The Broken Peace

by Martha Adele

  “Thank you,” I say, holding my wrist out for him to scan the code.

  “No.” He turns back around in his seat and messes with the car’s computer screen, accepting a cab call not but three minutes from here. “This ride is on me. Have a great day.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Eric tells him as we exit the car. Seconds after the man disappears from our sight, Eric turns to me and gives a little smile. “Do you want to go for a walk?”

  I can’t help but return the expression. “Yeah. That sounds nice.”

  I watch Eric struggle to return to the same state of comfort with walking that he was back at the therapy session, but he doesn’t give up. He takes it one step at a time, and soon, he is walking as well as I am.

  We walk through the neighborhood, looking around at all the houses. The longer we walk, the more we see the houses spread out from one another. Down by our house, the houses are less than fifty meters away, but now, the distance seems much greater between buildings.

  As we turn a corner that I’ve never explored before, covered in large and mighty trees that seem to have had no problem with the winter months, Eric says to me, “You know, this is the most I have ever walked outside without a gun in my hand.”

  My face immediately scrunches into an expression of disbelief. The expression fades just as quickly as it comes up when I realize he is right. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. It’s not your fault.”

  “I know, but I’m still sorry.”

  Eric’s silent state returns, and we continue to walk until we stumble upon a small house by itself in the midst of all the trees. Its little driveway is lined with what looks like hundreds of gorgeous flowers in overflowing flowerbeds, along with many lining the road in front of it.

  “I think we’ve walked a little too far.” I chuckle.

  “Yeah. It’s been a little over a mile.”

  I turn around, taking one last look at this little cottage in the middle of all the trees. “Come on. Let’s head back.”

  Eric freezes as his eyes rest on the flowerbeds as well. I can see he doesn’t want to go, but I know he needs to before he wears himself out.

  “My back is bothering me,” I tell him. “I really think I need to sit down.”

  He looks at me and nods. Though my claim about my back is true, I really only pointed that out so that he wouldn’t feel bad about the walk ending.

  The two of us slowly, but surely, make it back to our house, and I am observing once again that this is one of the best walks I’ve had in a long time.

  When we get home, Eric and I take a seat on the couch and relax. He takes his prosthetic off immediately and rubs the area that it was latched on to. After setting up the chessboard, I turn on the news, and we listen.

  “There is speculation of a new bill being put into place to return the use of the one and done medicine that Lance Meir the First and his administration used. The rumors first started before the capture of Bloot, and have spread substantially since. Oswald told us last night in an interview that the medicine’s formula has been perfected, but he wants to discuss things further with his administration before anything is put into place.

  “He told the interviewer, ‘Yes, this medicine can cure many mental disorders that most people wouldn’t want to have to grow up with, but at the same time, who gives us the right to choose whether or not they get the medicine? Some of the things we will discuss and debate is at what age our citizens are allowed to take the medicine or if your parents can elect to have you take the medicine when you are born.’”

  Eric and I listen to the reporters give quotes from different people, ranging from random citizens, to people working under Oswald. Neither of us say anything until the phone rings.

  “I got it,” I tell him, making my way to the wall phone. I pick up the piece of plastic and hold it to my ear. “Hello?”

  “Logan!”

  “Sam?”

  “Yeah! Hey, is this a good time?”

  I look over to Eric, who is purposely keeping his eyes averted from me. “Yeah, I guess so.”

  “Okay, good. This won’t take long. I was wondering if you want to go to lunch with Mavis and me tomorrow.”

  “Really? Yeah, that sounds great.”

  “Perfect. Jones Cafe at twelve. Does that work for you?”

  I shrug, still watching Eric stare off into the chessboard. “Yes, I think so.”

  “Sounds great. I will see you then.”

  “Okay. Bye.” I hang up the phone and make my way back to Eric. We play the rest of the chess game, listening to the news and not saying a word.

  When I get to Jones Cafe the following afternoon, I notice Sam and Mavis immediately. Sam jumps up and waves me over to their table, where the waitress is bringing three waters.

  “Hey, Logan.” Sam takes his seat and places a straw in his drink. “I didn’t know what you wanted, so I assumed a water was okay.”

  “Yeah, it’s great.” I take a seat and look at them both. “Thank you for inviting me.”

  “Oh, it’s no problem. I have been meaning to get us all together.” Sam picks up his menu and looks it over. “Have you guys ever been here before?”

  “No,” Mavis answers. “Have you?”

  Sam nods his head. “I come here at least once a week to pick up a sandwich. My mom and I split it. Their sandwiches are huge here, so unless you are planning on having leftovers, get a half sized.”

  I chuckle. “Point taken.” I pick up the menu and look through it. It seems I have my work cut out for me. They have everything from sandwiches to steaks.

  “So, Logan, I haven’t really gotten to talk to you lately. What’s going on?” Sam looks over to Mavis, then back to me. “Mavis tells me you are working in the Taai’s training building?”

  “Yeah.” I have seen Mavis at least once a week since they got to Frieden, but this is only the second time I’ve seen Sam. “But I don’t know how much longer I will be doing that.”

  “What?” Mavis asks.

  “John asked me to rejoin the Taai yesterday, even though he was the one who told me to ‘take it easy.’”

  “John Young?” Sam asks. “This is your boss, right?”

  I shrug. “You could say that.”

  “Are you going to?” Mavis closes her menu and sets it down on the table. “Do you want to?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t think I will though.”

  “Why not,” Sam asks me, taking a sip of his drink.

  “Eric,” I hesitate. “Eric needs me right now.”

  Sam takes a deep breath and sets his drink down. “I understand.”

  The table goes silent for a moment, allowing the waitress to come back over and take our order. After our order goes in, we continue to chat about anything and everything, except Eric.

  “Yeah, I know, I was surprised too,” Mavis tells us. “I didn’t think I’d like being a news photographer.”

  “Well, why not? ‘You look artistic,’” Sam mocks the career official Mavis was given.

  “Yeah yeah, whatever.”

  The waitress brings our food out, and we all dig in. As I bite into the steak and cheese sandwich, my mouth fills with the siliva and amazing tastes. “This is the all-time best thing I have ever tasted,” I tell them, taking another large bite.

  Sam, with his mouth still full of fried bugels, chuckles. “That is my second-favorite sandwich to get here.” He forces the large amount of food in his mouth down his throat. “My first favorite is chicken, steak, and extra cheese.”

  My eyes roll with delight as I take another bite. “Whatever, man. This is the best!”

  “Don’t knock it until you try it,” Sam tells me, popping another bit of his bugels into his mouth. “What about you, Mavis? How do you like the chicken?”

  Mavis continues cutting into
her meat and sliding it into her mouth. She looks up and zones out. Only after a moment of silence does she look back to me and Sam. “What?”

  “I take that as you like it,” Sam says.

  We continue eating and talking. Sam tells us both about how his mom’s arm has been sore so she is keeping it in the sling, but how she is getting better. Mavis tells us that Derek’s mom has been getting worse and even caught the house on fire, but that they were figuring out a plan for what to do.

  “I told Derek that I’d stay home with her, but he doesn’t want that for me. He told me that I found a job I am enjoying and should keep doing it.”

  “That makes sense,” I tell her.

  “I am with Derek on that one,” Sam agrees, “but I also understand that you want to help.” He drinks the rest of his water and brings his watch up into sight. His eyes quickly grow, and he jumps up from the table. “Okay, guys, we’ve been here for three hours. I really have to go.” He pulls out cash from his pocket and tosses it onto the table. “Here, pay for mine and use whatever is left for yours. I will see you guys later.” With that panicked frenzy, Sam takes off out of the restaurant.

  I pick up the cash and count enough to pay for his meal and both of ours. “Well, I guess lunch is on Sam this time.”

  “I guess so.” Mavis takes another sip of her drink and places it back on the table. “This has been fun. We need to do this again soon.”

  “I agree.”

  There is a silent pause where we listen to the groups of people around us speak and wait for something to say. When the idea pops in my head, I hesitate to say it.

  “So …” I feel my hands get slightly clammy and immediately try to brush it off. “Mavis, are you going to be one of the photographers that covers the inauguration ball?”

  “No. Not that I know of.”

  “Oh well, that’s good. Eric and I were actually invited because we were a part of the Taai, and John told me I was allowed to bring someone.”

  “Really?” Mavis gives a nervous chuckle, and I watch as she slowly begins scratching around her wrist.

  “Yeah. Do you want to go with me?”

  She hesitates. Her lack of an immediate answer makes my heart drop and my stomach twist. I really hope I didn’t ruin this.

  “Yeah,” Mavis answers. “Sure.”

  Mavis

  I pay the cabdriver as we park in front of the little wooden bridge over our creek. “Thank you, sir,” I tell him.

  He nods to me and drives off, leaving me to walk home alone.

  I enjoy being alone. I really do. It’s not that I like being lonely, I just enjoy not having to humor others constantly. I also enjoy being able to think by myself without having to hold conversations with others.

  Lunch today was great, and I hope the three of us can do it again. This wasn’t one of the times that I had to really force myself to speak. With the guys, it just kind of happens.

  I hope it will continue to happen. I hope that going to the inauguration ball with Logan won’t make anything awkward. I hope that I don’t embarrass him in front of all the important people he will get to meet. I can hear the whispers now.

  “Look at that girl. She is so scrawny. She must have been from Bloot.”

  “How did she even get in here?”

  “I bet you someone invited her just so she could come and get a meal. So sad.”

  Most of everybody in Frieden that came from Bergland had some sort of extra weight on them, whether it be muscle or fat. But me? I stood out like a sore thumb, and I doubt that anyone else from Bestellen will be attending the ball.

  Another thing, what am I supposed to wear? What do you wear to the first ever inauguration ball of Frieden’s first chancellor? My ratty clothes?

  As I come up to the house, my eyes fall upon Derek speaking with a girl. From behind, she looks as if she could be twelve, but when she turns around, she looks about his age. Her blond curly locks stand out in comparison to our dark wooden porch, and her almost perfectly white skin makes her look plastic.

  “Hey.” Derek steps past the girl and introduces us. “This is Mavis, the girl I was telling you about. Mavis, this is Caitlyn Learwood. She is going to be Mom’s new caregiver.”

  Caitlyn extends her hand to me and smiles. “Caitlyn Amanda Learwood, at your service. You can call me whatever you want, as long as it’s nice.” She winks at me as I shake her hand then turns back to Derek. “Well, it has been wonderful, but I have to go. I will see you two tomorrow.” She flips her hair over her shoulder and struts off through the woods down our path.

  I turn back to Derek and can’t help but scoff. Scooting past him, I head inside to find that Ms. Page’s candles have returned to their normal spots around the house.

  “What?” Derek follows me in and closes the door. “What’s wrong? Do you not like her?”

  “It’s nothing.” I take a seat on the couch, cross my arms, close my eyes, and lean my head back onto the cushion, trying to force myself to relax.

  “Nothing? You’re practically fuming.”

  “I’m fine.” Maybe it’s because you made a major decision about your mother without me. I look away from him and stare at one of the candles sitting on the dining table.

  “What is it? Come on.” Derek comes around to the front of the couch and sits on the footrest. “Tell me or it’ll bug you for the rest of the night.”

  “Fine.” I sit up and look at him, mimicking the way he is stanced. “I am a little bit upset that you hired someone without telling me.”

  “What?” He scoffs. “I thought you’d be happy! Less work for you, whoopee.”

  “No.” I rise to my feet. “I’m not happy. It’s not that I have anything against ‘Caitlyn Amanda Learwood,’ it’s just that I feel like I am entitled to help in the process of choosing who cares for your mom.”

  He rises to his feet and takes a few steps away. “Let’s focus on those last two words. She is my mom. You aren’t entitled to anything.”

  I take a deep breath, trying to cool my cheeks as they grow even hotter. “I didn’t mean entitled, I just meant that—”

  “We are letting you stay here with us, I am doing all the work to find her someone, I am the one suffering the pain of watching her widdle away, and you think that—”

  “You’re the one suffering? I understand that you’re suffering, but you need to understand that I am too! She is the only mother figure in my life and has practically been my mother since I was a kid. You think I’m not suffering?”

  “I didn’t say that, I am just trying to point out that you aren’t entitled to anything. She is not your—”

  Derek is interrupted by Ms. Page entering the room hesitantly. “Is everything okay? You guys were getting a little loud.”

  I feel my shaky body grow even shakier as I try to calm myself.

  Derek runs his hand through his hair and closes his eyes. “Yes, ma’am. We’re good.”

  “Okay.” She takes a few steps into the room and looks back and forth from Derek to me.

  “I …” I take another deep breath. “I need to go out.”

  “Oh yeah? I will come with you. I need to go grocery shopping.” Ms. Page walks past us both and grabs her jacket from the coat hanger. “Ready, honey?”

  I nod and look back to Derek. I want to apologize, but at the same time, I don’t. I didn’t want to make him mad or hurt his feelings. I know he is in a sensitive state right now, but that gives him no excuse to treat me like I have done nothing but be a burden to this family.

  “I’ll call you guys a cab,” he tells us.

  Ms. Page and I head out of the house and down the cold brown path below the roof of empty tree branches. After getting to the road, we wait for the cab. When we get in, Ms. Page tells the driver, “Take us to the town please.”

  “Town?” I ask her. We always g
et our groceries from the farmers’ market.

  “Yes, town. I don’t really need to go grocery shopping. I could tell something was wrong with you.” She pats me on the knee as the driver takes off. “So what is it?”

  I give her a little smile as I see a glimpse of the past return, a past where she was without this horrendous disease. “It’s nothing.”

  “Come on. You can tell me. Did Derek do something? Though your voices were muffled, I could definitely tell you two were having an argument.”

  I pat her back on the knee and give her a little hug. “Thank you for caring, but really, I’m fine.”

  She pulls away and looks me in the eyes. One of her eyebrows rise as she lets out a little “All right. So is there anything you want to talk about?”

  I shrug. “Nothing really.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Well, I mean, the only thing new is that I was invited to go to Chancellor Oswald’s inauguration ball.”

  “What?” both her and the driver exclaim.

  She and I look at him with a goofy grin.

  “Sorry, continue,” he tells us.

  “Yeah,” I say. “Logan invited me.”

  “Logan?” she asks me.

  “Yeah, you know, my friend who was part of the Taai.”

  She gives me a long and hard stare. After a moment, she fakes an “Oh right!”

  I nod to her and chuckle. “That’s pretty much it for me.”

  “What? That’s it? Oh my goodness. You are no fun, not wanting to talk about anything.”

  We continue riding, and I listen to Ms. Page comment on everything we pass and explain how much she adores the city lights and buildings. When we get out, she hooks her arm in mine, and we stroll down the sidewalks, looking at the items the stores have on display. We pass discount clothing shops, fabric stores, cafes, and a few other shopping opportunities that we can afford; but once we get to the center of the city, things get pricey.

  Ms. Page stops us in our tracks to look at the clothes in a store called “Kern Physic.”

  “Wow,” I say, gazing upon the prices. “This is crazy.” One of the most simple and yet fancy dresses I’ve ever seen is priced at over one thousand dollars. It is such a simple burgundy dress that I think even I could make it, and I’ve never sewn anything a day in my life.