Who We Are (34 page)

The brief encounter with his love calmed his nerves. As he walked back into his house, he realized how lucky they were that her memory had returned prior to them leaving Hemac. Desire was so innocent and easily swayed. She didn’t seem to have the mental acuity and inner strength that Darby had. Now that Darby was herself again, he found comfort knowing that she would be less likely to slip up and expose them. Darby was such a strong determined young woman. He couldn’t imaging loving anything or anyone as much as he loved her.

Chapter Thirty

Desire entered the Church and headed downstairs where the ladies of the town would be busy continuing their preparations for the Celebration. When she opened the door to the basement, she went down a small hallway. She normally attended Bible study in the classroom but today she would go into the room where the ladies worked, which was down the hall to the right of the classroom. When she entered the room, all the ladies looked up and paused for a moment before swarming her with hugs and condolences. A little overcome by emotion, a few tears welled up in her eyes.

“Whatever are you doing here, my dear?” one of the ladies asked her.

Desire wiped a few tears from her eyes. “My Papa has informed me that I am to take Mover my mama’s responsibilities until such time that he can find a suitable wife. So I thought I would come here to ask about what you might need for the Celebration, whatever Mama was responsible for.” She looked at all the ladies looking up to her and understood how good this must have felt to Mama. Here, she had been important and she was somebody.

Mrs. Proctor came bustling toward her from the far end of the room. “Oh dear child, I am sure your Papa didn’t mean this. It’s too soon.” She hugged Desire warmly.

“Darling, despite your childish mischief, you have grown into a fine young woman. Seeing you here today would have made your Mama feel very proud. But you needn’t worry about us. Your Mama was very organized and planned everything out well. At this time, we are just taking care of the last-minute details. Taking over the household responsibilities is enough for you to tackle for now and you need your time to rest and adjust. There are plenty of meals in your icebox to warm up and we can always bring more if you need us to. For now, you go home and tend to your house and to your heart.” All the ladies nodded in agreement. “Thank you Mrs. Proctor. I am a little overwhelmed and appreciate the extra time to make sure our house remains in order. Not to mention our vegetables are almost ready to harvest so I need to spend extra time in the fields tending to them.” She paused for a moment and as she did so, she pictured the games and toys she had prepared for the Celebration. Her heart quickened just a bit. How could they escape unnoticed when all the children would be looking for their fun and games?

“I do have one worry Mrs. Proctor,” Desire said.

“Yes dear, tell us please.”

“Well I am supposed to run the Fun and Games at the Celebration, but the truth is I am not sure that I will be much fun whilst still grieving the loss of my mother. I think it may be better for someone else to oversee this. All the games and prizes are finished, so it would not be a great deal of work for somebody else to this on. I could ask Johnny to bring the boxes of prizes, games and instructions to the Hall, if you could find a suitable replacement.”

Mrs. Proctor smiled warmly. “Oh dear, having you been preparing for that? Did no one tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

Mrs. Proctor grimaced. “Well, the decision was made a while back that the four little ones would not be attending the Celebration. It was decided that they will go to Clinic and the staff their will mind them for the night.”

This sort of came as a relief to Desire, thinking that perhaps the children would be spared from an awful fate.              But perhaps also they were being put aside for some new experiment. She would have to think on that later.

“Oh. Okay. No, I did not know that. Well, if there is anything I can still do…”

Mrs. Proctor took her hand and started to lead her away from the group of women. “Well, you could run upstairs and catch Tobias. He has the final list of jobs and duties. I am sure he can find you something else to do. Then do go back home rest, okay?” Mrs. Proctor hugged her once more before turning and going back to an ironing board where she was pressing a huge pile of linen tablecloths.

It took everything in her to keep up this charade and try to pretend that she was oblivious to the true horror of the children’s predicament and the cruelty that was about to befall the entire community. The reality was that the chances of her and Johnny getting out alive were very slim and if they did escape they were running to a future that would more than likely have them looking over their shoulders and living in hiding.

Desire went upstairs. As she walked down the centre aisle, she saw Tobias sitting in one of the front pews. He heard her approach and turned his head. When he saw it was Desire, he smiled and motioned for her to come and sit down.

“Desire, sweet child, how are you doing? What are you doing out so soon?”

She sat down beside him. “Well, I am the woman of the house now and Papa has asked me take over Mama’s responsibilities for a little while. I went downstairs to see to the ladies and offered to help, but they excused me and assured me they had everything under control. Since the fun and games have been cancelled, they suggested I come talk to you about anything I can help with for the Celebration.

He nodded very slightly. “Of course, my dear.” He fumbled through the lists he had in front of him and read them to himself up and down. “Let me see now.” His brow furrowed and he looked deep in thought. He looked up and she thought she saw him wink at her.

“A-ha.” He turned to her. “There is a very important job that your Mama was going to be responsible for as head of the Planning Committee. As you know, the Celebration is intended to be enjoyed by every member of our community. As such, the official Celebration program cannot commence until every member is present and accounted for. Your Mama had the responsibility of checking every person in upon arrival. Once everyone arrives, then the doors to the Hall will close and the Celebration can begin.”

He paused and looked at her. She could see in his eyes that he too knew what was coming. “When that is done, you simply leave the roster on the check-in table and ring that bell that all are present and the Celebration can begin.” He stopped and cleared his throat. “Unless you do this most important task, the Celebration will not be as you hope it will be.”

She could hardly contain her emotions. This was it! This was the solution to hers and Aedan’s dilemma. It seemed too perfect. Keeping calm, Desire only nodded in understanding.

“So,” Tobias continued, “You must arrive at the Hall 30 minutes before people start arriving. This is a big job for one person, so I trust that you will find a suitable helper?” He winked at her and got up. “I have to go now, Desire, as I have a lesson to plan for tomorrow. You run home now and tend to your responsibilities.” Tobias turned and walked toward the back of the church and disappeared through a doorway. She sat for a, fully cognizant of the fact that she was probably being watched. She got up and walked out of the church and headed home. 

Even though Papa had given her the day off, so to speak, Desire completed the household chores when she got home: Laundry, washing floors dusting and polishing. She wanted to whiz through them or not do them at all, but knowing she was being watched she was careful to complete her chores in an orderly and normal fashion.

She fixed herself a small lunch and ate alone at the kitchen table. Once the dishes were tidied she grabbed her vegetable basket and a few hand tools for tending the garden. Lastly, she grabbed her garden gloves and her sunhat. She left the house by way of the back door and fought the urge to give the finger to whomever might be watching.

She walked through the fields and fortunately all the vegetables that were ready to harvest were toward the back of the field, almost out of sight of the neighbours and behind the bushes that allowed her safe passage into the forest. When she got to the bushes, she scooted behind them and laid down her basket, tools and sunhat.

As she approached the entranceway to the forest a chill ran up and down her spine and her heart started to race a little. She had not been in the forest alone since the day Nathaniel attacked her and she was scared to go in now. She tried to go in, but as she did so, her body started to shake. She had a flashback to that awful day. She immediately turned around and left the forest.  She cowered behind the bushes for a moment, shaking uncontrollably. She focused on slowing her breathing down, but kept her eyes open to avoid seeing a replay of that awful afternoon in her mind’s eye. When she managed to compose herself, she sat up to a more comfortable position. She would wait here for Johnny and hoped he wouldn’t take too long.

She put her hat back on because the sun was blazing in the sky and her head was getting quite hot. As she was tying the ribbon under her chin, she heard a rustling in the forest. Feeling a bit nervous, she scurried to the other side of the bushes. As she peeked around the side of the bushes, she heard the rustling again and sounds of twigs snapping. She hoped it was Johnny but until she knew for sure, she would hide here. As she waited, the world around her seemed to get eerily quiet and all she could hear was her own breathing. It seemed so loud in her ears that she felt sure whomever was near would hear. Her heart was pounding so fast and hard, she feel it beating in her chest.

As she peeked ever so slightly around the bushes, she could distinguish a figure coming in her direction, but couldn’t make out who it was. She popped back behind the bushes and waiting to see if the figure came closer. She tried to convince herself that she was being silly, that of course it was just Johnny, but she was not prepared for how she felt approaching the forest all alone, and feeling so afraid scared her just as much as the fear of being attacked. She couldn’t remember a time in her life when she had actually been afraid of something real.

She peeked around the corner of the bush again and screeched a little to see someone standing right in front of her. The sun was blinding her and all she could see was boots and legs. The fear welled up inside of her and she tried to stand, but she fell backwards. She was shaking so badly all over she couldn’t get coordinated enough to stand up. She felt two arms reach for her and was about to start shouting at the top of her lungs when she heard his voice.

“Darby! It’s me, Aedan. It’s okay! No one is ever going to hurt you again.”

He reached down and lifted her up into his arms. His body shielded the sun in her face and she could see him looking down at her. She buried her head in his chest with relief. She felt so safe in his arms. He too had flashbacks of Nathaniel attacking her every time he came into the forest and he knew how it made him feel. He felt nauseous and angry every time he thought about it. He couldn’t imagine how his sweet Darby must feel reliving that dreadful incident.

“Oh Aedan, I am so glad it’s you. I don’t know what happened. I thought I would be fine, but when I got to the edge of the forest here I started to have flashbacks and then my heart started racing and I couldn’t stop shaking. I was filled with so much fear that he would be waiting here for me. Then when I hid behind the bushes until you came the sun was blocking my eyes and I couldn’t see who it was. All I could see were boots and legs! Oh no, I think I am going to be sick!”

Darby loosened herself from his embrace and ran a few feet away to vomit. Aedan knelt beside her a rubbed her back. When she had nothing left to bring, she sat back. He offered her a handkerchief and she wiped her mouth.

“I have got to get a hold of myself! I feel like my mind is spinning so fast with different thoughts and plans that I may freak out at any minute!”

“Darby, I am so sorry. I can’t imagine how that attack has affected you and I don’t know how I can make it better. But I can tell you how much I love you and I promise to you that I will never let anyone hurt you ever again.”

Darby felt better already just being there with him. “Oh Aedan, I think part of it is that there are so many things to be afraid of and it’s like we are walking around in a ticking time bomb. This whole thing is overwhelming and my biggest fear is that every time we part, I don’t know for certain that I will see you again!” She sighed and smiled weakly at him.

Aedan looked back at her with soft eyes. “Well, we have every right to be afraid. I am afraid too even if I don’t show it on the outside. But I think the fear will keep us on our toes and force us to keep our guard up. Just a couple of more days and we will be free of this place.” As he said, this she detected the uncertainty in his voice.

“Why don’t you sound like you believe that?”

When she called him that, he knew she meant business and wasn’t going to let him fluff anything for her benefit. He sighed heavily. “The truth is, Darby, I’m not sure I do believe it. I inspected the Celebration Hall yesterday and as far as I could see there are no points of exit that we could possibly leave from. I took a good look at the doors. They are about a foot thick with an electronic closure mechanism on the top. I assume that this is to remotely seal the doors. There are the restrooms beyond the doors that would seal off at the back of the hall, but if we were to hide there we couldn’t guarantee that that area would protected from the gas. Even if it was, this place will be crawling with Them, whoever They are... We would probably die waiting for our opportunity to escape.” He pounded his fist on the ground just as he had pounded the bed.