in the hall. He clung a crinkled piece of paper in his hand, shaking. “It’s Calista. She’s gone.”

  Snapping back to the current situation, Emily shook her head. “What do you mean she is gone? Where would she have gone to?”

  He handed the note to her, and turned around. The front door squeaked open, and slammed shut. Emily, and Nick, ran after him, but stopped to see him sit sadly on the swing set.

  “What does it say?”

  Emily opened up to view the eligible, sprawled across the page, font. She read off the page, “I don’t want to hurt anyone, or put any of you in danger. So I am leaving someplace I know I won’t do any harm.”

  “Why is she afraid of harming someone?”

  She looked up from the note, dazed. “I don’t know.”

  •••

  Later that night, the moon, full, hung high in the sky. Crickets chirped relentlessly. It was music to Maddie’s ears. Streets were silent, and lights were out, she knew she should rest up, as well as go back into the warmth of her home. But, the night seemed to sweep away her daytime worries and anxieties. Peace drove within her when she focused firmly on the face of the moon.

  Footsteps neared her. Spooked, she jumped from the porch. Marcel, still on the swing, remained unmoved, but still aware of his surroundings. She turned her head; Steve took the spot next to her. “Hey. Do you mind if I sit here?”

  “Nope,” she said, blushing.

  “Good,” he said. He grinned at her. “I have a favor to ask you.”

  “Sure, anything.”

  “Okay, I plan on asking Theresa to marry me. But, I need a ring in order to so. So… I was kind of hoping you could, possibly, maybe, talk to your mom about helping me get a job.”

  A tight twinge jerked her heart.

  “Please,” he begged, “this would mean the world to me.”

  “Look,” she waved her hands in front of her, “I… I don’t know what I could do.”

  “I know Theresa doesn’t like you too much, and you don’t have to worry about her coming after you or anything. This will be just between us. She doesn’t even know I am here.”

  “I thought you had a job. The manager at the store here in town?”

  “I do. Yes. But, after paying bills, and buying her whatever she wants, barely leaves enough for even food. That is why I am asking for your mom to see what she can’t do.”

  “Okay, but you have a terrific job history, why would you need my mom’s help?”

  “Well, Theresa, she, uh, kind of burnt a whole lot of bridges here. You know. She almost got me fired as manager. And I know you know that I am a good person, and so does your mom. Her word carries more weight around here than our mayor.”

  “Why doesn’t she just get a job doing something? Anything.”

  “Oh, she doesn’t want to work.”

  “Really? And you’re letting her stay home alone all day?”

  “Well, I mean, she’s happy. And isn’t that all that matters?”

  She nodded, smiling. “Yeah, I suppose.” A huge part of her wished, he would do anything to make her happy, but knew she had better luck finding a strand of hay in a stack of extra sharp needles threaded with barbed wire.

  “I can talk to her.”

  “Well, I better go before Theresa gets suspicious.”

  Maddie chuckled under her breath, pointing at a pink car. “I think it might be a bit late for that,” she said as Theresa marched her way up to Maddie.

  “Why are you here? Actually, I don’t want to hear it. Get your behind home now. I have a hair appointment in the morning, and you need to be there.”

  Maddie shook her irate face. “I can’t take it anymore. Do you even care about him?” She stared, hard, into her eyes.

  “Well, of course I do! How dare you question my undying love I have for him.”

  She knew she had to be lying. So, Maddie decided to do what any sane woman would do; ask her a few questions to prove such a notion.

  “When is his birthday?”

  “Oh, I think August. Right, dearie?” she said, dumbfounded, grinning.

  “Wrong,” Maddie corrected. “May ninth.”

  “Favorite colors of his?”

  “Pink and orange.”

  “Actually, those are your favorite colors,” Steve said.

  “Yep,” Maddie agreed, “his is green. The color of his first bike.”

  Theresa nervously laughed, waving her hands in front of her. “Wow, you’re a psychic. Congrats!”

  Maddie rubbed her two fingers between her eyes. “Ugh… No, there are no such things.”

  “Then how do you know?”

  “Before you came in, and destroyed everything like a hurricane, he and I were best friends. I li
stened to him. Something you should try doing.”

  Theresa tossed her hand in the air, grabbed Steve by the coat collar, and dragged him off the property. He forced his gaze on Theresa, but one last glance at Maddie shouldn’t hurt, he supposed.

  Maddie collapsed back down into the divot, and began sobbing as they drove away. Hearing her sniffles, Trudy walked out holding a thick blanket. She wrapped Maddie up, shushing her tearful daughter.

  For the next hour, Trudy just sat, and held her in silence, joining her inside the cover. The warmth of her mom comforted her in this special time of need. She felt she could tell her anything, except the part of him earning more money. She knew, not even her, could or would truly help him marry the she-devil.

  Chapter 18

  Waves of water trailed beneath Emily’s shoulders. In a dream, she stood under the crashing, yet gentle, waves of a waterfall. With closed eyes, and unleashed senses, she ran her fingers across her scalp. The water thickened, becoming more and more slippery the longer her eyes stayed shut. She could tell what it was, as rays of redness streaked behind her eyelids.

  They wouldn’t open. She couldn’t see, but at the same time, she could. It wasn’t anything of what she ever felt before. The striking blindness that she could see through raised her pulse. However, it stopped; as soon she was able to peel open her eyes. Blood, everywhere. Fingers, soaked with redness, and palms clenched tight around flesh and bone. A piercing ring surfaced inside her head. It rung persistently. Emily jolted out of bed, gasping, heaving, and clenching her chest tight. She relaxed, hearing the quickening thump of her heart become only a paced tick against her palm. Without having to listen to Maddie’s ramblings about dream interpretations, she knew all too well, what it meant. Stress, she noted, unsurprised.

  She crossed her arm over, reaching for her phone. Two missed calls from an unknown number, and one text message from that same number rested on her touchscreen. She grunted a sigh, and faced her window. Slight rays of an orange glow surpassed her darkened curtains.

  She frowned at the mixed choice of dark purples and blueish hues. It made her feel young again. Not a vibrant, free-willed child, but a burdened teenager having to make adult decisions, and some she would have never decided to do.

  She shook her head, relinquishing herself of these memories, and allowing herself to take a well-deserved walk downstairs to the nearest coffee pot. Eight in the morning, undercaffeinated, and unfed, she felt just as dangerous as any Fledge that should ever dare come her way.

  Nick, in the hall, perched on the floor next to her bedroom door, raised an eye to her. Without a word, he focused back on his hands. “W-what… w-why… Ugh!” She stuttered over slurred words. English, even though it was her native-born tongue, failed her as if she were from third-world country who has taken only one course of remedial English, and tried speaking it like a confident know-it-all.

  “I heard you whimpering. I thought you were…” he tampered off his sentence, seeing she was just fine. “Never mind. Trudy made breakfast,” he said, rising up from the red carpet. He trampled down the steps, followed.

  Everyone sat in silence, at the kitchen table, then waited for Emily to bring the cup to her lips. Emily raised a brow, stunted. Her movements, dissected, and carefully studied, left her rigid as if she were a robot; or, better yet, a person from the eighties attempting the robotlike dance. “What?”

  She didn’t intend on any reply, as her question soon met its demise, placed under a rhetorical standpoint. She nestled into the chair next to Maddie.

  “Phew! Okay, so are we going to talk about what to do? I mean, us sitting here… we are just sitting ducks,” Maddie spewed.

  “Wait. What?” “Ewe, I’m sorry sis, I thought your coffee kicks in as soon as you take your first sip.”

  “Wait. What? No, I mean… Yes. But…” She shook her head, collecting her thoughts. “We are safer here than anywhere else. What ever happened to George could happen to any Fledge. Katie and Nick could very well act capricious.”

  “Actually, you make a valid point,” Marcel agreed. “But, there is only two of them, and an entire town of us. But, you are right. We are safer here, then going out and asking to be bait.”

  Trudy shook her head. “I will not hear this. Any of this. You said it yourself that we have an entire town here. We can easily kill off whatever comes our way.”

  “Yes,” Marcel nodded, reluctant. “But, to rally up well over five thousand people... heh, our Presidents’ runner up couldn’t even do twice that in this state alone. The dimwit.”

  “Well, I am not.”

  “True, but how do you suppose we win this? I talked with Doctor Seizer, and he claims those alloy cubes are harder to come by than spotting Bigfoot in the lake where the loch ness monster was found.”

  “So, we make them ourselves,” Trudy insisted.

  “With what equipment? Not even he has an equipment that could mass produce such a product.”

  Maddie turned to Emily, wanting to ask her about the endless what-ifs that ran through her head, until she noticed something off about her sister. “Wait. Why are you dressed? You’re never dressed before coffee. What?”

  “Oh, yeah. Well, to contradict what I just said, I do, in fact have somewhere to be.”

  “Oh, no. You are not going anywhere. You left, and didn’t come back for several hours. What are you thinking?”

  “This time, I will be back.”

  Katie nodded. “No doubt, she will be fine.”

  “I’ll go,” Nick said. “I’ll make sure she actually returns this time.”

  “And keep me safe, right?” she said, making it clear she was sitting right there, and to not be ignored.

  “Nah,” he chortled. “Yes. You know I will.”

  Soon after, Trudy led the way in her car towards the giant brick wall. Only she had the passphrase to open the wooden door that now blocked off the town from the outside world. Before then, it was just a slight opening as if it led into a tunnel.

  She unlocked the door, and to her surprise, a flood of faces occupied the other side. A mixed bunch of Fledges, and humans, restlessly stood in place. Her elbow nudged Marcel, who tagged along. “So, just Nick and Katie, right?”

  “They’re not Fledges.”

  “How can you know for sure?”

  “Their eyes. Look. They lack the gold ring around the pupil.”

  “What about the pale ones?”

  Marcel shook his head. “That’s just racist.”

  “Are Fledges being considered a race now?”

  “I-I’m not sure. Sounds right though. Right?”

  Trudy shrugged her shoulders, waving her hands to make way for Emily’s passage.

  Nerves kicked in, and without thinking, Emily temporarily grasped Nick’s hand, before realizing she really didn’t mean to do so. “Sorry.”

  “No, it’s fine. Really. It is.” He said, exchanging tender smiles with her.

  •••

  Back at the University, in Middletown, Grant Daly took over Marcel’s lab. Decorated in ‘Save the World’ posters, and texts on the sayings, and quotes, of Gandhi, and Buddha influences made the room less strenuous for Calista to walk into. The night before, he gladly helped her in her pleas to keep people safe from her deadly capabilities.

  She was unsure of where to go, or what to do. She knew one thing for sure, however; Grant never removed the cage.

  He doesn’t know why he left. All he knew, it would provide a safe haven for him if he were to ever screw up the continuance of his fathers’ work. At least, in there, he wouldn’t threaten society with his presence. He vowed to never harm someone, no matter what. But, he would do anything to protect someone as beautiful as the woman before him would appear to any set of eyes. She stricken him poised, with her indigenous kind braveness. Which, to him, was greater than any physical sex appeal.

  Amongst a box of various items, sat a framed picture of Emily and Hank, on his desk. Calista bit her lip. “What are you d
oing with that?”

  He turned his head. “Oh, I was asked to clean out her space. I thought I was going to see her again. Usually people take their belongings with them when they up and leave an establishment.”

  “Well,” she scoffed, paused, “true.”

  His door swung open within a split second. In stepped the mayor, his Father Jeremiah Daly. He cleared his throat, before speaking. However, an unusual setting intrigued him; Calista trapped in a monkey cage. He chuckled, admiring his sons’ latest catch.

  “You know; Stockholm syndrome is not true love. Right, Son?” He was only joking, he hoped.

  Grant rolled his eyes at his fathers’ assumption. “I’m not keeping her to make her love me,” said, almost blushing.

  “Okay. Can I ask?”

  “Why are you here? Check up on me and this dreadful work?”

  “Actually, yes. And, I am glad you

  caught her.”

  “I didn’t catch her. She came to me looking for refuge.”

  “I don’t understand. Is she not a Fledge?”

  “No. She is.”

  Jeremiah raised his brows, amused. “Okay. Yep.”

  “What?” Grant didn’t trust the halfsmile Jeremiah portrayed. He knew it was his ‘I have a twisted surprise for you’ smile. Not once has his surprises ever been well. “You’re not hurting her.”

  He pocketed his hands, and said, “You need to run some tests on her.” He bowed his head, revealing a flat cube-like remote. It had tiny buttons running across it. He handed it to Grant with a tight-lipped grin. “This will control her, if the tests get too offensive for her to handle.”

  “What is that?” Calista questioned.

  “Something, which if in the wrong hands, can destroy an entire nation.”

  “I don’t want it,” Grant said, shaking his hands. “Get that thing the hell out of here. Now!”

  “Hey, Son, don’t you worry. It’s only deadly if you press the purple button. The others just activate a Fledge depending on how far away you are from one.” He patted his shoulder, amused. “You’ll be okay. Just remember to direct your commands in the speaker there.”

  He spun around on his heels, headed towards the door. On his way out, he dropped the switch on the wooden Buddha’s lap. “Enlighten,” he mocked, “this project.”