Little Emmett Read online

  “Stay calm. Look normal. Don’t look at anyone who drives by. Just look normal.”

  How normal did they really look, though, Emmett wondered? Four children in the wee hours of the morning, without jackets, clunking around in their sneakers with no socks underneath. They all appeared rather dirty. Jackie’s face was dewy with sweat, her hair sticking to her neck and the sides of her face. Tobie had actual dirt smudged on his cheek. They were dirty kids. Was that enough to be noticed?

  When there weren’t any cars in sight, Jackie led them quickly across the road, shoes scraping the asphalt to the other side. Once across, they hurried into someone’s yard, crouching behind a low fence there. They took a short breather, panting. Cars passed both ways, whooshing by. More and more of them. Tobie peeked over the fence.

  “There are a lot of people out now. Driving.” He settled back onto his knees with the others. “Do you know what day it is? Do you think there’s school?”

  “I don’t know,” Jackie said. “I was wondering that, too.”

  “I’m so hungry,” Clark said. “I barely ate any spaghetti last night.”

  “We can’t hide here all day,” Jackie said, standing and peeking over the fence. “We have to go, before these people see us in their yard.”

  “You and Tobie are actually from here, right?” Clark asked.

  “Yes, West Glenwood. We’re looking for Sterling Elementary. Have you heard of it?”

  “No.”

  Jackie sighed. “Trust me, we’re from here.”

  “All right. Just making sure. Because The Holmes house was a long drive for me.”

  “Are we ready?” Tobie asked. “Because I just saw a light turn on in these guys’ living room.

  Morning was fully upon them.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  “Our school was somewhere along Main Street,” Jackie said.

  Emmett looked at the road signs at each corner they passed, not understanding the addresses at all. He wondered if the others knew any better, but was too ashamed to find out.

  “Everyone’s looking at us,” Tobie said. “They can tell we’re lost.”

  “No they can’t,” Jackie said. “Stop looking at them.”

  It must have been an early morning rush hour, as the street they walked was busier than ever now, a steady stream of passing cars. Each intersection was lined with them in all directions, waiting their turn. Emmett’s legs shook beneath him. It was like he’d turned into a gummy bear, and the hot spotlight of everyone’s gazes melted him gradually along the sidewalk as they went, losing more and more traction with each step. What was worse, he had to pee. Badly. Not wanting to draw attention, however, he decided he would hold it as long as he could.

  Eventually the houses turned into businesses. Yards into storefronts. Lots of garages, with signs near the street advertising auto repair. People drew up blinds in their store windows—gruff-looking men and women, whose withering stares put a hop in the children’s step.

  “How do we find Main Street?” Clark asked.

  “I don’t know,” Tobie said. “I don’t know, I don’t know… Jackie, I know this was my idea, but… what if we are lost?”

  “We aren’t lost,” she said. “Not… exactly.” She, too, was beginning to feel it. Emmett saw it in the way she stole glances at cars driving by, or how she peered down each street with increasingly frantic bewilderment. “And if we do get lost… well, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to ask for help.”

  “Look at us,” Clark said, pulling the hem of his own shirt out to observe the dirt and grime. “People can tell we’re lost.”

  “We look homeless,” Tobie said.

  “We don’t look homeless.”

  “You guys, I have to go to the bathroom…”

  Emmett couldn’t hold it any longer.

  “Emmett…” Jackie groaned.

  “Not just him,” Tobie said. “I’ve had to go for a while.”

  They approached a stoplight intersection. As they stood on the corner, waiting their turn, a man in his car rolled down his window and spoke to them.

  “You kids okay?” he called.

  Everyone looked to Jackie, voicelessly nominating her.

  Tobie elbowed his sister. “I told you.”

  “No, we’re okay. Thank you!” She avoided facing the man as she spoke, knowing her friendly voice wasn’t translating in any visible way.

  They were grateful when the light turned green. The man with the rolled-down window drove off, as well as all the cars around him which may have noticed the exchange. They hurried across the crosswalk, each of their heads swiveling like owls in all directions at the cars going by and the cars waiting their turn, their drivers watching disinterestedly as the children passed.

  “What if someone from the government sees us?” Tobie worried aloud.

  “We can’t help that, Tobie. Please. Stop.” Jackie threw an agitated scowl his way. “Just keep moving.”

  “I have to pee really bad,” Emmett said.

  “I know, I know…”

  They walked one block further when suddenly Jackie gasped.

  “This is it!” she said. “We found Main Street!”

  And they had. The sign at this intersection indicated as much. Beaming thankfully, Jackie waved for them to follow as they turned the corner, their pace a little quicker than before.

  “What if it’s the other way?” Tobie asked.

  “Then we’ll turn around once we’ve reached the end this way.”

  “The end? How far is the end?”

  Jackie paused, checking the street in both directions. After a brief hesitation, she waved them to follow her again, and took them hastily down one of the alleys between the shops. Narrow and shaded, they followed single file between the brickwork, checking suspiciously over their shoulders at the street behind them.

  “Okay,” Jackie said. “Go here.”

  “Here?” Emmett asked.

  “Unless you want to ask one of these lovely shopkeepers…”

  Emmett walked a bit further, to a place in the alley choked off by stacks of wooden pallets leaning against the side. He stepped behind the pallets, making sure he had some privacy from the others.

  “I’m going after he’s done,” Tobie declared.

  After they went, Clark decided he would go as well. Only Jackie didn’t go, though she complained she might need to.

  “Just go,” Tobie said. “We’ll watch the road.”

  “I can’t ‘just go’ like you can.”

  “Yeah you can. Go behind the pallets like we did. We’ll make sure the coast is clear.”

  She thought about it. Then, with a defeated sigh, she went behind the pallets, peeking out to make sure they stayed far enough away.

  “It’s fine,” Tobie said. “See?”

  A minute later she was finished and they returned to the sidewalk. Emmett found himself much less anxious, now his bladder was empty. One less thing to worry about.

  “Should be easy, now,” Jackie said. “We’ll find our school eventually, and then we’ll know—”

  She was interrupted as another vehicle pulled up alongside them, this time to the curb. They each glanced as the car creeped along, but no one slowed. In fact, they quickened their pace.

  “Hey there!” Another man, different than the last. “You kids doing all right?”

  “Don’t look,” Jackie said, focusing only on the sidewalk.

  Emmett, wanting to obey but ultimately unable to control himself, peeked repeatedly at the car, until something about it caught his attention and he looked directly at it for the first time, studying it.

  “Hey there, buddy,” the man said to him, though Emmett wasn’t paying him any attention. “You look tired!”

  Emmett’s heart hammered. He turned forward. A frightening, giddy energy surged through him, begging to be let out in a scream. The man said something else but he heard nothing.

  “Guys,” Emmett said. “You guys.”

 
; They were too afraid to turn their heads anywhere but forward.

  “What?” Jackie asked.

  “His car. It’s a police car.”

  They each turned to see it, unable to help themselves, and saw it was true. Naturally they hadn’t noticed at first, as the lettering was always so small. Emmett’s mother had described it to him once. They kept the lettering small to be inconspicuous, to blend in better with everyone else, but just visible enough that anyone seeking help would know where to look to spot one.

  The officer spoke to them now as a group.

  “You guys all right? Need a ride?”

  Jackie was panicked. It was in her voice—the raised pitch, the curtness of her words, the spasming of her mouth.

  “We’re okay. We’re fine. We don’t need any help. Thank you.”

  Emmett listened as the tires rolled over grit in the gutter.

  “Are you sure? Because we’ve gotten a few calls this morning.” He paused. “Reports of a group of sad-looking children wandering the downtown area. And earlier, someone reported a group of children hiding in a neighbor’s yard. Was that you, too? You guys hiding from someone?”

  Jackie stopped in her tracks. Tobie bumped into her from behind.

  “We’re fine, I said.” She looked away, down an alley to their right. Perhaps the officer noticed this, as he spoke a little more urgently.

  “Where are you headed? Maybe I can help get you there faster.”

  “We’re just…”

  Jackie paused as she noticed something ahead, farther down the street. Emmett followed her wide-eyed stare, heart chugging. Tobie, seeing it as well, couldn’t contain himself.

  “There’s another one coming! They’re trapping us!”

  After that, everything was chaos. The officer shouted to them but his voice was lost to the sound of their scattering footsteps. Fight or flight. Emmett did neither. As the others fled down the alley, he froze. The second vehicle down the street made a sharp turn, heading down the nearest cross street, speeding out of sight. Finally, at the sound of the officer opening his door beside him, Emmett’s brain fired to life and he pivoted in place, scuffing his shoes on the pavement in his belated attempt to flee. The others were several steps ahead of him. His eyes pleaded desperately at their backs to let him catch up, but of course there wasn’t time for that. Not for them. Not for him.

  Footsteps trampled behind him. Gaining. Dreadfully quick.

  At the alley’s end, the next street over, the second police vehicle reappeared, braking to a stop at their exit. Emmett watched helplessly as the others dispersed both left and right, vanishing out of sight in opposite directions—truly every child for themselves. But he wasn’t so lucky. He was only halfway down the length of the alley when those hands he feared fell upon his shoulders.

  “No!” he screamed.

  The officer’s hands were like iron clamps around each of his biceps, wrestling him off his feet with ease. He wriggled and squirmed to no avail. The officer swept him around, the toes of his shoes skating over the pavement, headed back the way they came. Emmett screamed, high and hollow along the tight, cold brickwork, dragging his feet beneath him.

  “All right, then,” the officer said. “If that’s how you want it.”

  He hoisted Emmett into his arms like a toddler. In a matter of seconds, they arrived at the curb and the officer shoved Emmett into the backseat of the waiting car. The door shut, locking him in. Emmett sat upright, faced the window, peering down the alley. His friends were nowhere in sight.

  As the officer sat behind the wheel, speaking into his radio as they pulled away from the curb, Emmett curled into himself, dirty and shriveling like burning paper.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  “Here we are,” the officer said, and they came to a stop.

  He opened Emmett’s door. Climbing out, Emmett stood meekly on the blacktop, surveying the quiet parking lot filled with other patrol cars, all different colors to look all the more pedestrian. The building itself was just as unremarkable.

  “Come with me,” the officer said, with a smile that wasn’t unkind.

  They approached the front entrance, the doors and windows dimly tinted so that Emmett only saw his reflection—a shocking sight, to be sure. Small and wispy, he glistened with an unbathed sheen.

  The officer opened the door for him. “After you.”

  Inside, they were greeted by a long, empty hallway with yet another door at its end. A camera with a blue light watched them from the corner above this door. As they came near it, the door opened up to them, another officer stepping out to hold it.

  “What’s this?” the new officer asked.

  “Another stray. Found a group of them wandering downtown.”

  “Orphans.”

  “I’m guessing so.”

  Through the next door were only more hallways with more doors on each side. As the door closed behind them, the first officer handed Emmett off to the second.

  “Come with me, bud,” the new officer said, leading him down a perpendicular hallway. “We’ll get you situated in no time.”

  Each door was unmarked, yet somehow the officer knew just where they were headed. Emmett scuffled behind him, eyes darting between each door they passed.

  “Right here, buddy.”

  The officer knocked on one of the nondescript doors. In an instant it opened, and another man appeared in the gap.

  “Hey there, Kimmy! How’s it going?”

  “Just got this kid here needs processing.”

  “Oh!” The man fastened his eyes upon Emmett, mouth agape as though he were a delightful surprise. “Well then. I’ll take him from here.”

  “All right, kiddo. Hendrick here will take over now. In you go.”

  With a light hand, the officer guided Emmett through the doorway, into yet a third stranger’s custody. The door shut behind them.

  “Have a seat,” Hendrick instructed.

  There was a desk in the middle of the room, bare except for a stack of papers, with two chairs on either side. Emmett took a seat.

  He observed a large glass cabinet against one wall, with various jars and utensils and gadgets on its shelves. On another wall was a window counter, with a metal door drawn shut.

  Hendrick sat across from him behind the desk. He removed a pen from his shirt pocket and, with a lick of his thumb, pulled a single sheet from the stack of papers.

  “All right,” he said. “Tell me your name.”

  Emmett said nothing at first, simply gawking at the glass cabinet.

  “Not much to look at, huh?” Hendrick said. “I know. Gets boring in here, sitting all day with nothing to do. So, let’s talk. What’s your name?”

  He cleared his throat. “Emmett.”

  “Emmett, huh?” He scribbled Emmett’s name at the top of his sheet. “I have a cousin named Emmett. Always liked that name. Your last name isn’t Mayberry, now, is it? That would be a coincidence!”

  “No,” Emmett said.

  “Oh. What is your last name, then?”

  Emmett hesitated. The way Hendrick smiled—so friendly despite there being nothing at all friendly about this place—made him uneasy.

  “I don’t know,” he mumbled.

  Hendrick furrowed his brow.

  “Don’t know your last name, huh?” He tapped his pen thoughtfully on the desk. “Hmm. Maybe if you think real hard, Emmett, you’ll remember. Can you do that for me?”

  Emmett stared into his lap. “I don’t remember.”

  Hendrick brought the pen to his mouth, where he lightly put his teeth on its end. “Can you tell me where you’re from?”

  Without even thinking about it, Emmett shook his head. With the pen still held between his teeth, Hendrick’s grin broadened.

  “You’ve been through a lot, I’m sure.” He stood up, the feet of his chair scratching the floor. “People have a hard time remembering important details when they’re stressed. Are you stressed, Emmett?” He paced toward the cabinet, where he
paused with his hand on one of the doors, watching Emmett expectantly. Emmett said nothing. “I’m sure this place is a little scary.” He opened the cabinet and removed something from one of the shelves. A tiny device. It was a short, fat, metallic cylinder. “We can leave those questions for another time. After you’ve had some rest. How does that sound?”

  Emmett couldn’t take his eyes off the object he held.

  “You know what this is?” Hendrick asked. “Looks a little funny, doesn’t it? Nothing scary, I promise. We use it to extract DNA. Do you know what that is? DNA?”

  Emmett tensed as Hendrick came near, turning the vial curiously in his fingers. Hendrick knelt beside him, so they were just about eye level. He held the vial up so that Emmett could see.

  “See these little glass windows around the side? And these teeny, tiny lines? That’s to measure how much we take. I only need a tiny bit of DNA. So little, in fact, it won’t even reach this first line here…” He indicated the lowest line, a quarter inch from the bottom of the vial. He uncapped the top of the cylinder, where Emmett didn’t realize there was a cap at all. He set the metal cap on the desk. Revealed underneath was a series of incredibly shallow needle-like teeth, circles of them, with smaller and smaller circles inside each larger one, until there was only one little pin-prick tooth in the center. “These little things here,” he said, indicating the tiny needles, “are what extract the DNA. Barely any sensation. Not even a pinch. More like… an itch. And that’s it. Mind if I show you? Only takes a second.”

  Before he could think much on the matter, Hendrick lifted the sleeve of his shirt and pressed the cylinder against his bicep. Emmett winced, mostly out of anticipation. Otherwise, it was just as he described. Less than an itch, actually. A pressure. When he removed the vial and screwed the cap back in place, he held Emmett’s arm up to show him.

  “See that? No blood. Nothing at all.”

  There were a series of dots on Emmett’s arm where the skin had broken, but no blood to be seen, or any lingering pain to suggest something had even touched him.

  Hendrick stood and walked to the small window counter, where he rapped his hand against the metal door. In an instant, the window rolled up. On the other side, a woman appeared. She wore a white hairnet, thick goggles over her eyes, and a medical mask over her mouth. Hendrick set the vial on the counter, where she took it with her gloved hands. Without any words between them, she slid the metal door shut and was gone.