White Space Season 1

Cassidy’s mouth, it unleashed the worries that Cassidy had been trying not to think about. But now that Emma was safe and would soon be home, Cassidy had to acknowledge the concerns. What was Jon going to do about Emma? Would he demand custody of his daughter? Would she be able to do anything to stop him? Anxiety began to eat away at her momentary happiness, and she felt the old familiar tug of the pills calling to her.
    She closed her eyes as if doing so would keep the seeds of addiction from setting camp in her thoughts.
    Though her hate for Jon had deteriorated significantly in the past 24 hours, he was still a Conway. And her loathing for them would not die so easily. There was too much history to ignore. And as nice as he might be, Jon was still a Conway, and there was no way in hell Cassidy could sit by while that family poisoned sweet, innocent Emma.
    Sending Emma into that family would be like dropping a baby in a basket, then sending it downstream on the river to Hell.
    Yet, Emma was Jon’s daughter. If he wanted her, there would be little, if anything, Cassidy could do to stop it. Jon had the lawyers, power, and bloodline to prove she was his in less than a day, then take Emma away for eternity.
    Cassidy reached toward Emma and pulled her niece into another, longer embrace. “I love you, Kitty Cat Bubbles,” Cassidy said, tickling Emma on the side, calling her the same nickname she’d used since Emma wore her Hello Kitty pajamas with Hello Kitty blowing bubbles, back when she was three.
    “I love you too, Cass,” Emma said, pushing herself deeper into Cassidy’s hug.
    The door swung open and Cassidy could feel Jon standing behind her. His words, harmless as they were, flooded her with fear.
    “How are my girls?”

    * * * *

CHAPTER 4 — Milo Anderson

    Sunlight hit Milo in the face, forcing his eyes open to blurred, unfamiliar surroundings. His vision slowly adjusted to bright light above illuminating the mostly white room. A punctuated blip from somewhere behind him beeped.
    He rubbed his throbbing temples and saw the first of the tubes, sticking from the middle of his arm and trailing into the IV bag dangling above him on a metal pole.
    Why am I in a hospital?
    Milo shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs from his memory and draw clarity to his present. He looked around the room, hoping to see someone, anyone , but he was alone.
    Milo looked for a mirror, but found nothing. Just as well, he figured, since he could feel the tubes in his nose and throat, and clearly see the horrid layers of bandages snaking around both of his arms. Though it took Milo a minute to place the unfamiliar pinch, he realized with a quickly rising fear that the sharp pain in his groin was from a catheter sticking into his penis.
    How did I get here?
    Milo remembered getting the call from Cody in the middle of class, then Beatrice in the parking lot, nearly mowing down Russ Harvey while she zoned out like a zombie just as she had done in front of the snow-filled TV screen.
    Milo remembered Beatrice riding the crazy train, right off the tracks and into the glass wall of the grocery store. Milo squeezed his eyes shut, replaying everything that had happened from the moment Beatrice picked him up from school, until the minute his world lost every drop of color.
    Nothing made sense, and unless Milo was remembering things wrong, which he was sure he wasn’t, Beatrice hadn’t said a single word from the time he climbed inside the BMW, all the way until he was begging for her to stop or slow or at least say something. It was if something else had taken over her or something.
    Milo felt a sense of growing dread as he remembered Cody’s warning:
    “I didn’t think they’d strike now. In fact I was sure they wouldn’t. But they did, and that means they’re more worried about what Manny was going to say than I realized. That means you’re probably next.”
    Was Cody’s message and Beatrice’s behavior related, or had Milo seen too many movies, and written one too many Twilight Zone-inspired short stories with Alex?
    They might think you know more than you’re saying, Milo.
    You need to get out of town. Now.
    A flutter of panic filled Milo as the room around him felt as if it were somehow shrinking, and caging him .
    He wondered if Beatrice was okay. Was she laying in a bed nearby? Or was she dead?
    Milo looked to his side and saw a button on his bed rail which said, “Help.”
    He pressed it.
    A painfully eerie