The Rules They Broke

Chapter 0: Prologue

OLIVIA

One year ago

Olivia stood deathly still when her mother took her by the shoulders and gripped her so tight that Olivia could feel the anxiety rushing from her mother into herself.

"Livvy, I've done something really terrible for us," she whispered, her red-rimmed eyes darting back and forth to some unknown presence behind Olivia. "I thought it was good, I thought we could get out of here, but I told the wrong person."

Olivia couldn't make her mouth work. What on earth was she saying? Unless you counted cleaning the kitchen drastic - which it often was for Carrie - her mom hadn't done anything life altering in the past few days.

"We're going to leave right away. We can't take our backpacks, and we can't look like we're going away somewhere. But we have to go away. You understand, yes?"

Olivia didn't understand. She didn't understand at all. Where were they going? Did they have to leave because of the terrible thing her mom had done?

"Olivia?" Her mom's grip on her shoulders became bone-crunching. Her mom was getting really scared now, and so was she.

"Yes," Olivia wheezed out, because that was what her mom wanted her to say.

"Okay, good girl. We're not going to leave from the front door. We're going to go out the back door. We're not going to make any noise, and we're not going to be seen by anybody."

Olivia's head spun. She thought she was going to be dizzy but she blinked as hard as she could. Olivia could see that her mom was scared, and that she had never expected that they would ever have to do this. She had no idea what she was doing.

"Mom, why-"

"Olivia, we can't talk now!" her mom hissed. Olivia flinched at her tone. Her mom noticed and gently brushed away her curly hair from her face. "I'm sorry, baby. I didn't mean it that way. We just can't talk now, okay? We have to go."

She didn't give her a chance to protest or agree or take a breath. Olivia felt her grasp her arm and her mom pulled her quickly but gently towards the back door, not bothering to turn on any lights in the house. In the kitchen, she opened a cupboard, pulled out a pair of binoculars, and hung them around her neck. She took a small metal canister from the same cupboard and put it into her pants pocket.

Her mom turned off the back porch light and looked outside. She pulled her hair into a ponytail and looked outside again. Olivia's heart thudded against her chest. What did she see out there? Could she see the bad thing she did?

When she turned back, Olivia barely recognized her mother. Her face looked gaunt and worn out in the darkness. The whites of her wide eyes made her look like some creature in the closet instead of the person she had relied on all her life. Her mom took her hand. Olivia's hand was sweaty. So was her mom's.

"After this, you have to do exactly as I say. If I tell you to run, you have to run. If I tell you to stop, you have to stop. If I tell you anything at all, you have to listen. Otherwise, we won't get out of here. Got it?"

Olivia couldn't hold it in anymore. A few tears leaked down her cheeks. "Mom, what are we doing? Why are we doing this?"

Her mom's face crumpled as Olivia said this. She hugged her tight. Olivia could feel her trembling underneath her.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Olivia. We're doing this because I told a bad man about some bad men because I thought he wasn't bad. He was. Now he told all the other bad men that we know."

"I'm scared."

Her mom pulled away, wiped Olivia's tears, and held her face in her hands. "You have no reason to be scared." She took a piece of paper from her own pocket, stuffed it into Olivia's, and held her hands. "These are the names of good and bad people, so when we get out of here, you know who's on your side. For right now, all you have to do is be careful and listen to me. Nothing's going to happen to you if you do both those things. Okay?"