The Alternate State

chapter 4

The next two days go by fast. We spend them preparing and planning, running the specs over and over again, trying to anticipate every flaw, every hang up in our plan. Now the night before the journey has arrived, and I'm packing the last of my things running over the plan again and again looking for errors in my thinking.
"Val!'' I call her to my room, while I finish packing the last of my supplies and my clothes before shoving it in the closet where it won't be discovered. I hear valerian rush down the hall to my room, she has to be kept in the dark about this unfortunately, deniability will be key for her keeping her job.
"Yes crescent?" she says sweetly as she rushes into my room.
"Hey can you get me a bunch of water, and non refrigerated foods?"
"Of course miss, what for?"
"Er, for the field trip tomorrow." I say with a smile to hide the fact that I'm lying.
She nods and exits the room quietly. I took my hunting knife my dad got me when I was 10 and shove it in the bag. just in case. then all of a sudden there is a sound of arguing coming in through the front door. Mother and Father are home and they sound like they have blood on their mind.
"VALERIAN!" I hear my mother shout from the entryway, as I hear her storm through the house, "Valerian! Come here at once! I must, we must speak to you immediately!" I throw open my door and hurry down the hall, whatever is about to go down I'm not making her go through it alone. I've never heard my mother speak to her this way before, the shrill shriek of her voice echoing in my mind.
"Yes, miss?" she says ducking out of the kitchen and into the main hall way as she sees me rushing down the stairs and coming to an abrupt halt, catching myself on the handrail when I see the look on my fathers face.
"Whats going on here...." I start when another look from my mother silences me in an instant. "Crescent Jane. It is time for you to return to your room. Do not come down here again no matter what you hear. This is an adult conversation and your input will not be necessary at this time. Don't. come down here again until I say otherwise. Theis here, will see you to your room. Just then the man from the arcade comes strolling through my front door. My heart sinks at the sight of him, and I reflexively look for a nightstick at his side. Behind him, two others walk in with something like a briefcase in one hand. And the other holds a well worn leather bag, the lumpy exterior makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up at the sight of it and I can't explain why. I don't want to know what is in these two objects that would require my beloved maid and closest confidant, but I don't have time to find out as Theis grabs me firmly by the elbow and leads me back upstairs, more firmly once we're out of my parents sight, to the point that I let out a yelp by the time we reach my door. "Don't. Leave this room. I have orders, but when your parents aren't around and my job is on the line, accidents happen you know. I'd hate for you to take a tumble on the stairs trying to escape." Staring with the fierceness of an apex predator he continues, "that could leave bruises. We wouldn't want that, not with that pretty little face of yours. So be a good little girl now and go sit on that chair and don't cause me any grief." He gives me a little push through the door and closes the door giving me a warning stare as it slowly but firmly finds its joint with a click. I sit there for approximately two seconds, just to be sure he's not coming back and star tossing my stuff for tomorrow out of the way. I have an attic with my name on it, and no time to loose. Once I crawl through the tiny entry I shimmy through the small crawl space until I can hear voices. Once I'm settled on my belly with my ear to the ground I hear the sound of a male voice I don't recognize saying, "Now youre gonna want to sit real still and just let the machine do its job you see. These wires here, they're not gonna hurt you. But they are going to tell me all your secrets. Starting with what you were doing in Mr. and Mrs. Isolda's office last night." there's a long pause and he continues, " oh him. Yes well he's for if you don't cooperate, he is here for if your mouth gets caught telling lies, he is here to make you suffer if need be." He spit out the word suffer like he realized in the taste of it. I am all of a sudden very worried for my friend Val. Her kind soul is not used to this kind of treatment, and despite her responsibilities she is still so young. I can hear as her quiet sobs choke her as she almost inaudibly mumbles "yes. I understand. I'll tell you whatever you like sir just please."
"Please." He interupts, "has no place here. Not anymore. The time for manners is over, the time for compliments, and kindness is over and now is the time for one thing and that's the honest truth, with nothing extra.'' I am now extremely worried for my friend. "Now, Val sweetheart," I hear my mother drawl "we don't want to be here anymore than you do, but someone hacked into our computers. Someone planted spyware in our software. and you're the only other person in this house. So we know it was you. Why don't you save us both some time an tell us the truth now."