Homebound

May raced down the road, backpack slung over one shoulder. Alice trailed close behind. 

A classroom, extirpated... 

Luckily, it had been empty—school had just let out for the day, so the students had cleared out. But why had it targeted her school in the first place? Of all the things to target, a school shouldn't be high on the list.

As May thought about it, she couldn't help but feel that she herself was somehow involved without realizing, given first the incident at the coffee shop, and now this. 

It scared her. 

As much as she wanted to help—needed to—being targeted was a terrifying prospect. Her heart pounded in her chest, her stomach in knots. Mom and Dad will know what to do, she thought. 

So she ran down the road, turning the final corner to get home. Their house was still there, intact—not such a sure thing anymore, with the way things were going. She hoped her father had returned home from his expedition. And that he brought their mother. 

She bounded up the front steps to her home and pushed through the door, with Alice barreling in behind her. 

And there he was, sat at the table. 

He clutched a gun in his hand. Pointed at them. With a fierce look on his face.

May yelped, twisting to the side and pulling her hands and a leg into a ball, covering her face. Alice screamed.

"May! Alice!" he exclaimed, relief evident in his voice. The safety clicked as their father reactivated it, and he dropped the gun onto the table. He rushed over to them, pulling them both into a close hug. 

For a moment, he just held them, and they all basked in the warmth. 

———

"So... Mom gave you the gun?" May asked, surprised. 

Ken nodded. 

"And you took those papers from Mom's secret office?"

Another nod. "Right."

"And her secret office was... in the Metro station?"

He gave a resigned half-nod at that. 

"Dad." She stared holes through him. "Come on."

Alice sat patiently in the chair next to her, their father seated across from them. The pistol lay on the table in front of him, as well as a folder labeled "Project Aerodramus: Continuance."

"It's the truth." His eyebrows and hands were raised defensively. That made May even more skeptical.

"Did you see Mom?" Alice asked. "Where is she?"

Ken pressed his lips together. He only did that when he was thinking hard or when he was lying, May knew. She assumed it was the latter. "I didn't see her. And I don't know where she is." 

"Dad." May's eyes were still fixed on her father with that cold stare. 

"I promise." He raised his hands higher.

"...Where did you get the gun, actually?"

"From your mother."

"No, you didn't." 

"I absolutely did, May." He was much firmer now, his demeanor hardening slightly at the prodding. 

There was a lie laced in there somewhere—May could feel it. But she wasn't bothered to go searching for it. 

"And that's not the important thing right now, anyway," he continued. "The important thing is that we're all okay."

Alice gave a hearty nod. She had sat quietly as May and her father spoke about his day, sponging up the information. 

May was less enthusiastic. 

"A classroom was extirpated today," she said quietly. "At the high school."

The room fell to silence for a long moment. The tension, though brief, was intense. Her father stared at her, concern etched onto his face.

"What? Was anyone there?"

She shook her head. "...No, I don't think so. It happened at the end of the day. I don't think anyone was left in there." She breathed in as if to continue that thought, but let the breath go. "...Yeah," she finished. 

He gave a slow nod. But he must have been able to see that May still had something on her mind. "...Is that all?" he asked.

"I... I think..." She took a deep breath, considering how best to raise what had been on her mind since the extirpation. "I think they're targeting me."

"...What?"

"The extirpations, Dad." 

He pulled his head back in surprise at the notion. "May, come on. How and why could they even be targeting you?" He looked completely incredulous. 

"They did yesterday." She turned up her gaze to meet his, her eyes indignant. 

Ken's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"When I went out yesterday," May said, "I went to the café up the road." 

Ken nodded. 

"And while I was there... I felt this energy around me. This... vibration in the air. I saw it— whatever it was—distorting the light." 

"And you think it was an extirpation?"

May nodded. "And—"

"But you're still here."

May closed her mouth at the words. Of course, he was right about that. And she didn't have an explanation. But after thinking about it for a second, she responded, "I think it just... stopped. Or something."

He raised his eyebrows to show his growing disbelief. "That's never happened before."

"But, Dad, I swear it did. That same distortion happened with the president, too!"

He sighed, considering it. "Well, I didn't see that on the broadcast." He shrugged, sitting back. "And even if we assume that was a failed extirpation, one and a half incidents isn't exactly proof that you're being targeted."

"You don't think it's weird that out of all the things that could be targeted, one was my school and another was me?"

He shook his head and shrugged. "It's strange, sure. But I find it unlikely that a random high schooler is being targeted. We don't even know that the one yesterday was an extirpation."

May had known he wouldn't understand. He wouldn't care. "Sure, just brush that off," she muttered. "Some job you're doing, protecting us."

"May." Her father's voice was stern as he said it. More rigid and cold than May had ever heard it. "Do not speak to me that way again. Everything I do is to protect you two." She saw his hand move to massage his ribs as he said it. 

She clicked her tongue and folded her arms in frustration, sitting back, her gaze directed down. 

"I'm sorry it feels like I don't believe you," he said simply. 

May didn't respond, and so the room fell silent again for a while. 

Alice broke it. "But... doesn't that stuff mean we shouldn't really go to school?"

May's eyebrows shot up for a second and she glanced up at their father. 

He looked pensive. He brought a hand to his mouth, stroking the stubble on his chin. He glanced at the folder, placing a hand on it, closed into a fist. May found that strange, but she dismissed it. "What would you do if you didn't go?"

May looked to Alice to answer first. 

"Mmm... prolly... watch anime?" she responded. "And hang out with you and May."

May's mouth cracked into a mischievous smile. She kept looking at her father, head still tilted down. He couldn't possibly refuse. 

Ken dropped his facade of sternness, chuckling. He walked over to Alice smiling and ruffled her hair. "A good answer."

He turned to May now. 

The smile faded from her face. "You know the answer."

He sighed. "I suppose I do." His gaze turned to the folder on the table. "You're still adamant about helping even though you feel targeted?"

May nodded her affirmation. Though being a target was a terrifying idea, she knew acting out against it would ease her mind, and hopefully prove her wrong. The main problem is my lack of understanding, she thought. 

"And how much do you know about particle physics?" her father asked, looking at her sidelong.

May couldn't help but smirk. She had a feeling she knew where this was going. "Nothing."

He smiled at her. "Best get studying, then."