""""""She paused. """"

""The detective took some notes and then asked, """"Mizuno looked up from his notes, ""Afifa nodded, """" He asked. Afifa nodded and Mizuno paused and wrote on the notepad, pausing only to glance at Afifa a few times. After two minutes of silence, he closed the notepad and stashed it back in his coat. He walked to the wall by the door and pressed his back against it, before he continued, "" She nodded. ""She shook her head, """" he questioned.She thought a moment and said, """" Mizuno closed his eyes, "" he continued to instruct her, """ She was nervous, but did as she was told. She closed her eyes and pictured her home, a humble home with old canary paint. The roof had only a few of their original shingles left, most of which were replaced by metal sheets. Trash littered the yard that overlooked Gaza. Behind her home was a small dusty forest where she would occasionally explore when she wanted to be alone. There was a small discarded couch next to a pair of bushes that was only a minute's walk from her house. Broken bottles, tires, and pieces of different machines lay scattered about the empty field. She could even picture the rusted car frame that lay nearby too.The room grew brighter, but she kept her eyes shut tight. There was no noise, no sound of the officer she had met, and she no longer felt the table in front of her. After a moment it faded, and Afifa was. .h.i.t with a blast of sudden heat. She opened her eyes and found herself facing the red rusted car she had thought of only moments earlier. Afifa turned and discovered that she had returned home, back to the Gaza Strip.August 16th, 2029 9:15 PM.Both.e.l.l, Washington The storm cleared up a few hours before Nick arrived at his high school. Nick had stopped crying around that time too. He sat a few blocks away from the school on his motorcycle and failed to move. All he could think about was his brother and the numbing reality that he was gone. Nick couldn't shake it from his mind and he couldn't get away from it or the inevitable tailspin of his own life. He knew Drake tried to call him half a dozen times, but he let it ring. Nick didn't want to talk about his brother's death, not to Drake, Paul, Ian, Jordan, or anyone for that matter. All they were going to say was how sorry they were or that they were there for him in his time of need. Nick lost his brother; whatever sympathies they felt they needed to share, real or false, wouldn't bring him any peace.Nick finally stepped off of his motorcycle and walked slowly to the school. He didn't park in the most ideal location, but at that moment he truly didn't care if someone made off with it. He wasn't even sure if he wanted it anymore or that he could even afford it now that Victor was gone.He silently approached the school and noticed the police car in the front parking lot. He changed course and headed for the rear entrance of the school. Drake, Ian, Jordan, and Nick had a history of sneaking into the school after hours, so Nick knew exactly how to get in, what motion sensors to avoid, and where he was headed.When he and his friends broke in all they would do was set up elaborate pranks on certain teachers. It wasn't anything hostile, merely things like gluing all of the markers to the metal tray of the white boards, setting staplers in Jell-O, and at the very most they once set thousands of paper cups filled with rice all throughout a cla.s.sroom with the exception of a small walkway to the instructor's desk and seat. They were never linked to any of the stunts as each of them was smart enough to keep their mouths shut and never claim responsibility for any of the pranks to any of their peers. If they did say anything they knew they'd be caught and getting away with it, without a word of their infamy, was the whole point.Nick wished that he was with them, pulling another prank, like they used to. Instead he crept toward the far back entrance to the one window in the entire school he and his friends knew was loose. Jordan was usually the one who removed it from the frame the contractors never properly fixed. Nick watched Jordan remove it a few times and he thought he might be able to follow his example, but with his shaky hands he wasn't convinced.Nick pushed against the window pane with his hands and tried to use his fingers to lift the gla.s.s, but since he'd been out in the rain for hours, his hands were cold, wet, and wrinkled. His grip slipped, the pane fell, and the gla.s.s shattered.He froze. His heart raced and instinct told him to run, but he remained still and listened. After a few minutes that felt like hours Nick let out a tense breath and slowly entered through the hole he'd created in the wall. Nick guessed no one was in the building, as he a.s.sumed someone would have inspected the sudden noise and he would have been caught. Instead he found his way through the halls without any resistance. Aside from the little amount of light he was given to work with, he quickly found his way toward the entrance of the school, and found what he searched for.It was lit better there, as there were more windows and a skylight to allow what little ambient light Both.e.l.l offered on such a cloudy night. To his dismay there was no sign of where his brother died, no traces of blood, place markers left behind by police, no stray bullet hole in the tiled floor. Yet he still felt a pit in his gut that confirmed Nick's fears.Nick trembled, fell to his knees, and stifled his sobs. His brother was dead.August 17th, 2029 6:02 PM.East Suss.e.x, England "I cannot believe we're late," Audrey muttered to herself while she focused on applying her bronzer. "Alan will be wroth, as always." She sat in the pa.s.senger side seat of an aging blue four-door sedan while her eyes were fixed on her reflection in the mirror on the sun visor. Audrey spoke clearly and quickly without allowing a single error or flaw to her make-up, "He's never been overly fond of me though, not that I blame him, with the way I act toward him. But this is my mother's birthday, not his, so I never know what ent.i.tles him to carry on the way he does when things do not fall exactly into place, the way he'd prefer them to."Here we go. Another night of this ceaseless complaint. And I know I won't hear the end of this for hours or days afterwards. Alan isn't any help though, the way he acts toward her. I know she's only his step-daughter and they've bonded about as much as I have with Audrey's bother Jack, but would it kill them to drop their eternal battle for one night? For her mother's birthday? For his wife's birthday? h.e.l.l, this war between them won't end until one of them is dead or out of the family."Are you sure it doesn't play into the fact that he's your stepfather and that you aren't his child?" Jason asked her. "I mean, you've fought with him on everything ever since we met, love. In fact, I only do recall one instance where neither of you two argued, and that was our wedding day...and that was because Jack didn't even allow him to say more than two words to you.""Come off it Jason," she told him as her perfect brow furrowed. "Don't defend him.""I'm not Audrey. I'm simply trying to remind you that you're not doing much more than adding fuel to the fire." He saw that his comment did not sit well with her and quickly drummed up an addendum, "And besides, you know how he is; he'll probably spend the whole evening in the kitchen.""That's only because he's preparing a meal fit for the""Audrey, don't worry about it so much.""I'm making the salads you know. I'm going to have to deal with him.""Then call me in and I'll keep you safe," he joked. "Alan doesn't argue with you if I'm present.""That's because he's been afraid of you ever since you had that black eye from that bar fight with your buddies a year back."I didn't realize that'd set him on edge at all. And why would it? It wasn't as if we started that fight, we just happened to end it."Then maybe I should rough him up a bit for you if he gives you any trouble."Audrey didn't give him the satisfactory smile or smirk he wanted, but Jason could tell it had lightened her mood, if only slightly.That's a good lad Jason. Make things worse before this night even begins.Jason drove them out to East Suss.e.x from their home in Twickenham in unrest. The ride itself wasn't bothersome in the least; his wife's agitation toward the att.i.tude and manner her stepfather had not yet even displayed irked him. Their expeditions and gatherings put him off altogether, but he knew how much Audrey loved her mother and siblings, and as such he stomached whatever grief it caused him.It's only for an hour or two, and there'll be drinks, yes. That'll take some of the edge off, though not nearly enough, as I'm driving home too."Will your brother and sister be there as well?""Yes, and Jack's family too," she informed him. "Suzy's boyfriend couldn't make it though, as he had to pull the late shift tonight at his job. No doubt they'll be in contact throughout the evening." She focused on curling her eyelashes for a minute before she set her things aside in a small striped pouch and apologized to him, "I know I shouldn't act this way, but, well, please try to understand how all of this makes me feel."Jason told her to try and put it out of her mind and enjoy the evening. You can vent all you need Audrey, especially if it'll keep you from fighting it out with Alan."I only wish that you would have the decency to call if you're going to waylay the party Audrey.""'The decency?'" she echoed, "How dare youwho the h.e.l.l do you think you are Alan? And just so you are aware, you could have just as easily started without us!"I'm never going to hear the end of this, am I? I simply wish Alan had half a mind to keep his mouth shut rather than continually provoke her...He should know better. All this family needs is more contention. You're not helping anything Alan.Jason sat in the parlor of Audrey's mother's home with his mother-in-law on his left in a reasonably comfortably floral armchair and his brother-in-law on his right next to him on the matching sofa. Although his mother-in-law was the focus and reason for the party, she took the liberty of serving each and every one of them tea, slices of strawberry short cake, wine or whiskey (depending on the taker), as well as an a.s.sortment of chocolates. (What perturbed Jason most was that supper still hung on the horizon).They all do their absolute best to ignore the tempers in the kitchen and go about without acknowledging it whatsoever...its Abigail's b.l.o.o.d.y party and she doesn't even give a d.a.m.n that we were fifteen minutes later than we agreed to arrive."Tell me Jason," Abigail started up suddenly, "How is your work going?""Quite well misser...Abigail.""What is it that you do again?""He's an accountant mum," Jack said with a smile. "Honestly, what's the point in asking if you're only going to forget and pester him once more?""It's fine," Jason a.s.sured her."Watch your tongue young man. I don't care for it too much.""I didn't mean anything by it.""Don't lie to""How is your birthday getting on Abigail?" Jason intervened."Oh it's been wonderful," she told him without any regard toward the previous statement from her son. "Jack and Samantha took Alan and me out to lunch at a very quaint little seafood restaurant on the water where Alan and I shared a lobster, crab, and shrimp platter and Jack...Jack, what did you and Samantha have again?""Tilapia, and Samantha had mahi-mahi.""That's right! Anyway, I spent the morning reading the news online...do you ever read the news Jason?""When I can.""You really should make it a priority," she lectured him. "One must keep abreast of the events of the world unless they want to be left behind.""Of course.""What was it that you read mum?" Jack asked, in order to spare the two of them a tangent."Well there was an interesting article about a little boy in Taipei who saved his mother and father from carbon monoxide poisoning in their home. Apparently the boy was well asleep in his bedroom around midnight and he woke up, ran into his parents' room, and carried each of them outside before he called for medical help.""Yes that's very interesting," Jack mused kindly."You don't understand Jack, the boy is only five years old," Abigail told the two of them. "How could a young boy like that even know what carbon monoxide is? Let alone know that he and his family were minutes away from dying because of it?" Jack opened his mouth to offer an explanation but Abigail cut him off and continued, "And how could you explain how he carried his mother and father outside on his own?""Maybe they lied for the spotlight?" he suggested."There were nearly half a dozen witnesses who saw the boy carry his parents outside of their home by himself.""Then I don't know what to say mum. The whole world's gone mad."Jason drowned out their argument and glanced about the room while he sipped an unfamiliar wine. Jack's wife Samantha occupied another room elsewhere while she breastfed their son and tried to settle him down for the night amidst the arguing in the kitchen. Alan and Audrey are only getting louder...And I'd wager they don't even remember why they're fighting either. Jack's eldest boy Ronnie sat slouched back on the other side of Jack on the couch with heavy eyelids which threatened to steal him away for the remnant of their evening. Poor kid. I can't imagine ever torturing a kid with all of this monotony. If it weren't so late and I wasn't trapped here I'd volunteer to take him out for a show or a treat or something. Anything really, just to get us both out of here for a few hours. The youngest of the Castell children, Suzy, stood outside on her mother's porch with a lit cigarette between her fingers. She kept a small cell phone pressed against her right ear. The boyfriend, I'd guess. Audrey tells me they're getting more serious, though she hardly tells a thing to her mother or Alan...or to Jack for that matter. Even Audrey seems to have some difficulty relating to her, though I don't blame her...Suzy's a rather guarded individual."Oh let's just drop it mother," Jack finally said. "We must be boring Jason out of his skull...why don't you go ahead and tell him about your afternoon?""My word Alan, leave it alone!" Audrey barked from the kitchen. "I told you it was never our intent to delay you and your grand party""I never said""Do not interrupt me! I swear I could throttle you!"d.a.m.n it I'd really hoped they could act sociable for one night, but this is enough.Jason excused himself from Jack and Abigail's company and headed straightway for the kitchen. "Is everything alright here?" he asked with an obvious understanding of their situation. Both Alan and Audrey pursed their lips and backed away from one another; neither managed to formulate a reply, so Jason persisted, "Alan, how long until supper?"He cleared his throat and told him it wouldn't be more than fifteen minutes."Good. Now, how about you go and visit with your wife for a bit and leave Audrey here with me?"Jason waited until Alan agreed and left the room before he walked over to his wife and wrapped his arms around her waist. Irritating fellow. Folds easily enough though. "I'm sorry about all of this Audrey."She placed her slender arms around his neck and apologized as well. "He riles me up and I can't bear to let him win.""I'm sorry, but don't let him ensnare you so easily okay? You've spent the whole visit here locked in a duel with him." Jason smirked and told her not to waste her time on him."You don't understand Jason. He doesn't critique every single little thing you do.""Like what for example?""I made the salads for the evening and he not only criticized my chopping technique but the salads themselves."Jason glanced around the filled kitchen amongst the platters and bowls filled with meats and soups and vegetables and bread until he found the salads. He only briefly inspected them before he asked what was wrong with them."Alan wanted Caesar salads, not house salads for starters. But he snidely added that I added too many onions and too few carrots, and I should have minced the onion and shredded the carrots.""What'd you tell him when he said all of this?""I told him to go to h.e.l.l."Jason chuckled and admitted that he would have done the same. "But it's a salad Audrey, who cares if it isn't to Alan's standard?"She shook her head and simply told him that it bothered her. "He just irritates me Jason."He frowned and told her he knew how she felt. "I went through this when my father remarried," Jason explained. "Why do you think I hardly said two words to her over the years?" Not that we've ever kept in contact with her. Dad's been gone for seven years now and I don't keep in touch with Olivia at all, not that she would want to anyway. A card at Christmas to her and one from her, but not even every year."But she didn't"