The Hit Close to Home:

The invasion has spread to the college campuses. Rumors are going about saying that they want to shut them down. Naturally, that had me worried enough to knock on Kat’s door while she was grading papers one evening.

“Come in,” she said. I slowly walked inside.

“Kat,” I murmured.

“Yes, Claudia?” she asked. I kept my head lowered to the ground. I pressed my lips together.

“Are you going to lose your job?” I asked. She paused at her seat.

“Why would you think that?” Kat asked.

“The news keeps talking about the university riots and they might even close down the campuses,” I said. I trembled as I forced myself to keep talking. “I don’t want you to leave your job!” Kat turned around in her chair to face me.

“Claude,” she said. I looked up at her with big eyes. She smiled and shook her head at me.

“I haven’t heard anything official yet,” Kat told me. “How about this, if anything changes, I will let you know.” My eyes stayed on her the whole time.

“You promise?” I asked. Kat gave me a small nod.

“You have my word,” she told me. I walked over and hugged her. That was four weeks before the mess hit us in an unexpected sweep.

It occurred that Saturday. Kat had to go teacher a remedial class that morning. She left early like she usually did. As expected, she left us a list of chores to do. I groaned at what I saw.

“Do we have to do this today?” I complained.

“Yes,” Lyle replied. “That’s what she expects us to do.” I frowned at him.

“Fine,” I grumbled.

“Which one do you want to do first?” my brother asked me. I stood on my tip-toes to look at the list.

“I’ll clean my room first,” I said. Lyle held back a snicker. I raised an eyebrow at him.

“What?” I asked. He threw up his hands at me.

“I didn’t say anything about cleaning the jungle,” he said. I puffed up my cheeks.

“It’s not a jungle!” I snapped.

“Yes is it!” Lyle argued back. “I’m almost afraid to go inside all of the time!” I stomped on his foot.

“Jerk!” I snapped.

“Ow!” he wailed. I smiled and walked off to clean my room. Oh, that just felt so good.

The peace in our chores lasted for most of the morning, unaware of what was developing miles away in the city. I was vacuuming the carpet in my room when Lyle came pounding on my open door.

“Claudia!” he yelled. “Claudia! Claudia!” I shut off the vacuum cleaner and looked up.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Come and look!” he said, frantically. My brother grabbed onto my arm and pulled me along before I even had the chance to ask. We came all the way into the living room. Lyle already had the TV turned onto the news. I still didn’t get what was going on at first.

“What is it?” I asked. “What’s going on?”

“Look!” Lyle said as he pointed to the screen. I came around and watched what was unfolding before us. The footage was a live feed of a college campus in the city. Many of the students stood, squared off against the police with hockey sticks and big signs in their hands. The police were trying to hold them off without coming to any violence just yet. The reporters gave the viewers at home the details about the stand-off on this campus. It didn’t take me long to figure out where this place was on TV. I backed away wide-eyed.

“That’s Kat’s school!” I gasped.

“Yes,” Lyle with discomfort in his mouth. “Apparently, the riots have hit us too.”

“Lyle…” I murmured as I grabbed onto his arm. He lightly shook me off.

“Come on now,” he said. “It’s just started up a moment ago. Kat’s probably fine.” His words did little to ease my worry. I could even tell that he was just as worried as I was. He tried really hard to stay brave for my sake. He tightened up his stance.

“Look,” he said. “We’ll call and check on her, okay?” I slowly nodded in silence. Lyle went over and picked up the phone. I watched as he dialed Kat’s cell phone number. He paced around as he waited. Judging by his face, Kat probably didn’t pick up. He looked over at me as he forced himself to smile.

“Don’t worry, I’ll try again,” he said. My brother dialed Kat’s number again. Two more tries came up with nothing. He lowered the phone, defeated.

“I can’t reach her,” Lyle said. I sank to my knees in a daze. My brother raced over to me.

“Hey, hey,” he said. “It’s probably not that bad. It’ll clear up soon. Kat will be fine.” His voice shook as he spoke. All we could do was stay by the TV and watch in hoping.

The stand-off seemed to go on for hours on the news. By lunchtime, a police officer accidentally shot a student in the shoulder. All Hell broke loose from there. Lyle and I watched in horror as the police and students clashed against each other. I grabbed onto my brother’s arm as we watched the whole time.

“Get off,” he said. “Kat will be fine and this will all be over!” I looked up at him with big, worried eyes. My brother sighed at me.

“I mean it,” he insisted. “Kat will be fine and she’ll come right home.” I nodded even through his tone showed me that he was just as worried as I was about her.

“But what can we do?” I asked.

“Just sit tight and watch news,” he said. I didn’t like his answer. We both turned back to the news. The riot on the campus went on into sundown. When the police were finally able to subdue the crowd, twelve students were arrested and eighteen others and four policemen were injured. We waited with bated breath to hear about Kat.

“Think she’s okay?” I asked.

“She has to be!” Lyle insisted. Again, he tried to stay strong for my sake. Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Lyle and I jumped at the sound. I turned my eyes to him.

“Is that her?” I asked. He didn’t answer me. Before I knew, he had both raced to the door. Lyle leaned in close for a listen.

“Who is it?” he asked.

“It’s me,” a familiar, muzzled voice replied. Lyle and I lit up at the sound. My brother unlocked and opened the door. Our joy crashed into a letdown at what we saw. Kat stood in the doorway with tired eyes that must have been crying moments earlier. She looked shaken as she twirled her pearls in her fingers. Lyle and I trembled; we had never seen her like this before.

“Kat,” my brother spoke up. “What happened? What’s wrong?” She speak for like a good five seconds. Her lips trembled as she tried to form words.

“They arrested Daniel!” she blurted out at last before sinking to her knees at our feet.