Collateral

Rose enters her apartment. Her feet are freezing, and the rough leather of the jacket hurts her skin, and certainly hurts the wound on her shoulder and the scar on her back. She tosses the jacket on her cough and walks into her bedroom. She picks up a random pyjama top and puts it on.

She runs to Ellie’s room and barges right in. To her surprise, Ellie isn’t asleep but is playing on her phone.

“Hello, little angel.”

“Mom!” Ellie quickly tosses her phone under her pillow and lays down. “I thought you weren’t coming home tonight! You texted that–”

Rose walks over to Ellie, almost drags her out of her bed, and hugs her tightly in her arms.

“Mom. Please. What did I do to deserve that?” Ellie sounds annoyed.

“I just really really missed you, Ellie. And because I love you.”

“I missed you too, Mom. And I love you. Is everything okay?”

Ellie escapes her mother’s embrace. Then she points at her mother’s arm. “Are you hurt?”

“Just a little. I’ll be fine.”

Ellie looks at her Mom head to tho. “Did you walk outside without shoes? It is freezing outside, why would you -”

Rose sighs “It’s a long story darling. I’ll explain tomorrow.”

“Ok, Mom, but.”

“Go to sleep darling, it is way past your bedtime.”

Their conversation is interrupted by a loud bang.

What the hell was that?

Another bang. Where is it coming from? It is the front door? But this isn’t a knock, it sounds like they are bashing the door in. Rose walks back to the door of ELlie’s bedroom and looks into the living room. Another bang sounds, and the front door shakes.

They are bashing the door in.

At the third bang, the front door of the apartment breaks into pieces, and dust fills the apartment. Two men storm in, with their guns drawn. Instinctively, Rose tries to pull her gun. Then she realises her gun is still in her Jacket.

Damn.

She closes the bedroom door as Ellie looks at her.

“Mom, what is going on?”

Rose doesn’t answer. She hears the sound of the men knocking on the door. The door doesn’t hold, and two of the guards Rose met earlier today stand before them. One of them aims a gun at Ellie’s head, and the other at Rose’s.

Behind them enters Doctor Hall.

“Did you truly think you could steal from me? And kill one of my employees, Sidney? If Sydney is even your real name.”

Ellie looks at her Mom and back at the guard. She looks terrified.

“Please, you can take me back, but let my daughter go.”

Rose slowly positions herself between the guard and her daughter.

Doctor Hall laughs. “You have nothing to bargain with, Sidney. Nothing. We are going to take you back to our lab and take the little girl too. We still have some science experiments to run on kids, and your daughter will do fine.”

Rose looks back at the guards and turns around to Ellie. “Darling, do you trust me?”

“Of course, Mom”

Rose embraces her daughter and picks her up in her arms. Then she jumps through the window at full force. The old window frame pops out of the window, and Rose feels like she is free-floating, with Ellie in her arms. Then, less than a second later, she hits the ground one floor lower, on the sidewalk. The window hit the ground next to her, and glass shatters everywhere. The ground impacts her back, and pain surges through the scar on her back. Ellie is shaking in her arms.

“Little Angel, are you hurt?”

“I don’t think so.”

She jumps on her feet and holds Ellie. Then she looks at Ellie’s plaster.

“And your arm, is it still ok? It doesn’t hurt.”

“Yes Mom, I am fine, what is going on?”

Curses sound from the apartment, and one of the guards sticks his head through the hole in the wall on the first floor.

“Hey, you two, don’t think you will get away.”

Rose feels in her pockets. Luckily, her car keys are still there. She opens her van and ushers Ellie inside.

The guard shoots his gun from the upper floor, and the bullet hits the van. Rose starts the console and presses ‘return to last address.’

“Where are we going, Mom?” Ellie looks really scared.

“I don’t know, Honey.”

Rose checks the console. She is driving back to the lab. No way she should go there. She checks the latest destinations. Hmm. The diner might be better.

“Honey, can I borrow your phone.”

Ellie checks the pockets of her pyjama pants. “It is still on my nightstand.”

“O no. I just wish there was some way to reach Mr Johnson.”

“You mean Sophia’s dad?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know where Sophia lives?”

Ellie nods. “Of course, they live above the diner.”

Wait. Rose had been to the diner many times. She never noticed Mr Johnson lived there. Maybe she should pay more attention.

Rose feels her side and notices blood is seeping onto her pyjama top. Damnit, she has opened the old scar.

“Mom, are you ok? You are bleeding.”

“I’ll be fine honey. We will go to Mr Johnson’s, and everything is going to be fine.”