by Valerie Puri
“What can I call you?” Belle asked. “Do you have a name?”
“Everyone calls me ‘Goggles’ on account that I have to wear these,” he said, pointing to the goggles covering his eyes.
“A fitting nickname,” Belle said, “but do you have a real name?”
He brought his hand to his chin. For a long moment, he was silent, as if he were trying to remember. Belle suspected not many people ever visited him other than Sash, so it may have been a very long time since anyone used his actual name.
“Alex,” he answered finally. “Alex Richardson.”
Belle’s mouth nearly fell open, and she had to fight hard to retain her composure. Alex Richardson was only a few years older than herself and had been a brilliant scientist in the Commune. He had excelled in his field, genetic research, so quickly he was soon the head of his science division at the young age of fifteen. In the technical divisions of the Commune, this was nearly unheard of.
The entire Commune knew who he was and followed his advancement with great interest. His superior abilities promised new scientific achievements for the Commune. That was, until he vanished under mysterious circumstances. No announcement was made, no Emergency Commune Council, nothing. He just disappeared. People came to their own conclusions about what happened and eventually stopped talking about him altogether. Some said he left the Commune to expand his knowledge; others said he had a terrible accident in his lab and perished, but no one knew for certain.
“Alex, it is nice to meet you. I’m Belle,” she said with a forced smile.
“I like talking to you, Belle. You’re a lot nicer than Sash.”
“So are you,” she said, not needing to force her smile this time. She could see that he was also amused and she decided to probe for information. “You mentioned earlier you have to wear those goggles. Why is that?”
“Before I came down here, I had an accident with my chemicals. My eyes were damaged, and they are extremely sensitive now. I have to wear them so the lights don’t hurt my eyes,” Alex said.
“That’s terrible,” Belle remarked. “Did the chemicals impact how well you can see?”
“My vision has suffered. I can’t see as clearly as I once could, but the goggles help.” Alex replied. “After the accident, bright lights and the sun hurt my eyes, so I moved my lab underground to this abandoned sector. I worked in the dark until I was able to fashion a pair of goggles which protected my eyes from the light. I grew so accustomed to it down here that I just stayed.”
So that’s what really happened to Alex. He had an accident and went subterranean, Belle thought. Sash must have found Alex down here and decided to use him. With Alex’s brilliant scientific abilities, Sash would be able to use him exclusively for his nefarious purposes.
“Do you ever miss being above ground, Alex?” Belle asked.
Alex considered the question. “I enjoy my solitude down here. I’m free to keep to myself and work in my lab.”
“I miss it,” Belle said, answering her own question. She had to get him to see it from her point of view. “I miss the fresh air in my lungs and the feel of the breeze against my skin. I miss the beautiful colors of the flowers and the trees. And most of all, I miss the openness.”
A silence hung in the air and Belle wondered if her tactic had backfired.
“The sky,” Alex said at last. “I do miss the sky.”
“Can you describe it to me?” Belle inquired. She wanted him to really remember the sky, to long for it. She wanted him to miss it so much he would let her go and they would both leave this forsaken place to look at the sky. At least, that would be the pretext.
“Describe it?” Alex asked frowning. “I’ll try.”
Belle closed her eyes to picture how Alex’s version of the sky would look.
“The sky was blue everywhere, like a gigantic floating lake. I remember soft puffs of white floating along, changing shapes with the movement of the air. When the sun set, the white clouds took on brilliant hues of red, orange, and purple. At night, the blue water of the floating lake would vanish, exposing blackness with tiny points of suspended light.”
Belle opened her eyes and saw that Alex was smiling at the memory. She smiled at him. “That was beautiful. We can go see it, if you like.”
Alex’s smile fell, and concern flooded his face. “I can’t.” He shook his head vigorously. “They wouldn’t like it if I left. They really wouldn’t like it if you left.”
Belle didn’t know who ‘they’ were, but she went along with it. “They might not mind if we only left for a moment or two.” She had no intention of ever returning here if Alex let her out, but there was no need for him to know that.
“I’m sorry, I can’t.” Alex was still shaking his head. “I just wanted to see if you were hungry. I’d better be going now.” He turned and scurried away with his head down.
“Alex,” Belle called after him, but he didn’t come back into view or say anything. Needing to stay on his good side, she added, “Thank you.”
It may have been foolish to ask Alex to release her in their first one-on-one encounter, but she had to try. Belle would keep trying until she was free from this miserable place.
47
Time stood still as Jennie huddled in the shallow recess. Sash was prowling the small side street in front of her with a man carelessly tossed over his shoulder. Jennie didn’t dare to move for fear of ending up like the man Sash was carrying. Jennie’s heartbeat thundered in her ears.
Closing her eyes, Jennie pretended that if she couldn’t see Sash, he couldn’t see her. Her mother used to play this game with Jennie as a child. “Where did you go?” Jennie’s mother would exclaim when Jennie covered her eyes with her hands. “I can’t see you, Jennie. You vanished.” She remembered giggling and removing her hands from her eyes to look at her mother. “There you are,” her mother would say, tickling her while they both laughed. In this present moment, she wished that by closing her eyes, she could become invisible.
She opened her eyes. Sash was still there, trudging forward with his latest victim weighing him down. To Jennie’s relief, he traveled past the small niche where she was hiding. She counted to twenty in her mind, then inched her head forward and peered at Sash’s retreating back. He was no longer recognizable from this distance, but was distinguishable only as a dark blob. He rounded a corner and disappeared.
Confident the path was clear, Jennie stepped into the empty street. Exhaling deeply, she tried to steady her nerves. A choice presented itself to Jennie as she stood in the street with a dense fog gathering in the air. If she went left, she could return to Ethan and Travis. But, if she went right, she could follow Sash.
Travis had seen where Sash took Belle, but there was a chance he wouldn’t be able to find his way back at night. If she followed Sash now, there was no question about being able to find her friend. Time pressured her to choose; if she delayed, she might lose Sash. Making her decision, she turned right.
Jennie crept down the street and came to the corner where Sash had turned. Peering around the corner, she could see the dark mass of Sash and his victim turning down yet another side street. Treading as quietly as possible, Jennie walked down the street and stopped just shy of the corner where Sash turned. The thumping in her ears grew louder as her adrenaline rose.
Carefully glancing around the corner, Jennie watched as Sash made his way down the narrow alley. It sloped downward, and she lost sight of Sash in the mist that gathered in the streets. The wind subsided, and the fog grew thicker by the second.
Oh no, Jennie thought, I can’t lose him. Foregoing caution, she rushed into the alley to get a visual on Sash. She reached the mist he had disappeared into. The thick, cold air brushed softly against Jennie’s skin and felt heavy in her lungs. It made it impossible to see anything, and Jennie feared if she walked forward, she could bump right into Sash. Instead, she remained still and listened.
Closing her eyes, Jennie slowed her breaths and tried to focus
on what she could hear. The steady pounding of her heart faded into the background. Silence surrounded her. The night was still and quiet, not even the crickets or the owls made a sound. A faint scraping could be heard a few paces ahead of her, like boots dragging across the stone-paved alley. It was Sash, and he was close.
The scraping diminished, and Jennie could visualize in her mind Sash continuing down the alley. A metallic, grating sound rippled through the air, breaking the relative quiet.
What was that? she thought. The sound was followed by creaking– hinges. He must have been unlocking a door. Jennie thought excitedly. It sounds like he just swung a door open. As she expected, she heard the creaking again followed by the bang of the door slamming shut.
Jennie sprinted forward through the blinding fog, feeling her way with her hands. The stone and brick walls of the buildings that lined the alley met her touch. As she continued, the feel of the wall on her left changed. The stones were no longer smooth, but rough and porous with large cracks. Adrenaline coursed through her veins as her palm brushed over rough wood. Jennie ran her hands over the surface and found it matched the shape of a door. This had to be the building Travis saw Sash enter with Belle.
Jennie pressed her ear to the door in an attempt to hear any sounds coming from within. Nothing. She stood back from the door and inhaled deeply. She exhaled and watched as her breath mixed with the dense white fog that surrounded her.
With a trembling hand, she found the rusty doorknob and turned it. The metallic grinding set her nerves on fire. What if Sash heard that? she thought, panic-stricken. It was too late now. If he heard it, he would track her down, even if she ran. Her hand still on the knob, she listened. After a few moments passed and all remained quiet, she pushed the door open. The creaking of the rusty hinges amplified Jennie’s anxiety. She stepped over the threshold and let the door swing shut behind her, sealing her inside with Sash.
A cold voice cut through the darkness, making every one of Jennie’s hairs stand on end. “Hello, little girl. Why have you been following me?”
48
“I don’t like it,” Ethan said, pacing Jennie’s cramped office. “She’s been gone too long.”
“Jennie is probably still meeting with Uncle Albert and his contact.” Travis hoped that by saying the words aloud, he could make them true. Like Ethan, he was concerned for Jennie’s safety. His older sister had always been stubborn – a little too stubborn according to their father. If Jennie set her mind on something, she would follow through no matter what.
Ethan stopped pacing. “What if the meeting was a trap?”
“The meeting with Uncle Albert?” Travis asked with a laugh. “We’ve known him all of our lives. He would never do anything to hurt Jennie.”
Ethan began pacing again. “Something could have happened to her on her way back.”
“Could you stop?” Travis asked. Ethan paused mid-stride and looked at him with surprise. “Look, I’m worried about her too, but you’re making me nervous, and I can’t think,” Travis said, rubbing his temples.
“Sorry.” Ethan took a seat across from Travis. “I just don’t have a good feeling about this. Especially not after what Jennie told us about the lemerons gathering outside the wall.”
Travis closed his eyes and sighed deeply. He opened them and held Ethan’s stare. “I think Jennie may have gone after Belle.”
Ethan’s expression told Travis this was not what Ethan expected him to say. “Alone? But - she could be in serious danger. These people have been systematically taking out anyone who has been in contact with the documents Jennie is carrying. I can’t believe she would just deliver herself right to them.” Ethan paused and swallowed hard. “If they have Jennie, we might not ever see her again.”
“So,” Travis said. “What are we going to do about it?”
Ethan eyed Travis sideways, reading into the unspoken suggestion. “Let’s go,” he said, leaping to his feet.
49
Ethan was encouraged to see Travis was becoming stronger in his own right. When he’d first met him, Ethan saw a haunted young boy tormented by fear. Travis had shown great courage lately by meeting his anxieties and challenges head on; he was growing into a man. Ethan could remember his own turning point when he took the step into manhood.
“Ethan, my boy, today I will teach you how to hunt,” his father said.
Ethan was excited. He had just turned twelve and this was his chance to apply his skills as a ranger and a hunter. He’d spent his entire life acquiring these skills and now it was time to put them to the test. He and his father gathered their supplies and set out deep into the forest where the deer collected. After walking for what seemed hours, they finally came upon a ridge which overlooked the small valley below. A small group of deer emerged from the thick trees to drink from the stream flowing in the middle of the valley.
“This spot will do nicely,” his father said quietly. “Now, take your position and ready your bow.”
Ethan did as he was instructed. His father lay down flat on his stomach so the deer below wouldn’t notice him. Ethan crouched down beside his father and took up his bow, pulling an arrow from the quiver on his back. The wooden bow felt solid and smooth in his hand. He gracefully raised the bow in his extended arm and positioned the arrow. With the blunt end of the arrow tight against the bowstring, he pulled back until the tension in the bowstring caused the wooden bow to arc back even further.
Ethan slowed his breathing as he took his aim. Just as his father taught him, he focused all of his senses on his target. Everything else which surrounded him faded away into nothingness. It was only him and the deer. The feathers of the arrow tickled his cheek as he peered down the shaft. He aimed at an eight-point buck.
His muscles were tense as he steadied the shot. Just as his fingers were about to free the arrow, he heard the cracking of twigs underfoot to his right near his father. With his bow and arrow still in hand, he swung his entire body to face the source of the noise. A lemeron was making its way to where his father lay. Ethan exhaled and released the bowstring.
His father pulled his gaze from the deer in the valley. He looked up in time to see the approaching lemeron crumple to the ground. As it collapsed, a terrible croaking came from the creature’s mouth causing the deer to flee. The lemeron was dead. Ethan had slain it with only one arrow through the heart.
His father stood up and exclaimed, “Well done, my son. You didn’t get a deer, but you got something better.” His father examined the dead lemeron with his eyes. “I am impressed; you didn’t even need time to aim. You are now a true ranger, a true hunter. A true man.”
“Before we set out, we need to gather some weapons,” Ethan said. “Have you ever used a blade, Travis?”
“No,” Travis replied.
“No matter, I’m sure we can find something you can use for protection.” Ethan looked around Jennie’s office at the horse supplies. His eyes fell on the riding crop she had been brandishing when they first met. The small loop of leather on the end of the sturdy rod would certainly hurt if swung hard enough.
“This will have to do.” Ethan handed Travis the riding crop. “I need to get some things from the loft. Wait here.”
Ethan climbed the ladder and walked over to where his belongings were. He grabbed the small box of matches next to the oil lamp and picked up his belt, fastening it around his waist over his tunic. He secured his dagger in its sheath on the belt. Not knowing when he would return, he bid farewell to the cozy bed Jennie had made for him, and made his way back down to Travis.
“I’m set,” Ethan said. “So, what’s your plan?”
“First, we should check Uncle Albert’s apothecary shop to see if Jennie’s still there,” Travis said. “If she’s not, we’ll need to retrace the path I saw Sash take when he was carrying Belle away. That’s where she’ll be if not still at the shop.”
Ethan nodded in agreement. “All right, it sounds good. Lead the way.”
50
> “Follow me and stay close,” Travis said. They slipped out of the barn. It was still dark outside. Fog spread throughout the Commune, concentrating in the low dips in the land. The stagnant air begged for a breeze to come along and refresh it. A terrible stench greeted Travis’ nose, causing him to choke and cough uncontrollably.
“Are you all right?” Ethan asked him.
“I’m fine. Thanks,” Travis cleared his throat and asked, “What is that awful smell?”
Travis heard Ethan inhale. How Ethan didn’t start coughing was beyond him. “That’s the stench of lemerons,” Ethan said. “I’ve smelled it before, but it’s never been this potent. There really must be hundreds of them outside the wall.”
Travis shuddered at the thought and hoped Ethan didn’t notice his involuntary spasm. “Let’s move on; maybe the air won’t be so rank in the town.”
Travis led the way, avoiding the main streets on their way to Uncle Albert’s store. Before long, they had reached the edge of the square.
“There it is,” Travis whispered. He pointed to a storefront a few buildings away. “The apothecary shop.”
“I don’t see any lights on inside,” Ethan said.
“They must be in the back,” Travis said. “Come on, let’s get a closer look.”
Travis and Ethan walked cautiously past the buildings which separated them from the shop. Travis stopped when they reached the storefront. The large windows had neat gold lettering which boasted “Apothecary Shop,” and advertised some of Uncle Albert’s more popular items. They both peered into the glass window; Ethan cupping his hands around his eyes to see inside more clearly.
“I can’t see much. It’s too dark inside,” Ethan said. “Wait. I can see a faint outline of a door. Yes, there is light coming through the crack at the edges.”