Regrouping

Hours later, we sat around in our new house in the Oedipal Zone of Commodus Fields, Oregon. The sound of James violently resisting arrest has long since died out, but the shock and terror of what had been happening didn't vanish as easily. I was in the bathroom, splashing water on my face in the sink. I stared at my face in the mirror to see if I looked any different. Nothing seemed out of place: same blonde hair and green eyes on an average face. I looked more exhausted than usual, but that was to be expected. I didn't look crazy, so I may not have hallucinated everything that happened. I left the bathroom and went to the living where everyone else sat, looking shell-shocked.

My mother, Jane, had been sitting on the couch every since we got here, and she had the same blank stare she got when she found out about James. I couldn't blame her for not taking everything that's happened well. Who would, given her situation? My mom loved my dad with all her heart, but to James, he was in the way of his escape plan. To escape his crimes in New York and get the family to where he'd be free, James had to get rid of our father, and that wasn't hard considering what dad did for a living.

Apparently, Arnold Powers worked for the mafia. He's kept it secret from us, his family, for obvious reasons, but James found out, and that became the key to getting Dad out of the way. A couple of e-mails and some incriminating evidence sent to the police, and James had screwed over dear old Dad. We never found out what Dad did for the mafia, but it was apparently damning enough that Dad had to have a backup plan in place in case he ever got arrested. That plan consisted of him giving James the key to his storage container full of 'Getting Out of Dodge Supplies' and a set of instructions that told us that he would most likely die in prison and then his former bosses would come after us if we weren't somewhere safe.

James had led the evacuation since Mom had completely broken down over losing her husband, and I had to focus on trying to get her through the tragedy and making sure Monica and Florence could keep up. James had us go on a sudden road trip to Oregon. "Because that's the farthest we can get from them," is what he told us when we asked. Eventually, we found out the real reason through news feeds showing James' own cries, and we realized he was on the run from the law for his own sake.

I confronted James about this, and he confessed that he was guilty of his crimes and the reason we were going to Oregon was that our final destination was a Oedipal Zone. Once we arrived, he'd legally be in charge of the family. He said it so casually like it didn't really matter whether I knew what kind of monster he was and that made me more scared of James than anything else.

Mom, Monica, and Florence found out soon after, but James wasn't deterred. He said the same thing he told me when they tried to **** him to give himself up. James hinted that their father's bosses were after them now, and if they didn't obey him, then they'd be on their own. Effectively trapped, we just followed James to Commodus Field, and that's when the miracle happened. James was arrested, and we're possibly safe.

I patted Mom's shoulder, but she still wasn't responding. Monica was looking better but still unnerved. Her usual rock-star demeanor and readiness to be subversive and rebellious was coming back, but she still seemed unhinged. I tried to comfort her, but she'd snap at me, probably more our of habit than anything else. Florence was distracting himself by going through his box of parts. Finn knew Florence would be fine once he built was able to focus on building something. So long as nothing he made blew up the house, Finn would let him relax on his own. He wondered if he should say something to help bring up their spirits, but then the doorbell rang.