Taken Over: Sapphire of Hope

Safe House

"Hello......Oh hi Bruce, how are you......excuse me......oh dear.........ok thank you......I will... thank you very much."

After the phone was hung up, the woman just stood there, staring in disbelief. She couldn't help but cry. The thought of her daughter in some kind of danger scared her too much. As the woman stood there crying, a girl walked in with her backpack ready to leave.

"Okay mom I think I'm ready to...Mom?"

The girl looked at her mother with concern.

"Are you ok? Why are you crying?"

The girl stared at her mother puzzled and concerned. She had not seen her mother cry like this since her father died a few years ago. As the girl looked at her mother, her mother looked up from the phone and immediately wiped away her tears and gave her daughter some instructions to follow.

"Olivia, put your backpack away and get into the basement right now and don't come out until either I or a policeman gets you. Do you understand?"

The girl named Olivia looked even more confused at her mother and began asking questions while her mother started walking around the house looking through drawers and cabinets in desperation to find something.

"Mom what's going on? Why am I going to the basement and not back to school?"

Olivia's' mom stopped looking and turned back to her daughter to answer.

"Honey listen, I need you to do as I say right now and not ask questions. I will tell you later, but right now you need to go to the basement and stay hidden and do what I asked of you ok?"

Olivia nodded with a sight of fear in her eyes. She turned and walked towards the basement door and opened it. Before she went inside, she looked back at her mother who was standing at a cabinet and pulled out a box. Her mother opened the box and pulled out a gun. Olivia immediately went into the basement and waited for the return of her mother, hoping she would be ok.

After about five minutes of sitting in the dark cold basement, Olivia could hear a faint knock from the front door upstairs. Following this knock were footsteps as her mother walked over to the door. Olivia waited in anticipation as silence fell across the house. Finally after what seemed like a lifetime, she heard footsteps across the floor again, but this time it was more than one person walking. She could hear them walking over to the basement door and saw a light as the people opened it and flipped the switch. With each step down the stairs, Olivia felt her heart race faster and faster. Was she about to die? Was her mother already killed? Finally she heard something. It was two familiar voices talking to her.

"Okay honey, come on. I need you to go pack some of your things."

"Olivia, this is Officer Bruce Taftner of the Organ State Patrol. We are taking you and your mother to a secure location where we will inform you of what's going on and ask you a few questions."

Olivia walked out of her hiding spot and looked over to see her mother and best friends dad standing by the stairs. Olivia ran over and hugged her mom and asked what was going on.

"We will tell you at a different location, but right now you two need to pack some things and get outside to one of the trooper vans. We have Officers surrounding the perimeter right now and a second decoy van to ensure safety as we take you down to one of the safe houses."

Olivia and her mother didn't waste another minute. They immediately went upstairs, packed their bags and met outside to walk to the secure van. On their way to the van they could see what seemed like the entire state patrol armed and ready. When they got to the van, Officer Taftner joined them and closed the door. He then talked into his walkie talkie and the van began moving. When they had been driving for about fifteen minute, they stopped and switched into another van. When they got into this one, Officer Taftner spoke to them.