Displaced

Chevelle - Sixty-Six

Sleep didn't come easily for me. I held too many secrets inside of me. Timber didn't get any rest. He spent the night on the couch, and the next morning when I woke up, he had created a tornado of a mess in the kitchen and had the darkest of circles around his eyes. I didn't say anything. Sometimes it's best to just leave people alone. He looked like he needed some space.

I grabbed a bagel, my basket of cupcakes, and went to leave from the balcony. "I'll be back to help you with the kids today."

Timber grunted. "No worries, I got it just fine. I'm fine."

"Whatever you say," I mumbled and pressed the call button.

Wicken would be up at the Roof by now, helping prep for the day's business. Did he know about what was going to happen to Earth? No, he would have told me if that were the case. There was no way anyone had told him anything. Were they planning to? Did people who lived in the Pit have any clue about what would be transpiring on the place they once called home?

How was he going to react to all of this news? So much at once could send him over the edge. I don't think I was strong enough to take on the task. But I had to face my fears, and trust that everything would be okay. There was no turning back. I loved him, he loved me, so somehow we'd figure it all out.

I walked up the cobblestone road to the restaurant, and even got a little excited when it came into view. The doors were closed, but they always answered whenever I knocked. This wouldn't have been the first time I stopped by with breakfast or other treats. When Patriarch, otherwise known as the boss, came to the door, he took one look at me through the window and his skin paled.

"Good morning," he said softly.

"Hey, everything okay? I've got some stuff for Wick. Kind of need to talk to him. It's important. I hope you don't mind if I steal him away for a little while." I bit down on my lower lip, my stomach getting queasy.

He took me by the hand and had me sit down at one of the tables inside. "Wicken...is no longer on the ship."

"What the heck are you talking about?" Not on the ship? Where else could he be? Earth? Jettisoned into space? How did one simply leave a spaceship?

Patriarch winced. "Something went wrong in his transfer to the surface. Somehow he got traded to another ship."

"Tell your Achlivan bosses to talk to their friends and fix the error then!"

"The other ship belongs to the Gorgachan, who are another –"

"I know who the Gorgachan are. Paul filled us in last night." I tapped my hands on the table to keep myself from reaching across the table and slugging the guy. Don't shoot the messenger, or something along those lines. "What I want to know is how this even happened. Why are the Achlivans trading humans to their enemies? How could they do this to him! The Achlivans aren't gods!"

Patriarch leaned in toward me, his voice lowering. "I don't know how this came about. Trust me, I'm going to find out. It's not impossible to get him back. We just need to do so in the next forty days."

"Why's that?"

"Because that's when the war resumes between the Gorgachan and the Achlivans."

I wanted to puke. The smell of the cupcakes in the basket wasn't helping me, either. Being a woman sucked as it was, sometimes. Pregnancy didn't make things any more fun. Smells bothered me a whole lot more than I remembered. Stupid hormones.

I pushed the basket toward Patriarch. "You guys can share these. If you can, pass on the message to Wicken."

"What message?" he asked, and peaked into the basket. I'm sure he knew then. Timber hadn't been kidding when he said he'd make letters out of sugar for me. He went all out. Spelled on the cupcakes in big, bold letters was "Congratulations Daddy!" Cheesy, I know, but I thought it would soften the blow in case I couldn't find the right words to say. I was an idiot for waiting. If I'd told Wicken sooner, then maybe he wouldn't have been traded. Shouldn't the Achlivans have known, though? They knew everything else. I hated them. Every time my life was going okay, these stupid aliens messed it all up.

Patriarch gazed down at the cupcakes, his eyes glossy with tears. "I will make this right. I promise."

"Yeah, whatever." I left the restaurant before he got to see me cry.