Into the Shadows (16 page)

“Dad, I don’t understand.” Paivi felt a bit
sick.

“Neither do we honey, neither do we.” He put his arm
around Mrs. Anderson as he sat down at the table.

Paivi joined them at the table, not taking her eyes
off of the newspaper. There had to be a few hundred people on the
list. She recognized some of them, Officer Brickman, who worked
with Mr. Anderson, Christian Nelson and his parents, Elena Pappas
from her basketball team and Mr. Kingsley, a science teacher at St.
Andrew High. The list had their names, addresses, birthdates, and
employers or schools. There was no way to hide with all of that
information revealed. She was surprised they didn’t have pictures
posted as well.

“So they must know about us, about what we can do,”
observed Paivi.

“That’s what we thought,” sniffled Mrs. Anderson.
“But how could they know?”

“I don’t know, but I do know one of the boys on the
list, Christian Nelson. He goes to my school. And I know he’s like
us,” Paivi admitted. “But there are so many people on that list.
Can they all do something special?”

“We recognized most of the people on the list that
are like us. They are all good people. Where would they get the
idea that we’re terrorists?” She spat the word out like it was
poison.

Torsten burst into the room at that moment, still in
his pajamas.

“Mom, can I have…,” he trailed off, taking in the
atmosphere of the room. “Uh, who died?”

Paivi handed her brother the newspaper.

“I don’t understand,” he started, as his eyes
scanned the list.

“Join the club,” Paivi interrupted.

“But this is stupid! We’re not terrorists!” His eyes
flashed.

She could see Torsten was truly angry, which didn’t
happen often.

“You’re both just going to have to stay home today
so we can go and figure this out,” offered Mr. Anderson.

They decided to head to City Hall early, to get the
process over with. As they got into the SUV, Mr. Anderson tried to
remain positive. “We’ll just head down there and get this all
straightened out. There has obviously been some kind of
misunderstanding.” He backed the SUV down the driveway.

A lump rose in Paivi’s throat. There had to be
another way.

“Mommy, Daddy, please, I saw something, and I think
it might have to do with this list stuff. I saw Mom in a dream and
she was in some kind of camp and she looked awful.” She continued
rambling, pleading, not wanting to stop. “Look, maybe we should
just keep driving. Can’t we just drive to Canada or something?
We’re only like four hours away!”

Torsten stared at her.

“Honey, we’ve discussed this. We’ve seen a few
things too. But we can’t leave. This is our life here. And if we
leave now, everyone will think we are the bad guys or helping them.
We owe it to ourselves to stay and prove that we are innocent. We
are good people and we can hope that our friends and family see the
truth. We are not running,” answered Mr. Anderson firmly, his eyes
on hers in the review mirror.

Paivi leaned sulkily against the window, as they
passed the neatly groomed lawns in the tidy St. Andrew
neighborhoods. The gray sky and light drizzle added a misty haze to
the already dreary day. A sense of dread coursed through her,
running up and down her body before settling in her stomach. The
neat little houses looked strangely alien to her now, not as warm
and cozy as they used to appear.

After parking the car, the Andersons walked slowly
across the St. Andrew City Hall parking lot, avoiding the large
puddles that had collected from days of rain. Mrs. Anderson held
Mr. Anderson’s arm tightly. Paivi and Torsten trudged silently
behind.

City Hall was a very uninteresting building made of
metal and glass. Unlike many of the historic buildings in St.
Andrew, it was built in the late nineteen-sixties and instead of
charming it just looked a bit boring and tired. They entered the
lobby and joined a line of people in the non-descript hallway. The
carpet was worn and stained in spots, and the walls painted white,
which made the fluorescent lights glow brighter. Paivi observed the
people in line, their faces pale and solemn. Despite the crowd, the
hallway was very quiet. She could hear a few small children whining
to their parents about being tired and wanting to sit down.

The line moved slowly towards a set of double doors
at the end of the hallway. Paivi didn’t notice anyone coming out of
the office, but she did notice the two armed guards on either side
of the doors. They were dressed in black from head to toe, the only
exception was a glowing silver badge they each wore on their breast
pocket. The white letters read ATC. They also wore armbands on
their right arms bearing the same letters, but these were not
nearly as impressive as the glowing badges. On their heads were
black caps, similar to a policeman’s cap, which bore a silver eagle
just above the brim.

Paivi’s eyes were not so much drawn to these aspects
of the men’s appearances — instead they were glued to the large
machine guns that the men carried in their arms. The only gun she
had ever seen in real life was her father’s service revolver, given
to him by the St. Andrew Police Department. The gun barrels were
pointed towards the doorway, so that as each person passed, it was
pointed at their heads. Both men were expressionless, looking
straight ahead — giant, menacing statues.

Paivi shifted nervously from one foot to another.
She hoped once they registered, they could just go home and have a
normal day tomorrow, like none of this had happened.

Finally, it was their turn to go through the door.
Paivi did not like the sensation of guns being pointed at her head,
even if the people holding them didn’t appear to intend to use
them. Paivi and Torsten followed their parents closely, not wanting
to be the first ones to reach their destination. They were led
through a room by a woman, dressed in black like the men at the
door and wearing the same glowing badge and armband they had
sported. She walked them to a desk where they took a seat in some
stiff, metal folding chairs in front of a man wearing the now
familiar ATC uniform.

He looked up as they sat down, an indifferent
expression in his eyes.

“Name?” he demanded.

Mr. Anderson was a bit flustered by the man’s
abruptness.

“I, uh, I’m John Anderson. This is my wife, Maria
and my children, Paivi and Torsten.”

The man entered some information on the computer in
front of him. He then handed Mr. Anderson a booklet.

“This contains all of the information that you’ll
need. You are all considered to be possible Enemies of the State,
so you are currently being placed under what we call
work-home-containment. You are allowed to be away from your home
between the hours of 5 A.M. and 5 P.M., only for work purposes.
Children are also required to be home by the 5 P.M. curfew. Weekend
curfews are also in place. Adults will remain in the home with the
exception of the hours from 7 to 8 A.M. on Saturdays when they are
allowed to go to the grocery store in town. Children are allowed
out of the home from 9 A.M. until 9 P.M. on the weekend.”

Another man in an ATC uniform dropped off a box to
the man at the desk and waited for him to look at the writing on it
and nod. He then scurried off.

“Also, due to the fact that you are considered
dangerous, you, as possible Enemies of the State, referred to
hereafter as EOS, will have your passports revoked. This means that
it will not be possible for you to leave this country or enter any
other country.”

Paivi took a quick glance at her parents. Their eyes
were wide and their skin had taken on a sickly pallor. She looked
back to the man at the desk, fearing if she looked at them again,
she’d burst into tears.

“Note that information has been sent to your schools
and employers, and certain policies will be in place starting
tomorrow to help them better deal with your situation. Lastly, here
are your EOS badges. Each of you has been issued an EOS badge with
a number, which will identify you to the ATC officers in the area.”
He opened the box, which displayed four round, silver badges. They
were attached to a charger and glowed like the ones the ATC
officers were wearing. However, they glowed with a deep red light.
Each badge had the capital letters EOS and two initials underneath,
which Paivi assumed represented their first and last names. On the
same line as the initials stood a number, each one different. The
man took the badges from the box and handed one to each of the
Andersons.

“By law, you are required to wear your EOS badge at
all times when you are outside of your home. When you are at home,
your badges must be placed back in the charger. If they are not all
back in the charger by curfew, ATC responders will be immediately
dispatched to arrest you.”

“Mr, um, Mr…?” Mr. Anderson paused, waiting for the
ATC officer to give his name. He didn’t. “Okay, sir,” he continued.
“I am a police officer in this town. I know my rights. This
infringes on every right given to me by our Constitution. I demand
an explanation!”

His voice had risen, causing ATC officers at the
other desks around the room to glance over in alarm. A few ATC
officers began to move in their direction. Paivi sank down into her
seat as far as she could, trying to avoid the stares.

The ATC officer in front of them raised his hand,
indicating to his fellow officers that he had the situation under
control.

“Mr. Anderson, in your situation, it is not
advisable to make a scene,” he leaned back in his chair. “According
to the government of the United States of America, those rights no
longer apply to you or your family. I have explained your new
rights to you. If you know what’s good for you, you will quietly
take your family home,” he stood up, as if to signify their meeting
had ended. “And I should also mention that you will be subject to
private interviews with the ATC. They will contact you.”

Mr. and Mrs. Anderson rose from their seats, as did
Paivi and Torsten. Her parents looked like balloons that had lost
their air, their shoulders sagging and faces drooping. They put
their arms around Paivi and Torsten, holding them close.

“Don’t forget to put your EOS badges on,” the ATC
officer gestured to the exit.

The Andersons moved towards the back door in a daze.
The ride home was silent. The only sound was that of Mrs. Anderson
crying softly in the front seat. Paivi looked at the badge affixed
to her coat. The silver looked dull in the gray light of the day.
The letters stood out, slightly warm to the touch. Under the
letters EOS stood her initials: PA. Next to that were six numbers:
150778.

She looked across the car at Torsten. He was also
inspecting his badge. He looked up, noticing she was watching, and
stopped, turning instead to look out of the window. She leaned back
in her seat and returned to looking at the homes as they passed
back through St. Andrew towards home. She couldn’t believe she
would have to wear this stupid thing to school. She thought about
what her friends would say, who else would have one, and what would
Jason think. She had hoped this would all just go away, the dreams,
Christian, everything. But instead, she would be wearing it right
on her shirt for all to see.

She thought back to what the man had said about the
curfew. She hoped maybe they would adjust the times for her
basketball games; after all, she was not the only one with a curfew
problem on the team. Elena Pappas was one of their best players and
she couldn’t imagine the team would want to play without them. Or
would they? She leaned her head against the window; the dread was
traveling again, spreading and extinguishing hope. Tomorrow was
going to be the first day of school all over again. Only this time,
she would be the one wearing a glowing badge, advertising her as a
big, fat freak.

Paivi carefully packed her gym bag for basketball
practice that crisp, sunny Tuesday morning. She looked her outfit
over in the mirror, carefully affixing her new silver badge with
the red glowing letters and numbers to her purple hoodie. She
studied her reflection carefully.

It’s not so bad, she thought. Maybe people won’t
even notice.

She tossed her long, blond hair over her shoulder.
She could still see the red light glowing through the strands, but
it was much less noticeable. Paivi headed downstairs for a piece of
toast, though she didn’t feel very hungry.

Mrs. Anderson was going to drive both Paivi and
Torsten to school. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson felt it was best for them
to avoid the school bus, at least until they were comfortable with
their new accessories. Paivi and Torsten didn’t argue.

Paivi was slightly nervous — she hadn’t spoken to
any of her friends since the list was released. She kept reminding
herself that she had been friends with many of them since grade
school. One stupid, silver, glowing button couldn’t ruin what she’d
had with her friends for seven years.

The ride to school was quiet. When her mother
reached the school parking lot, Paivi sighed in relief. Everything
here looked comfortably the same. Students parked their cars and
others were getting off of busses — the usual noise and chaos of a
regular morning before school.

Paivi got out of the car; carefully making sure her
hair had fallen over the glowing pin. She headed towards the front
entrance of the school, spotting Michaela, Aimee, and Crystal near
the steps and headed over to join them.

“Hey guys!” she tried to sound as upbeat and normal
as usual.

“Paivi!” squealed Michaela, throwing her arms around
Paivi. “I missed you yesterday and I didn’t get to talk to you all
weekend! It feels like years! Where were you?”