Fall With Me (UIC 2022)

7 - Time Capsule

Silence filled the car as Sawyer and her mother followed the moving truck through the heart of HecateCity. Sawyer rested her head against the passenger side window, thoughts speeding by in time with the cityscape.

So much had changed in the five years she had lived in the bar district: new buildings and roads, old warehouses demolished and replaced with playgrounds or skate parks. It was odd, Sawyer noted, seeing people out and about in the daytime. There were friends shopping and families enjoying the weather in one of the parks—not a seedy character among them.

Sawyer shifted in her seat and brushed her hair away from her face. Gone were the long nights and tired feet, the few hours she got to sleep. As of today, she no longer had to deal with drunken patrons and fend off unwanted sexual advances. No one was counting on her to tend a bar, act as a server or maid, or make sure the till was correct at the end of the night. Not only that, but for the first time in a long time, a full refrigerator was waiting for her at home; no more counting pennies and living off of cheap, questionable ramen. Everything she had spent sleepless nights agonizing over had vanished in the rearview mirror.

Nearly everything.

Mom stopped at a red light, right next to a very familiar building with bright lights and a massive parking garage: Stillwater Casino. Oh, shit. Sawyer quickly scrunched down, wishing that she had a hoodie or jacket—anything to cover her lavender hair.

"Sawyer? What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"Please tell me that he's not there," she whispered, peering over the car door. Her heart began thudding wildly in her chest as she remembered the alpha's massive fangs and claws, the blood flowing down her arm.

"Who?" Mom asked, peering across her to look through the passenger side window.

"Alpha Owen."

"No, I don't see him," her mother replied quickly, but Sawyer noticed that her grip tightened on the steering wheel.

"Did he ask you about me after ... what happened?"

Mom sighed, fingers relaxing a little. "A couple of his enforcers showed up at the house that morning, but you were already gone. We showed them your note and they left. That was the last time we ever heard from him."

Sawyer took a deep breath, pressing a hand to her chest. Part of her had always worried that Alpha Owen would punish her parents. Relieved that it hadn't happened, her heartbeat slowed.

The light turned green and Mom put her foot on the gas, pulling away from the casino.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Licking her lips, Sawyer glanced at her mother. "Talk about what?"

Mom sighed softly. "Everything. You didn't say much that afternoon. And, well, we didn't get to talk about it afterward."

Sawyer dropped her head to stare at the plastic bag her mother had hooked onto the glove compartment. "No," she whispered. "Not yet."

From the way her mother's shoulders hunched, that wasn't the answer she was looking for. "All right," she allowed. "Just remember, we're here for you. And if you would rather not talk to us—or Caleb—I can call the therapist we went to."

Therapist? Sawyer straightened in her seat. "When did you and Dad see a therapist?"

Mom flashed a little smile. "Oh, all three of us went—me, Dad, and Lee."

"Why? When?" This was news to her.

"It was before we brought you home. The agency suggested that we attend a few sessions to help your brother process what was going on."