Chapter 5: Turned

I didn’t know that Hanz had such a colorful life in his home, much more his mothers were more or less just like me. So when he dropped the bomb, all I could do was stare at the three who entered the room, marvelled at how similar all of them looked despite the circumstances.

It was Neil, eyebrows cocked up, mouth dropped open, who started the questions. As I knew that he would. “So, you’re like. . . How do I put it, Peterson? Left by your real parents?”

“Neil!”

I quickly glanced at Audra, who among the two, had the decency to look embarrassed. Only, Hanz had shrugged, unaffected by the question Neil threw at him. “Yup, you can say that,” he admitted, the good-natured smile never leaving his face. In fact, it was added by a reverie aimed towards the women by his side. He must really, really loved them. “These two women adopted me since I was a baby anyways, so there was no bad blood towards me and the birth givers.”

“I see. . .” Audra trailed her response to him, but to Neil she didn’t give another reprimand, like I expected she would. How exactly could she stand him?

Emily— the one who’d placed the down the tray on the table, though, glanced at the television, frowned at the blank reception. “So,” she said, getting to a businesslike tone. “Hanz said he’d brought a couple of friends over. Said it was important?”

“Just how important?” Olivia added. “We were about to sit down for some juice ourselves, but when Hanz here walked through the kitchen on a school day, we knew that something was up. Care to explain why you’re all skipping class?”

Hanz, Audra, plus me and Neil, exchanged anxious glances. Of course, that was what we were here for, right? It was so easy to imagine that none of what occurred earlier had actually happened, but there it was, slapping us right back.

Hanz turned to Olivia who was waiting for an answer. “Ma, something’s happening at school. The three of them were chased by these. . . these men.”

“Men?”

Hanz looked uncomfortable. “I was following Pax in school to talk to her for a second, then I saw their class being ushered into a room. After a while, there was a commotion. And then they were chased outside. I helped them escape.”

Immediately, the protective expression on Hanz’s mother’s took over. Especially on Emily’s, who a moment ago probably thought we were there for juice and biscuits. Or probably to skip class like some teenagers did. “Have you notified the police?” she said.

“About that,” Audra remarked. “Our phones are back in the school. They forced us to leave them in our bags. And we don’t know what’s happening, who we could turn to.”

“And you actually complied?” Olivia looked astonished.

“Well, those were pretty weird-looking people, to be fair.” Hanz explained. “I left my own phone in the bag by accident too, in the classroom right before I trailed after Pax.”

He was just looking at me for confirmation when, again, I remembered something important. It had almost slipped my mind. “Your phone,” I said, the agitation making its way into my voice. “It’s not working, and I need to call my parents.”

“Right.” Emily turned to face me, as if she knew exactly that my parents would be worried by now. Probably what she’d feel if Hanz wasn’t here by her side too. “My cellphone is upstairs,” she told me. “Why don’t you and I go there and fetch it while Hanz and the others tell Liv about the school? It would give you some time to calm down.”

Liv? That’s what she must call Olivia privately.

Glancing at Hanz, all he did was nod at me. Which made me feel better anyhow, despite what happened.

As for Audra. . . Looking at her, I was met with silence and an unreadable face. She must had been still irked with my fight with Neil earlier in the car.

My face was burning with shame as I got back to Emily. “Your phone?” I muttered.

“Right this way.”

The other’s conversation had resumed the moment Emily and I stepped into the hallway. There were paintings on the walls, depictions of flowers and sceneries which I was looking at when Emily spoke. “You like them?” she said, trying to coax me into a relaxing conversation.

“They’re pretty,” was all I could say.

In front me, still looking forward, she gave a small nod. “Olivia is a painter. I, myself, am an architect. When we adopted Hanz, we wanted him to have a beautiful home like this. So we did it. We did everything for him.”

“Amazing. . .”

She chuckled. “You’re not much of a talker, are you?”

“No.”

She smiled. At least, I could sense her do so as we climbed the modern stairs. They, themselves looked like works of art, what with the combination of wood, steel, and glass.

Before long, Emily pointed to a door. “That’s the master’s bedroom. It’s where I left my cellphone this morning.”

I nodded. Even though from in front she couldn’t see me nod. It was the only thing I could do so as to not feel awkward. Or worried. It was going to be alright, now that we were here.

My parents had told me to be calm in the event of an emergency like this. But I guess I was far from being a Doctor like them. All I’d done so far was to panic. And humiliate myself. I mean, I thought we were dead.

I was fiddling with my bracelet when Emily opened the door. “Come,” she beckoned. “I’d like to show you the bedroom.”

“Uhm. . .”

“It’s okay. It’s just to get you relaxed.” Her smile was warm when she pulled me inside, closed the door gently behind her. In there was a queen-sized bed, and a wall made entirely of glass, peeking onto a private garden. However, I was turned away from those, instead made to focus right back to Emily who was still smiling at me. “Lovely, isn’t it?” she said. “You can sit on the bed, while I look for my phone.”

“A-alright,” I muttered, although I didn’t want to.

I mean, my legs were too wobbly and I knew that maybe I should sit down. But I was getting more and more anxious to get back to the others again, and on top of that, I wanted to call my parents who needed to know what had been happening to me. To us. This was crazy, like we’d been in the twilight zone.

But again, I tried to push the thought back, lest I begin to panic and think we were dead again.

Emily went to the bedside table. “How come this is the only time I’d ever seen you around?” she said.

“Uhm. . . I never got invited?” Or perhaps I was but I never cared to go.

Come to think of it, I might have noticed Hanz giving me a look or two a couple of years ago. I’d always thought it was because he pitied me. Or was laughing at me deep inside. But now, sitting here on his mother’s bed, he probably thought it was a good idea to talk. Was I ever that obvious to anyone? Me, being lesbian?

I was fiddling with my bracelet again while Emily got back to me. “Shame,” she said. “I would have loved to know you sooner, Pax Leighton.”

“How come?”

But something weird stirred in my stomach. When had Hanz told him my full name again?

Except Emily didn’t look like she had time to explain, especially when she raised her hand and the cellphone was missing.

Focusing on her, my eyes widened at the gun-like syringe instead. It looked so much like what the men and women were carrying in my school. But what was Emily doing with it?

Her eyes gleaming at me, she said, “It doesn’t matter now, Leighton. All there is, is here and now. Now, come to mama.”

Was this a joke? I thought, as the woman who had been kind and welcoming earlier approached me suddenly, in a panther-like manner.

Probably. I stepped back behind me. Or rather, since I was already on the bed, crawled backward because of my surprise. But still, she was fast approaching.

“You know you want it, Pax.” Emily— Mrs. Peterson had a look on her face. The kind of look you’d make before you’d kill your hunt. That kind of look I’d seen many times on TV before, except on a more twisted way as we were talking about me. What kind of sick prank was this?

My heart was beating fast when I asked her the question. “Why?”

“Why?” The syringe was now sprouting a clear-like liquid, so much like what the man had showed me in the classroom before. A few minutes before this, in fact. Emily, pointing it to me, didn’t miss a beat. “Why indeed?” she said. “Isn’t this what you wanted? What you’ve always wanted in your life?”

To be impaled by a one-inch needle? I don’t think so.

Yet still, she approached, a practical look on her face, not like the woman who was talking to me, discussing about raising a boy in this very house. “I took you here because you deserve the very best of care,” she said. “With me doing this to you, it will be more special, don’t you think?”

“N-no.” What was she talking about?

“Uh-uh. That’s where you’re wrong, Pax.”

She lunged. She actually lunged. And I was still debating for a second what I should do but it was too late.

I tried to roll out of bed, but she had already caught my foot, overpowered me like I weighted nothing but a rag doll.

I squeaked like a mouse when she pulled me to her. “Come now,” she said. “This shouldn’t take long. After a while, we’ll join Hanz and the others, have some juice to commemorate.”

“Mrs. Peterson!” I said, as she got on top of me. “Emily, please! What’s going on?!”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as I struggled and she tried to push my head back, pin my arms and legs from underneath her. This was so, so wrong, and yet I remained powerless to stop it. She was so much bigger and had caught me by surprise.

I was about to cry for help when the door suddenly creaked open.

“Mom?”

Finally! Help had arrived. That sounded like Hanz!

But before I could even talk, I saw him glaring at us. “What? You and Pax?” His voice sounded coated in disbelief.

What? No, no, no.

“You’re seriously going to do it here?!” he said. “Under our own roof?!”

Wait! What kind of idea did Hanz have in his head? Couldn’t he see that his mother was trying to inject something in me? I struggled to raise my head.

“Hanz!” I cried, before Emily clapped her hand over my mouth. The rest of her, meanwhile, bore down on me, like dozens of books shoved on my chest.

I tried to break free, but coughed instead.

“Can you go away for a while, dear?” Emily asked him sweetly. “Can’t you see your friend and I are having a special moment? I will just slip this inside her, and then we’ll be done. Just like I did with your mother earlier.”

“Hanz! Please, Hanz!”

But he couldn’t really hear me. Not with his mind made up and a bigger disgust crossing on his face. I knew why, and I knew why he shouldn’t. Yet the door was slamming close, and I was left with his psychotic mother.

“Now where, were we?” she said. “Ahh, yes.”

I looked around for anything I could use against her at that point. Hanz was not going to help me. It was very much clear.

But there was nothing. The bedside table had been cleared beforehand. Adding to that, I saw the luggage’s on the corner, something I hadn’t noticed before when we entered.

“Olivia and I are divorcing after this,” Emily informed. “You came at the perfect moment.”

The syringe was getting closer and closer now. I jerked my head forward and back, trashed wildly hoping I could throw her off. But her actions were resolute.

She was about to stick it in me when something crashed on top of her head. Immediately, her whole body slackened.

“Pax, are you okay?!”

That was the second time today that I had heard that same voice telling me that today. Mrs. Peterson, unconscious and heavy, was rolled away from me before I could see Audra’s face.

Her eyes combed through me before she pulled me up. “Are you okay?!” she repeated. “Did she get it on you? Is it in your mouth?”

“N-no!” I could barely say.

“Good! I thought I was too late.”

I thought she was too late too. For a second there, I thought that Emily could get what she wanted. If it wasn’t for Audra, she would probably have. And then what would have happened to me? Would I act just like her? Just like some kind of psycho?

Audra took a step back, the concern from a second ago vanishing from her face. What remained was as unreadable as a poker player looking at her cards. But where the poker player was easier to read, Audra was hieroglyphic.

“Something’s going on this house,” she informed me, turning to the door just as quickly. It was just like her to get back to business immediately. I’d seen her do this many times before, mainly after she turned down someone who wanted to date her.

In a way, was she doing that to me too?

“I f-figured,” I said, my stomach dipping in a bigger disappointment. “But how did you know?”

Audra pointed to the bags tucked on the corner. “Right after you left the living room with Emily, I tried to find a bathroom. Going about, I saw the bags scattered in one of the rooms. To me, it was like someone was going to leave in a hurry.”

“R-really?”

“Yes. But the bags weren’t the big giveaway. There were signs of a struggle. Glass were broken almost everywhere in the room.”

That was surely news. But how come they were acting normal until the four of us arrived?

With the look on Audra’s face, it was like she was trying to figure that out too. Giving me once last look, she said, “Are you really alright? You look shaken.”

“Y-yes.”

“You sure?”

Well, no. It felt like Mrs. Peterson lying on the bed would wake up anytime and attack me again.

Glancing at the woman too, Audra shook her head. “She’ll be down for a while. Don’t worry about her. And besides. . .” Her voice trailed into a quiet slump.

I would have loved to ask her the rest of the sentence, but then a crash in the kitchen made us look at the door.

“Audra!” someone screamed.

Neil.

Audra was here and gone in a flash, it was like she’d never entered the room. I followed right behind her, the lump in my chest jumping to my mouth.