Cridex

Chapter One

Sitting on the staircase, I watch as Mom brandishes a metal object downstairs. She speaks in a hushed voice, head bent at an angle to prop her cell phone between her neck and her cheek, and takes great care to clean the wand-like metallic figure. The object is about the size of my forearm, silvery and long, with a small angled cut on the bottom that gives it a sharp tilt.

She polishes it with a cloth, rubbing in small circular motions and then lets out a small noise of satisfaction as she held it up to the light for inspection. The metal glints from the bright lighting, and if I were to guess, it was made of some lighter alloy of metal, rather than a heavy steel or nickel, considering how easy she was handling it.

I hug my arms tight around myself as I lean forward, straining to memorize every detail of every movement that she makes. She speaks into her phone again, whispering so quietly that the words almost blend together, "It is ready." She nodded, to herself, raising her finger to graze softly over a razed button that was almost undetectable from my height. reluctantly, when her finger makes contact with the small pad, she increase the pressure to press it into the slot, before letting it go once more. "It is time." She said softly.

The object made a small whirring sound, and a thin beam of red-tinged light appeared. I watched curiously as Mom made a swiping motion with it, moving it around the house. I settled down on the staircase and leaned on the wooden handrail.

Mom put on her coat and boots, probably ready to go outside. Grabbing her phone, she sticks her earbuds in and nods her head. "Yes, and it seems to be functioning smoothly. The red light is precisely twenty five milimeters, and it is cool to the touch. No sign of over-exertion."

Th person on the other side of the phone murmured something in response, and Mom nodded, looking a bit distracted as she held the figure in her two palms. She cradled it like a small child, and a thought had occurred in my head: whatever that figure was, whatever that figure did, it must have been very important.

It honestly did not look like much to me, though, except for the red light swiveling around, giving me the impression that it was scanning or videotaping the room. Almost like a pen, but longer, in appearance, it looked like something easily misplaced.

"All it needs is just one more press on the second button." Mom explained into her phone, her voice carrying a serious tone. "I need your official acceptance in order to begin the process." Her face grew pensive, as the silence that followed stretched, and her eyes began to wander about the room. I hurled myself against the floor to avoid being seen, crawling forward on my forearms to peek over the edge. There must have been agreement, and Mom's face smiled slightly as she raised the metallic figure once more. "In case of emergencies, I will go over the procedure. Protocol must be followed exactly as written."

She hesitated, as if waiting for encouragement from the other end to begin. She inhaled sharply, and began pacing about the small front room. "Firstly, I will alert the company. Please bring a small team of people with you, to assist in any cases where resistance is expected, and-" She broke off, tilting her head further to the side as she grasped the silver tool in her left hand as she listened.

"Resistance is always to be expected, sir." She looked down at her shoes, before beginning again. "There is a built in alarm calibrated into the design of the device that will tell you my exact location as well." Mom's finger rested over the second button as she spoke. "In case of widespread disobedience in crowds, there is a mechanism..."

She struggled with a piece of cloth and then shoved the object into it, pulling a drawstring tight and then wrapping the ties around her wrist. "The fabric does not harm the detection at all, so in this way, it will be completely inconspicuous." She trailed off listening to last minute instructions that I could not overhear.