Complications

The silence that filled the room was heavy and devastating. I could feel my guts twisting as I carefully turned and analyzed every word my uncle had said. “Get rid of them… how?” I dared ask, although my voice was barely a whisper.

Uncle stiffened, staying with his back to me. He remained motionless for almost a minute, a minute filled with unbearably long, suffocating seconds. Then his shoulders moved in a tense shrug. “We bribed some of them, forcing them to disappear on their own. Others needed… convincing.”

Air escaped me in a violent blow. A second later, my eyes filled with tears. “How brutal was this ‘convincing’?” I could barely push those words through my throat as the bile rose there, threatening to block everything, my windpipes included.

“No one died,” was all he said before walking to the smaller room adjoining his office. He stopped at the threshold and glanced over his shoulder. “Don't tell your father I've told you.” Then he stepped further and closed the door behind h