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“Well, Dad, tell him what’s happening. You heard the kid,” Ivan snorted. Doug turned around and put down the spatula. Wiping his hands on his apron, he removed his glasses and placed them gently on the table. Toying with them for a moment, the kitchen was silent. “I’m going on a trip,” he started, hesitating. “A business trip. Your brother Ivan is coming along to help with the project, and you can’t stay here alone – so you’re coming too.” Robert’s stomach dropped. “Where?” “I can’t tell you. It’s a little bit of a…secretive project. There are some people involved who don’t want…publicity…about the whole affair.” “Is that why Mr. Cretae and his assistant were here last night? Is he famous?” “Yes, that’s why they were here, to ask for my help. The plane leaves this afternoon, so get packing. It’s going to be a long trip, probably two or three months.” “Yeah, pack plenty of bras and undies,” Ivan interjected with a guffaw. Robert sat down and began furiously devouring his breakfast. This wasn’t the first time his father had taken him out of school for a “work trip”. He slammed his fork down on the table. His father and brother had already finished and left, yet he hadn’t even noticed. “I’ll clean up,” he mumbled to himself, still fuming. A thunderous boom careened through the house, shaking the floorboards. From his room, Robert could hear Ivan’s awe-struck laughter. “What did you do this time, Ivan?” Robert sighed, rounding the corner to Ivan’s room. He entered to see Ivan sitting on the floor in the corner, chuckling to himself. His bureau was face-down on the floor. The handle of a suitcase stuck out ominously from underneath it, like the Wicked Witch’s foot from underneath Dorothy’s house. “I got bored packing.” Robert rolled his eyes. “You realize we’re leaving in half an hour. You better get going on that, unless you’re planning on taking your entire dresser.” He walked out of Ivan’s room and back down the hall to his own, where he sat on the bed, looking around. The bedroom was big and spacious, like most rooms in the house, yet dark. It was still a little boy’s room – space themed, with planets his father had sculpted to scale hanging from the ceiling. Robert’s bed, which he hadn’t slept in for quite some time, was shaped like a spaceship; his feet stuck off the end of it, but he couldn’t bear to throw it out. The quilt was worn and thin by now, a map of the constellations. His mother had made it. He slipped it out from under him and folded it, placing it in his bag. Within a half an hour, all the suitcases were in the car. The lights were off. Robert, Ivan, and Doug stood in front of their house. “Well. Let’s get going.” Doug opened his door and got into the drivers’ seat. Ivan and Robert got in the back, uncomfortably crammed between various tools. “Wait a second…I want to just make sure everything’s turned off…” Robert mumbled, getting out of the car with his keys. Walking back through the house, he had an uncanny feeling that he wasn’t going to be seeing it again. His bedroom, Ivan’s workroom, the shell room, the fish tank hall…he tapped on the side to get Reggie’s attention. On his way back down, he stopped in the solarium. Robert stepped onto his mattress, walked to the very center of the room under the top of the dome, and looked up through the crystalline glass at the darkening sky. The uneasy feeling grew in his stomach as he watched a cloud drift in and out of his circle of vision. A single black bird flew across the roof. The hair on the back of his neck prickled – he felt like he was being watched. Robert dropped his head down, looking around at the dark house. Nothing. He sighed and walked out, through the front door, locking it behind him.
Ashley Edwards, Miki Takada, Pascale Stain, Anika Verma, Ting-Ting Yang, Sophie D’Anieri, Abby Nissen, Natalie Dunn, Kotoha Takashima, Candice (Yueh-Ting) Chiu, Karen Kao, Alfie Huncosky, Makeda Morrison, Anne Leonardo