Last Escape

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by Pauline Creeden


  With a smile, I started for the kitchen to do the dishes from the previous day and Charles turned on the television. Seven stayed with the patients, like she always did, and was happy to receive a scratch behind the ears as payment. Charles watched the news while I did the things around the house that were difficult for him. The newscaster’s voice filled the air.

  “In other news, the city’s overpopulation continues to worry government officials. After consulting countless professionals on the issue, the mayor has declared it an epidemic. Several measures are being discussed to resolve the issue.”

  The newscaster droned on about several other issues, all of which were old news. Criminals ran the streets of Crystal City… some were in that gang called the Wolves, but others were just common thieves and pick-pockets. People ignored other people and went on with their daily lives. Because of this, someone had to be an advocate for the poor and downtrodden. Someone had to care for the elderly and the sick. These were necessary positions, and it made me happy that I could help alleviate one of those burdens.

  After I finished the chores, I chatted with Charles, who updated me on the latest chapter he’d read in his book and I giggled at the antics of the characters. Charles had a way of retelling the story in such a way that I felt like I’d read the book myself.

  When our time was up, we bid each other farewell and I continued on my rounds. At the end of the day, I made my way to Granny’s apartment. I peered down the alley to see if there were any troublemakers, and when I found none, Seven and I rushed down the alley at a brisk jog, hugging a basket to my chest.

  Gladys, my last charge was an avid baker. I always left her home carrying something delicious for Granny. Today, Gladys sent me home with four delicious looking apple turnovers in the small basket.

  I made it to Granny’s house without incident and entered after knocking. She sat in front of her window, glowing like she often did in the light of the setting sun. I slipped out of my shoes and headed toward her with the basket.

  “Gladys made us some apple turnovers today,” I called in as I started toward her.

  “Shhh. Scarlet, please keep your voice down,” she whispered in harsh tones.

  Upon closer inspection, I found that her rocking chair had been moved back a few feet from its usual place in front of the window. She sat on the edge of the rocker, peering out the glass as if she wanted to make sure she could see out without anyone noticing her.

  I brought the basket closer. “What are you talking about?” I whispered.

  She shushed me again, waving me down with her hand as though she wanted me to crouch. “You were being followed.”

  My chest tightened, and my skin prickled. I frowned at my grandmother. “No, I couldn’t have been. If I was followed, I would know.”

  She gave me a stern look and rolled her eyes as though I had no idea what I was talking about.

  I opened my mouth to object again and tell her she was just being paranoid but howls echoed through the air on the street outside. Seven growled in the direction of the window, and I tensed.

  Five leather clad members of the Wolves passed by Granny’s window, and I stepped back into the shadows with her. How did I not notice them? Had they seen me in the alley? Did they know where I lived?

  The same, red-headed younger guy fixed his glare in the direction of my building but didn’t shoot his glance toward Granny’s window—his eyes were focused on the apartment window across the hallway on the other side of the building. My apartment.

  “I don’t want you going home… not tonight,” Granny said with finality, her fingers digging a bit into my arm. “Those boys are nothing but trouble. You can smell it on them.”

  I gulped. Shortcuts really did bring nothing but trouble. Somehow the Wolves knew where I lived, but it seemed they didn’t know where I was at the moment. Would they be watching my apartment, waiting for me to get home? Then what would happen?

  Why hadn’t the police done anything about them when I used the call box yesterday? There was a reason so many of the citizens of the city had no faith in the police.

  I slid back from the window, staying in the shadows. My grandmother stood and pulled down the blinds and closed the curtains for good measure. I slumped in a dining room chair and set down the basket I’d been carrying. The very idea of eating the turnovers had no appeal. Though they filled the air with sugary, fruity aromas, those smells seemed too happy, too wrong for the way I was feeling.

  Suddenly, I wondered for the first time if my grandmother’s agoraphobia had a basis in reality. Perhaps her anxiety didn’t just start on its own but grew because of the experiences she’d had there in the city as well.

  The very idea of leaving the apartment made my heart race. I didn’t want to run into those guys or get caught by surprise. Seven sat beside me and set her chin on my knee, just like she often did with my patients. I rested a hand on the top of her head and scratched her behind the ears.

  I looked up into my grandmother’s matching hazel eyes and nodded. “You’re right, Granny. We’ll stay here tonight.”

  Chapter 3

  The next morning, I got up early with Granny. The morning sun hadn’t even risen yet, but the sky was filled with clouds, smothering the morning glow that should have been in the east. I’d hardly slept the night before. I’d tossed and turned with worry, trying to decide what we should do. Maybe it was time for me to take Granny and leave Crystal City.

  I could quit my job and the city could find someone else to take care of Charles, Gladys, and all the rest of my charges. But the thought of doing that turned my stomach. Who would take care of them? Would the new person really do a good job of caring for each of them and doing the same things I did? The light housekeeping I did wasn’t part of the job description, neither was listening to their stories. Would the new person do those things for them?

  But I needed to do something.

  I decided to report the Wolves again to the authorities. If the police would do nothing about them, perhaps the human resources department could put pressure on the department so they would go after the Wolves for harassing the citizens in their care. If I filed a direct complaint on my grandmother’s behalf, maybe it would make a difference and they’d at least make the neighborhood a bit safer for my charges. As soon as I’d made Granny breakfast and watched that she’d taken her medication, I rushed out the door to the human resource office at the courthouse.

  Early morning was the best time to run through the city. Even though the sidewalks were packed with commuters who wanted their morning coffee on their way to work, the likelihood of running into a bad element, like a part of the Wolf gang was slim to none. I stopped at the usual column and asked Seven to sit and stay before rushing into the building.

  I prepared myself to greet Henry, but in his place stood a man in his thirties, instead of the older gentleman who I’d grown used to. I blinked and nodded to him in a greeting, but the man just looked at me like I was crazy for even meeting gazes with him. I frowned and turned toward the resources window.

  For the first time in three years, there was no line on the way to the window. I guessed, for a moment, that perhaps early morning truly was the best time to come to the department. But when I got to the window, I found that the curtain was still down. I pulled out my cell phone and checked the time. It was almost fifteen minutes past nine a.m., so there should have been someone to open the window by then. I frowned and headed for the door to the office. But when I pulled on the handle, I found it locked in my hand.

  Behind me the security guard cleared his throat. “Do you have business here, young woman?”

  I scrunched my brow and turned around. “I’m a part of human resources and needed to speak to the director.”

  The guard studied me for a moment, peering over the tip of his nose. “Don’t you read your emails? The human resources department has been purged. The government moved most of the employees out of this section and put them into other sections of
the building.”

  My eyes widened. “What?”

  He sighed and rolled his eyes. Then he started walking away, tossing a dismissive hand gesture over his shoulder. “Check your email.”

  I started for the doorway and stepped outside. Seven hopped up and met me, tail wagging. The wind picked up and blew my dark hair back. I glanced up. The clouds overhead gathered and darkened. Storms were coming. After racing down the steps, I pulled up the email app on my phone. There I found a message from the human resources department. I couldn't believe what I was reading. I had been fired. Effective immediately. What was going on? None of this made sense. There were still many elderly people that needed to be cared for. Just because an email said I was fired didn't mean I was going to stop caring for them. They needed my help and like Charles said yesterday I was like family to them and they were to me.

  Had I been thinking about moving away before? Now that I was faced with the distinct possibility that the people I cared for would have no one to take care of them, determination coursed through me. There was no way I could possibly leave. I shoved my phone back into my bag and quickly made my way to Charles’s home. He was expecting me, and I wasn't about to let him down. Seven seemed to know exactly what I was thinking and ran ahead of me.

  As I jogged, my anxiety grew in my chest. My stomach churned. There was more to it than just a simple email. They didn’t explain anything about what would happen to the people in my care. It seemed they had no intentions of hiring a new nurse to care for them as the second paragraph on the subject was much too cryptic. The hairs on the back of my neck rose as I grew closer to Charles’s townhome.

  Seven waited for me as I rounded the corner and started for the front oak door of the townhome when glass crunched under my feet. I looked down and found the sidewalk out front completely littered with pieces of broken glass. “Seven! Stop!”

  She hadn’t stepped forward at all. Apparently, she’d already seen the glass which is why she let me go ahead of her. I glanced up at Charles's home, and discovered the front window smashed in. I blinked, my gaze drawn immediately to the strong oak door which had been left open. My heart pounded in my chest as adrenaline raced through my body. Seven gingerly stepped around the glass and darted inside.

  What if someone besides Charles was still inside? The redhead with the gun trained on Seven flashed through my memory.

  “Wait!” I shouted but Seven had already pulled away too far.

  I hesitated, unsure of what I should do. If it was a crime scene, I shouldn’t taint it. But Seven already had. I turned my head both directions, looking for the nearest police call box, but I couldn’t see the blue light in either direction, and not a visible drone in the sky. With a frown, I dialed 911 on my phone.

  “Emergency response. What is your situation?”

  “I’m at the house of one of my geriatric patients. It looks like someone has broken in.”

  “Did you say geriatric patient?”

  “Yes.”

  “Ma’am. There’s no reason to be alarmed. This is all part of the purge. The city government has assured us that humanely taking care of the burdens on society like those who cannot take care of themselves will help not only our overpopulation issues, but also—”

  I hung up my phone, blinking at it. The purge? I flipped back to my email and read the second paragraph that I’d only skimmed after my emotions took hold of me. Cryptically, it said that my former patients would all be taken care of through the purge. It somehow sounded reasonable when I read the email. I looked up at the busted window in front of Charles’s house. This was anything but reasonable. I shoved my phone back into my pocket.

  “Charles?” I called out as I raced up the steps of his stoop.

  I stepped into the dimly lit house, finding Charles’s belongings strewn about in every direction. Someone had pulled out every drawer in the room and littered the floor with papers. Even Charles’s favorite chair had been overturned. The room seemed deathly quiet for the destruction that had enveloped the room in chaos.

  “Charles? Are you here?” I called out again.

  Seven came trotting out of Charles bedroom, her ears and tail up, still on high alert. Next to where she stood, the chairlift sat at the top of the stairs. She let out a quiet whine.

  If the chairlift sat at the top of the stairs, it would mean that Charles hadn’t come down yet, right? I raced up the steps, two at a time. When I passed Seven, she whirled about and followed me back into Charles’s bedroom. Again, I found every drawer pulled out, and even the chair next to his bed had been overturned. But Charles himself, was nowhere to be seen. I ran my hands through my dark hair and tried to calm myself.

  This couldn’t be happening. The government had put a spin on destroying the property of her patients and seizing them to do God-knows-what to them and this was supposed to be okay? The citizens of Crystal City accepted this behavior without revolt, without questions?

  Seven let out another quiet whine.

  Then it hit me like a bucket of cold water. Granny.

  My vision went white around the edges as I spun on my heel and raced back down the stairs. Seven had run in front of me, as she usually did, and seemed to know exactly what I was doing and where I was going. She darted down the alleyway shortcut before I even had a chance to make the decision myself.

  Adrenaline flowed freely through my body, making me on edge and heightening my senses. Every newspaper rustling in the wind made my teeth clench together. But otherwise the alley seemed empty—nothing hiding in the shadows behind the dumpsters. I continued to run, my lungs burning and my thighs aching with the exertion. The few people I passed on the street stopped to stare.

  But I couldn’t care less. I needed to make it back to my grandmother. What if I was too late? What if the purge had already reached Granny? Each step forward brought a tighter knot in my stomach. I could only hope and pray I wasn't right.

  I stumbled as my step faltered the minute I saw my grandmother’s house in much the same state Charles’s had been in. The front window, where she always sat, had been broken, and her empty rocker glided back and forth just beyond the curtains. My heart sank into the pit of my stomach and ice ran down my spine. A sob already threatened to rise up as tears stung the backs of my eyes, but I swallowed it all back.

  My heart pounded hard against my chest as I raced inside. “Granny?!”

  “Scarlet…” her voice was weak and barely audible. Had I not been straining so hard to hear, I would have missed her quietly calling to me.

  I raced to her room and found her on the floor with knife wounds all over her body and blood pooling on the floor around her. I dry heaved as I just tried to breathe. Panic clawed at my insides. This couldn’t be happening. I dropped to my knees at her side and tried to examine the penetrating wounds that now covered her body.

  “Granny, what happened? Who did this to you?” I grabbed the sheet from off her bed and pressed it to the wound on her stomach.

  “They came… to try to… purge me.” Granny wheezed out. “But I fought…”

  Tears welled up in my eyes. Granny’s face had paled from the amount of blood she'd lost and even with the pressure I was applying, she continued bleeding heavily. I couldn't let her die. She was my only family. With her aneurism, I knew death would come someday, and likely soon. But this was different. We’d both talked about what was likely to happen. More than anything else, Granny would have died peacefully and instantly—probably even in her sleep.

  Instead she was bleeding out.

  How could anyone possibly think this was okay? I’d already called the police and they blew me off. The human resources department had been closed. What recourse did I have? If I called for an ambulance, would they even come?

  Granny's gentle fingers brushed a tear off my cheek. “Scarlet… you must leave… you are not safe here.”

  A sob choked me, but I breathed a moment before saying, “Granny…”

  Then I choked up again. I
couldn't find the words to continue. What was I supposed to tell her? That she would be okay? That she was going to die? I felt so useless. Nothing I could say to her would be a comfort.

  Granny reached into the space between her mattress and box spring and pulled out a small red stone. She weakly took my hands off of the bed sheet to place the small stone in my palm and folded my bloody hand around it.

  “With this… You will be protected… By the grace of God,” Granny told me with a quiver in her voice.

  Tears now flowed freely down my cheeks as I looked at her pale face. “Granny… It's not supposed to be this way…”

  My throat felt raw and dry. My voice cracked. Grief had already enveloped me and tightened its grip. Breathing became difficult.

  “Go, now. Scarlet… you cannot… let them find you. I am... so proud…” Granny her breath hitched, and she exhaled. I waited for her to inhale and finish what she had to say, but it never happened. Her body stilled, and the light left her eyes.

  “No,” I breathed, pulling her body to my chest and tightening my embrace. “No.”

  This couldn’t be happening. I thought I’d been preparing myself for this loss all this time, but I’d just been fooling myself. Nothing had prepared me for this pain, this emptiness, this feeling of the whole world spinning without a care while everything that I loved was torn away from me. How was I supposed to go on? What was I supposed to do? I hadn’t ever thought of life without my Granny and now, it was thrust upon me in the most violent way possible.

  Her body was still warm in my arms. I squeezed tighter, but it just crumpled, every muscle slack. She’d told me that I needed to go. But how could I leave her like this?

 

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