“Mr. Andrews!”
“I gave you my answer Emily, I’m sorry.”
She ran after him anyway. “You don’t understand.” He turned abruptly to face her, catching her off guard. “No,” he said firmly, “That’s where you’re mistaken. You are the one who doesn’t seem to understand here.”
“But people’s lives!”
“Are their responsibility...Not ours.”
He restraightened his suit coat and strode down the glass hallway.
Emily didn’t try to follow him. Arguing would just be pointless. She leaned up against the cool glass window looking out at the Massachusetts autumn. Orange and red leaves swirled down from the dark branches, covering the grass and sidewalks. That they would fall was inevitable. Was it the same with the lives? Inevitable? Mr. Andrews came out the downstairs door, crossing over the leaves to his gold Ferrari. From the other side of the courtyard, the groundsman was blowing leaves off the sidewalk. “Remove them!” Emily said out loud, then quickly ducked her head and glanced around to see if anyone had heard. The hall was empty. That was what she would have to do, though. Her attempts to remove the threat had failed. This was her only option now. She fast walked back to her office to make the last minute flight arrangements. She could leave first thing in the morning. Hopefully it would be enough time.
That night sleep was elusive and fitful at best. Her bags packed, she cleared security with no trouble at all. Nestled down in her seat on the plane, she took out her blank notebook and a pencil. Sketching was always a release for her, but now no ideas came. The blank page stared back at her hauntingly. Then, without really thinking she began to draw the house she’d grown up in, flipping pages to include her memories of The Settlement. Faces from her past began to cover the next sheets, those sweet, peaceful people who had always loved her. Emily was unaware of the tears running down her cheeks until they splashed onto the page blurring some of the lines. She quickly brushed them off of the paper and reached in her bag for a tissue, glad that her nearby fellow passengers were engulfed in their own worlds.
The plane landed and she transferred over to the rental car she had arranged. Paperwork completed, she started driving towards The Settlement. It had been started by her mother, well, by the woman who had raised her. When Emily was eighteen, the woman had called her and her two older brothers into the living room and explained how she had adopted them. Her brothers had taken the news well, they had probably suspected it, but Emily was crushed. Soon after she had left The Settlement and everything she’d called home.
Driving back these many years later, she finally allowed herself to remember. She remembered all the people that had come to The Settlement, disillusioned with the world and wanting to live at peace with nature and each other. Many came from very broken backgrounds and Emily remembered hearing her mother talking with them late into the night downstairs in the kitchen. She counseled them some and listened a lot. Her goal was never for the people to stay forever, though some did and she wouldn’t kick them out, but rather for them to heal and then return to the “real world” to be bringers of peace in their own corners of the brokenness.
When Emily had left she had pursued her career with a passion seldom matched by her peers. She would now be termed successful, holding a position at one of the top testing companies in the country. It was a posh post and she went through all of the necessary motions to maintain it, working hard all day, then often staying up late still trying to track down her birth family. Then one day she realized that one of the projects was more serious than she thought. The company had been contracted by the government to do some secret testing bomb runs out west. That she had seen the map of the location was a complete fluke, but when she did, her heart froze. “I thought you said it would be tested in a uninhabited section,” she had said to Mr. Andrews.
Driving back these many years later, she finally allowed herself to remember. She remembered all the people that had come to The Settlement, disillusioned with the world and wanting to live at peace with nature and each other. Many came from very broken backgrounds and Emily remembered hearing her mother talking with them late into the night downstairs in the kitchen. She counseled them some and listened a lot. Her goal was never for the people to stay forever, though some did and she wouldn’t kick them out, but rather for them to heal and then return to the “real world” to be bringers of peace in their own corners of the brokenness.
When Emily had left she had pursued her career with a passion seldom matched by her peers. She would now be termed successful, holding a position at one of the top testing companies in the country. It was a posh post and she went through all of the necessary motions to maintain it, working hard all day, then often staying up late still trying to track down her birth family. Then one day she realized that one of the projects was more serious than she thought. The company had been contracted by the government to do some secret testing bomb runs out west. That she had seen the map of the location was a complete fluke, but when she did, her heart froze. “I thought you said it would be tested in a uninhabited section,” she had said to Mr. Andrews.
“It is,” he replied, giving her an annoyed glance. “The government arranged it. Apparently some woman bought this huge piece of land about thirty years ago, but twenty five years ago stopped paying taxes on it and isn’t registered anywhere for anything, kind of dropped off the map, so to speak. Probably couldn’t afford it or died or something, who knows.”
“But people live there. There are houses there!”
“The government has no building permits on record and no one’s name is tied to the property except that women and there’s been no contact with her for twenty five years! The government considers the property to have returned to their hands and they choose to have us execute the testing at that site.”
Her arguments fell on deaf ears because the inhabitants of The Settlement were undocumented and Mr. Andrews didn’t want to lose his power. She turned onto the dirt road at the faded sign. She’d tried everything from that end, only to be told that if she didn’t drop it, she would be fired and blacklisted. Now she was about to reenter a world she’d sworn never to even think of again.
There it was. The big house. It wasn’t all that big, but compared to the little cabins scattered around, it was a mansion. No one seemed to be outside. She parked the car and went up the creaky steps and crossed the wooden porch. The paint had seen better days. She knocked. “Hello?” When no one answered her call, she tried the door. Unlocked. Of course, why would she think any differently. That’s how it always had been. Everything was still. Silent. She walked through the house, calling out as she went. Dust and cobwebs danced through the air, as if the house waking from a long and dreadful sleep. The kitchen still had a plate with the remnant of a couple crumbs by a list and pen on the counter and two teacups nearby but all of the other pots and pans and dishes were in order, hanging from their own hooks, sitting on their own shelf. So organized. The living room was next. She just leaned on the doorway transfixed by the empty chairs. Had someone else warned them? Where had they all gone? Someone always stayed in the big house in case a new guest came.
What are you thinking, Emily? Of course it could change. You’ve been gone fifteen years. For a minute she forgot why she had come. She just wanted to run upstairs to her old room and then run out through the fields of wildflowers she had always played in. Then she heard it. The steady drone of the airplane.
There it was. The big house. It wasn’t all that big, but compared to the little cabins scattered around, it was a mansion. No one seemed to be outside. She parked the car and went up the creaky steps and crossed the wooden porch. The paint had seen better days. She knocked. “Hello?” When no one answered her call, she tried the door. Unlocked. Of course, why would she think any differently. That’s how it always had been. Everything was still. Silent. She walked through the house, calling out as she went. Dust and cobwebs danced through the air, as if the house waking from a long and dreadful sleep. The kitchen still had a plate with the remnant of a couple crumbs by a list and pen on the counter and two teacups nearby but all of the other pots and pans and dishes were in order, hanging from their own hooks, sitting on their own shelf. So organized. The living room was next. She just leaned on the doorway transfixed by the empty chairs. Had someone else warned them? Where had they all gone? Someone always stayed in the big house in case a new guest came.
What are you thinking, Emily? Of course it could change. You’ve been gone fifteen years. For a minute she forgot why she had come. She just wanted to run upstairs to her old room and then run out through the fields of wildflowers she had always played in. Then she heard it. The steady drone of the airplane.
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