ANDERSON “ANDI” ROE:
Elise was late. Almost an hour.
We sat at the kitchen table, waiting. Ivy and Chaos set up a card game, trying to pass the time, ignore their hunger.
“She’s gonna come home, and we’re gonna be skeletons.” Chaos threw a card down for dramatic effect.
Ivy looked up at me. “Andi. She wouldn’t mind. One bite.”
I shook my head, didn’t take my eyes away from the front door. “We always have dinner together.”
Joseph could be behind schedule, because of traffic. Elise could’ve made a grocery run and waited in a long checkout line.
Or she could be in trouble. She could be hurt.
Chaos nudged me. “It’s your turn.”
I set my cards down. Jiggled my leg. “You can skip me.” My hand was terrible anyway.
“You’re that worried?”
“She’s never been so late before. What if she needs us? How would we find her?”
Ivy thought for a second. “She has that push button. Upstairs. To get Joseph to the bus stop.”
“Okay.” I set my hands on the table. “Let’s wait a little longer. Then we’ll get Joseph and trace her route.”
They nodded. Ivy rested her chin in her palm. Waited for Chaos to draw a card, whose face brightened.
“I win.” She set down the rest of her cards. Game over.
The sun, low in the sky. Still not home. It would be dark soon, and then what?
I was about to stand up, grab the push-button, when the alarm blared. I ran to the window. Elise. Thank God. I pulled open the front door.
“I know, I know.” She gave a half-smile. “I’m late. I’m sorry.”
“You came just in time.” Chaos took her bag. Set it on a hook. “We were gonna set up a search party and everything.”
They both laughed a little, nervous laughter. I smiled a little bit with them. She was home. Safe.
But Elise stopped laughing too quickly, something frantic in her expression. She ducked past me, to the kitchen.
Her clothes were different. Gray T-shirt, cargo pants.
I tried to catch her eye. “Everything okay?”
She clutched the back of her chair. “Andi, I’m sorry.”
The logo on her shirt: Three interlocked rings. The letters: CPC
It took me too long to figure it out, and then everything in me went cold.
“You joined the Corps.” I didn’t mean to sound so accusatory.
Tears in her eyes. She nodded.
You know how some moments freeze? You move your hand wrong, the glass falls off the table, but for a second, everything stops. The glass is dangerously tilted. Stuck in a state of “about to go wrong”. Then, floor. Shatter.
No one moved. Ivy and Chaos against the wall, Elise frozen at the table. For a second everything tilted.
Chaos’s voice, almost a whisper. “What’s the Corps?”
Elise pulled out the flyer from her pocket. Turned to Ivy and Chaos. Her hands wrinkled the paper as she spoke. “I’m gonna get Mom and Dad back. How could you say no to this?”
No. Not this. Say something. Catch the glass.
I kept my voice calm, steady. “You promised not to do this.”
Elise kept her back to me. Asked Chaos and Ivy, “Aren’t you so sick of sitting and waiting and nothing happening?”
Chaos took the flyer. Ivy pressed the sleeve of Mom’s red sweater to her mouth. “Could this really bring them back?”
“Yes.”
Falling and nothing to catch me. I wanted Mom and Dad home, too. Did they think I didn’t?
My voice, too loud. “You can’t rely on the same system that put them in the WorkForce.”
I stepped towards her.
She stepped back. “I can if it’s the only option.”
“They’re in there, right now, working to pay it off. They could be out tomorrow.” I sounded so desperate. Part of me was disgusted with myself.
She sneered. “Oh, that’s relying on the system.”
“It’s safer this way.” My voice almost broke. “Please.”
She crossed her arms. Eyes still red. “When I get Mom and Dad back, you’ll be thanking me. You’re welcome.”
“Don’t do this. You can’t—”
Elise dragged the back of her hand across her face. “It’s done. It’s happening.” She turned on her heel. Upstairs.
The rest of us in the kitchen. I tried to take a deep breath. Behind me, four bowls of rice sat on the counter, steam curling, dissipating.
Ivy pushed up her glasses. “What if she’s right? What if she gets them back?”
“Yeah.” Chaos stepped away from the wall. Sat down at the table. “What’s so bad about the Corps?”
I couldn’t look at them. “She’d be gone for months. At the Run-downs.”
It took them a second to understand. Candlelight reflected from Ivy’s glasses, and for a moment, I was glad I couldn’t see her eyes.
Chaos’s voice. Quiet. “She hid this from you. Like I hid Patch from you.”
I hated her for that. Like I couldn’t handle the truth. I leaned against the wall and nodded.
“We’re supposed to stick together.” Ivy blinked rapidly. “You’re supposed to keep us safe.”
Nausea. My eyes squeezed shut. “I promised—” I couldn’t even finish the rest of my sentence.
“Andi.” Ivy’s hand on my arm. “We’re safe right now. You’re doing a good job. Elise will understand, and she won’t leave us.”
Was that true? Or was Ivy trying to make me feel better?
Her hand shook a little. I should’ve pulled her close. Told her: Of course she’ll understand. Of course she won’t leave.
Instead, something bitter pushed against the back of my throat. I almost pulled away from her.
“No.” I shook my head. “You don’t know that.”
She shrank back.
Hands on my face. I said to myself, “I have to change her mind.”
“If she’s already in—” Chaos placed her fingers over her mouth—“you can’t.”
My gaze fell to my hands, to the tile. I had nothing to say.
ns216.73.216.19da2
and then Add to home screen.