Shattered Bonds (continued)

Grabbing an apple as she exited the clinic, she latched and locked the door behind her. She began munching on it as she strode quickly to the other end of the compound. Her thoughts wandered through possible scenarios of what she would discover when she arrived at the house.

Shalene? Had something happened to her?

Her brother, despite not sharing his sister’s disadvantage, had managed to suffer more than his fair share of troublesome injuries. If was not as though Shalene had escaped medical attention entirely, for she had experienced her share of typical minor illnesses, but had somehow managed to reach adolescence surprisingly unscathed otherwise.

Her brother then? But why at the house? Wouldn’t he be at—

Wendy’s thoughts were disrupted as she bit down on a seed. She accidentally swallowed it before she realized what it was.

Oh great . . . now I’ll have a tree growing inside my stomach.

The childhood memory of that tale brought her a light smile. It faded abruptly, though, when she saw the small crowd gathered outside the Roberson dwelling. Whatever had happened had drawn the attention of several additional members of the colony. Despite feeling winded from the brisk walk, she pushed her into the house, although she did have to work very hard at it; most of the people automatically shifted out of her way.

She saw Greg ahead of her, but he did not turn around to see her arrive. He paused inside the common room and then dashed quickly toward the stairway, shouting something she could not hear clearly enough to understand to someone she could not see.

Wendy began to follow him. She stopped suddenly, surprised to see Shalene sitting alone at the family’s share comm and computer center. The young woman sat hunched over with her arms hugged around her abdomen. Wendy saw a bright red bruise along the girl’s cheeks and noticed that her tunic seemed to be torn.

She moved forward slowly, keeping her voice low and gentle as she approached.

“Shalene?” She called out softly.

The young woman did not respond.

“Shalene?” she repeated, just slightly louder.

She reached out and lightly took the girl’s hand. The young woman’s head lifted.

“Are you okay?”