Jeff heard his parents come home as he was finishing the setup, once he clicked go he noticed the emitter flash. A popup notified him that his request was uploaded to the supercomputer for processing and after clicking okay, a countdown timer appeared. Jeff watched the timer count down and checked himself in the mirror as well as thought about what he knew about changing diapers and surviving in the while. No changes...
After a few minutes watching a two week timer count down became boring and soon grew distracted by the abyss that is YouTube. The house phone rang and someone answered it, Jeff mocked his parents for keeping one since all three of them had cell phones and his little sister was never home alone but they laughed him off and insisted it was worth having just in case.
A loud crash came from the room below and there was a scream, Jeff lurched up and ran to the stairs, a second later there was a similar crash from his room and as he raced back to see what had happened he saw a slime was sprayed everywhere and an instant later everything was fire. Jeff slammed his door shut and ran downstairs. Chaos and panic ensued for the next several moments and the only safe exit was the kitchen patio door leading to the outside. Once all four of them were out in the back yard Jeff realized that someone had fire bombed his house and that he had nearly been murdered.
Soon neighbors were staring at the house and checking on the family, drinking in the horror and being grateful it wasn't them. The police and fire department arrived and Jeff realized how little he recalled of everything. A noise drew him out of his room, a noise drew him back into his room, what did the device look like? did everything engulf in flames immediately or were you able to see it spread out? Was there an explosive force as it ignited or was it just fire? What color was this slime?
The police realized immediately that this was a targeted attack and transported the family to the police station for their own safety where they ended up spending a restless night. Jeff's parents were being intensely questioned and periodically he and his sister Kayla were too. The middle of the next day Jeff was called back into the interrogation room. "Have a seat kid, this ain't going to be easy to hear." the very tired looking (officer? Investigator?) man said. "First the good news. Your story checks out. Your internet service provider confirmed that your PC was actively downloading videos from a streaming website during the time of the attack and the Arson team found shards of glass inside the room as well as the remains of a device identical to the one from the room below."
Jeff stared incredulously, "I knew I had nothing to do with this all along. You aren't telling me anything I didn't already know. How is that good news? Wait! You thought I was a suspect?!?!?!"
"Well, by us being able to confirm your story, we are no longer needing to hold you, and can give you access to more resources and start getting your life back together." the officer continued calmly.
"It isn't a story, its a series of events, but that's great, when can my family and I go." Jeff replied with some irritation.
"That's the rough part kid, your parents aren't going anywhere. It turns out they were working for an organized crime ring for the last two decades. On top of working for the bad guys, they were also skimming money from them, working together to cover each other's trails. Obviously the pieces still fell together and your family was targeted. They confessed to all this and will be going to jail for at least a decade each and that's with time off for good behavior and their full cooperation. So you and your sister are both under our care until we figure out what to do with you, Furthermore, its believed that you and your sister are still targets and may be attacked as a way to hurt your parents."
"No, you're lying!" Jeff said calmly in disbelief.
"Come with me!" the man said escorting him to another room. "This will be difficult to see, but I think you need to see it." He pressed a button and the back wall became transparent revealing that it was a one way mirror. Jeff's father was there in handcuffs, and it was clear he had been crying. The man pushed another button and the audio kicked on, "I and like 4 other guys broke in to the house, we didn't know who lived there, we were told to terrorize but not murder, I didn't look at the house and didn't want to. I was struggling in college part time, had a low wage part time job, and just found out I had a kid on the way, it was the fastest way I knew how to make a couple thousand dollars to cover immediate expenses. They wanted to use me for more muscle but I refused, they threatened my wife, girlfriend at the time, and I convinced them that I could be useful in other ways... I switched my major from engineering to business and..." the audio clicked off and the mirror went dark again.
Jeff stared at the spot his father was though he could see him no longer, the man stepped over to another panel pushing a few buttons, his mothers voice, haggard though it was, was clearly identified and drew Jeff over to gaze into the next room, "I covered our tracks seven ways from Sunday. I took the money through loophole after loophole saving them millions through tax deductions, the only thing illegal about it was where the money came from, and so what if we took a couple 10k a year, we earned it!" she spat becoming incensed.
Jeff staggered backward as the audio cut out and the window no longer let the offending image through. He was unable to formulate a full sentence as his mind raced but that didn't stop him from trying, "They... But... You... But... How... When... What about us?" he finally sputtered out.
"Let's go back to the other room..." the man said wearily looking significantly more exhausted than when the conversation started 10 minutes ago. "This is the only place I can leave you to give you some privacy. The next thing will be to decide if you want to tell your sister or if you want us to tell her. If you want to write down a few ideas on how to begin the conversation you can use this, either way, she would probably prefer it if you were there."
"Thanks." was all Jeff could choke out and as soon as the man left Jeff's emotions unleashed. Anger at his parents, fear for himself and his sister's lives, uncertainty for their future, loss for all his possessions, friends, and acquaintances which he will undoubtedly need to give up. After a good half hour of bawling he began to write, and focusing on how to tell his sister strengthened him, he would need to rise up to new heights to be a support to her.
Eventually Jeff had composed himself and cobbled together some words that would help his sister understand what was going on. Jeff had realized that the shock of the situation kept him from asking the countless questions he should have about their future. "If they are in danger, where will they go and how will they rebuild their lives?" For starters.
Jeff opened the door to exit the interrogation room and the man stood up from his desk, Jeff noticed his name tag for the first time, Todd Clark, though he was sure it was given previously at least once. "I need to talk to Kayla." Jeff managed.
"Alright." Officer Clark said, leading him back to the private cell they had been using as a bedroom. He made to unlock the door to the cell.
Jeff stopped him and knocked, announcing himself. "It's our bedroom man."
"I'll wait outside if you need me." Officer Clark said.
"We will. We'll have a bunch of questions, but we need to catch her up first." Jeff said as he handed back the notebook and pen.
"Hey Kayla," Jeff said as he entered, "I need to tell you a few important things."
Kayla set down her book, "Are we leaving soon, I'd rather be at school than here."
"Well, that's part of it." Jeff shifted uncomfortably and sat down next to the cot Kayla was laying in. "I saw mom and dad but they didn't see me, we didn't talk." Jeff paused. "The fire was an attack, you understand that right?" Jeff waited for Kayla to nod. "It turns out mom and dad knew who attacked us because they were working for bad people." Kayla's face twisted in confusion. "Mom and dad tried to cheat the bad people and so now the bad people are trying to hurt them in any way possible, and that includes hurting us to make them sad." Jeff waited for an outburst but Kayla was silent so Jeff kept talking, "We're going to have to move away, if we stay here the bad people may try to hurt us again."
Kayla began crying quietly and Jeff sat on the bed with her and tried to comfort her, "Officer Clark, could you come in here?" he called out. "More than anything right now we need answers." Jeff whispered to Kayla. "I wanted you to be part of this."
"Officer Clark, what's going to happen to us? Our parents can't watch over us, our friends here can't take us in. Where are we going to go?" Jeff asked as Kayla repositioned to be in contact with him.
"Well, I've been in contact with CPS, Child Protective Services, and the U.S. Marshall's Office. They are trying to figure out who has jurisdiction over the situation but in the mean time grief counselors will be stopping by later this evening to speak with you guys. We will have more information in a day or two as to how this will play out. For now, sit tight, there are vending machines down the hall, the door wont be locked but don't go wandering around."