White Space Season 1

happened to her car.
    Katie made spaghetti and meatballs, and while Liz didn’t think she’d be hungry, her appetite surprised her. The past few days had been a diet of microwave meals and stuff poured from bags. Pasta was a welcome and delicious change. As they ate, Liz kept staring at Katie, wondering why Roger placed a bullseye on the girl, along with the other kids. Liz couldn’t imagine the aftermath if Roger had killed Katie. Alex would have been devastated even more than he already was.
    And while Sarah Hughes, someone Liz had been close to for years, wasn’t a target, but rather an accidental victim of Roger’s shootings, a small part of Liz hated him for having killed her. For taking away little Emma’s mother. If Roger had killed Katie, she imagined that her son would also feel that hate — i f he didn’t already.
    Even as Liz stewed in guilt for her husband’s plans and actions, some small part of her kept returning to the video on the flash drive.
    What had he seen in the caves?
    What was it about the bodies that prompted the madness to follow?
    And what in the hell could Katie, or any of the other students, have had to do with it?
    Liz felt another twinge of guilt as she saw Katie smile at Alex. This guilt was new, tinged with suspicion.
    Was there something about Katie Liz should be worried about?
    Liz had to stop her thoughts before they plunged down the same rabbit hole of crazy Roger had fallen. She looked over at Aubrey, sucking on one hand while playing with the mess of sweet potato painting her highchair tray.
    “I’m going to school tomorrow,” Alex said, as if he’d been waiting forever to make the declaration, and was waiting for her objection.
    “Let’s talk about it later,” Liz said, not wanting to get into a heated argument in front of Katie, especially when both Liz and her son were already on edge.
    “There’s nothing to talk about,” Alex said. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I have no reason to hide my face or take any bullshit.”
    “Alex! Not in front of Aubrey,” Liz said. “I said we’ll talk about this later.”
    “And I said there’s nothing to talk about. It’s not your choice to make. It’s mine. I’m not gonna hide in my house like I’m guilty while some security guard stands outside our house. It’s like we’re the ones being arrested for what Dad did!”
    Liz didn’t know what to say. She looked at Katie, who looked down before Alex took her hand and held it, rubbing his thumb across her palm. Alex raised his eyes to meet Liz’s.
    “I’m not afraid of these people,” he said. “Let me go back. And prove we’re not the monsters they think we are.”
    There was no point in arguing. The more Liz resisted, the more Alex would push back. And now, more than ever, she needed him to communicate, to come to her with his thoughts. Something he wouldn’t do if she took a stand here.
    “Fine,” she said. “Tomorrow, you’ll go back.”

    * * * *

CHAPTER 3 — Cassidy Hughes

    Friday morning
    September 8

    Cassidy looked at her mom, dipping a spoon into her soggy oatmeal, fishing for craisins from the bottom, then skimming off the top and leaving soggy lumps of semi-solid lumps down below.
    Cassidy could tell her mom’s ears were ringing from the usual migraine, the migraines that had grown alarmingly regular. Like the alcohol in her pores, the blood in Vivian’s eyes was impossible to hide. She would’ve been wearing the deep bags anyway — a bottle of Yellowtail usually made sure of that — but her eyes always looked worse with the migraines.
    And the migraines were always worse after the Yellowtail.
    Fucking drunk.
    Not like the apple fell too far from the tree.
    Cassidy smiled good morning at her mom, opened the fridge, then pulled a full carton of Donald Duck Orange Juice from the cold. She went to the cabinet, pulled out a tall glass, filled it to the rim, then started sipping, her mouth lapping at the liquid, her lips keeping busy until she figured out what she was going to say.
    Cassidy wanted to ask her mom about the night before, wanted to know what in the hell she meant by “they always bring her back,” and “the people in the sky.” Cassidy didn’t even care that she’d been mistaken for Sarah — she was used to that shit — but her mom had been so definitive, it was more than unsettling. It was an open cut in her mind she wanted to close.
    Not like Cassidy put much (if any) stock in the crap her mom spewed from her