Harmony Gardens Carpark

 

You keep low and sneak into the carpark off TJ Memorial Park Drive. Agents armed with weapons scout the park and sound sculpture in Harmony Gardens. You look through the windows of each black vehicle parked in the lot. They’re all empty until you reach the last one and make out a silhouette behind the rear tinted window. You carefully peek inside and confirm it’s Lucy.

One side of her face is puffy, shaded black and blue, and her hands are zip tied behind her back. Crouched beside the car, you open the door handle. She flinches and looks at you, wide-eyed.

“Thank god, you’re alright. Tell me you got here first and grabbed the elixir,” says Lucy.

You hold up the sandwich. “It was too late.”

She drops her head. “I shouldn’t have gotten you involved. I’m sorry. You have to get out of here.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

Her face crumples. “I can’t. If they find me gone, they’ll kill my family. Trust me, they can get away with it.”

“Come with me. We’ll get your family to safety, a long way from here.”

“They’ll find us. Even if it takes them years. I can’t live looking over my shoulder. If I help them find Bloggo, they’ll leave us alone. Go while they don’t know about you. They’ll destroy your life before they take it.”

You wish there was some way to help her but she’s right. That’s all you can do.

“Just one thing,” you say, “Why did you help him? What does he want?”

“What we all risk our lives for: To save the ones we love.”

You gently close the car door and creep away until it’s safe. You feel hopeless and have no story; not that you care about that anymore. You can only pray that Lucy will be safe. You wonder who Bloggo was trying to save and hope they don’t suffer too.

How did you manage to mess this up? Perhaps if you hadn’t let your investigative ‘nature’ follow ‘leads’ you might be in a position to help.

END.