Heartbeat

Chapter 22- Clem

Rudy arrived first after Clem opened up the Res.

"Win split. I don't know that she'll come back." He said with a grimace of pain on his face. Clem's own face fell, but she was not surprised.

"It's a loss, but we'll move past it. How are you?" She asked; Rudy only shrugged nonchalantly.

"Not happy about Oskar; I shouldn't have walloped him."

"You know I'm gon' need you to hit hard a few more times, right?" She asked. He sighed.

"I'd rather not, but I can't do much else; I've definitely lost my job at the Bank." Clem laughed at this.

"Don't worry, Rudy, when all this is done, we'll hire you back. We need you, though; you know we lack muscle, and you have it in spades." She put a hand on his arm, and he nodded reluctantly.

"No matter what, I'll take care of your mom, ok? I got her." She said to him seriously. He nodded again.

"I got some food in the cupboards down the hall; grab a bite and a drink while we wait for the others." He listened and went down the hall while Clem waited for more to arrive.

Clem knew she wasn't the most patient person. Waiting on other people was particularly difficult for her. Therefore she preferred chaos. She was the most useful and saw the best results when her whole self focused on reacting immediately in time. She knew Granny's ability to wait was something that set her apart. Clem never seemed to be able to master it.

Clem paced the Res, thinking over every possible situation that could occur. Wondering what she would do if it were only her and Rudy. She knew Rudy could hear her pace; she almost wished he was more panicked so she could calm him down instead of herself.

Clem's thoughts jumped from Meg and Sal to Zelda, Granny, and Dal and back to Meg and Sal. The whole day Clem had to be confident that Meg and Sal were missing; they weren't in danger. Her fears had always strayed towards Meg running, not that she had been taken. The notion that Granny had orchestrated it made Clem feel sick. She couldn't yet face the devastating truth. Meg had always insisted that Granny was a monster, and Clem wouldn't hear it. She knew Granny could be brutal, ruthless, and even cruel, but Clem had justified that it was her being pragmatic. It took those qualities to bring the Widows to the level of success she had. Clem was never meant to be an enforcer, she was a healer, a protector, and now she had allowed them to be taken and possibly sold. Clem pulled at her own hair as she paced. She pulled out a jays and lit it frantically, smoking it faster than she had ever smoked one before and promptly pulled out another. The longer she was left alone, the more time passed; her emotions threatened to overwhelm her. Finally, panic set in as she couldn't help but picture Sal being put into a situation similar to one she had experienced or other horrors that she knew had occurred.

Clem thought of Meg when she was smaller. The youngest of all the kids growing up. After all her family had gone, Clem's job was to keep her working and out of trouble. Clem cursed herself for allowing any of this to happen.

Nula, Dame Cora, Granny, now Meg and Sal. And where's Dal? Clem thought. Dal hadn't been mentioned by anyone throughout the whole night. Clem was confident Zelda or Lamb would have thrown them into Clem's face if they had hurt them.

Clem stamped out her third jays. She would kill for a drink; she felt trapped in her body. Every plan she could think of had holes. She didn't know how they could escape or how they could find Meg and Sal and bring them home.

Meg, the Pigeon. A cruel nickname based on how vulnerable she was for being unable to hear. It would have been so easy to take her and Sal. You wouldn't even need to hire anyone impressive.