by Martha Adele
I turn to look and see who it is when I am greeted by the three remaining advisors.
“Good evening, June,” Dotson says to me.
The other two greet me similarly but aren’t as interested in me as they are the tea cart. Each of them fills up a cup with hot water and their favorite tea bags, leaving them between Tom and me for the first time in a long time.
“So”—Riley turns to me as he dunks his teabag—“did I hear this right? Those suit jackets are finally ready for us to try on?”
I nod and grab the jackets. “Yes, sir! Each of the bags has your names on them.” I pass them out to each man, and they set their cups down on the table beside them.
As they all wait for their tea to steep, I watch them all slide their jackets out of the bags. Riley’s expression shifts from cocky to surprised in a matter of seconds. “What? These are gorgeous.”
I nod again. “I know. Didn’t I tell you?”
Riley slides his on and moans with slight sarcasm as the comfort hits him. “This is amazing. I had no idea that I could look this good in something that wasn’t designer.”
As I head over to him, I spin him around and brush off his back. “It does look nice.”
Riley turns to look at Tom as he slides on his jacket. “Look at this. Your girlfriend is acting more like my girlfriend.”
Just as the final word of his statement falls out of his mouth, I prick him in the back of the neck with the ring.
“Ow!” he exclaims like a child. “What was that?”
“Sorry,” I tell him, “the tag was sticking out.”
Riley nods and rubs his neck for a moment as I go to Dotson next. I do the same to him and find much less of a reaction.
“That was the tag?” Dotson asks me.
I nod and stick Madden. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I will definitely tell the designer that he needs to fix them.”
Madden nods back and brushes off his suit. “Yes, please. But other than that, these seem to be fairly decent suits.”
Heading over to Tom, I watch him hold his arms out and observe the fabric. “I absolutely love this,” he tells me. He runs his hands over the outside and looks to me with surprise. “What sort of fabric is this? It doesn’t feel like any kind of suit I’ve ever worn before.”
I shrug. “I don’t know. I will ask him when I go back to”—I turn to the advisors—“order the rest of the suit?”
They all look to each other with amusement, and I realize I don’t need to be pushing this so hard. It’s not like it matters anyway.
“I think I would like to get the rest of it,” Tom tells me. “I really do like this.” He walks past me and to the tea cart. Fixing himself a cup of what looks like earl gray, he turns back to me. “What would you like to drink, June?”
“Whatever you’re having will be wonderful,” I tell him, earning looks of slight annoyance from the advisors.
By the time we all sit down around the seating area to enjoy our tea, I have to wonder if I did something wrong. I can tell the advisors are getting a little testy with each other, but they haven’t snapped yet. The plan was for them to get into a fight, be arrested for lack of composure, and be fired for the very same reason. I think through all the controversial topics I can and spit out the best one.
“So,” I say as I refill my tea cup with more hot water, “what do you guys think about the serial killer running around?”
“I wondered how long it would be before you brought that up,” Tom says, sipping his tea.
Before I have the chance to ask Tom what he means by that, Riley scoffs, “The Executioner? I’m jealous, to be honest.”
“Jealous?” Dotson asks him. “Of what? The name?”
“The fact that he can get the job done,” Riley tells him. Looking back to Tom, he gives a fake smile. “I’m kidding, of course.”
Tom tenses up a bit, and I place my hand on his. Trying to keep him calm, I give him a small look and sip on my tea.
“Sure you are,” Madden says, “always making jokes.”
Tom and I exchange another look as we feel the tension in the room grow. I have a feeling that we are about to witness the full effect of the serum.
“What’s that now?” Riley asks Madden.
“Nothing, nothing.”
Nobody says anything. Tom and I wait beside each other for someone to do something but end up causing Riley to become even more infuriated.
“Well,” he shouts at us, “what are you two staring at?”
I look away from him and down to my teacup, but Tom doesn’t. He continues staring at Riley. “Excuse me?”
Riley sets his cup down and looks back to Tom. “Yeah? Do you have a problem?”
“Well, I don’t know if I entirely appreciate the way you are snapping at us.”
“Tom.” I squeeze his hand to try to get him to stop, but Riley hops up out of his seat and is forced back by Dotson.
Dotson shouts in a hushed tone in Riley’s face, “What are you doing?”
“I wasn’t even going to do anything! What are you doing? Why are you defending him?”
Madden hops in between the two and growls, “Both of you, calm down.”
Riley shoves Madden off him and into Dotson. Within moments, teacups are thrown at each other, scalding water is splashed everywhere, and Tom is diving into the middle of it. “Please, gentlemen!” Tom forces the men apart but is run at by Riley.
The other two pull Riley off Tom, and we all listen to his crazed shouting. “Let me go. I am going to finish the job that should have been done a long time ago.”
“Riley!” Dotson forces him down in the chair. “Stop. You’re acting like a madman.”
“Oh really? I’m acting like a madman? What about you? With your—”
Out of one of the lounge’s hallways comes a black shadow figure with his pistol raised. He immediately drops the three advisors with a single gunshot to their heads and looks to me.
Logan holds his pistol toward me, ready and aimed; but all he does is stare. After a split second, Tom forces me behind him and is dropped just as quickly as all the others.
Logan and I stare at each other for a moment longer. As I stand there in shock, he slowly walks out of the room and disappears, leaving me surrounded by heads draining of blood and open empty eyes staring off.
Logan
I sprint out through the same route I entered through and dodge another guard walking around. I was trained to know every entrance and escape in the capitol building. This has always been one of my favorites. I never before thought I would be able to explore them.
Sadly enough, I don’t have all the time I want to go down every path this tunnel offers.
Blending into the walls, I hide in the corners as soldiers and guards come running through it, trying to get to the chancellor’s aid. The ease I experience completing my task concerns me for the future of our country’s leaders, but knowing I helped them see flaws in their security lets my conscience rest. When I escape the building, I flee back into the woods and manage to check off four other people off my list.
June
“So you don’t know anything?” the officer asks me once again.
I shake my head and continue staring straight at him. “No, sir, I don’t.” The interrogation room they brought me to is much larger than the one we have in the Fabric Room. It is much colder too.
It’s funny. One of my first thoughts when I entered this room was Man, I could really use one of those jackets.
“So you just happened to be with them all for the very first time when Sparrow died,” the officer restates, “and you just happen to be with them all when the serial killer came in and executed them.”
“Yes, sir,” I tell him, acting shocked and completely torn apart.
He stares at me for a moment and then flips a page
of his notepad. “Now, tell me, why do you think that the Executioner did not kill you with everyone else?”
“I don’t know,” I tell him. And this time, that is completely honest. I have no idea why Logan didn’t shoot me. I have no idea why he shot Tom either. I guess if he had shot the advisors, he would think he was going along with the plan, but Tom?
He had stepped in front of me to save me.
He wanted to make things better.
The officer picks up a remote, revealing a hologram screen with security cameras from the lounge. He starts the film at where the men were shouting at one another with no sound and pauses right after Logan drops everyone but me.
“Tell me.” He points at the screen where Logan and I stare at each other. “Do you know who he is?”
I shake my head. “No, sir.”
He leans back in his chair and rubs his eyes dramatically as if upset with me. “Tell me, if we had security cameras in the room with you the night Sparrow died, would we have seen something? Something you didn’t want us to see?”
I pause. After a moment, I speak up, “Yes, sir.”
“And what would that be?”
“You would have seen me cry. I don’t like people seeing me cry. I never have.”
The officer rises to his feet and heads to the door without another word. He holds it open and looks to me, gesturing that I am free to leave.
Zane
As I finish stocking the shelves, I pull out a broom and get to work cleaning. Sweep after sweep, I realize there is a lot more foot traffic in here per day than I realized. We only ever have a few customers in here, but they tend to buy enough to keep this store open.
I continue to clean up after the shop closes when I hear the front door unlock. The bell over the door rings its familiar chime, and I turn to see a mass of people entering the building. Its leading member is the first to smile at me.
“Good evening, Mr. West.”
I smile back to her. “I’m happy to see you made it here safe, Mrs. Ludley.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Logan
Sitting in the house of my fifty-eighth assignment, with him lying on the floor next to me, I relax on his couch and continue watching the news. I watch Janice and Emily Hash walk back into the capitol building and listen to the news coverage of their arrival along with the deaths of Chancellor Oswald and his advisors.
After about twenty minutes of listening to the reporter talk about the Executioner, they finally flip over to Hash’s speech as she addresses the nation. I watch as she stands with Janice by her side. They stand behind the famous podium Oswald used for all his speeches.
“Good afternoon, Frieden. I know for the past few days, you have all been in shock of all that has been happening. I know that almost all of you thought Mrs. Ludley and I were dead, and those of you who didn’t were most likely taken in and tortured by the same government you trusted to keep you safe. Let me tell you this. The five men responsible for the tortures, the assassinations, the bombs, the executions, and all the excuses are now gone. They blamed their attacks on Amiable rebels to fool you into thinking that it was all right. They attempted to get rid of anyone and everyone who believed differently than them, but they failed. Chancellor Oswald’s reign has come to an end, and you all no longer have any need to worry. We are taking a stand, and all the other government officials who supported Oswald’s restrictions and choices will be found and will be taken immediately to their punishments for such treason. We will be fixing everything that has gone wrong in this government, and with your help, we will help make Frieden back into the country it was originally supposed to be.”
I roll my eyes at Hash’s claims and turn off the news after she announces the need for another voting session for a new chancellor. Once I turn off the news, I step over the man on the floor and head out to my next task.
June
I sit at the table and sniff the air. The smell of her cinnamon apple candles has faded out since she left, but I plan on bringing it back.
Just last week, I managed to work it out with the offices to have June Dawson as the official owner of the Pages’ old residence. I am going to pay for it with the money I make with my job at the Fabric Room.
I don’t know what happened to Derek and his mom, and I really don’t think I want to know. Janice told me when we got together a few days ago that they both have been pronounced dead. After she told me that, I stopped asking questions.
I imagine that is one of the reasons Logan stopped speaking of Derek that night. He told me Derek had visited him, and then Logan completely shut down. He didn’t say another word. He must have known Derek died and just didn’t want to hurt me.
I know he doesn’t want to hurt me.
That is one of the reasons he stays away from me.
At least, that is what he tells me.
Every now and then, I will get a letter from Logan without any sort of return address. Each letter tells me about the country and how it seems like it is becoming a better place already with Hash as the new chancellor. People seem happier, the towns seem safer, and he is almost giddy at the fact that they are firing so many of the old officials.
He visits all the famous landmarks on his trips through the states, tries their signature foods, and yet does his best to keep out of the public eye.
Logan tells me that he really wants to get together one day, but he doesn’t want to until it is safe. He even goes on to say that he has been keeping himself busy and found that he is nowhere near as good a drawer as I am, even though I think I am complete garbage at it.
Logan goes on to write me almost a dozen letters before the one I was waiting on finally arrives.
At the bottom of his last letter lies a time and location for us to meet.
Logan
I stand out in the cold breeze. As summer comes to a close, the random bouts of cool air have decided to come at the worst possible times. With my hoodie up and over my suit, I continue to look around the woods behind the Fabric Room and wait.
This was where we had our last real talk. I figured this would be a good place to pick back up again. I tighten the strings on my hood and close off my face a little bit more, waiting on the wind to stop blowing. The thick clothes I wear over my suit helped me blend in when walking through the town, but I could feel whenever someone caught a glimpse of my face.
Without my mask, I am exposed. People can see the monster.
I hear the snap of a twig and turn around to find June walking toward me. The same butterflies I once had return as I make my way over to her, causing me to feel more nervous than I ever have before. A million thoughts go through my head as we approach each other, but the one that keeps going through is Why won’t the butterflies go away?
I place one of my hands on my stomach to try to get it to settle down when immediately I am hit with a sharp feeling on my collarbone. I reach up and pull out Sam’s necklace as the question about the butterflies repeats itself.
“Why won’t the butterflies go away?”
Just as I look to the gem, I hear Sam’s voice loud and clear as if he is right beside me say, “Digest them.”
I snort at his advice and look around. A single leaf blows from beside me and toward her body as she approaches. My eyes follow the leaf as a smile rises on her face.
“Hey,” she says to me.
I return her smile and pull my hood off, exposing myself to the wind. “Hey.”
EPILOGUE
Sam
So time goes on, and it leads June and Logan right into each other’s arms. They both go to work with Zane at the Fabric Room, which actually becomes a refugee center, funded by the one and only Janice Ludley.
No one knows about this center, though. Only those who fund it, those who are clients, and those who work there know.
Zane is the one who looks out and contact
s new clients to protect. Whether it be abusive family members, stalkers, or anything like that, he finds out who needs their help. Mavis—I mean, June—helps them relocate, keeps contact with them, and makes sure that they are doing well. If they ever need anything or think they need to move again, June works it out. Logan keeps an eye on the abuser, whoever it may be, and does what he can to help defend the people. If he feels the need to step in and have an intervention with the abuser, he does so. There hasn’t been a case yet where his intimidation has failed.
Logan and June get engaged almost a year after they begin working together at the Fabric Room. Logan gets Janice to pull a few favors and has my body dug up. They have it turned into a matching stone of the one I had made of my mother. Logan continues to wear the one of my mother around his neck while he proposed to June with a green gem ring made of me. They haven’t taken them off since.
Though they both have their own demons to deal with, they seem to deal much better when they are with each other. The only time June ever lets anyone touch her is when that someone is Logan. She still has nightmares about waking up in the woods with those animals, in the bathroom the night I died, or even on that hospital bed where she saw Samantha. She only ever talks about the nightmares when she is sure she won’t be falling back to sleep that night and only ever speaks of certain ones.
Logan’s skin never heals. He deals with the pain constantly but finds all the peace he needs when he is with June. The only time his skin doesn’t burn is when her skin is against his. He too has nightmares but is much more open to talking about them. He knows June likes to listen, and he knows it helps her trust him more when he shares. Logan continues to hold on to hope that one day, June will tell him what most of her nightmares are about.