BLUE - Caitlin Szmerling

NINE

I woke up to the doorbell continuously ringing. I look next to me to see Bella still asleep, snoring. I groan but sit up anyway. I pull on my robe before heading downstairs, the doorbell still ringing. "Okay, okay. I'm coming." I mumble to no one in particular.

I open the door to find a woman standing there with an envelope in her hand. She gasps, drops the envelope before running off, down the street. I chase after her, only a couple metres behind before she jumps into her car and speeds away. I sigh, before walking back to the house, picking up the envelope that was sitting at the doorstep before walking inside, closing the door behind me.

I look up to find Bella had just walked downstairs, holding a sleeping Jamie in her arms. "Hey, who was at the door?" She asks. "I woke up after you opened the door and then Jamie started crying, I think he is hungry." I shrug in response. "I have no idea. As soon as I opened the door, the woman gasped then ran off, I couldn't catch her in time. However, she left this envelope on the doorstep." I placed the letter on the kitchen bench before taking Jamie from Bella so I could breastfeed him. Bella picks up the envelope, inspecting it. She then walks over to the living room coffee table and picks up the letter and envelope from last night.

"It's the same one." I look up at her from down at Jamie. "What do you mean?" I furrow my eyebrows. "The envelope is the same as the one from last night." She hands me both the envelopes. "They are probably just generic envelopes, it could be from anyone. Just open it and see what it says." I tell her. She sighs before ripping open the envelope and pulling out the piece of paper inside. "It says 'Do what I say, and your little Jamie won't get hurt.'" I stiffen at the words. "How did that person find out about Jamie? I thought we told all news reporters not to release any information?" She nodded her head. "I thought so as well. Maybe I should look up on the internet to see if someone ended up posting it?"

She opened up her laptop and enters into the search engine 'COUPLE GIVES BIRTH TO BOY.' as well as similar searches. She couldn't find anything recent, other than from when the Great Eradication was still happening. "Wait a minute." I hear her say. I look over to see her face almost pressed against the screen. "Bella, babe, move back. That isn't good for your eyes. What did you find?" She looks towards me with her eyes widened. "We aren't the only ones who have given birth to a boy since the Great Eradication."

I look at her shocked. "How do you know?" By now, Jamie had finished eating and was just about to pass out, so I placed him in his carrier that Bella had brought down. "It was just a rumour, but the evidence they have is pretty strong. About 30 years ago, someone supposedly gave birth to a boy but didn't want to keep him. The doctor who performed the procedure apparently took the baby and brought it up. There is no evidence now of the kid so no one knows where this person is." She turns her laptop to show me the news article. It indeed talked about the boy being born, which was dated 2080. "Wow, so if it is true, do you think that this could be the person who wants Jamie?" I asked. She shrugs. "Possibly, but I want to find out more information about this before we jump to conclusions." Just as she finishes her sentence, a knock is heard at the door. I look over at Bella, still freaked about our constant knock and run offender when she shakes her head. "Marie texted me saying that she was coming over with Jo. Did I forget to mention that?" She chuckles. I nod my head before standing up and opening the door to see Jo and Marie standing there. "This envelope was sitting on your doorstep." Jo hands me the envelope that she found. "Well hello to you too," I reply. "Sorry, hey." I hug both Jo and Marie before we make our way to the Dining room where Bella and I were sitting.

Jo then looks around before she spots the baby carrier, immediately rushing over so that she could see Jamie. "Oh my gosh, she is so cu- sorry, he is so cute! Can I pick him up?" I nod my head before going to pick him up out of the carrier and then passing him on to Jo. "It might take a while to get used to using male pronouns." She explains. I shake my head, "It's fine, don't worry. I'm still getting used to it as well." I chuckle.

"Babe, come look at this." I turn back to the table where Bella and Marie are sitting with the envelope now open and the letter sitting in Bella's hands. "Is it from the same person again?" I ask. Both Marie and Bella nod their heads as I walk over to sit down with them. "What does it say?" Jo asks. "It says 'If you get the police involved, things will end badly.' how will we break the news to this person that they are too late?." Bella scoffs. "Well, technically we can just say that I am a close friend wanting to help stop someone from kidnapping this child and I just happen to be a cop," Jo suggests. We all nod in agreement.

"Okay, now we have to find out who this person is and why they are doing this," Bella says.