The Eden Compound

The Eden Compound (Chapter Six)

Chapter Six:

            Siobhan walked down the halls again, feeling oddly lonely as she did.

            This is where my life happened, she thought.

            She passed the nursery-turned-Sarah’s room, which her mother had left intact. They usually avoided it or kept the door closed, but for some reason it was open. She looked in one last time, feeling tears well up in her eyes.

            Bye, Sarah, she thought. A little stuffed monkey sat on the bed, looking forlorn. Siobhan walked in and picked it up then put it in her bag and walked out the back.

            The backyard was serene. Siobhan remembered the old playset they used to have, the one they tore down after Sarah died. She sighed as she opened the fence gate and snuck around the protesters, who were concentrating on the houses around hers now. A few started yelling and glancing at her, but she saw the squad car and managed to get there in time to avoid being mauled by them.

            She got in the back seat, out of breath. She noticed that Linn was in the driver’s seat, and she was lecturing Keenan, who seemed to be ignoring her.

            “This was a stupid plan, dude- she almost didn’t make it around those rioters. Besides, how are you an intern? You’re, like, sixteen. And I swear, if you call her a hangers-on one time I’ll-”

            “Having fun, I see,” Siobhan said. “Linn, you’re not authorized to drive one of these.”

            “Fine,” she said, climbing into the backseat.

            “Should I even ask?” she asked Keenan, who was climbing into the driver’s seat.

            “No,” he said. “She should be the interrogator.”

            “She should,” Siobhan said. Linn stuck her tongue out at her. Siobhan felt her eyes well up again as they passed the old park, the one in the picture with Sarah. She took the monkey out of her bag and sat it on her lap, watching out of the windows between the bars.

            “I can’t believe I’ll be leaving all of this,” she said as they passed her old elementary school. That slide was where I kissed Nicky Bennet. She smiled fondly at the memory. I was, what, six? Seven?

            Keenan tactfully said nothing. Siobhan wiped her eyes and made sure she wasn’t going to cry.

            Soon they reached the gates. Siobhan stared at them. She’d never before realized how big and black and foreboding they were. Maybe her opinion was just influenced by the fact that for her, they meant the end of life as she knew it.

            The car parked.

            “It was some kid named Alexander,” Keenan said suddenly, rushing through the words.

            “What?” Siobhan and Linn asked. Siobhan wondered if she’d missed the first part of the conversation.

            “The person who reported you.” Keenan cleared his throat. “I’m not supposed to tell you that, but I thought you had a right to know.

            Alexander. Oh! she realized. Alex! He was that kid I broke up with in seventh grade! They had gone out for a few months, but all he wanted to do was play his full-fantasy RPG’s, which she hated with a passion. I mean, your house could be burning down and you wouldn’t notice because you’d be in the game.