To Dust

The Strangers

They came in the night, after I had fallen asleep. I was startled awake by the opening of my creaky bedroom door. Light poured in from the hallway, and I could see the outline of my mother, but her back was to it so I couldn't see her face until she flipped on the light. Her eyes were red, but dry, and her lips pursed downward into a tight frown.

"You need to get up and get dressed." she said, the coarseness of her voice upsetting me.

"You've been crying." I said, trying to meet her eyes, but she would not look at me.

"Get dressed please and come downstairs. We have guests." she replied, turning sharply on her heel and retreating down the hall.

I promptly jumped out of bed and pulled on a pair of dark jeans and a hoodie. It was early October and the weather could be slightly chilly. If not for my mother's face I would have been excited to be going somewhere in the middle of the night.

We often went on slushy runs, or trips to the park, or sometimes my dad would take me to our special place up on the mountain, where we would watch the sunrise and listen to the forest come alive as the first rays of sunlight came through the trees.

I glanced at the alarm clock on my desk. It was barely one in the morning. I exited my room, closing the door softly behind me, and hesitantly walked down the stairs. At the bottom by the front door was a shoe rack, and I grabbed my sketchers and strapped them to my feet before pausing. I could hear quiet voices coming from the kitchen.

The first and most upset one, was my mother's. She was crying this time and I couldn't make out her words. My father's stern voice came after and then for a moment it was silent.

"Audra!" my father yelled, assuming that I was still upstairs.

I tiptoed to the door and peaked inside. My mother sat at the table by herself, her head in her hands as tears dropped silently off of her chin and into her lap.

Two figures stood by the fridge at the end of our island counter. They wore all black and they reminded me of secret agents from a movie I had once seen. One was a tall African man with a shaved head and the other, a woman shorter than my mother, who was slightly pudgy and reminded me of Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter, but with a slight under bite and longer, darker hair pulled back in a slick bun.

My father was on the opposite end of the counter, gripping the edges tightly. I could see veins bulging on his arms and a few on his forehead seemed ready to burst. I met his eyes with a look of concern.

"Audra, please come in here and sit down." my father said, loosening his grip on the counter.

I walked in slowly, never taking my eyes off of the strangers who in turn, never took their eyes off of me. I sat down on the bar stool closest to my father. My mother was now behind me, and hadn't moved and inch since I had entered.

In front of me, sat a ballpoint pen, one of the fancy ones that my father always kept in his shirt pocket. I looked at it and looked back up at him.

"I need you to show these people what you can do with that pen." he said.

I couldn't believe what he has just asked. Since I had discovered my ability to make things come apart, I was specifically told not to show anyone. I cast a distrusting look at the strangers.

"Audra, please." he sighed, burning a hole into the counter with his stare.

I looked back down at the pen, and suddenly it levitated. Piece by piece, the pen came apart, each individual part hovering inches above the counter. The African man's eyes were now raised.

"All the way." my father instructed.

I nodded and the spring unraveled and the plastic and rubber melted and folded in on itself, before becoming tiny particles that came to a rest in a pile of dust on the counter.

My mother let out a sob from behind me, and the pudgy woman stepped forward.

"She's perfect." she said in a whiny voice, not unlike Umbarage's.

"She can't reverse it?" the African man asked.

"Not once it becomes like that." My father said, gesturing to the pile on the counter.

"Perhaps, with some time," the woman said. "We are ready to take her now."

My head snapped toward my father, who looked down at me with such sadness and fear that I could barely hold back tears.

"Take me? Where are they taking me?" I hollered, rising to my feet when the man came toward me.

"Audra please, you'll be alright." my father tried, but I was 12 years old, not stupid.

"I don't want to go! Momma please don't make me go!" I chanced a glance at my mother who in turn looked at my father.

"Don't make this harder Lis." He said to her, looking away from us both.

The man continued to approach me. I stepped back until my back hit the wall.

"Mom, dad, do something!" I screamed, but no one moved to help me.

"Johnathan." my mother sobbed.

"Go upstairs Lis." my father said, but my mother dared not move.

The man was mere steps away now, and I could feel my blood boiling. Every nerve ending felt like it was on fire. I shut my eyes, for fear my head might explode if I continued to witness the scene before me. I made a move to run from the kitchen but the man caught me by the waist and pulled my closer, as I was kicking and screaming.

I felt the sharp prick of a needle going into my neck and I started to panic and thrash harder than before.

"Mom, " I screamed in horror, "Momma please help me!"

She covered her ears and began sobbing. My father had moved next to the pudgy woman. They were talking softly and I couldn't hear while my blood was throbbing in my ears. My heart beat hard against my rib cage and I wanted to cry. Suddenly, I felt my body slow my breathing, without any thought on my part.

My limbs began to turn to jelly and I would have fallen, had the man not been holding me up by my armpits. My head went fuzzy and started to loll to the side and I finally caught part of the conversation my father was having.

"The money will be transferred Monday morning, Mr. Morris. It was a pleasure to meet you and your wife. We look forward to meeting the newest edition to your family here in a couple months. You take care and have a goodnight." Pudgy said, and after that, everything went dark.