Outside

Chapter Twenty Three

Suddenly, the speed at which worldwide events unfolded was like someone had pressed a fast-forward button, spooling us crazily towards a too-scary ending. The attacks hadn’t stopped and no one knew if they were carried out by the same networks, or if new terror groups around the world were taking advantage of the confusion.

Three weeks later at four in the morning, an army convoy of trucks rolled through our sleepy village on their way to assist with all the border closures being put into effect. But not all the vehicles kept on rolling.

One camouflage truck stopped at the end of our lane and a small unit of soldiers silently jogged up the pavement towards our house. Samuel was among them.

Crisis point had been reached and so all traditional military protocol had been abandoned. NCOs and Privates had been automatically upgraded to make way for the newly enlisted. Nothing familiar could be relied upon and personal freedom was now a thing of the past.

The military unit came into our house. They told my parents they wanted Connor. My parents told the officer in charge that Connor wasn’t in the house, but they didn’t believe us and searched each room.

We remonstrated with the soldiers. Sleep was misting up my brain but outrage woke me up. I followed one of the soldiers into my room, asking him what he thought he was doing. I wanted to run to Connor’s camper van and warn him, but I knew that to do so would be to reveal his whereabouts. It was too late anyway. Connor had heard the commotion and had opened the shiny red door to his van.

I stared out of my bedroom window as he stood there in his boxer shorts, confused and sleepy. He pulled an old grey t shirt over his head. One of the soldiers outside shouted to the others. They poured out of the house. Connor looked small and alone, squinting downwards and he shielded his eyes with his arm, as they shone a torch over him. They took him away immediately, with no regard for his dignity or comfort.

‘What are you doing?’ I screamed from my bedroom window and ran, almost falling downstairs. My brothers shouted at them and my parents tried to calm us all down. ‘What’s going on? Why have they got you, Connor?’ I ran across the front lawn towards him in my bare feet. Two fresh-faced soldiers barred my way, unmoved by my tears.

I saw Samuel and my hopes soared. ‘Sam!’ I shouted. ‘Why have they got Connor? Tell them! Tell them they’ve got the wrong person!’

But he refused to catch my eye and didn’t say a word. It hit me then with a bitter punch. I couldn’t believe it, but I knew the truth.

‘You bastard!’ I wanted to bite and scratch and kick and hit him until there was nothing left. ‘You did this! Connor has done nothing! Nothing. Why would you do such an evil thing?’

It was clear to me then, that this was all Samuel’s doing. He had gotten Connor arrested under some false pretence. I could only pray and hope they would find no evidence to back it up. That Samuel was only trying to scare him and would release him soon. My father spoke to two of the soldiers, but they wouldn’t give him any reason for the arrest. They took Connor’s camper van and drove it away. My brothers picked me up off the dew-sodden lawn and carried me back into the house.