The Darkest Night

“What?” she groaned in confusion as a firm pressure on her right shoulder gently shook her, jolting her from sleep. Her brain scrambled to understand what could have woken her when the shake came again, harder this time. Cordelia rolled flat onto her back. And the hand that had been on her shoulder pulled away. She blinked her eyes several times, trying to make sense of her surroundings. No one had ever woken her in the middle of the night before.

Staring up at the ceiling, she realized that the light cutting into her room was from the hallway. She could hear movement from the other side of the house, where her parents’ room was located. Sensing the figure standing over her on the right, she turned her head and realized it was her father, Robert. He was a tall, hulking shape in the dark, and Cordelia heard his uneven breathing as if he had hurried into her room. Blinking a couple more times, “What is it?” she questioned, not sure if she was awake enough to talk.

“I need you to get up, sweetie,” his voice sounded strained, not the usual easy-going tone of her father.

“It’s the middle of the night!” She sat up, causing him to take a step back. She glanced at the nightstand for her phone, planning to check the time, but before she could do anything, a suitcase thumped on the bed beside her.

“We need to leave. Tonight.”

She looked at him in confusion, but then saw the worry move across his face.

“I don’t have time to explain. We only have about twenty minutes to get on the road, and I need to go help your mother. I’ll explain everything as soon as I can.” He turned to leave, and she watched as he walked away, still processing what he had told her. He paused at the door, looking over his shoulder at her, and that is when she saw it—fear in his eyes and tightness about his mouth. His wavy blonde hair was not as neat as usual, looking as if he had run his fingers through it a time or two in thought or worry. “Pack enough for about two weeks. If you forget anything, we’ll buy it once we get there.”

“There?“ she croaked, sliding her legs over the side of the bed, bumping the suitcase as she did so, and had to grab it quickly before she knocked it off the bed.

“Later,” she thought she heard him say, but when she looked over at him, he was already gone.

Stretching her arms as she stood, she arched her back, feeling it crack slightly. Because sleep attempted to lull her back to bed, she shook her head and walked toward the bathroom, located across the hall. Cold tiles on her feet startled her as she flipped on the switch, causing her to shut the door harder than she meant to. She hurried over to use the toilet. As she sat there, rubbing her eyes, she pulled her thoughts together. Was this all a dream? A minute or two ticked by as memories of this night played again and again in her mind. Mumbled words drifted in; her mother whispering to her brother, Kai. There was an edge to her mother’s voice, confirming this was not a dream. Something was terribly wrong. She finished up, flushed, and went to the sink to wash her hands and then her face.

She stared at her exhausted blue eyes in the mirror and frowned at the black smudge under her right eye. Normally, she was careful to remove all her makeup before going to bed. She grabbed the still-wet washcloth hanging next to the sink to scrub at her eyes before examining herself further. Her long, thick auburn hair hung in knots around her oval face, her medium length lashes now looked clean, but her full lips felt chapped even though they didn’t look it. Had she even been asleep for three hours? That wasn’t enough for her to function. She liked her sleep and didn’t care if that made her weird. Deciding that she would not worry about her appearance any further, since she’d only get more disheveled after the drive, she hung up the washcloth.

Cordelia crouched to reach under the sink and pulled out her travel bag, which was slightly crushed from the many items she kept under there. She straightened, shutting the cabinet door with her foot, as she opened the bag and stretched it out. Looking around her sink, she took her nearby toothbrush and toothpaste throwing them inside the bag, followed by various hair items. Reaching over into the side drawer, she grabbed her makeup, first putting it in a smaller bag, and then grabbed her blow dryer and curling iron from the drawer at the bottom. In the medicine cabinet, she pulled out her deodorant, perfume, and other items she frequently used when getting ready for the day. Despite not knowing where they were going, she didn’t plan to be without make-up and everything else she needed. She had a reputation to uphold, even at fourteen.

Zipping up the bag with her toiletries, she went back to her room and dropped it in the suitcase as she headed to her dresser. Before packing further, she found her favorite sweatshirt and sweatpants, pulling both on quickly over her pajamas. She then collected clothes from all her drawers, first putting undergarments in the suitcase pocket before stacking blouses, T-shirts, a couple of shorts, a pair of jeans, and several leggings in next. In her closet, she picked up shoes, a light jacket—it was the end of April, so she shouldn’t need anything warmer—, a swimsuit or two, and a nice dress. The shoes were really the biggest problem, as she needed several pairs and wasn’t sure she could get them all in her already full suitcase. Shoes weren’t optional. They would have to fit.

When her father had told her to pack for two weeks, she assumed she should pack as if she were going to her grandparents’ house in Michigan for the summer. She and Kai usually spent two weeks each summer with her dad’s parents, where they would swim, fish, and hike, but mostly lay out in the sun near the lake. It was an amazing way to spend the summer, and she loved it. Perfect memories! With only her dad’s grandparents remaining, she spent as much time with them as she could.

A thought slammed into her, making her pause in the doorway of her closet, biting her lip. Maybe something had happened to her grandparents? Was that why they were rushing out in the middle of the night? Fear gripped her. With her heart racing, she hurried over to her suitcase, pushing the remaining items in wherever they would fit and zipping it up. It must be that; otherwise, why the rush?

“Please let them be okay,’ she prayed. There could be no other reason her father would look so worried and insist that they leave in the middle of the night. He was very close to his parents and his two brothers. Cordelia loved whenever they could all get together, as they would play games and tease each other endlessly. She only had three cousins, and they were all under five, but they were fun to watch and followed her everywhere. Another frightening thought. Could one of them be hurt instead?

Taking a breath to calm her racing mind, she tried to think of something else. Looking around at what items were near her bed that might be good to pack, her eyes fell on the backpack. It dawned on her that she was going to be missing school for two weeks, and it was the end of the year, so she had a lot of exams coming up. Surely an injured family member was more important than missed schoolwork, but she didn’t want to get too far behind. Besides, she may need the distraction. She plucked up her backpack that she had thrown beside her bed when she had come home from school earlier that day and checked to see what she had in there. Seeing most of her books, her laptop, and pencils at the bottom, she took her backpack over to her desk to grab a few other items and the charger for the laptop. Wrapping up the charger reminded her to also grab her phone charger as well as her headphones.

Glancing around the room once more, she heard her father call out to her about getting in the car. It would have to be enough. She zipped up her backpack, shoved her phone in the front pocket, and then grabbed the handle of her suitcase, which thudded when it dropped to the floor. She flipped off the light switch, plunging the upstairs into darkness, and headed down the hall to the stairs.

As she turned to go down the stairs, she spotted her mother at the bottom taking a coat from the hall closet. As a rule, her mother, Silka, was always well put together, but not today. Dressed in a sweatshirt with jeans and running shoes, her ocean-blue eyes, so similar to Cordelia’s, looked far off. The lovely, curly auburn hair that defined her mother stood up in places rather than being styled. More telltale were her tightly puckered lips minus the happy smile.

Cordelia’s heart raced as thoughts flashed again. What could be happening to impact her mother like this? She resisted the urge to ask; instead, she lifted her bag and stepped quickly down the stairs and straight out the open front door behind her mother.