Episode One: Chapter Four

This is the fourth chapter of the serial novel Pirayus. For the previous chapter, see Chapter Three or start at the beginning with Chapter One.

Aaron placed his hands on the box they had delivered Andra in and pushed it towards the deck.

“What are you doing?” shouted Tabby.

He brought it outside. The transport ship was closer now. Aaron shoved the box against the railing and tried to tip it, but it was impossible to topple. The Cold Storage representative was still on the screen behind him.

“We will still take Asandra back.” she said. “And the police will take you. All this will accomplish is separating you from your daughter for even longer.”

Aaron ran back inside and grabbed the chair he’d been sitting in. He stuck the legs through one of the rungs in the railing and pushed the backrest, using the object as a lever.

“You’re not going to break that.” said the representative.

Without glancing back at her, Aaron said, “I’m stronger than I look.”

“Even for a fabrile, he’s strong.” said Tabby. “I don’t know where it comes from.”

The rung broke free of the deck base and Aaron repeated the maneuver on another rung. It didn’t take very long to open up a gap in the railing. He shoved on the box again. This time it slid off the edge of the deck and splashed into the water. The transport arrived at the place where it had before and the egg shaped door opened. The plank came down.

Another box left the ship and deposited itself on the deck. The image of the cold storage rep appeared on its surface. Now she was both in front and behind him. When she spoke, her voice sounded like a chorus.

“The police are on their way. We gave you time to say goodbye.”

More vessels appeared in the sky. They formed a ring in the air above Aaron’s house.

“As soon as Asandra leaves, they will take you in, but not if you delay.”

Aaron nodded. Then he opened the side of the box. He turned and Tabby was there with Asandra. His daughter walked up to him, prepared to enter on her own. Her father saw nothing else but the look on her face. She had been awake in the dark, he thought. It was the same as when he had entered the room and watched her suffer through the shudders. Cold Storage was suppose to be a relief, but all it did was prolong her suffering. It dawned on him that maybe Cold Storage was nothing but an illusion, a way to remove the children out of sight so their parents didn’t have to witness the pain.

“Andra.” he said. “I’m going to find out what’s going on.”

“Dad?”

“I need you your help. There’s a switch.”

“Aaron, no.” said Tabby. “Do you really think this will accomplish anything?”

He never let his eyes leave his daughter’s. “Andra, trust me.”

Aaron didn’t like asking his daughter to be the one to do this, but he knew Tabby wouldn’t do it. Tabby was more sensible, but she hadn’t been in storage. Through Andra’s few words and expressions, her father understood the terror she had experienced and her desire to avoid going back. They had always had this way of communicating that didn’t require so many words as it might for others. This special connection also meant that when Aaron said “trust me”, his daughter would. It didn’t matter how old she’d get. It didn’t matter how much more she knew. There was still a little girl there who had once found that her father was the only thing in the world that could calm the convulsion of her body.

“I promise I’ll be back.” he said.

With those words, he leapt into the box. It closed him in and Asandra broke from her mother’s grasp to fulfill Aaron’s request. His body froze inside, turned to a doll. The transport ship loaded the box inside, closed up, and flew away.

Keep reading: Episode One: Chapter Five