Stealing Silence

by E. A. Darl

  She chewed, then swallowed, then said “Why should I care? They have done nothing to help me. When I asked them to share what they had, they chased me off with pitch forks or guns or set their dog on me. I make do just fine on my own,” she said, with pride, sinking her teeth into the apple then tearing off another chunk of white flesh.

  “You should care, Avalon, because soon there will be no food, for anyone, including you. You are lucky I was there when you were arrested. The guards have been issued fire arms, and they have full license to shoot any who break in on sight, with no warning and no repercussion. If I had not been there when you were arrested, he may have done just that.”

  Avalon took another bite and studied him over the dwindling core. “So, let’s say I believe you. What do you want of me? Why do you care what becomes of me?”

  Mitch plucked out the other apple and shined it on his sleeve before taking a bite. “There is something about you, Avalon, that makes me want to help you. I can help you. But I need something in return.”

  “What is that?”

  “I need someone who is as skilled as you are, to steal something for me.”

  Avalon’s eyebrows climbed into her hair as he went on to describe exactly what he wanted her to do. When he paused, she burst out, “You want me to break into the high security vault in the capital and steal some fertilizer? What kind of bullshit is this?”

  “Believe me, if we had some bull shit, I wouldn’t be asking. But there are no farms so there is no fertilizer around, and we couldn’t use it if we wanted to. The government will not stop us planting again, after this harvest, but without the fertilizer, our chances of growing anything even remotely close to our needs is slim to none. We need this fertilizer to survive.”

  “And how, exactly, am I supposed to break in and out of a high security facility with a sack of fertilizer on my back? Unless there are hump-backed gargoyles on the building, it will be completely impossible to hide.”

  “Ah, well we have a plan for that. It involves some former townsfolk who work at the facility. They can get you in and out, but once inside you would need to find your way alone. We are working on a map of the facility. It is being committed to memory and drawn in the evening hours. But nothing can go in or out of the facility without being scanned or searched. The workers do not even wear their own clothing inside the facility. They are made to change between two secure check points. What is on the inside stays inside and vice-versa.”

  “You still haven’t explained how I am to carry a hundred pound sack of fertilizer out of the plant.”

  “Well that is easy. You don’t. We just need a sample to analyze. You see, we want to make our own.”

  “Oh.” Avalon thought for a moment then said, “So what is so special about this fertilizer? Is it like a miracle cure or something?”

  “That is also something we do not understand. This is the first year for the lottery. Whatever goes into it, it is the only thing that is allowed to be used in the greenhouses, so we need to replicate it exactly, or risk being found out. A small gain in yield could still look like just hard work. It might be enough to save us, if we harvest carefully this fall.” Mitch chewed down to the core of the apple then produced a napkin into which he tucked the seeds. He held it out to Avalon and had her deposit the core alongside his. “We may never need these seeds, but then again we just might. I prefer to play it safe and save the seeds. I have a whole jar full at home.”

  Avalon smiled at him. She liked him, she realized with a start. It had been so long since she had genuinely liked someone that the feeling was strange. The smile faded as the seriousness of the proposition settled around her shoulders. “I could get shot, doing this.”

  “You could have been shot last night doing what you did. Isn’t the prize worth the risk? One meal versus meals for a year or more? If you are going to steal, then you had best make it so worthwhile that the decision becomes obvious.”

  Avalon nodded. He was right. Besides she had more to think about than just herself. Suddenly she realized she was sitting there, stuffing her face while her sister starved. Abruptly she said, “I want to go home now.”

  “Where is home?”

  “I will direct you.”

  “Alright.” Mitch packed up the box and placed it on the back seat then started the engine, pulling out on the dirt road.

  Chapter 5

  Home

  INSTEAD OF HEADING back to the highway, Avalon directed Mitch to continue down the dirt road, following the twists and turns of the sunken river. At one point a covered bridge presented itself and they rattled across the wooden floor to the other side of the river, following a road that had existed as long as the town. Mitch knew the oldest farms and the oldest families lived across the river. It was with a growing suspicion, as they passed farm after abandoned farm, that he drove to the only possible destination left - Gainsborough Manor. Set high on the hill, the manor had been a landmark for two centuries. It had sat empty for five years, ever since their mysterious disappearance. Everyone had vanished without a trace, on a quiet summer’s evening much like this one, only a steady drizzle had accompanied him on the long drive.

  He had received an emergency call from the manor from a little girl who had said some bad men were at the house and hurting her mommy and daddy. She had whispered into the phone as though she were talking under blankets in a closet, the voice muted and muffled. When they had arrived, the manor lights had been blazing but the house was empty. They’d searched it top to bottom and the only clue that they had uncovered were tire tracks in the soft mud. A vehicle, possibly a Hummer, had been at the location. They’d followed the trail back to the main highway and lost it on the drying pavement.

  The family had never been located.

  Mitch turned into the lane and the empty-eyed house stared at him, the door agape on failing hinges. The sad condition of the once stately manor saddened him. He drove his Mustang up the circular drive and stopped in front of a crumbling stone staircase. Turning off the engine, he looked at Avalon.

  “You are the one who called me on the emergency line five years ago. You are one of the two Gainsborough children, aren’t you.”

  Avalon blinked at him, and then looked out her window at the manor. “Yes,” she whispered.

  “Where is your sister?”

  “Safe. I care for her.” She turned her face back to him, meeting his eyes and he saw fierce loyalty and love in her challenging gaze. “This is our home. We never left. We do not live in the house though, it is a target for vandals and raiders and gangs. We have made our home elsewhere.”

  “Where?” He leaned toward her, anxious to know the truth after so many years. How in the world have they survived? It’s a miracle. He wondered, but he did not voice the thought aloud.

  “The barn by the river.” She looked longingly at the picnic cooler. “Alexa is there. Can I take her some food? Please, she will be so hungry. I promised her last night that I would bring her food.” Avalon hated the pleading note that entered her voice, but she needed the food, badly.

  “Of course you can.” He reached back and grabbed the cooler handle then opened his door. “Come, let’s give this to your sister.” Avalon scrambled out of the opposite door and then ran towards the back of the house. The yard was thick with burrs and wild raspberry vines that clutched at his sweater as he passed. Suddenly he understood all the small tears in her sweater and his heart went out to this brave little girl - young woman, he corrected himself. She had been fending for herself and her sister for all this time. But what had happened to her parents? The cop in him wanted to halt her flight and drag the answers out of her, but he knew it was unwise to trample on her fledgling trust at this time. Plenty of time for that enquiry when we are on the road to the capital, he reminded himself.

  Avalon ran down the hill and took a stone staircase down the hillside with the agility of one who has passed down its broken face many times and memorized the best footing. Mitch slowed, picking
his way carefully lest he slip and break his leg. At the base of the hill, an old stone barn stood, with a thick thatched roof in need of repair. The windows were long gone, and open to the wind. Avalon disappeared inside and as he entered the barn with his flashlight, it lit up the black interior to reveal Avalon pulling down a ladder from the ceiling with a rope released from its hold on a peg. The attic staircase flopped to the floor, stirring the dust into a swirl that danced like smoke in the beam of the flashlight. Everything was silent in the attic. Avalon headed up the stairs. “Alexa, it’s me, I’m back. Alexa?” Her head disappeared into the attic and Mitch set down the cooler then began to climb up behind her. As his head cleared the attic floor, he heard Avalon shout “Alexa, NO!” just as a cast iron frying pan connected with the side of his head. Mitch lost his balance and tumbled back down the stairs to land on his back. The impact was so hard, that he lost his breath, gasping like a fish out of water to get it back. He lost his flashlight in the fall and it rolled away from him to rest against the wall. The barn swam in his vision and as it steadied, two faces appeared, bent over his prone form.

  “Alexa, this is Captain Mitch. He gave me a ride home.” The four girls resolved into two and Mitch gasped “Hullo Alexa. That is quite the swing you have.” His hand found a large lump swelling on his skull just above his left ear. “Ouch!” He rolled onto his side and pushed himself up to a sitting position. The motion made his head swim again but it steadied after a moment. Alexa was blonde haired to Avalon’s black and was just as short. She wore a ragged floral dress that fit like a tunic, over too short of pants, that would not fit at all if the girl was not starving. They ended well short of her ankles and her feet were stuffed into boots two sizes too big. The soles had holes in them. He wondered where she had found them.

  Mitch gestured toward the cooler. “Help yourself to some food, Alexa.” Alexa’s faced brightened and she ran over to the cooler and flipped the lid. With a squeal of delight she fell on the food much as Avalon had, stuffing it in faster than she could chew and swallow, so that she looked like a chipmunk. “Hey, slow down! Your stomach will reject it if you don’t.” Avalon made Alexa sit down away from the cooler but she did not stop shoving the food in.

  “Twhak you tho mush,” she said around the huge mouthfuls. Avalon opened a bottle of juice and Alexa gulped down the liquid.

  Mitch pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed at the lump on his head. “I bet you do more defense with that frying pan, than actual cooking.” Alexa grinned at him in agreement, eyes twinkling. Mitch decided he liked both girls very much.

  “So, Alexa, Avalon is going to help me with a project. Do you want to come with us or stay here?” He held his breath, but let none of his concern show on his face.

  “She is?” she swallowed the food in her mouth “Where are you going?”

  “To the capital. She is going to help me gather some fertilizer for the greenhouses.” Avalon scowled over at him, knowing that he was sealing her fate by bribing her sister to come along. “I will take care of the food for the trip. What do you say?”

  “What’s the catch?” asked Alexa, pocketing three apples before he could answer.

  “No catch. I can pay for the food no problem.”

  Alexa popped her last bite of sandwich into her mouth and looked at her sister, a question in her eyes, unsure how to answer. Avalon nodded that it was OK, and Alexa said, “OK then, but I’d like some new clothes like Avalon’s. I can’t go to the capital dressed like this. And new shoes too.” She stuck her toe out the front of her shoe and wiggled it at him.

  “Deal struck. My sister should have some things that will fit the pair of you. Is there anything here that you want to get before we go?”

  Both girls shook their heads. “I can lock up the attic, no one knows it exists, with the staircase missing,” said Avalon.

  “OK then, let’s go. I’d like to be well away from here by daylight.” Mitch stood up and was happy to see that the barn remained steady. Outside the blush of dawn was lightening the eastern sky, the promise of another hot, dry day in the offing.

  He picked up the lunch cooler and his flashlight then headed back out the barn door, as Avalon secured the staircase. The two girls followed him as he retraced their steps of an hour earlier. Reaching the top of the hill, he lead them back to the front of the house and held open the door to the back seat to let Alexa into the rear, placing the cooler beside her. She smiled her thanks, flipping open the lid again as soon as she was seated. Avalon climbed into the passenger side. As the first rays of the day split the horizon, the Mustang gathered speed on the straight highway that lead to the heart of the capital city of Erlea.

  Chapter 6

  The Kidnapping

  THE MUSTANG BOUNCED along the uneven pavement, clicking off the miles in the relative cool of early morning. The glowing red ball that was about to crest the horizon, promised another sultry, sticky day of heat. Once again, no rain was in the forecast and the spring fields lay abandoned. Even weeds struggled to grow along the deep ditches of the roadside, a place where they should have thrived. Mitch turned on the radio, setting it to his favourite oldies station that played in a continuous loop on the now fully automated radio station. The computers ran the show and selections were switched up at random by a preset group of commands. The human factor had moved on to find a place where food was available, a problem that machines did not have. The machines’ only problems related to the availability of power. Mitch grunted at his unhappy thoughts and forced his mind to focus on the puzzle of the two girls in the car.

  Alexa appeared to be even younger than Avalon, which probably meant she was twelve or thirteen. He knew their parents had disappeared five years ago. That was a long time to live on your own with no help.

  It was time to break the silence. “Have you lived in the barn the entire time, since your parents’ disappearance?” he asked, watching out of the corner of his eye as both girls stiffened at his question. “I am not trying to pry. I am marveling that you have been able to survive when so many others would not have made it. How did you do it?”

  The girls exchanged glances, silently discussing the wisdom of sharing their story with a stranger.

  Avalon nodded to her sister and said, “At first we stayed at the house, always hiding when a car came down the road. You can see the dust for miles, from the upper bedrooms. We had lots of time to get out of sight, if we saw anyone approaching. There was plenty of food as Mom had put away preserves against ‘a rainy day’ as she used to say. The pantry and cellars were full and we had no problem finding something to eat.

  “The first to come by were neighbours or detractors, those who had heard the news – the curious and the gossips – those who wanted to check out the house for themselves. Later, it was the gangs that came, to scavenge and to loot. That was when we moved to the barn. We used to keep the front door locked, but people just tried to break in and there was no way that we could stop them if they wanted to come in. So we moved what we wanted to the barn and just left the door open after that. It was soon emptied by looters and those more desperate than we were, of anything of value that could be resold. We had food, and water from the well, a cozy spot to sleep and no worries about going to school, and no parents to set time schedules.” Alexa’s lip trembled for a moment but Avalon pushed on. “At first, we missed our parents horribly, but what were we to do? Go to a foster home? A home for orphans? Moving to town meant fighting for a spot against the gangs, and we did not want to leave home. Nope, the safest thing for both of us was to remain hidden where we were and to stay out of sight. And that is what we did,” she said, leaning in stiff defiance against the passenger door, “until we started to run out of food. That has been a recent problem.”

  Mitch thought she might actually have jumped out of the car at that point, had Alexa not been in the back. Her hand even strayed to the handle.

  He kept his eyes fixed on the empty highway, careful to not look at either girl as
he phrased his next question. “What happened that night? Do you feel you can share it with me, after all this time? The police never solved the case.” I never solved the damn case, although I really tried.

  Alexa stared at the partially eaten apple in her hand, and then put it down on top of the lunch box, linking her fingers in her lap. Suddenly, it did not taste so sweet. Tears threatened but did not spill. The memories were so raw that her throat tightened painfully even after so much time had passed. It was Avalon who spoke again, who took the reins of the wild memories that were threatening to bolt and carry the girls away with the bit between their teeth.

  “They came at supper time, you know. Mom had just put the last plate of food on the table, when the doorbell rang. My father got up and went to the door, while we piled our plates with food. We heard voices and then they became angry. I will never forget my mother’s face. She frowned at first, sending a worried glance in the direction our father had disappeared, and then she got this frightened look on her face. She turned to us and grabbed both of us by a hand, and dragged us to the cellar door. ‘Do you remember everything we told you? Today is the day. Go to the hiding place. Go now and bolt the door behind you. Go!’

  “We hurried down into the cellar, leaving the lights off, and grabbed a flashlight sitting on a ledge. We ran through the dim interior to the door of the fruit cellar and dashed inside it, closing the door behind us and sliding the lock from the inside. It would look like the door was locked from the outside. We then shoved aside a burlap sack of carrots, and pulled up a hatch in the floor, on the top of which a crate was nailed. We scrambled down the staircase and closed the lid. The door disappeared under the wooden crate, which was stuffed with straw. The earthen cellar had a back exit but we did not go outside. Mom had told us we must not leave until long after dark if we ever had to hide, as there would be people searching for us. So we hid. We did not come out for a full three days; we were so scared, preferring to sleep on the cots in the shelter. That was the last we saw of our parents. Albert and Ellen Gainsborough were never seen again. They were scientists, you know.”