Into Captivity They Will Go by Noah Milligan

Author:Noah Milligan [Milligan, Noah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Central Avenue Publishing
Published: 2019-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

THEY TRIED TO GO ABOUT their lives as usual. In the morning, the children went to school. Caleb struggled to pay attention during social studies class, and so did all the other kids, too. Sam lectured, but there was a noticeable change in his demeanor, his voice timid, his gaze lingering above the classroom full of children, daring not fixate on the empty seat in the third row, glaring in Scoot’s absence. Caleb and the other kids played soccer and attended church and flirted with the opposite sex like they knew what they were doing. They prayed for themselves and for others, and they ate what they could fish, what they could hunt in the woods, whitetail and rabbit and squirrel, and they laughed, but all of it was just a well-orchestrated charade. They were acting, going through the motions, pretending like the world continued to move on as it always had, with Scoot in it, healthy and laughing and pranking kids smaller than him, when the impending apocalypse wasn’t just a few moments beyond the horizon.

On a Thursday morning, Caleb and Catherine were fetching water from the well at the edge of the property when they stopped by the lake’s edge. It was sweltering out, and a stiff wind flew up from the south and rustled the oak branches behind them. Everything was bright, and the air was wet and thick. It filled Caleb’s nostrils and clogged his throat. He feared he, too, might be getting sick, but he didn’t say anything. He hoped if he ignored it, if he boiled his water enough and cleaned his food the best he could, it would go away on its own.

He and Catherine stared out over the water, taking refuge in the moment, when they didn’t have to think about Scoot locked up in his room suffering. She leaned in and kissed him. It took Caleb by surprise, and he jerked back, but she kissed him again, softer this time, letting her lips linger. He’d long thought of what it would be like to kiss a girl, fantasizing about it like it was some sort of magical thing, soft and mysterious and the most pleasurable thing in the world, like falling into a never-ending pillow, but it wasn’t exciting at all. It just was. It came quickly and unexpectedly and was over before he knew it. She then stood up and walked away.

Two days later, Scoot’s mother began to vomit. She’d been Scoot’s primary caregiver since he’d become ill, feeding him, bathing him, providing him comfort and prayer. Ruth was her name, and she was the tallest woman Caleb knew. She was also the most giving and caring. Before the storm, she’d drop off some banana muffins at the community’s school for the children, or pick up a toy or two at the Dollar Store for the smaller kids, little plastic slingshots and Marvel action figures, Captain America and Thor. She smiled incessantly and laughed with her entire body, her skin turning pink and her mouth wide.

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