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Incoming: New Opportunity

A missile threat changes the life of a family.

By Iris HarrisPublished 2 years ago 14 min read
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Incoming: New Opportunity
Photo by Brian Garrity on Unsplash

Friday, January 12, 2018 7:21PM

Kayla rushed through kitchen door and tossed the large brown bag from McDonald’s on the table. Her kids wearily followed her.

“Look, I just spent all day looking over the briefs. I’ll try to look them over again tonight, but I can’t promise that. I’m at home and I already feel guilty for not spending any time with my children all week,” she shared out loud. Truthfully speaking, it was longer than a week.

Her two middle school-aged children, slowly walked to the kitchen table, planted themselves down, and began to eat in silence. They would look at Kayla with desolate eyes calling her to hang up the phone and pay attention to them instead. They watched as Kayla remained in the conversation that had already lasted for nearly an hour.

Kayla did not feel the gaze of her children and continued to focus on her call. “That case is next week, right? So, I still have time to look over the brief again and prepare for the trial.”

Minutes faded away and eventually, both Maka and Maika had renounced the idea of receiving any attention from their mother for the remainder of the evening. As much as they didn’t enjoy the idea of being the second priority in their mother’s life, they knew it was the way of life for them. It had been this way after both their parents divorced and Kayla had won custody over the children. Maka, the oldest, had hoped it would mean spending more time with her mother. Maka was already in 8th grade and had watched her mother argue over how a teenaged young woman needs her mother during the upcoming essential years. If she knew that it would have been another lie from her mother, she might have argued to be placed with her father instead. Maika remained oblivious to the concerns of Maka and sat eating McDonald’s as if it were from a five star restaurant.

“Don’t you care that mom’s always on the phone?” Maka whispered.

“Hey, we get to eat McDonald’s almost every night. Why would I complain about that. Besides, we get to spend everyday with our friends, unlike some kids. Josh and I spend most of our time at the skatepark, so I’m not complaining,” he returned to shoveling the quarter pounder into his mouth, coupled with fries.

Maika did have a point. From a freedom aspect, both Maika and Maka had the ability to go anywhere as long as they were at where they said they would be when their mom called and stayed out of trouble. However, Maka was beginning to question how much her mother really did care for them. McDonald’s everyday; not showing concern for their well-being; is that the borderline definition of neglect?

“Tom, I don’t want to hear another word. I’m hanging up. I let you know later,” Kayla tossed her phone on the brown carton covered kitchen table. She took a heavy sigh and stood still as if someone had hit the off button on her.

“Mom, you ok?” Maka dared to say, bracing for a whirlwind of a response.

Kayla jolted back to life. She shook her head, meet Maka’s eyes, and smiled. “Yeah, honey, I’m fine. It’s just-”

“You’re tired. The case is not what you expected,” Maka interrupted sarcastically.

“And you’ll probably be up all night reviewing what is in the briefs,” chimed Maika.

Kayla should not have been surprised by the sing-song sarcasm from her children. She was pretty sure they were only repeating what they heard her say over and over again almost every night. Deep inside she felt guilty for what she had been putting them through. When she won custody of her children, she genuinely wanted to spend more time with them by cutting down her hours at the law firm. Unfortunately, as her case loads increased, her free time gradually vanished. She lost track of how fast the sands of time slipped through her fingers. She seemed to have missed both of her children’s elementary school years after gaining custody when Maka was in third grade. Guilt of missing so much of her children’s growth crept into Kayla’s conscience.

“Ok, I get it, you already know what I am going to say. I apologize, really I do,” it was the only line she could return. It fell out of her lips almost automatically, like she had been saying it for years.

The line stung Maka and she shook her head in disapproval. “No!” This time it was too much. “You always apologize. You always say you’re going to make time for us, and in the end you never do. It’s always, ‘I can’t, I have to take this call’ or ‘I need to review this case.’ I sat there in the courtroom, Mom. I watched you cry to the judge to give you custody of us. I really believed you wanted us more than dad did, but it was all an act. So, no, I won’t take your apology this time.”

“Makahilhila Leilani Atsuko Kekahuna. How dare you talk to me like that! You know how much I love both you and your brother. You also know how hard I work to make sure your both safe and fed. I make sure we’re not living on the street. Do you think your father would have been able to do that? Who knows what he’s doing now. He wasn’t doing much when he was her and I doubt that dumbass could hold down a job even if you gave him rope to do it with.”

“Yeah, but you’re always working. You never spend time with us! We just had winter break and what did we do as a family? Nothing. You said we could go to the water park together. You said we could go to the beach together. Do you know what we did during break? Nothing! Maika and I spent the whole break with our friends while you did what you always do: work work work. How can you say you love us, but never do anything with us? It’s like your work is more important than us.” Maka’s rebuttal broke through Kayla’s false perception she had built up. Deep down, Kayla knew Maka was telling the truth. That truth pierced her deep in the heart, leaving Kayla stunned and speechless.

“When?”Maka screamed, “When are you going to be our mom and not some stranger who is always on the phone?” She ran out of the kitchen. Seconds later the slamming of a door echoed throughout the one story home. Maika sat in shock, witnessing the eruption without taking another bite from his food.

Kayla, still stunned, turned towards Maika. “Is that what you feel too?”

Maika with his wide saucer sized eyes, shook his head. “Nah, you’re doing great. I think she just having her period or something. You know how Maka can get.” He quickly grabbed his bag of food and stood up from the table. “I’m going to go play Fortnite. Later.” He walked out of the kitchen and into his room, closing his door as he passed over the threshold.

Kayla’s eyes welled up with tears that hung on her eyelids before crawling down her cheeks and dripping from her chin. Maka had found the weak point in Kayla’s mommy armor; pierced through it; and struck deep. This wasn’t the parent Kayla wanted to be. She wanted to be what she presented to the judge: understanding, caring, and putting her kids first and foremost. When did she lose sight of that drive to deeply connect with her own children? Was it the work that tore her away from her own family?

Or did Maika have a point? Was Maka just overreacting while trying to deal with her teenage hormones raging. Maka still had not found a strong handle on controlling her emotions. Kayla witnessed Maka’s recent changes and as Maka had pointed out, was the reason she wanted to keep custody of both her children.

Kayla sat down at the kitchen table and glossed over the surface with her eyes. There were empty burger containers. After the emotional blow Maka delivered, it was a perfect representation of how Kayla felt: empty. Empty of promises and happiness for her family. Kayla knew eventually she would need to rethink her schedule to have peace return to the family. For now, she was going to call it a night.

Saturday, January 13, 8:07 AM

The high pitched scream of her iPhone woke Kayla up. She was expecting to see the usual message that comes with the alert: “Flood warning” or “Thunderstorm warning;” some type of environmental emergency. However, Kayla wasn’t ready for a message she had never seen before.

Kayla’s eyes shot wide open as she reread the message emitting from her phone. Missile threat? What? It took a few seconds to process what the alert was indicating. She scrambled out of bed and ran to Maka’s room. “Maka, wake up! We need to move now!” She yelled, then ran to Maika’s room. She bursted through the door and shook Maika up. “We need to go now!”

Maika, still dazed and confused, sat up in his bed. “What’s going on, mom?” Maka walked into the room, rubbing her eyes with the same question on her face.

Kayla didn’t know what to do. How does one prepare for a missile strike? Where would be the best place to avoid the destructive impact when you are in a wooden house? The only place she could think of was the bathroom and with time ticking closer to death, she knew she didn’t have any other alternatives.

“Quick, to the bathroom!” She shouted, grabbing Maika’s arm and dragging him out of his bed.

Panic struck Maka shortly after as she followed her mother and brother into the bathroom. Kayla instructed both of them into the shower to huddle in the corner and as close to the wall as they could get. Kayla doubt it would be enough to protect them, but she knew going outside would be much worse. She tightly embraced her children as tears began flooding her eyes. She could feel their bodies shaking with fear and confusion.

“Mom, what’s going on?” Maka was the first to speak, hoping to gain some clarity on such a hectic opening to a morning.

“Listen,” Kayla began in between her sobs, “I love both of you. Don’t ever forget that. Even if we die, I want you both to know how much I love you. I wished I had spent more time with you.”

Maka was still unsure what her mother meant by her random speech. “Why are we in the shower?”

Kayla didn’t have the heart to tell her own children about the incoming missile and that this could be their final moments on earth together. She wasn’t even sure how long it would take before impact. She didn’t want to waste anytime spending her last seconds with her children explaining the situation. Instead, she just said, “if we are going to die, I love you both. Always have and always will.” She returned to hugging them tightly.

Even though Maka was still confused by what was happening, she understood some life threatening event was about to happen. Since this seemed to be their last few seconds together, She regretted arguing with her mom the night before. She knew her mother loved her. Here was the proof. Her mother was risking her life trying to protect her and her brother in the face of imminent death.

“Mom, I’m sorry,” she uttered as her eyes began to water up. “I know you do care about us and I know how much you really love us. I-”

“I know.” Kayla interrupted her. “Look, I don’t know how much time we have left. Let’s just try to enjoy our last few seconds with each other.”

“Mom, I don’t want to die,” the whines of Maika entered the conversation.

“I know, sweetie. I know,” it was all Kayla could think to say in a feeble attempt to calm her kids.

Seconds crawled into minutes. Time seemed to have stood completely still as they continued to stay in the shower. The longer they stayed huddled in the bathroom, the closer they grew to each other. Simultaneously, Kayla began to wonder if the threat was real, or just some twisted hoax. Wouldn’t the missile have hit Hawaii already? Was it intercepted? Were they about to receive a second chance at being a better family? Kayla was hoping by some act of a higher power, she would be given the opportunity to make her family bond stronger than what it currently was.

“Listen, if we make it out of this, let’s work on being better to each other. I promise, I will make more time for both of you. I’ll cut some of my hours at the firm,” she promised. She stood up.

“Mom, what are you doing? Where are you going?” Maka grabbed her mother’s arm as Kayla rose.

“I need to get my phone. I left it in the bedroom.”

Maka shook her head vigorously and sternly clutched her mother’s arm. “No, no no, you can’t leave us here alone.”

Kayla could see the terror that had filled Maka’s completely flooded eyes. She didn’t want to chance taking them both out to the bedroom in case the missile did hit. She wanted them to stay safe in the bathroom shower’s corner. However, she had to get her phone to see if there were any updates on the incoming threat.

“Look, I’ll be really quick. You’re a smart girl, Maka, you know that I’ll go faster if I go alone. I won’t be gone long. Besides, I need you to stay here with your brother and keep him safe just in case. I’m counting on you. Girls rule, remember.” Kayla consoled.

“Hey, I’m right here,” Maika said. “I can take care of myself, you know. I am in sixth grade.”

The timing of her brother made Maka smile slightly. Kayla took advantage of the comic relief. “10 seconds. Count it.”

As Maka began to slowly count, Kayla ran to her room for her phone and returned back to the shower by the time Maka has reached 9. Unlocking her phone, she began to look for any updates. She opened the Hawaii News Now app. There were no mentions of the missile. Maybe the news station was in hiding like the rest of the island. She tried other news apps, but the results were the same. Not a single news outlet (New York Times, BBC News, Apple News, etc) had any mentioning of the missile launch or attack. Kayla began to question the validity of the initial threat. If there were no news on the threat, then could it have been a mistake? She decided to try one last source to confirm her suspicions: Facebook. The global social giant would definitely have something for almost anyone and any media outlet. As she scrolled through the app looking for any information, it was the same as before: nothing. Then, at 8:18 AM, the phone receives a notification from Hawaii News Now stating the missile was a false alarm.

False alarm. The two words had more meaning to Kayla than just her family being safe. Kayla dropped her head in relief and satisfaction. She gradually rose her head and look lovingly at her Maka and Maika.

“It’s…it’s over,” she shared with Maka and Maika. The all stare at the phone with both relief and joy. It confirmed their family avoid a complete meltdown. Though there was no destruction from the missile, it still offered them a chance to rebuild their family bond. Since that dreadful day, Kayla has been making her family her top priority. The missile crisis of Hawaii was more than life threatening, it was life changing for Kayla and her family.

Note from Author: While this is piece is fiction, Hawaii had actually been involved in a missile threat on January 13, 2018. Many people were frightened upon receiving the alert on their phones. I personally, was skeptical about the alert simply because the alert only came on the phones. The alarms were not turned on, so it seemed odd that we would receive the alert without horns blaring in the air. Similar to Kayla, I immediately checked my news apps and, yes, Facebook. Prior to receiving the official “false alarm” I had already justified it was a mistake. Thank goodness I was right, or I would not be here to share this story with you all.

The characters of this story are fictitious. If there are any similarities within the characters, the situation, etc, to an actual person in real life is purely coincidental.

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About the Creator

Iris Harris

An aspiring novelist. I enjoy writing ghost, horror, and drama. Occassionally, I dabble with some essays. You can find more of my work with the link below:

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