“Why aren’t you wearing a mask?” I ask her.
“We’ll just say it doesn’t matter,” she laughs, though, weakness is pouring out of her eyes, weakness in the form of tears. “Do you think I want to be doing this?” she asks softly, avoiding my questions. “I didn’t volunteer to do this. I take orders from Jackson Crownwell. I’m the face to his voice and the shield to his shooting target. I may be mayor, but he’s the goddamn president—or dictator, I should call him.” She pulls a tissue out from one of her lower desk drawers, dabbing it under each of her eyes to prevent more makeup from dripping down the side of her cheeks. “I don’t go out into Chipley because everything you said is true. You, though, you are a warrior, Sinon. I knew you would do great things, and you’ve proven that to be true. They will listen to you.”
“You can’t sit here and tell me you had this all perfectly planned out. You had no idea if I would survive. You had no idea I would eventually break out of the unlit, condemned prison. You had no idea I would find Reese and find a reason for fighting through the insanity running that town.” Since she knew none of that, I know she’s covering up more of her shitty decisions.
“You’re right about everything except for Reese. I knew she—you,” she looks at Reese, “would be here. Reese’s mother, who also worked for Jackson Crownwell, had her brought here to protect her from what she knew was about to happen. She made a deal with him, so to speak.” Mom looks back over at Reese, creating a longer pause than necessary in her explanation. “To protect you, your mother had you brought by Sinon’s father, who is close friends with Crownwell.”
“Dad said Reese was a taken against her will as retaliation. For what, we don’t know I guess, right?” I interject.
“Your father was angry. He wanted to take you home that day, Sinon, but the time wasn’t right, so I wouldn’t let him—Crownwell wouldn’t let him either. And of course, he was even angrier that he had to retrieve Reese the way he did. Your father is a lot of things, but he is not a kidnapper.”
“Yes, Mom, yes, he is.”
“Tit for tat, son. He was following orders.”
“What deal did my mother make?” Reese asks, anger and despondency filling her shaky voice.
“Sweetie, parents will go to the ends of the earth for their children,” she says, holding her hand up to me, preventing me from saying exactly what she deserves to hear. Clearly, she already knows, though.
“You said I had a brother?” Reese asks, looking down at her fidgeting fingers.
“Yes,” Mom responds through a sigh. “Your mother gave herself to Crownwell in exchange for your salvation.” Reese’s skin flushes and the frown lines on her cheeks deepen. I can only imagine how much her heart is aching right now. I saw the love she had in her eyes when she was hallucinating the thought of embracing her mother. That woman is the only reason Reese survived all of those years. For Reese, after so recently learning that her mother has died, and now finding out what she went through to save her daughter, the combination is something that cannot be easily digested, and I’m guessing too much to bear.
“She would have said goodbye to me,” Reese murmurs. “I don’t believe you.”
“Everything happened the way it needed to, dear.” She cuts Reese off, stopping her questions and her accurate assumptions.
“Why here, Mom? What’s so fucking great about Chipley? Why would you want to hold me hostage—us hostage—in a place like this?”
A cocky smile tugs to one side of her face. “That’s easy. Protection. Chipley is the perfect place, son. The prisoners, all weak-minded souls, were the perfect guinea pigs to create this army we need to fight the Juliets. Though it was never my intention to turn you into a fighter, so I had you contained and fed—kept safe. I obviously would have brought you here with me, but I wasn’t allowed to , or we both would have been killed.” The look in her eyes as she says this screams...lie. “And as for Reese, she was safe as well, living in the basement of our old house in Chipley for two years before she was brought to the shed, which was also safe.”
“No, I wasn’t,” Reese snaps out.
“Well of course you were. You were living with me, dear. I was down there with you. We were to remain in confinement for two years until the testing was complete.” Mom switches her gaze to me. “I know what you’re thinking, Sinon, but even your father wasn’t even allowed to come down there—plus, I refused to work for Crownwell unless he kept that man away from me at all times.” And me, evidently. I never knew the actual reason he would not go down into the basement. Refocusing her attention on Reese, Mom walks across the room, kneeling in front of her. “You were the perfect case for research, Reese, so we lived together for two years while I collected data on your brain in order to create the chemical needed to lace the food for the prisoners of Chipley. I know it’s confusing but you were quite an asset to us, dear. You should be proud of what you’ve down.”
I’m about to jump out of my seat and strangle the life out of her. Instead, I take in a long breath while clamping my hands tightly around the armrests of this metal chair, but with the release of air, I stand up and throw the chair into the wall behind me. “You did what?”
“How come I don’t remember any of this?” Reese asks quietly.
“Something went wrong with one of the tests, and it caused a bout of amnesia. You were fine, though. I had the research and data, so Crownwell moved me into the bunker at that point, and Reese, you were put in captivity to keep you safe from the prisoners.”
“What the hell is wrong with your brain? At what point in your life did you become so deranged that you would think any of this is okay?” I yell.
Ignoring my rage, she continues, “You two have done this country a huge service, and you should both be proud of one another.” Her final words are all it takes. I move quickly around her desk, pulling her up by her shoulders, pinning her to the wall.
“You’re a murderer,” I spew out through my clenched jaw.
“A murderer?” she questions through quiet laughter. “Do you have any idea how many people I have saved?”
“We have only seen people die in Chipley,” Reese says, avoiding eye contact with my mother. “Sin is right.”
