Page 43 of Longing for Liberty
I couldn’t help but think that one of these days those flashing lights would be coming for us. I just hoped we could pass along as much information as possible before that happened.
NINETEEN
STATE NEWS: POLLS SHOW STATE CITIZENS ARE HAPPIER THAN EVER IN HISTORY!
I wore my thin,plastic rain jacket when I left the house the next morning, keeping my head down as I walked. A buzz of whispers was in the air, I assumed about last night’s events. Rebecca jogged up to me, holding her jacket’s hood to keep it from blowing off.
We stood at a distance from others, and I whispered, “What happened last night?”
She turned her head enough to peer over at me in question.
“Jeremy didn’t tell you?”
I shook my head, hating the feel of water soaking into my stockings. I peered over at the empty stocks where I’d expected to see somebody this morning.
Rebecca sighed. “That young couple…she killed him. Stabbed him in his sleep.”
I brought my hand up to cover my mouth as shock pummeled me. No words came, but Rebecca kept going.
“It looked like she tried to cut her wrists after, but she was alive when they took her.”
“My gosh,” I whispered. I didn’t want to think about how bad it must have been to get to that point.
“Are you okay?” she asked me as her bus pulled up.
“Yeah…don’t worry about me,” I told her. “Have a good day.”
She rushed forward, and I saw my bus coming up behind hers. I was glad for the rain that allowed me to keep my head fully down, hiding the way my face must have looked. When my bus pulled up, I waited in line to climb on, then stood dripping, holding on to the slick bar with my head still down until we got close and I felt the energy change on the bus. I looked to see a crowd outside, and my heart accelerated.
We climbed off and joined the throng of spectators on the wet sidewalks to the towers, all of us shuffling along slowly, shoes squelching. Finally, whispers made their way down to us.
“A woman is shackled in the square!” someone said.
Oh, no.
“Is she dead?” someone else asked.
“No, she’s alive, in the stocks.”
The people from my neighborhood glanced quietly at one another, and I dropped my head, afraid I might throw up. It had to be our neighbor girl on public display. We finally got to the building, but I didn’t join the others going toward the square to gawk despite the rain. I went straight to Eagle Tower. I wouldn’t be able to stand seeing her like that, no matter what she had done.
The Secretary wasn’t home. Thank goodness. I had a lot of feelings to work through and was terrified I’d break into tears in front of him. I set my heels neatly by the door and peeled off my wet stockings, bringing them to the bathroom to hang dry. I took deep breaths as I walked through the penthouse, letting the air out of my lungs slowly.
The rooms were dim with the absence of sunlight through the clouds. Rain pattered against the windows, causing a white noise that helped to soothe my nerves.
I couldn’t bring myself to eat breakfast right away. First, I stripped the beds and started the wash. Once my system was calm enough, I ate half of the food, but it didn’t settle easily. I stopped mid-toilet scrub to sit on the edge of the bathtub while a bout of nausea passed. When I heard the penthouse door open and close, I stood abruptly, my head spinning.
Amos Fitzhugh was suddenly standing in the bathroom doorway, and my breath caught. He was wearing gray joggers, tapered at the ankle, and a black tank top that displayed his arms. My eyes greedily drank in the moisture at his hairline as he pushed back the damp locks that had fallen forward. I’d never seen him in anything but a suit…and a towel that one time. It felt intimate seeing him like this, coming straight from the gym like a normal person in the old days—which he very much wasnot. He eyed me as I placed the toilet scrubber back in its place.
“H-hello, sir. Good morning.” I wiped my hands nervously on my apron.
Once again, the hair flopped onto his forehead, and he pushed his hand through it to force it back. “Your neighborhood has been busy.”
My eyes dropped, along with my stomach, as I nodded. “Too busy, sir.”
“Did you know them?”
I looked directly at the middle of his tank top as my fingers fiddled in front of me. “Not very well.”
