Helicopters

Jakob

It is the middle of the night when I hear helicopter blades whipping. Helicopters? I leap out of bed and run to the window. I am right. There is a helicopter landing on the front lawn. And the place across the street. There is a helicopter every few houses as far as I can see.

I hear my mother scream as the door splinters. I stay silent as she tells them that it is just her and my dad in the house, and that I am at a friend's house, so I shouldn't be here. She says it very loudly and I know that she is telling me to leave. But I don't want to leave them! I can't! My bedroom door starts to open, and I don't think I have a choice.

I stop running when I reach the tree. Then I climb up the branches and nestle myself in. There are so many helicopters! I don't understand how they (whoever they are) can have such a supply.  I block my ears, but the noise doesn't go away. I give up, and remove my fingers from my ears. Sit and wait while my feet tingle underneath me.

My legs are shaky and slightly numb as I stand up. The helicopters are gone. Just how long have I been sitting here? I peer at my watch. 2:38. It had just gone midnight when I climbed the tree, hadn't it. So, if my numeric knowledge is up to scratch, then that means that I have been here for like two hours! Well done, Jakob! You can count! 

Then I see her. There is someone standing by my tree, barely visible because of her black clothes. I watch her until my eyes start to glaze over. She has been standing there for quite some time now, and still hasn't done anything. She makes me uneasy. I can't see her face. it is covered by her long, slightly unruly black hair. It must somehow have got all over her face while she was... what? Running away?

She seems pretty calm. Maybe she's with the helicopter people! No. She would have gone with them. She seems too young anyway. Okay, actually I can't tell. She might be 25 or so. Or she might be my age. I can't see her well enough.

I smell smoke. A house fire? It doesn't smell like normal smoke, though. Weird. I peer more closely at the girl and see her raise a hand to her mouth. The lit end of a cigarette shines in the dim light of the very early morning. Pale feathers of smoke curl from her mouth. I cough. She tenses and flattens herself against the tree. My throat is burning, and I can't stop myself from coughing again. She looks upwards and I see her face staring at me through the branches. 
"Hi," I croak. She drops the cigarette and stomps on it. The girl starts to climb up my tree. What?! No! My tree!  I scramble backwards. She is soon crouched in front of me.

I stare at her. She's that new girl in my math class! The scary one who listened to really loud rock music through the whole class. Wow, she's even more scary up close. She's not wearing her uniform anymore but she isn't  in pyjamas either. Some kind of loose-fitting grey top with ripped off sleeves and a skull design. Unless they are pyjamas. I guess I'm not familiar with what kind of things girls wear at night...

The top is splattered with blood. I wonder if it's hers. Her hair covers most of her face , but the part that isn't concealed completely is heavily pierced, and streaked with dark black eyeliner, like she's been crying. She doesn't seem like the tearful sort. What was her name again? Rose. She doesn't seem like a Rose either.

Now that  she is wearing something that shows her arms, I see that they're covered in intricate tattoos. Is that that legal? She's only 13! And she was smoking earlier! something else she doesn't seem like: a 13-year-old. She was probably held back like 5 years. She smirks.
"Three." she says. My eyes widen.
"W-what?"

"Held back three years." She mutters. So she's what... sixteen?
"School's a fucking waste of time anyway." I'm not used to swearing. Mum hates it. And it's hard to tell what she's saying because she speaks weirdly. She laughs, and I smell beer on her breath. Oh. Right. She's drunk. Slurring. Makes sense. 
"Uh, okay." I mumble awkwardly. "Well, uh, I'm Jakob. Not like normal Jacob with a 'c' but like Jakob with a 'k' because my parents are weird and want me to seem Russian. It's not even my first name that's Charles but either way Jakob is way better even if it is Russian..."
I stop, realising that I'm rambling.

She stares at me for a while, and I can feel goosebumps popping up on my arms. Her eyes (at least the one I can see) are almost black, and she doesn't smile. God, that's intimidating. Finally she grunts, then nods,
"Well say Abbie if you like but not count on answers."
I nod back carefully, trying to make sense of that statement. There's something in the way she speaks that suggests a lack of punctuation.

I'm not sure I'd get an answer even if I called her Rose, but I don't really care if she talks to me or not. I'm not on my own anymore, and that's all that matters for now.
"D' you... D' you know where everyone is being taken?" I ask timidly. She sighs loudly, and ignores me. Figuring she'll be puking everywhere later, or at least have a massive headache, I decide to leave her be. 
"No," she whispers eventually, "Now shut up."

I wonder again why she has blood all over her, but don't ask, because I'm trying to get on her good side and shut up. I don't think it's her blood anyway. My mind explores the possibilities. She might have killed one of the helicopter people. She might have been near someone who got killed. But so much blood? They'd have to have been shot or something. But aren't guns supposed to be illegal here?

Wow. How could I even think something like that? These people barged into my house in the middle of the night! I don't suppose they'd care all that much if they broke the law. Again.