1Lisa seated herself on the plane with either of her children around her as the plane took off. She grabbed at their hands, but they remained unmoved as the plane rocked through the turbulence. Lisa stared at them. Apparently they hadn't inherited her phobia of flying.
"Mommy," Athena asked as soon as they reached cruising altitude, "Where we goin'? And where is Daddy?"
"Well, sweetie," Lisa paused, thinking. "We're going on vacation! For a long time! Doesn't that sound like fun! Daddy...has to work."
"Yay, v'cation!" Jacob cried, then grew solemn. "I miss Daddy though."
Lisa's heart ached at those words. It was obvious that her children needed a father, but she sure as hell wouldn't let the man who just as easily gave them up for dead be theirs.
Lisa found herself drifting off to sleep, and woke up about an hour later. She jolted awake as the plane hit a small spot of turbulence. She looked to her side, only to see that Athena wasn't there.
"Jake?" Lisa asked, the panic rising in her chest. "Honey, where is your sister?"
Jacob shrugged and continued playing with his SpiderMan action figures. Lisa unbuckled and took off down the aisle, nearly colliding with a flight attendant.
"Miss, you need to stay in your seat-" the flight attendant began, but Lisa ignored her.
Come on, baby, where are you? Her breathing was shallow and rapid as she searched the seats. Her last thought was to look in the bathroom, and when she slammed open the door, she found Athena standing on the toilet seat, splashing her Barbie doll around in a sink full of water.
"Athena," her mother said, breathing and picking her up. "Don't run off like that, honey, Mommy was so worried."
Athena vaguely nodded and pointed to the sink . "Look, Mommy, it's Barbie beach party!"
Lisa sighed and carried her back to her seat.
The rest of the flight was uneventful, but as Lisa guided the children off the plane, her eyes darted nervously around for anyone who might be a threat. Anyone with brown hair or blue eyes received an especially long stare and a scowl. Anyone who looked sideways at them instantly looked away from the look on Lisa's face.
By the next week, Lisa was settled in an apartment in San Francisco. She'd found a respectable daycare for the twins and she found a decent job at the public school downtown. Lisa still saw a threat in every person they saw, but eventually she lightened up a bit.
One day, Lisa was checking her mailbox at the school when something brown slid out. She picked it up, and covered her mouth to hold back her scream.
It was the brown scarf that Jackson had used to cover his pen wound. Blood spotted the inside and a note slithered to the ground. Lisa picked it up.
Just wanted you to know what humans are capable of, it read. Lisa dropped the note and scarf in the garbage can and raced back to the apartment.
Joe Reisert's phone rang about midnight the next night.
"Hello?" he answered it, annoyed.
"It's me, Dad. I'm in New York."