One Wish, One Choice

by Abby Hope Patrick

  Saskia and Anja were still laughing when the pizza arrived.

  The three of them talked during the meal, sometimes almost choking on the food as they joked together. Every time Miles and Saskia caught each other’s eyes a smile would creep onto their faces. Their hands were clasped, perfectly intertwined, under the table.

  They told the story of how they’d met, it was at Charlie’s two weeks before Anja had moved to Okland.

  Miles’s side of the story sounded like it was out of a bad TV romance. He’d fallen in love at first sight and gone up to her. She’d given him her number. He said how he ‘knew she was the one’ the second he’d seen her and all that romantic stuff.

  Saskia had gone to the pizzeria with a friend and there she’d been approached by Miles.

  “I thought he was a bit of a weirdo at first. I knew he wasn’t going to go away so I gave him my number so he’d leave me alone.” Anja coughed to cover up a laugh. “Turns out that was the best decision of my life. He texted me ten minutes after I left this place and charmed me into going on a date with him. We started dating soon after that.” Saskia tilted her head to the side as she added to the story, “He was a welcome escape at the beginning. But it quickly became something else.”

  Anja asked the question before she could consider what she was saying, “An escape from what?”

  Saskia took a big bite of pizza and talked while eating, “My Dad’s a violent alcoholic and my Mum killed herself five years ago.” She said it as though she was describing the weather. “I moved out three weeks ago, ‘ran away’ would probably be more accurate.” She shrugged. “I’m not ashamed about it, Anja. It’s just my life, so please take that sad expression off your face.” Saskia reached across the table and held Anja’s hand, smiling. “Well, I know what lightens up a conversation, desserts.”

  Chapter Eight

  Rufus would be arriving in Okland later that day and Anja was ready. She, Saskia and Miles had cleaned her apartment the day before. Miles couldn’t wait to meet Rufus, sometimes he seemed even more excited than Anja.

  The plan was for Rufus to take the same train his sister had and then meet Anja at the station. Miles was going to collect some food and wait in the apartment for a celebratory pizza and movie dinner. Saskia couldn’t make it because of work.

  Anja left Miles in her apartment and began heading towards the train station.

  The lack of colour on the trees made the mechanical city feel even more unnatural and sterile.

  She shielded her eyes from the bone-chilling wind.

  The station was always busy. People who lived in Okland liked to travel, for their work and leisure. From where she was sitting, she would be able to spot him easily, especially with his hair acting as a beacon.

  The train was right on time, like everything else in the city. Anja stood up, her hands shaking with excitement.

  This is it.

  Finally, she was going to feel at home here.

  As the doors slid open people pushed forward from all sides. She peered over the heads of other travellers to try and see Rufus, or at least enough of him to know that he was there.

  She checked her phone. “Come on…” Anja whispered under her breath, her teeth chattering together.

  Something wasn’t right. I should have noticed the lack of texts.

  The platform was almost empty now. There were always a few minutes in between trains when no one was waiting. Anja half jogged, half walked up and down the platform. Still no sign of Rufus. None of this made sense.

  When she calmed down and thought about it, he’d probably gotten on the wrong train. I can’t even trust him to do the easiest task.

  She tried calling him but she was sent straight to his answerphone. Anja made her way to the security office that she’d noticed near the entrance. After a bit of pleading with the man, he finally agreed to pull up footage of the platform and confirmed that Rufus hadn’t stepped off the train.

  “What train did he take and what station was it leaving from?” She had gone through all of this earlier with Rufus to try and prevent him from getting on the wrong train.

  Once she told the guard the details, it didn’t take long for him to pull up the footage from the Kettleton’s train station cameras.

  “There!” Anja shouted, pointing at Rufus in the crowd.

  “Geez lady, no need to shout in my ear.” He zoomed in on Rufus’s face which was very small on the screen. “Woah, that’s some crazy hair.”

  Rufus got onto the right train with his bags and he sat next to a big man who started a conversation with him. The video continued and showed Rufus getting up to go and stand by a window.

  The security guard sped up the footage. Her eyes were glued to the screen. Anja could tell by the world outside the train’s windows that it was slowing down and then eventually stopping. Not at a station but in the middle of nowhere.

  All the passengers in the compartment were staring at the main set of doors. Rufus moved towards them.

  Her breath caught as she watched the footage play.

  The doors suddenly burst open. Four masked figures barged in with guns in their hands. They were muscular and Anja could tell from their build that they were all men. They wore black body armour that reflected the light of the train.

  One indicated Rufus and they charged forward, grabbing him roughly and hauling him towards the doors. He struggled, but after a few punches to the stomach he curled in on himself.

  Anja stifled a shout behind her hand as she watched her brother being dragged out of the train. The doors closed behind him and the train turned into chaos. A few passengers ran towards the window, peering out. Some hurried away, cowering behind the seats. And the rest were frozen, sitting awkwardly still.

  The train began to move again and after a while the passengers settled down, still shooting worried glances around and whispering about what had just happened. When the train got to the Okland station they rushed to leave, shooting anxious looks around the platform.

  I should have noticed, she thought. They all look terrified.

  The tape played an image of an empty train. The security guard stared at it blankly for a moment before he spoke.

  “Umm…” he said. “I think you should go.”

  Anja agreed.

  She ran home, her bag swinging back and forth. Her heels stung as they hit the ground.

  She burst into her apartment after sprinting up the stairs.

  “Surprise!” shouted Miles, grinning. He peered around her to look at the open door. “Um, did you forget to get your brother or something?”

  “He’s gone!” The words faltered and died on the way out of her mouth

  “Huh?” He frowned, placing the pizza he was carrying onto the counter.

  “He’s gone,” she repeated, trying to get her voice under control. “Rufus got onto the train and didn’t get off. The train stopped and he was taken. I’ve lost him. He’s all I have and I’ve lost him.” Miles’s mouth opened and shut, like a fish.

  Her laptop was open on the counter, it made a dinging noise that drew their attention. An email popped up from a government email address, requesting some files checked for bugs.

  “No,” Miles said at once.

  “What?”

  “No way in hell are you working at a time like this. I am going to sort this out and you are going to stay here and drink all your booze.” Anja stared at him. “I’m not joking. You can’t mentally deal with this right now, I know the look.”

  “What look is that, Miles?” Anja’s voice was tense. His cheeks flushed.

  “The ‘I’m about to lose my shit’ look.”

  He left before she could argue.

  She couldn’t bring herself to even open the work files. Instead, she replied to the email, apologising and saying that a ‘family emergency’ had come up and she couldn’t get the work done that day. Then she closed the laptop and pushed it aside.

  All she could do now was wait.

 
Maybe Miles will bring back a police officer. They’ll find Rufus. She glanced at the door hoping to see her brother walk through it. But no luck.

  Curses were hurtled around the room.

  Her phone started ringing and she rushed to answer but pulled her hand away when she saw it wasn’t Miles, but instead it was the head of the IT department at Okland. She was in no mood to be yelled at for refusing work, so she just let it ring.

  Almost an hour had past and Anja’s crying hadn’t ceased, but her phone had continued to ring. Every time she checked it, hoping it would be from Miles, and every time she was disappointed.

  Willow had sent her multiple texts in the last hour, asking if Rufus had arrived safely, if he liked Okland and if he was missing everyone back at Kettleton. Options raced through Anja’s mind.

  What if I told her Rufus was missing and then he turns up? Willow would already be having a hard enough time adjusting to life without him. Anyway, what could Willow do? All I’d be doing is causing her unnecessary worry.

  She worked a while on her reply, keeping it short and simple. She wrote that he had arrived after an easy journey, but lost his phone along the way, so if she got any texts from his number to tell her straight away. Anja thought for a moment before writing another text about how Rufus thought everyone here was too smart and that he hadn’t stopped talking about home since he had arrived.

  Once she had sent the texts Anja put down the phone. If she didn’t find Rufus soon, she would finally lose her mind. Maybe she already had.

  * * *

  A light knock on the door made Anja jump up. She rushed towards it, her heart returned to its frantic beating.

  But it wasn’t Miles or Rufus she found on the other side of the door. It was Jabez.

  It took her a second to register his face.

  Maybe visits from the president’s son are common in Okland? She didn’t know, all she knew was that he didn’t look pleased to be there.

  He strode into her apartment without saying anything and stood there waiting for her to close the door. While his back was turned Anja’s fingers brushed frantically across her face, removing any trace of tears.

  “May I help you?” Anja said, forcing politeness, even as her chest felt as if it would explode.

  “What happened today? I was notified that you weren’t able to do the work you were sent and that, when contact was attempted with you, there was no response. The office likes to get work done, and you need to prioritise it. I heard from someone on the team that you were ignoring calls, so I offered to come and see if everything was alright. But I do need to insist that you do the work, otherwise, we will have to terminate your employment.”

  Anja’s short fuse finally finished smouldering. She was done with this city and the entitled people living in it.

  “Your files are the least of my fucking priorities.” She froze. Swearing at the president’s son was not something you could get away with. She didn’t care. “Maybe your office would like the work done but I’d like to find my brother.” Maybe her loud, commanding voice was inherited from her parents, Anja didn’t know, but she was grateful for it now. It gave her words strength that she didn’t feel. “My brother was coming here to live with me and something happened to him on the train. So, there’s no way in hell I am doing that work until I find him.”

  Jabez’s face was blank. His dark eyes blinked twice.

  “I am sorry, Anja. I truly am. But the government doesn’t care about your personal life. If you don’t do the work you will lose the internship.” He was almost pleading with her.

  “I’m going to find my brother and I don’t give a rat’s ass about the files. Go tell that to the higher-ups.”

  “I will. But maybe I won’t quote you.” Half his mouth lifted into a crescent smile. But he only got an ice-cold stare from Anja in return. The smile disappeared entirely as if it had never been there in the first place. “I’m going to need your ID card.” He grimaced.

  Anja stormed to her counter, snatched up the card and shoved it towards Jabez. He slid it into his back pocket.

  He held a piece of paper out to her. “Here’s my number. If you want your job back just give me a call…soon. I will see you around, Anja Scravers. Good luck with the search for your brother.” With that, he turned and left.

  She picked up a cup from the counter and hurled it at the wall. It bounced back and rolled onto the floor. Plastic cups, it transpired, weren’t great for dramatic smashing.

  She fell back onto the sofa. She tried to block out the world by squeezing her eyes tightly closed, but it didn’t stop the tears that slowly rolled down her cheeks.

  Anja was unsure of how much time had actually passed when Miles finally returned. He unlocked the door and stepped through the doorway with no Rufus and no new information. The police had told him to wait it out, maybe he’d turn up. When Miles had made a scene in the middle of the station the police had agreed to look into it if he left. But because Rufus was not in Okland’s jurisdiction there was nothing they could do.

  “Miles, I have never been so grateful for your annoying personality in my life.” She stood on her tiptoes and hugged him until she feared his eyes might pop out of his head.

  Anja moved swiftly, grabbing her phone and pushing past him to get to the front door.

  “Where are we going?” Miles followed Anja out the door, only a few steps behind.

  “We’ve got a train to catch. I’m not sitting here doing nothing while Rufus is out there.”

  * * *

  After they bought two tickets, they found a set of seats built into the brick wall of the station.

  Anja’s hands were shaking as she held the ticket.

  Miles shot worried glances her way every few minutes.

  The train finally ground to a stop and Anja was moving before Miles had a chance to even get up. Thanks to the security footage she’d been able to work out which compartment Rufus had travelled to Okland in.

  They entered the train and Miles sat down. Anja stayed standing, her head spinning to look around the compartment.

  She moved to the door he’d been taken through. She walked around, receiving a lot of odd looks from the other passengers.

  There was absolutely nothing to indicate that her brother had been taken here.

  He’d been kidnapped nearer Okland than any other town, but they were still pretty far out. The armed men who had taken him must have had a car ready and pulled him into that. Outside the train was just flat land, a few wrecked buildings and a concrete road leading nowhere. Nothing in sight.

  Anja had been hoping something would be in the compartment. She didn’t need anything big, just something.

  She sat down next to Miles. Anja was opposite the seat her brother had sat in only hours before.

  She couldn’t bring herself to talk so she turned her head towards the opposite windows of the compartment. That’s when something caught her eye, something silver, reflecting the light. It was under a row of seats next to the door.

  She jumped up so fast her head spun. Anja knelt, getting a scowl from the person sitting in the chair as she reached under it and felt something cold and metal slip into her palm. She tightened her hand around it and pulled the objects out from underneath the chair.

  Anja just stared at it.

  It was a penknife.

  Her penknife.

  She’d given it to Rufus before leaving. It must have fallen out of his pocket when he’d struggled against the four men, and yet it offered her no help. She was still no closer to finding where they took him after this. Or even why.

  It took strength Anja didn’t know she had to stop from breaking down right there. She returned to the seat next to Miles. His comforting presence stopped her from doing anything rash.

  “What did you find?” Miles asked quietly from beside her.

  “His penknife.” She didn’t want to let go of it, so she just held it in her palm. “This means we’re in the right place and that he was here
. But I can’t find anything else.” She sighed. “I honestly don’t know what I was expecting to find anyway.”

  Miles wrapped an arm around her. “Well, at least you’re doing something.”

  Her hand closed around the necklace. It reminded her of what little was left of the life she used to have.

  Miles noticed her fiddle with the pearl and asked, “Where’d you get that necklace? I’ve never seen you without it.”

  It took her a second to find a safe answer, “An old friend gave it to me.”

  Anja was working hard on not letting the situation overwhelm her. All her life she’d put Rufus first and the one time she’d left him this had happened.

  They sat there and waited for the train to make its way back to Okland. Away from or toward Rufus, she didn’t know.

  * * *

  Saskia came over to bring food and encouragement. Miles joined her in the kitchen while Anja tuned into the police radio.

  They shared a few whispers. With her headphones in, Anja couldn’t make out what they were saying, but Saskia’s face told her that it wasn’t positive.

  They silently fought for a minute or two before Miles pulled Saskia into a reluctant hug and returned to his seat.

  “Miles?” Anja asked, curiosity taking over from her better judgement, “What were you arguing about? Was it about Rufus?”

  Miles scoffed, “No sadly. Saskia’s worried about something and apparently, my reply wasn’t what she wanted to hear.”

  “Whatever it was I’m sure she’s right.” Anja only said this to wind him up, but instead, his face fell and he nodded slowly,

  “Probably.”

  Silence filled the room.

  * * *

  It had already been a whole day since Rufus had gone missing and Anja felt completely useless, no hack could help her here. She’d tried. Multiple times. Miles had stayed over, sleeping on the sofa that night so she wasn’t alone. But now they were both sitting on Anja’s sofa staring blankly at the wall.

  “You could ask Jabez for help?” Miles said, adjusting his position, “The guy obviously has a crush on you, so I’m sure he’ll be happy to help.”