“Our life together was a great one.” As the words left her mouth, she heard herself already referring to their relationship in the past tense. “But now that I know what I know, I’m not sure if I want to walk away from it. I need time to think.”
Kyle dropped her hands and stood up from the table. Deciding on a different approach, he turned and yelled at Graham. “I want to leave. Now. If you don’t let us out of here, we’ll have you all arrested for kidnapping.”
Graham laughed. “You have no proof that we’ve kidnapped anyone.”
“I have my word. And Lauren’s,” Kyle retorted.
“Your word? ENL is a multi-million dollar international corporation. We run charitable organizations in practically every third-world country. What reason would you give for why we kidnapped you?”
A smile spread on Graham’s face as Lauren watched Kyle grow angrier. If this had been a cartoon, steam would be coming out of his ears.
“And who will you report us to?” Graham continued. “You’re locked within a building that has doors you can’t operate. The building is also crawling with soldiers that take orders from me. And you have no idea where you are. If I wanted, I could kill you and bury you in the garden on these grounds and no one would ever know. In fact, the only reason you aren’t dead right now is that Lauren is important to us and we want her to work with us. And killing you might not be the best way to start our working relationship.”
Kyle dropped back into his chair without saying anything. Lauren knew this wasn’t him giving up. Rather, he was regrouping. She hoped Graham wasn’t being fooled by his silence.
Graham shifted in his seat and turned towards Kyle. “I know men like you, Kyle. And right now, your brain is trying to figure a way to trick us and get out of here. So let me play out this scenario for you.”
Graham laced his fingers together on top of the table and looked down at them like he was composing his thoughts. He then looked back up at Kyle, a dangerous edge now showing in his eyes.
“Let’s say you do pretend to go along with us and you somehow fool me into letting you leave. You’ll be leaving alone. Then you go to the police and tell them we kidnapped both you and Lauren, but we only let you go.
“We would first defend ourselves against your baseless claims. Then we would help the police by making anonymous tips. For example, this tipster would make sure to let the police know the two of you had an argument before she went missing. Then this tipster would let them know where you spent your night apart. And then any investigator worth his salt would check her phone records and see that the last person Lauren received a call from was you. And that your calls led her to an abandoned business where she was never heard from afterwards.
“Once the police have this information, what story do you think will be more believable? ENL kidnapped you and Lauren or that you two had a fight and something horrible happened and now she’s missing?”
“Graham, I think they’ve heard enough. We should give them time to talk,” Estella interjected, placing her hand on Graham’s arm.
Kyle slammed his fist on the table but said nothing. Lauren knew nothing she said now would help, so she remained silent. But she did quietly note, I’ll have to ask Kyle where he spent last night.
Graham stood without saying anything further. Estella stood after him and followed him out of the room. Neither Lauren nor Kyle talked to one another. Minutes later, the door opened again and Estella entered, standing just inside the door.
“Your room is ready. You can follow me,” she said.
Lauren stood and walked around the table towards Estella and the door. Kyle, on the other hand, didn’t move. Lauren stood near the exit, waiting on him. When he still didn’t move, Estella said, “If you want to spend the night in this room, you can. But it’d probably be more comfortable for you if you slept in the room we’ve prepared.”
Kyle stared at Estella without speaking and slowly stood. As he walked around the table, Estella exited the room. Lauren followed. As she stepped into the hallway, she was greeted by four armed soldiers. This show of force shocked her, causing her to hesitate before exiting. Kyle walked out shortly after her.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he exclaimed as he saw the soldiers. “This is still America! And what you’re doing is illegal!”
No one budged or responded. No doubt, this was not the first time they had been yelled at by people coming out of that room. Estella began walking down the hall to the right. The two soldiers on that side of the door broke off and followed her. Lauren began following Estella and the two soldiers who were with her. She looked back and confirmed that the soldiers who had been on the other side of the door were now following her and Kyle as they walked.
“Snacks will be in your room,” Estella said as they traveled through the facility. “Sorry we don’t have a hot meal for you tonight. But if the snacks aren’t to your liking, let a guard know and I’ll see what I can do.”
“Okay,” was all Lauren said. She was slightly distracted as she journeyed through the maze of the facility where she and Kyle were being kept. All of the hallways looked the same, so after about the fourth turn, she was hopelessly lost. They walked past many different doors, but none had numbers. She had no idea how anyone navigated this place.
They arrived at another guarded checkpoint. After walking through a metal detector and being searched, again, Estella led them to a section that looked like the hallway of an apartment complex. They got onto the elevator and took it to the fifth floor. Once there, they were led to apartment 505. Estella opened the door.
Estella and two of the soldiers entered the room first. Lauren and Kyle followed. Lauren looked around their new accommodations. The room they entered was the TV room. It contained a sofa to the right and a television mounted on the wall to the left. Past the TV room was a small kitchenette. It contained a full-size refrigerator, single-serving coffeemaker, a two-burner stove, an oven, a microwave, and a small dishwasher. Exiting the kitchenette to the right led to a bedroom, a bathroom, and a closet. The small apartment had no windows.
“For now, this will be your home, so make yourselves comfortable. There are clothes you can use for sleeping in the bedroom. We’ll send someone to your home tomorrow to pack a suitcase of some of your own clothes. Write a list of the toiletries that you would like to have brought along with your clothes, and I’ll make sure you get them,” Estella said at the conclusion of the tour.
“And if we don’t?” Kyle challenged.
“Then you’ll have to wear the same thing over and over again until you’re allowed to leave,” Estella replied in an even voice.
“How long will we be here?” The fact that a suitcase from home was being packed for them concerned Lauren.
“As long as is necessary. We’ll talk again tomorrow. For now, the two of you need to eat and get some sleep.” Estella walked back to the TV room as she spoke. “Try to settle in. If you need anything, just let one of the guards who’ll be outside your door know, and we’ll try our best to get it for you.”
With that, Estella left the apartment, followed by the armed men. Lauren stood in the front room and looked at the door. She walked over and turned the knob to see if she could open it. She could, and when she stepped through, she saw their four guards standing in the hall.
Lauren walked back into the bedroom, where Kyle was sitting on the bed. She didn’t want to, but she knew they had to talk. So, following the ripping the band-aid off in one motion principle, she jumped straight in.
“Where did you spend last night?” she asked while standing in the doorway.
She knew Kyle had been pushed to his limit, and was expecting him to ignore her and shut down. Then, when he ignored her, she would ask the same question several more times, until finally he would blow up and answer her.
However, he surprised her by answering the first time she asked.
“Does it matter where I was? I mean, really.” He paused and exhaled loudly. “If
I tell you, we’re going to argue. But my not telling you isn’t because I’m trying to avoid an argument. Rather...” He paused again and chuckled dryly. “Is there a point to having another argument?”
“I guess it depends on whether or not we’re still together,” she answered as a tear fell down her cheek. She sucked in a ragged breath, staring down at the engagement ring on her finger. She twisted it, something she always did when she was feeling nervous or stressed. Suddenly she was craving Pixy Stix.
“Are we still engaged?” she asked haltingly.
“You are the person who can answer that question. Tell me you’ll leave with me and put all of this nonsense behind you. That you’ll never talk about aliens, or Estella, or ENL, or any of this ever again, and yes, we’re still engaged. And I’ll tell you about last night. And we can scream and yell at one another as long as it takes to get past this. But only if you can leave this all behind and never look back.”
It was in that moment that Lauren finally understood the dilemma of Lot’s wife in the Bible. Tears were freely flowing down her face. She walked into the bathroom and found Kleenex that she used to blow her nose, delaying the inevitable.
When she returned to the bedroom, Kyle was still sitting in the same spot on the bed looking at her. As much as she loved him and didn’t want to hurt him, she knew she couldn’t give him what he wanted.
“Do I have to walk away? What if I tell them not to involve you? I get them to let you leave and I join you when I can. And I never talk to you about it or involve you in any way. Could that work?”
“Lauren, Graham threatened first to kill me, and second, to frame me for harming you. I want nothing to do with any of these people ever again. No sane person would. So no. You have to choose. Me or them.”
She walked over to where he was seated on the bed. She sat beside him and hugged him, crying on his shoulder. He returned the hug, but didn’t say anything. After some time holding one another in silence, they released one another. She looked down, and removed the ring from her finger. She hesitantly placed it into his hand. He took it from her and walked into the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind him.
Lauren undressed down to her panties and climbed into the strange bed on the left side, her side of the bed when she and Kyle slept together. Lying in this bed in an unknown location, exhaustion overcame her. The last thought she had before drifting into unconsciousness was, I wonder what’s happening with Roxal now?
CHAPTER 30
Roxal lay in her sleeping unit, allowing the process of her return to complete. She reached out for Edo. She had felt him join her in the unit at some point while she was asleep, and she wanted to tell him about what she had just experienced in a dreamscape with Lauren. However, instead of finding him, she felt nothing more than the cooled impression his body had left. Roxal froze. In hopes of stopping the panic from growing, she listened to her surroundings to get some clue as to what was going on.
She could hear people talking. It was muffled, but she focused on the voices. As she did, she recognized one of them. It was Edo, talking to someone.
“It is not so easy, Pruda. I did not say I am finished with the Resistors. I only said I will be taking a break, for now.”
Pruda. Roxal recognized her name. She was the woman who Edo said carried him away from their compound while he was unconscious.
“But you do not know how long ‘for now’ will last. Do you? Her coming here has hindered you. Again. Just as it hindered you before we escaped.”
“Roxal has never hindered me.” Edo’s raised voice could now be clearly heard. Roxal slowly opened her eyes, prepared to close them again at the first sign of post-dream travel pain. When nothing happened, she sat up in her sleeping unit, moved towards the end closest to the door, and listened for more of the conversation.
“What do you call getting you caught in an explosion? You could have died.” Pruda’s voice was now elevated also.
“It is not Roxal’s fault I was caught in the explosion. Furthermore, the day of our plan, she was first to the scene and had begun assembling the bomb when we arrived. Then she fought the Security Force, which gave us enough time to complete assembly and detonate the explosive. So in what manner was she a hindrance?”
There was silence outside of the door. Roxal crawled even closer to the door to make sure she was not missing anything. She moved slowly for fear she would alert Edo and Pruda to the fact that she was awake and listening to their conversation.
“Yes. She helped on one mission. But she never assisted us with any of the work we did leading up to the attack day. And when we would ask you about her participation, you would tell us she did not want to get involved. When she decides to not get involved here, what will you do then?” The volume of Pruda’s voice had dropped again, so Roxal leaned forward, over the edge of the sleeping unit to hear what she had said.
As she waited to hear Edo’s response, Roxal was so focused on hearing Edo speak that when he instead opened the door, she was caught off guard. She tried to lie back down in the same position as she had slept, and grab the sleeping unit covering so she could place it over herself at the same time. Instead of making either move successfully, she only managed to jump halfway back into position, leaving the covering bunched in her previous location. Edo walked back into their temporary quarters and saw her lying in an awkward angle with the sleeping unit covering on the wrong end. He walked over to where she was and simply stood staring at her. Roxal looked back at him but did not speak.
“How are you this new helio, Roxal?”
“Better. I believe the nanos are helping,” she replied as she sat up and faced him.
“I would like to start acclimating you to our new compound. Would you be up to walking around?”
“I believe I would. We will have to go slowly because I do not think I am fully healed.”
“I understand. I want to start by taking you to the dining hall to eat. After we eat, I will take you to my former shared quarters so you can clean yourself and get dressed. Then we will go outside. If at any time you feel we are doing too much, we can stop. Is this acceptable?”
“Yes. I like your plan,” Roxal said as she eased out of the sleeping unit. There was a small twinge of pain in her tailbone as she put her weight on her right leg, but it was gone quickly. She took a few tentative steps, but the pain did not return. She then nodded at Edo. “I am ready to go.”
He turned his back as she dressed again in the clothes that were on the table. He instructed her as to going forward, where she should leave her clothes that required cleaning, and then they left. She stuck close to Edo as they made their way through the endless hallways. Along the way, she noticed that people were freely speaking to one another and not walking in silence as in their previous compound. Also, no one was wearing identifiable caste clothing, so there was no way to tell who outranked whom and therefore who should give way and stand to the side of the hallway as people passed one another.
He was silent as they walked, occasionally greeting or briefly conversing with people who passed them. Then they rounded a corner and she knew they were headed for a large group of people because she could hear the cacophony of overlapping voices bouncing off the section of the hall through which they now walked. Then the entrance to the dining hall came into view and he led her through it.
Once inside, she stopped walking slowly took in the room, amazed at the sight before her. Again, no one was wearing caste-identifying clothing. People were grouped haphazardly throughout the dining hall, eating, talking, and laughing. They were laughing, in public. As she absorbed this information, she made a new realization. There were also several children scattered about.
Some of the children were young and seated with adults. In other areas, the children were older and sitting together without any adults present. Roxal opened her mouth to say something to Edo, but her words failed her. She could not believe she was seeing children. She had not seen children since she and Edo were
both children being matured with the other members of their birth pod.
With her mouth still open, she looked at Edo, and he was smiling and looking back. “I realize this is very strange for you. I also had to adjust to life here. But I had people who helped me. And now, I will do the same for you.” He moved closer to her, took her hand in his and squeezed it. “I will show you to a seat, and you can wait for me while I get food for you. I will show you how to do this for yourself tomorrow.”
She could only nod. By the time he was pointing out where she should sit, she had managed to close her mouth, but the astonishment was still present. Everyone must have known she was new because though no one came over and spoke to her directly, people could not help but stare at her as they walked by where she was seated. Roxal was not sure what the protocol was with greeting people, so she just stared back. Eventually, Edo returned with a tray of food.
“I spoke with the Medic this morning, and he said we could have you try a more substantial meal today. But if you begin to feel nauseous, stop eating. Do you understand?”
She nodded and pulled the tray of food closer. On it was a cup containing a colorful liquid, bread, and a soup that contained meat and vegetables. The steam rising from the soup was making her mouth water. Also, her stomach emitted a small growl as further encouragement to begin eating.
She filled a spoon with the soup, making sure to capture a piece of the meat. After blowing it briefly, she slowly put the spoon into her mouth and eased its contents onto her tongue. Her tongue was lightly scalded because the soup was still too hot, but she did not care because it was the best thing she had ever eaten. The meat was succulent and easy to chew. The broth that accompanied it was savory with a savory flavor that complimented the richness of the meat.
“Mmm,” Roxal moaned as she swallowed.
“Delicious, is it not?” Edo asked, laughing with a wide smile on his face. “I almost made myself sick when I arrived because I would not stop eating.”
The Heaviness of Knowing Page 21