Persephone’s Curse

by Sandra Bats

  I slowed the bike to a crawl as we approached Old Durham Road, where the factory would be. It was safer to hide the motorcycle a few blocks from the production site to avoid drawing attention.

  As we walked the last few yards I tried to make conversation with Elin. I asked about her sisters, but was met with an icy stare. Determined to fill the silence, I offered some information myself.

  “Well, my sister and I, we were twins … are twins. Her name’s Abby, short for Abigail. Our aunt raised us because our mother died during our birth. Aunt May passed away when we were ten. Pneumonia. Been living in the streets after that.” Elin stared ahead, but her head was tilted slightly in my direction. I cleared my throat. “They got their hands on Abby when we were eleven. I was asleep when they grabbed her. I woke up to her screaming, but they’d already put her in their van. It was the last time I saw her.”

  I left out some details. How I worked for the military afterwards, for example. The night they’d taken Abby, my past had become dark. I wasn’t keen on sharing about that.

  After a bit of silence, Elin raised her voice. “Madison and Norah.”

  “What?” I was so startled, I almost forgot to keep walking.

  “My sisters. The older one is Maddy. She’d be fourteen. Norah is the baby. She’s almost eight. She was five the last time I saw her.”

  Pain tainted her voice. Maybe she hesitated to talk about them because of the agony it caused. I was an ass for asking her about it. After all, it still felt like somebody sucker-punched me when I thought of Abby. I missed her like crazy.

  We didn’t return to the topic of our siblings because we reached the production site. It looked like any random warehouse. One guard manned each of the two entrances. It was ridiculous that those two guards were the only measure of safety there. Our government had grown far too comfortable. They thought their technologies infallible and their citizens too weak to rise up.

  But at the time, the hubris of the government served me well. We wouldn’t need much time or manpower for our operation.

  Four

  Elin

  “Absolutely not!” Jayden punctuated his words by slamming his fist onto the desk. After hours of discussing, making and rejecting plans for the ammo heist, our main issue was the computerized security. Things had already been tense between us when we’d returned from our stakeout. When I shivered in the cold, he offered me his jacket then called me stubborn when told him I didn’t need his charity.

  I rolled my eyes at his failure to see the point I was trying to make regarding the heist. “Come on, you know I could totally get the guard to turn the security alarm off. It would be the easiest way,” I said.

  “Would also make it pretty fucking easy for him to rape or kill you! How did you even survive so long, thinking shit like this is a smart move? You can’t just follow him into the warehouse pretending you’ll bang him. That’s how you get killed,” Jayden replied.

  “I survived just fine, thank you very much. You can get off your high horse now.”

  Jayden scoffed condescendingly and that really pissed me off.

  “What?” I asked, getting to my feet.

  “Those are pretty strong words for somebody who came here because she couldn’t hack living outside anymore. I don’t have time to deal with the added uncertainty of taking you on this mission as bait.”

  “Added uncertainty?” I shoved some of the papers on his desk towards him. “Why? Because I’m a girl? Is that it? We’re good enough for you to flirt and screw with but we add uncertainty to your precious mission?”

  Jayden laughed humorlessly.

  “That’s really what you think of me? That I have issues with a woman helping me?” He sat back down, looking amused about it. “My issues are due to the fact that I barely know you. You’re an uncertainty because I don’t know shit about you. I don’t know if you can fight, if you can shoot a gun. Hell, I don’t even know how you want to overpower the guard. If I take people out there, under my command, to steal ammunition from that factory, then I’m responsible for them. I don’t want anyone being killed or raped while I’m responsible for them.”

  We were silent for a while. Eventually, Jayden ran a hand through his blond hair, causing it to stand up in tufts. He sighed.

  “Look, I’m sorry I shouted. It’s not about you. I know you’re trying to help. I’m just worried. I talked to Cam earlier and Nigel’s fever hasn’t broken and he’s dehydrated. Cam and Josh went into town to scrape up some meds for him. Anything, really. They took the last of our ammo to trade. It doesn’t look too good.”

  Maybe I’d overreacted too. “I’m not some damsel in distress, you know? I don’t need a white knight to save me. I mean, yes, you’re right; I came here for help but I don’t want charity. I want to be able to contribute.” He almost grinned at me and I took that as a sign that maybe he was open to listening to my idea again. “You said it yourself. You’re running out of time. You literally have nothing left to trade. You keep saying that the guard might try to rape me. But that’s actually part of our advantage here. The guard will underestimate me. I can actually help. I can earn my place here.”

  Jayden stared at me, analyzing and silent as his eyes restlessly roved over me. He chewed on the inside of his cheek. “You don’t have to earn your place here. Not like this. It’s enough if you carry your weight. We never expect anyone to risk their lives. That’s just voluntarily.”

  “Ok, so then … I volunteer,” I said. “I don’t like the idea of others risking their lives for me. I think you can understand that. And I know how to fight. At least enough to have made it out there. I’ve shot a gun before. I can take care of myself. If you want to, I can even demonstrate how I plan on taking the guard down. Though I should probably warn you, I plan to kick all his weak spots.”

  Jayden chuckled lowly, his face transforming from the frown he had worn before. I could even see the dimple on his left cheek.

  “Ok, fine. Let’s consider it. But to make one thing clear; this is my command. I’m gonna tell you how long you have, how this will be done, and if you haven’t opened the door in time, we’ll storm the place to get you out. This is the only way I’m willing to consider it.”

  “Command? You make it sound like a military operation. Hope you don’t expect me to salute you,” I replied.

  Jayden smirked. “I think I’ll survive if you don’t.” He rose from his chair. “I’ll go check in with Jane. See how Nigel’s doing, then I’ll call it a night.”

  ◆◆◆

  I went to grab a glass of water from the cafeteria before going to bed. As it was already long past midnight it was quiet, and the tables were empty aside from the one that propped up the large water dispenser. Still humming with the fulfillment of contributing to something good, I filled my glass, but before I could take a sip, I heard footsteps behind me.

  I spun around, and fear crawled across my skin before I had a chance to convince myself that the noise was likely just someone else needing a drink. I glanced at the guy in the doorway.

  Alex leered at me, his stance was casual, but his eyes were predatory. My ridiculous instinct was to run, though nothing had happened. Instead, I forced myself to breathe, took a drink of my water and let my eyes wander around the room. The exit Alex wasn’t blocking was maybe thirty feet from me and to get there I’d have to walk past him.

  “Knew I’d be seeing you around,” he drawled.

  “I was just about to leave. It’s late.” I turned towards the door, but I heard him following me and it took all I had to not start running. Just as I reached the door, he grabbed my wrist hard enough that I yelped, trying to twist it from his grip. I turned to face him, to tell him to let me go, but he just grinned.

  “I’m just trying to get to know you,” he said, his hand still circled around my wrist.

  I tightened my grip on my glass as I made sure my voice sounded steady. “Let me go.”

  “Or what?” Alex asked, laughing.

  I
tried to pull my arm back again, but Alex dragged me closer to him. My heart raced, and my muscles tensed in preparation for a fight. I barely thought as I lifted my glass and brought it down upon his face. He let go of my wrist when it made contact, moving his hand up to his nose.

  “Bitch!” he yelled. I didn’t wait for him to recover. I yanked my arm back and ran.

  In a blind panic, I sped down the hallway, not sure where I was going, when I crashed into a warm body. In my fear, I pushed him, sure Alex had somehow gotten ahead of me, but when I looked up, it was Jayden.

  I stared at him, still out of breath, and he carefully removed his hands from my shoulders, where he had reached to steady me as I crashed into him.

  “Are you ok? What’s wrong?”

  I didn’t need to answer because Jayden glanced past me, down the hallway, where he must’ve seen Alex leave the cafeteria. Jayden’s eyes narrowed while I found my voice.

  “I’m ok. He just tried scaring me, I think.”

  And how it had worked. He had gotten me to take off running, looking for help. Alex now knew the power he had over me; the power a well-placed, badly veiled threat could hold in an empty room.

  Jayden looked at me as if he expected me to break down, so I shook myself from my stupor and declared that I was going to bed. I rubbed my wrist, noticing the red marks on it. Jayden reached out, almost putting a hand on my shoulder, but I instinctively flinched away.

  Jayden paused, his hand lifted in the air before he dropped it to his side.

  “I’m sorry. Please don’t think you’re not safe here. I’ll make sure he leaves you alone from now on.”

  I shook my head, plastering a smile on my face. “As I said, I’m fine. Just let it be.”

  “I can’t. It’s not just you he’s threatened recently. He’s … he has no right to behave the way he does. I’ll take care of it.” He inclined his head before turning towards the cafeteria. “Sleep well, Elin.”

  I muttered a response, but we had both started walking away.

  ◆◆◆

  I was on a table. The stainless steel was cold against my back and the scent of disinfectant floated in the air. I could barely see past the bright, glaring light above me. Someone tried pushing something over my nose and mouth — an oxygen mask. I pushed and scratched at their hands. In my struggle, I saw someone else across the table; a doctor held a scalpel over my stomach. I shoved at my opponents — who somehow grew into shapeless shadows — and clambered to my feet. Strangely, nobody moved to hold me back.

  I burst through the heavy steel doors into a hallway. From the doors lining the hall, I could hear them screaming. Screaming in agony and screaming for help. Screaming my name. But I kept running. Light fell through a window at the end of the hallway and I needed to reach it. It was so close. Everything started shaking and my name echoed off the walls.

  I woke with a start, gasping for air, and slowly realized it was Jayden who repeated my name.

  “You had another nightmare,” he said. The silence stretched until it became painfully awkward, and Jayden leaned back on his heels by the couch. “I could … just sit here, you know. Until you fall back asleep. Nobody needs to know. Might help keep the panic at bay.”

  My instinct was to decline, to tell him that I’d manage, but I was exhausted from weeks of having gotten too little sleep. Too exhausted to fight anymore, but I couldn’t say “yes” to his offer. It turned out that I didn’t have to because Jayden seemed to take my silence as acceptance, and wordlessly sat on the floor with his back against the couch.

  I closed my eyes and forced myself to breathe deeper, tried to ease back into sleep. Despite my inner turmoil, fatigue was stronger and pulled me under. Sleep embraced me until the next morning when I woke surprisingly rested, as the first sun beams found their way onto my face. The frayed curtains had seen better days and didn’t keep out the morning light. For a moment, I sat on the couch, contemplating the past day, thinking of all the crazy changes that had occurred in my life within the last twenty-four hours.

  My head was still reeling from finally having somewhere to sleep, food, and warmth. People at that place didn’t seem to know that they lived in luxury.

  I glanced at Jayden, who was stretched out on his bed, slumbering peacefully, his arm haphazardly thrown across his face. He looked younger that way. His hair disheveled, his long legs half tangled in the sheets. I moved to his nightstand, but accidentally knocked over one of his boots. Jayden jolted awake.

  “I wanted to check the time,” I exclaimed, hovering next to his bed.

  He rolled over, snatched a golden pocket watch and jumped to his feet.

  “Stupid thing. The alarm setting gave out again. I told Cam to call in an assembly because of the ammo thing at nine sharp.”

  ◆◆◆

  We rushed to get dressed then hurried to the auditorium, a large room that could easily have seated three hundred people. Only six seats in the first row where occupied. All of the occupants were guys — defending one’s home was obviously a man’s job. Their gender and home seemed to be the only unifying factor. The group was as diverse as the people on the streets downtown: ranging from a skinny, pale teen to a guy in his mid-forties, sporting a head full of dreadlocks and a burly appearance. I’d seen some of them before, but I only knew Cam’s name.

  “They’ll all come with us tonight. Well except for Cam,” Jayden announced. As we walked on, he threw me a cautious glance. “Are you sure about acting as bait? If not, this is your last chance to say no. No hurt feelings or anything.”

  “I’m a big girl. I made my decision and I’m standing by it.”

  I dropped into the plush seat next to Cam, who looked a mess — dark shadows under his eyes and rumpled clothes. I asked how his cousin was doing.

  “His fever went down. I managed to scrape up a small amount of meds for him yesterday. He isn’t out of the woods just yet, but Jane’s optimistic. I was with him all night.” His answer sounded rehearsed, as if he’d already given it a dozen times, which was likely.

  “I really hope he’ll get better soon.” I reached out and squeezed his arm, because somehow the way he worried about that child made him feel like less of a threat to me, and the idea of touching him didn’t scare me.

  I wanted to say more, but my attention was diverted when Jayden straightened up and made his way onto the stage. His shoulders were squared and somehow, he appeared to assume the role of a military leader.

  “So, some of you have met Elin.” Jayden motioned in my direction and all the guys turned to look at me. “She’s playing a vital part in our plan tonight. We’re going to rob the ammunition factory off Old Durham Road. Elin will be our bait, taking out the guard.”

  He didn’t go into detail about how I’d do that, but instead called out individual names, distributing tasks. I tried to remember as many names as I could, placing them with faces. The scrawny teen, about Cam’s cousin’s age, was Brady. Dreadlocks guy was Pablo.

  There were no questions, no objections or doubts of Jayden’s decisions. When he dismissed them, everybody filed out of the room while I stared, somewhat in awe.

  Whereas Jayden had been intense on that stage, he returned to his normal self, making small talk with some of the guys. Despite a few of them seeming older than Jayden, there was no doubt who held the reigns during the assembly. Something about the way he carried himself made him seem older and more intimidating, and I caught myself wondering if it had always been that way or if that quality of his had been acquired by the burden of responsibility. The way the others accepted his decisions calmed me. I no longer doubted that they’d have my back, as long as he told them to.

  Five

  Jayden

  After the assembly Elin and I went to the storage area above the auditorium. We stored a box of spare clothing there, and she needed something to wear as our bait. Elin picked out a particularly revealing tube dress and looked at me.

  “Where did you get these clothes? Did you raid
a brothel?”

  “You’re not too far off.” I chuckled at the flabbergasted look on her face and added: “The clothes are mostly from people who live here now. They weren’t all getting by waiting tables before they came here. They had to survive somehow.”

  Elin held up a pair of short red boots and I muttered approvingly. When she told me she’d try them on in my room, I tagged along.

  We passed the cafeteria on the way back and, not for the first time, I noticed the silence. If my office was the brain of the school, the cafeteria was the heart, where everybody gathered and spent time, even apart from meals. The symphonic mix of cutlery clattering, children laughing, running and adults chatting loudly, was almost completely absent those days. The smaller rations had gotten, the quieter it became. The more clear it was that we were running out of food, the likelier I was to find concerned people staring at me. The more they stared, the surer I was to plaster a smile across my face.

  Back in the room, Elin ducked behind the blackboard to change. I sat on the edge of my bed. I wasn’t even sure why I’d tagged along in the first place. It wasn’t like I hadn’t noticed that Elin was good looking before. With everything going on, it just hadn’t been on my mind. It was a different thing when she was changing in the room I was in though. The only thing separating us was that blackboard and I could hear her movement as she changed out of her clothes.

  I could see her balancing on one pale leg to step out of her pants. The board hid everything from mid-thigh upwards. I wished it started higher.

  Just two weeks ago I’d been perfectly happy sleeping with a busty seamstress downtown. A few hours later, I’d gotten it on with her equally alluring sister. Knowing Elin was almost naked across the room shouldn’t have been so arousing. It was probably just because I was used to more attention from women. That made sense.