Black Rose

Real monsters

I moved towards the stairs so that I could eavesdrop from outside the door, but just as I did so, I heard a door creak, this time from behind me.

"Lia?"

I turned to find Jackson standing at his door, watching me curiously.

I glanced upstairs before looking back at him and forcing a smile. "Hey, buddy. How are you doing?

"I'm bored. Do you want to play monsters with me?"

"Sure. How do you play?"

"Well, I'll be a scary monster, and you be a human I want to eat." He said, with a grin.

I smiled. "Alright, should I run and hide then?"

His face lit up. "Yeah! You go hide and I'll count to 10 then go find you."

I nodded. "Okay, scary monster."

He scrunched up his eyes and started counting loudly, so, treading with light feet, I manoeuvred around the bench and into the kitchen, where I crouched under the island counter. Jackson finished counting and immediately ran into the kitchen, spotting me. I expected him to cheer at his accomplishment but he just let out a dramatic sigh.

"No! You have to do a proper hide, or else I'll eat you."

I smiled, crawling out from under the counter. "I'm sorry, buddy. Can you give me another chance?"

He nodded dramatically. "Ok. But hide for real this time. I'll go count in my room and give you more time."

He left, and once he was out of sight I turned back to the stairs and walked over.

Careful to avoid making a sound, I climbed them to the upstairs area I had been in hours before. I padded down the hallway, stopping outside Blake's office.

I heard Jackson finish counting downstairs and let out a fake roar. I would only have a few minutes before he came upstairs and blew my cover, so I took a deep breath and leaned in against the door. From there, I could make out most of what Blake was saying.

"Is there any way we could stop the shipment? Divert it to go down to Romero in Cuba?"

There was a pause as the person on the other end spoke. Blake let out a frustrated groan.

"Yeah, just what I needed on a day like today. And with Joey nonetheless. He promised me just last night that he wouldn't give me any trouble."

Another pause.

"No, I get it. If they think the cattle are infected, they'll quarantine the ship, and go poking around. It's not worth the risk of them finding the girls."

He let out an exasperated sigh. "I don't fucking know, Danny. I'm not an expert on international livestock regulations it's not my fucking job. As a matter of fact, it's yours."

"Enough," he snapped. Then, after a beat, he continued, his voice agitated. "Have you talked to Gary yet? He goes way back with a guy in customs. Might be able to pull some strings."

At that moment, I heard Jackson climbing the stairs, and I quickly stepped away from the door and wandered down the hallway, ducking into the doorway of one of the other rooms. Jackson made it up and wandered down, quickly spotting me. He let out a groan. "Lia you aren't very good at this game."

I smiled, trying to conceal my anxiety. "I'm sorry, Jackson. I didn't know where to hide."

He squinted at me for a moment, then shuffled closer and said, "You wanna know one of my secret hiding spots?"

That piqued my interest, thinking to Blake's anger, or even Gwen. If I ever needed to get away, a hiding spot would be very handy, even if it was from a four year old. "You would show me?"

He nodded. "I've got lots, but I'll show you the best one."

With that, he pulled me into the room behind the doorway I'd been crouching in. It was the laundry. My heart fell as he opened the door to the washing machine, expecting him to climb in.

But he didn't. Instead, he used the door to climb on top of the machine. Then he pulled across a basket from the bench and put it down, bottom up. Then he climbed on top. I reached out to catch him, instinctively going to save him, but he balanced perfectly. With the extra height, he reached up to a barely visible line in the ceiling and pushed it open. Above, I could see the sky, coming through the mirrored glass that enclosed the house, but before that was a small space, big enough to crouch in, that sloped upwards. Jackson tugged down a rope ladder and turned to me.

"Up there. Daddy and mummy stores stuff here but never go in." He said. "They've never found me up there."

"And you showed me? Thank you Jackson, I feel honoured."

He tilted his head. "What does honoured mean?"

"Good question," I said. "It's like when you're happy someone has done something. You feel all warm and fuzzy."

He thought about that for a second then grinned. "I'm honoured that you're playing with me."

"Aw, thanks Jackson. Now how about you get down from there and we can find a different game, okay?"

He nodded, so I helped him down and packed away the hiding place so it was as it was before. Jackson sighed, wandering back out into the hall.

"You know, I'm glad we're playing a different game." He said. "I don't even like monsters anyway."

"No," I agreed, looking across at the closed office door, "I don't like monsters either."

He'll learn soon enough, a voice whispered to me, the scariest monsters aren't the ones in storybooks. They're the ones you live with. 

I hoped he would get away before he ever came to that realisation.

I could only hope.