Destiny (The Foreigners Series Book One)

Chapter Three: Lying in Wait

After Jason carried me down stairs and I started to calm down a bit, he and Chad had gone back outside to check the surrounding buildings and make sure the aliens really had left town. They also wanted to pull mom, dad, and Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins from the wreckage if possible and give them a proper burial. Neither of us could bear to leave them in the car if anything could be done to get them out. While they were gone Jacob sat with his wife, the only one of his family members who had made it to city hall. I hadn't seen her before when I had come in to ask Jacob to help Jason carry the bodies to a less suspicious location. I guess I had just been too distracted, my adrenaline pumping too hard. He was comforting her, telling her that everything would be alright, and apologizing for putting her in danger. I hadn't thought about it before, but it would be nice to have someone other than family to hold you close and make you feel like things would be okay. Maybe one day I could have something like Jacob and his wife, Samantha. I was happy for them though, they needed each other.

To give them some space, I decided to go up the stairs to dad's office. Jason wouldn't be happy with me going by myself, but I would be cautious and go straight there and back. They had already checked the building to make sure that there weren't any foreigners here anyway.

I climbed the stairs out of the basement and opened the door leading to the main level. Destin wasn't a big town, but the city hall had been built with no expense spared. Dad had said that our little town deserved a crowning jewel. On the main level there was a large foyer with marble columns and tile floors. The plants that the custodial staff had always taken care of decorated the space, but were beginning to turn brown in places due to lack of water now that no one was here to tend to them anymore. It made the room smell like a greenhouse. Off the foyer there were two hallways. Each hallway had its own courtroom and several offices along with an employee bathroom and a waiting room for the folks who had business to tend to. I had been to this place so much as a kid I knew each person who worked here and all the nooks and crannies in the building.

Without a pause, I turned the corner from the side of the front desk where the basement stairs were located and started up the marble staircase leading to the second floor. The second floor wasn't as grand as the first, but the floors were hardwood and the offices were more spacious up here. Dad's office was at the end of the long hallway. As I reached the door I ran my fingers over the gold nameplate beside the frame. Frank Claymore was written in a beautiful script and below it were the words "Breaking barriers, building solutions." That had been his campaign slogan when he had run for mayor. The people in town had loved him from the start and were happy with him even after everything went down. He always defied the odds and found ways to make things work.

Thinking of him working long nights and campaigning brought tears to my eyes. I was so proud of him. Wiping them away I stepped over to the plant in the corner by his office. Scooting it to the side I picked up the extra key that he always kept there to his door. Dad would always forget his key when he left for work in the mornings, so mom had him an extra one made so he didn't have to make a fool of himself by driving all the way back home to get his key. The thought made me smile as I unlocked the oak door and twisted the handle.

As I walked inside the smell of my dad's aftershave filled my nose. It was a smell I wouldn't allow myself to forget now that he was gone. I closed the door behind me and locked it back just to be safe. If Jason came looking for me, he had the other key so I didn't have to worry about letting him in.

I moved around the room slowly touching dad's things. His office was cluttered with small cutesy things I had made for him as a kid. The bead keychain that said Claymore was hanging from the side of a picture frame on his desk. I picked it up and looked into my mother's eyes. Everyone had always said I looked so much like her she could've spit me out, but she was so beautiful. I didn't hold a candle to her. I was going to miss them...so much.