Sleuthing Around
An hour later, Venia pulled into her driveway. The festivities were still set up, congratulating me on something that seemed to occur years ago. Hurriedly, we moved into the house, and Venia left to put some tea on the stove.
"So what exactly do we know?" Alfie stammered.
He sat across from me, fiddling with his hands in an absurd manner. Seneca leaned by the fireplace, controlling the flames at his will.
"Mother and father were hijacked," I pointed out.
"But what exactly is hijacking?" Alfie relayed with exasperation.
"Hijacking is a process that controls human memories," Seneca explained, "Doctors sometime use it to help erase horrible memories. At least that is what I have been told."
"That does not help. I need specifics," Alfie instructed to Seneca.
"Look, no one except those who specialize in hijacking know all the details. I understand that you are upset. Do not lose your head," Seneca responded harshly.
"Can you tell me any additional details, if you know them," Alfie tried again.
"That's better. Hijacking takes time. Tracker Jackers, a creation of the Capitol, produce a vital substance that has the ability to distort vision and memory. When one becomes inflicted, the concept of reality loses legitimacy. False memories may be implanted with aid of longetivity and intensity of exposure. So, in other words, the longer one is under the influence of Tracker Jacker venom, the more potent the false memories become."
"Do you believe that the President himself ordered the hijacking?" I asked in a hushed tone.
I know that my reasoning was bizarre, but I believed the President could hear anything that was said inside the Capitol limits. Seneca seemed to sense this, lowering his voice to a dull whisper.
"Something strange is going on. First, your parents show up hijacked at your celebration, acting rude and not like themselves. Second, your house shows obvious signs of infiltration and the drawers rifled through. Third, the neighbors suspect some big scandal, to which they are told of a drug investigation. Sub sequentially, you both are reported as missing. My guess is that all the events have something to do with that essay your father wrote."
"The essay about abolishing the Hunger Games," I clarified.
Venia returned with hot cups of tea and promptly distributed them. She sat next to me in a plush armchair, crossing one leg over the other.
"This does not make sense. Father was always such an avid supporter of the Hunger Games," Alfie reminded us.
"Up until the time you ran away," I added, "Once you left, he just became meaner. That is why I left."
"Do you suppose that your father was hijacked previous to Alfie's disappearance?" Seneca suggested.
"That is what I was thinking," Alfie agreed.
I thought back to father's strange behavior. Granted that I had been so involved in my endeavors that I paid him little attention, his behavior did seem odd. Normally, he went about preparing for the Games in a festive fashion. That year, however, he just seemed grouchy. Mother's final words resonated in my head. She had suspected something, I concluded, but she was too scared to say anything. Those men must have broken in to hijack her as well. They must have thought she knew additional information.
"What if he was under observation?" Alfie suggested, "Like our whole house was being monitored. After Effie and I left, the President's men must have decided to attack."
"Then why did they let us go?" I asked.
"I do not know," he looked away in thought, "Perhaps, they thought we would not know anything."
"Or maybe they hoped that you would lead them to something big," Seneca suggested.
This sent chills up my spine. The thought of my life being monitored by people scared me. This must be how the tributes feel during the Hunger Games. Something still seemed weird. I realized that they let father run around, hijacked and odd. But why?
"Why do you suppose they let father come home hijacked?" I brought up.
"That is obvious, is it not?" Alfie said, "They wanted to see if we would notice. They wanted to see what else he knew. They did not want to alert us of their misdoings. And we fell for their act like simpletons."
"So you both lived in the house with him while he was hijacked?" Venia sought confirmation.
"I left soon after he started acting odd," Alfie realized, "Effie must have left a little after me."
"Why now?" I asked, "Why today of all days? They chose to hijack mother today, not after we left. Something is still amiss."
"Perhaps, they discovered your father's essay today. He must have brought it out to look at," Venia concluded.
"No. Not father. Mother!" I realized.
"She must have discovered it while looking for something. Perhaps jewelry to wear to the celebration. The President's men must have watched her discover the essay. Then, they must have rushed in and spread the drug story around," Seneca continued.
"Then, the men must have discovered the celebration, performed quick hijacking, and sent them to the restaurant to meet us. Your mother was behaving normally at certain points. Your father has most likely had more exposure, explaining his lethargy," Venia concluded.
"So what? They have been reconditioned to hate us?" asked Alfie.
"It appears so. Maybe to divert your attention away from their obvious problem. Or, maybe to try to persuade you to leave. What if they had a trap waiting for you?" Venia brought up.
"So we are wanted?" I figured out, "They must think that we all knew something about father's essay. It must have been quite powerful to cause the entire cabinet to ambush us."
"Too bad it did not work," Alfie replied, "Good thing Seneca suspected hijacking. How did you know about that, by the way?"
We all turned toward Seneca. He looked cautiously between all of us. I had never seen him so shaky before.
"Just believe me when I say that I have seen it before," was all he could say, "We are exposed to the venom in Games school."
"Well, we have the general gist of these happenings," I digressed, "The question now is what are we going to do?"
"It is obvious, is it not?" Venia concluded, "We are going to run."