The World We Once Knew

Chapter Eleven

Akoni

I see Finn sitting at a table with a bunch of people. I grab some grub and go to sit with them. They see me coming and stand up and salute me. I salute back and we sit down. As it turns out they are all Majors just like Finn. They, however, are all in their twenties, but we knew we were the youngest officers on this side of the planet. After dinner Finn and I retire to our quarters. Finn strips down to boxers and climbs into bed. I do the same but put my dirty clothes in the hamper, something Finn neglects to do. I make sure to grab that girls photograph from my pocket though. I climb into bed and just stare at it for a while. I have a tough decision. Actually I have no decision. I have to kill this girl's family.

I wake up to Finn singing in the shower and just start laughing to myself. He comes out with a towel wrapped around his waist and a t- shirt on and looks at me. 

"Nice voice hot shot." I say as I walk in to the bathroom to take my shower. As I'm closing the door I hear him laughing. He reminds me of a carefree child. He always looks at the positive side of things and always has a smile on his face. He reminds me of my little brother, Erik. Oh and that reminds me I need to contact a lawyer. I jump out of the shower and dry myself off. I open the door and Finn is already dressed. 

"Get dressed you sexy beast." He says as he shuts the door to the bathroom so I can get dressed. I know he's been trying to think of that comeback the whole time I was in there. "Am I going to see a nude scene if I come out?" Finn shouts.

 "Hold on.", I say as I quickly put on my boxers, "Okay sweetheart you can come out." I say in a girly voice. He opens the door and throws a shampoo bottle at me. We laugh and I finish getting ready. We are about to walk out when I remember the photograph. I put it back into my pocket and we walk to the Monitoring Room.

I get the folder out of the safe and pull up the workers profiles who are working on the main floor. I pick one at random. His name is Jim and it seems like he won't have a problem with this assignment. I call down to Finn, who's checking in on everyone down there, and he sends up Jim. "Have a seat Jim. As you now know I am in charge of the Monitoring Room. I already have an assignment and you are going to be my point man. Here's what's going to happen: you are going to get the grandfather on the father's side to kill everyone but this girl." I hand him the photograph. He looks at it and hands it back. "Then you are going to get him to kill himself. Do you understand?"I say looking at him. 

"Yes Sir!" Jim says.

 "Good. Dismissed." I say and as he reaches for the door knob I include, "Oh and start working on this now. I would like this done within two days." He nods and walks away shutting the door behind him. I send him the targets profiles and then look over some other reports until lunch.

Finn and I eat lunch in our office. About an hour or so after there's a knock on the door. Finn gets up and answers it. There's a man standing there with a nice Italian suit and a briefcase. 

"I need to speak with Colonel Akoni Maleko Kale, please. It's very urgent." He says in a deep voice. 

"Come in." I say standing up to shake his hand and after I point to the chair. 

He sits and looks at me, "This is about your mother and siblings." I hold up a hand to cut him off. 

I look at Finn, "Hey I need to attend to this matter in private. Do you mind going down for a while?" 

"No Sir." Finn says and gets up and leaves. 

"What happened?" I say. He sighs: "Your stepfather killed your mother. He's going to jail. Either you take full custody of your siblings or they go into foster care and they most likely will get separated. I have papers for both options for you to sign when you decide." He's so calm, like this is just daily news. 

"My, my, my, my mother is dead?" I stammer out. 

"Yes. Your stepfather and her were involved in an argument at their residence. He hit her in the head which resulted in her skull cracking. She died when she received the blow. She didn't feel any pain." He tries to reassure me. He sets two pieces of paper down on my desk. One is for me to take custody the other is for me to put them into foster care. I don't even have to think about it. I grab the pen and sign. 

"Please date it as well." He says casually. I do and he takes both papers. "You should be receiving them within the week." He says. He looks at me with pity and then shakes my hand and walks out the door.

Once I'm alone I pick up the lamp on my desk and throw it at the wall. It shatters, leaving pieces of glass all over the floor. I wanted this but not at the expense of my mother's death. Not that I loved her but still. Now I'm in charge of four kids and three of them are going to be living with me. 

"Are you okay?" I hear Finn's calming voice say. "

My mom died and we just got three new small roommates. Plus I sentenced a girl's entire family to death this morning. So yeah everything is great. Just wonderful." I snap and walk out and back to my quarters. I crawl into bed and don't even stir when Finn comes in. I hear him saying something in a foreign language and crack my eyes open to see him kneeling on the floor with his eyes closed. I assume he's praying. I didn't even know he was religious. He gets into bed after turning off the light. I hear his breathing get deeper and deeper until he's snoring. Finally I fall asleep with tears streaming down my face in little water falls.