Mixed Messages
Chapter 15
The sound of silence

-/-/-/-/-/-

A black-stained hoodie sweatshirt flopped out of the pile in Sandra's arms and onto the floor. She stooped, in front of the washing machine, picked it up, and thought, Bend High School? As in Bend, Oregon?

She brought it to her nose, coughed, and instantly recoiled.

A heavy lump flopped. She slid a hand into the pocket, fished it out, and stared at a thick rubber-banded stack of one-hundred dollar bills. She popped the rubber band and started counting, mouth agape. There's got to be ten-thousand dollars here? Mandy?

She scowled, brought them towards her nose, sniffed, and pushed them away with a hard cough. She threw them into the washing machine, dumped an extra scoop of detergent in, and clicked the knob to heavy duty, extra hot.

She washed her hands, teeth gritted, brought them to her nose, then scrubbed again, with lavender soap this time.

Sandra walked into the kitchen, past the TV, and glimpsed breaking news. A violent shootout with police lead to the break up of a major teen sex-trafficking ring in Vancouver. Six girls aged thirteen and younger were recovered. Authorities are working to reunite them with their parents in the United States. The news man said it appeared that the police broke up a gang war, as the ringleader was decapitated and many gang members were stabbed.

She stared at the TV, and said, "Decapitated? That's weird. Who decapitates people anymore?"

She coughed as the horrible stench of blood, sweat, men, and Skalengek wafted through her nostrils. She wogued, right there in the kitchen, snapped powerful jaws, clawed deep gashes into the cutting board, and snarled, "Lauren!"

Sandra stomped across the kitchen, snatched up her phone, saw four missed calls from Bellingham, Washington and another five from Lauren. She roared, "You! What are you doing to my daughter!"

She snarled and flashed sharp fangs, about to dial, when the phone rang again.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Amanda bounced and her eyes fluttered. Searing pain, and nausea washed over her. She wogued and started to claw, but her whole body screamed. She heard Lauren's voice buzz.

She transformed back to human form and mumbled, "Lauren? Is that you? What happened? Where's Miriam?"

"She was already gone when we got there."

"What? No!" Amanda grabbed for the door handle, but the locks kept clicking.

"Hey! Hands off the door. Focus! Don't go all stupid on me, we're driving."

"No! Miriam!"

"You're lucky to be alive. We're on the way to the hospital."

"No! I'm ok! Mom can't find out!"

"I can't do that to your mom, or Misty. And yes, they're going to be furious."

"No!" Amanda started mumbling, crying, and the world went black.

Her eyes opened and she tried to force them to focus, but they still wouldn't. She scrubbed clumsy fingers across her burning, gritty eyes.

Lauren's voice barely buzzed above the ringing in her ears, "You back with me again?"

Amanda tried to rub her head, but pain ripped through her chest. Tears rolled out of her eyes and she grimaced. She licked her tongue inside her mouth, and caught jagged snags while jolts zapped into her brain. Her head felt fat, her ears rang, and the whole world swirled in the car.

"Listen to me carefully. You blew up a huge mission, and lost eight girls, including your friend Miriam. We had everything in place to recover them and you wouldn't wait on me or the team. You cost us four months of planning. And, you almost got yourself killed. This is very important. Listen."

Amanda said "No!" and started crying.

Lauren paused then continued. "You will only tell your mother that I took you up there. There was no one else. Only the two of us. We got separated and they caught you. I had to rescue you."

"But you weren't even there. Wook."

"Did you hear what I said? This is very important. Don't ruin the lives of people you love. Wook was not there! This is my fault. You will tell your mom and Misty only this! Do you understand? She's also mad about the guy the other night. You will tell her that he was a child molester, I took you to hunt him, and I killed him."

"But?"

"No! People's lives are on the line! The people behind that ring are still out there, and they'll be looking. Am I clear? You cannot tell anyone. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Lauren."

"Ok, here, drink this. You lost a lot of blood." Lauren passed her a bottle of water and a Gatorade.

Amanda tried to lift her arms but they felt like they were made of lead. She barely picked up the bottle and then jerked when icy cold water washed into her eyes and nose.

"Lauren?" she sputtered.

Lauren reached over and poured a tiny sip into Amanda's mouth. She tried to swallow, but started to choke, coughed, and vomited on her shirt. Lauren dumped a wad of napkins in her lap.

Lauren continued, "Now focus. I'm your Aunt Lauren. You were visiting me in Bellingham. You decided to go climb a big tree in the back yard. You fell out of a tree and got hurt. That's what you tell everybody."

"But, um? You live in Seattle."

"It's ok." Lauren pulled out her wallet, flipped through, and pulled out an ID. "Now memorize the address. They will ask."

Amanda stared at the blurry blob, squinted, and mumbled, "I can't see it."

Lauren rattled it off and she repeated the address.

Lauren pushed a phone into her ear. "Yeah, I need an ER room ready. It's for Mandy. She's pretty cut up. She probably has some broken bones, and a concussion. Of course I'll tell her parents as we discussed. I took her there. Nobody else. Look, she's fourteen! Be there in half an hour."

She hung up the phone. "Ok, what kind of tree was it?"

"Don't tell Mom!"

"I have to. We can't keep this secret from your parents, not like this. They love you too much. Ok, now what kind of tree was it?"

"Huh?"

"The hospital will ask. We need to agree on the details and memorize them. We have to tell your mom what I told you, though. Remember, I took you there. You didn't know anything beforehand."

"No!"

"Amanda! Focus!"

Every fiber of Amanda's body screamed. She started crying when the car hit a bump. Her eyes felt heavy and everything went black.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Amanda's eyes opened and she watched the blurry scene from her bed. Her mother angrily pointed a finger in Lauren's face, flashed her eyes fiery yellow, gritted her teeth, then spoke. Lauren sheepishly looked down at the young boy in her arms, apologized, turned, and walked out.

Her mother walked in, looked at a dozen machines and IV's hooked up to her, and gently petted her head. She kissed her forehead and said, "I was so worried!"

"Mom? Where's Lauren?"

"No! She almost got you killed!"

"No! Mom!"

"Enough! We'll talk about this when we get home. Honey, you don't know how much you had us worried."

"Mom! No, she saved me!"

"Sweetie, you almost died! We can discuss this when we get back home."

Amanda tried to pull her legs up to her chest but piercing pains stabbed through her. She wrapped her hands tightly around a pillow, and stared out the window. Tears streamed out her eyes as agony ripped through her body. She watched Lauren get into her car and drive away. She cried until she drifted out again.

-/-/-/-/-/-

Pain knifed into her ribs, which turned into a hand wiggling her body. She opened her eyes. A blurry man in a white lab coat smiled at her, and said, "I'm Dr. Williams. I understand you had a little too much fun climbing trees today. What kind was it?"

She said, "A big cedar tree. I made it almost all the way to the top when a branch broke."

"Well, I guess the tree won, didn't it. You're lucky nothing was broken except your nose and a few teeth. You're one tough cookie. do you play any sports?"

"I cheer."

"You got a good concussion, lost quite a bit of blood, and you're pretty banged up. You have a bunch of bruised ribs, your arm and leg took over two-hundred stitches. No cheering, sports, or trees for eight weeks. Your Mom will have to follow up with your doctor to make sure there are no lingering effects of the concussion before you go battle any more trees."

"But, we have cheer competition!"

Sandra petted her head and said, "Look, Amanda, you have to heal. You took a bad fall out of that tree at your aunt's house. You had us so worried. Cheering will just have to wait. Coach will understand."

Misty brushed a soft hand across her swollen face, kissed her forehead, and said, "Shhh, baby, you need to rest."

The doctor said, "Mom, I'm going to ask you to keep her at home and do online classes until she is all healed up. It's going to be at least eight weeks."

Amanda pulled her pillow into her chest to slow the daggers slicing through her, stared out the window at the light rain brushing orange leaves off the trees, and cried.

-/-/-/-/-

Three days later, Amanda hobbled up into the car. She sat like a stone, silently staring into the horizon from the back seat while shocks jolted through her chest every time she inhaled.

An hour later, Sandra said, "Tell me what happened."

"Mom! It was all my fault."

"No! Tell me the truth. Why were you in Vancouver."

She stared out the window at the fall colors mixed into green spruces and cedars. She started rocking in the seat, closed her eyes, and cried. Lauren's voice echoed through her head, and she said, "Lauren took me."

"Did she tell you why?"

"She said some men kidnapped a bunch of girls, to sell them."

"When did she tell you about this?"

"Saturday morning, right after we left."

"Did you know any of the girls?"

"No."

"There were a lot of people killed. How many more people were with you?"

"None. It was just the two of us."

"I knew that Lauren was trouble! If she's was going to drag you into crazy business like that, I would have expected there to be a whole team, and you would just watch. What about that sweatshirt and money I found?"

"Lauren took me out hunting, late Wednesday night."

"Did you kill anybody?"

"No. Lauren did. The man was a child molester with a Wesen Council bounty on him."

"And the money?"

"I took it."

"From where?"

"His house. He begged her not to kill him. He got it out of a safe."

"But she did?"

"Yes."

"Where was this?"

"In town."

"Seattle?"

"Yes."

"Look, I want all your knives and that machete when we get back. I won't have any more of this crazy Lauren business."

"I don't know where they went after I blacked out. Maybe Lauren has them?"

"Well, good riddance. I won't have any more of that in our house. You almost died."

"Mom!"

"Honey, you almost died. You're all Misty and I have. I can't. I can't lose you like that. I suppose the money will come in handy. We've got to pay for all these medical bills. You're going to need a bunch of dental work to fix up those broken teeth."

"Can I at least keep Grandpa's knife?"

Sandra sat silent for a long time, then said, "Ok, you can keep Grandpa's knife, but it stays in my drawer."

"I'm sorry, Mom."

-/-/-/-/-/-

2k 12/28/20 r1