• Lying to Yourself

    Tory


    “Please, take a seat, Miss Kane,” Seth said, waving his hand at a chair in front of his desk.
    I took the seat as he took the one behind his desk. My eyes went to the one picture frame on the desk and my stomach dropped at the picture. It was Jamie, Seth and I covered in mud. I remembered that day very well; it was one of the best days of my life.
    “They’re my kids,” Seth said out of nowhere.
    I looked up from the picture to him. “Your kids?”
    “Yeah, they are my kids. They’re grown up now but they are still my little kids,” he said with a dreamy smile on his face.
    “Bet they are beautiful kids,” I said back.
    “I bet they are too…” What did that mean? I knew he didn’t see me but he had to still have seen Jamie every now and again. His face went from soft to hard. “Shall we start?”
    I leant back in my chair and crossed my legs. “Of course, be my guest.”
    “Last night, where were you around ten thirty?” he asked abruptly.
    “Finishing my shift,” I said back in the same tone as his.
    “How did you get home?”
    “I walked.”
    “Did you have any problems during that walk?”
    I shrugged casually. “Nothing out of the usual.”
    “What’s the usual?” he asked, leaning closer on the desk.
    He was getting too close; he was trying to point out if I was lying or not since he couldn’t read my mind due to my shield. But I already knew what he was trying to do; I had seen it enough times in my life to be surprised.
    “There are clubs along the path I take home, drunken guys think it is fun to mess with a lone girl but hey, looks can be deceiving,” I said with a small smile.
    “Yes, that’s true,” he said leaning back in his chair.
    “Amazing what men think they can do when they are drunk,” I said with a bigger smile.
    “Uh huh. So no one picked you up from work?”
    “No, my family is too busy to pick me up and it’s not a long walk.” I shrugged like it was nothing.
    “And you live where?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
    “I’m sure you know where I live, you knew where I worked.” It wasn’t that I was avoiding the question; it was just that he already knew these things about me and I didn’t see why he had asked me that.
    “Yes, you would be right there,” he said with a distant tone. “You seem to be able tell that very well. Picked it up pretty quick.”
    “I’ve been told that I do that a lot,” I lied smoothly.
    “Mm...” he mumbled as he looked over the papers in front of him.
    I raised one eyebrow at him. “Is that all the questions?”
    “Well it seems to me that you weren’t there. It must be someone that looks a lot like you but it was dark too,” he said.
    “Must be...” I looked at him in the eye. “May I know what it was that you thought I had done?”
    He hesitated a little. “I’m not allowed to reveal that information.”
    I nodded. “I understand.”
    “Just a couple more questions, if you don’t mind,” he asked, looking up from the paper.
    I shrugged. “If you think it will help.”
    “Are you positive that you weren’t out in Nicholas Park last night?” he said with an ‘are you sure?’ face.
    I blinked; well this was a new development; releasing such information to a commoner. “No, I try to avoid the park at all costs.”
    “That’s understandable. It’s a dark and scary place for anyone to walk,” he said with a shrug.
    “Yes, I usually take the main road where everyone can see,” I said, probably giving off more than I should have.
    “Do you know how to handle a gun?” he asked looking down at the papers.
    “What? Of course not, why would I need to know how to handle a gun?” I asked with fake surprise.
    “You have no criminal records but the woman last night knew how to handle one. Yet that doesn’t mean she was a criminal,” he said, looking up at me from the papers. “I was just making sure.”
    “That would be true, a person doesn’t necessarily have to have a criminal record to know how to use a gun,” I said back.
    “Do you have any enemies that would want you dead?”
    “No, apart from high school boyfriends that I’ve broken up with,” I said with a funny smile.
    “In your file, you have nothing about your schooling or lifestyle before your senior year, may I know why?”
    “I didn’t live here before my senior year; all the files were lost in transfer.”
    “Where did you live before?”
    s**t, he was provoking to talk and giving the answers he wanted... And I was just about to give them to him!
    “An orphanage in New York,” I said, holding back my glare.
    “That’s a fair way from here,” he said, writing it down.
    “Yeah, I guess,” I said back in a melancholy tone.
    He looked over his notes, which was most probably my file. He was trying to look for something else to ask me, trying to keep me here a little longer. He just opened his mouth to say something.
    “Mr. Bryce, you have an email waiting,” some woman said out of nowhere.
    I nearly jumped out of my seat; my fake composure was the only thing keeping me from jumping, when I heard the voice. A robotic, metallic, computerised woman’s voice came from the desk – no, wait. It came out of the desk!
    “Not now, Richelle, I’m busy,” he said to the computer system, it was a little awkward to me.
    “But Mr. Bryce, this is urgent,” the computer, Richelle, said back without emotion.
    He looked irritated at the computer and its interruption. “I’m sorry, Miss Kane, but I am going to have to cut this short.”
    I smiled at him nicely. “That’s quite alright, Mr. Bryce, I don’t think there is anymore I can help with anyway.”
    “You need help finding your way back to the front door?” he asked, starting to stand.
    I shook my head as I stood up. “No, I think I can find my way out, thank you.”
    “Thank you for coming in, Miss Kane, sorry that it was a waste of your time,” he said, sitting back down again.
    I nodded to him in acknowledgement. “Take care, Mr. Bryce.”
    I turned to the doors, as I went I got another glimpse of the picture of us again. I so desperately wanted to tell him about what happened, about my life outside of the Agency and about my powers.
    I kept my eyes off the painting of my parents and made my way to the staircase, I ran my hand down the railing and felt like I was a princess. No one was down there, the woman had disappeared. I took a quick scan around the room, making sure no one else was there but it was a waste of time since they most likely had cameras all over the building.
    I walked to the door on light feet, making no noise at all, and when I got the doors open I sighed with relief. I felt calmer outside than in, I don’t know why I was smiling when I got out the building but I was as I stepped out the door.
    It was short lived. I suddenly felt like someone was watching me; it made a shiver run up my spine and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up on end. My smile faded into a grim expression as I looked up the path in front of me.
    There, on the other side of the street, was a NightDust person, dressed in all black like any normal one. He was staring at the building and didn’t notice that I was staring at him. When he did finally take notice of me, he blinked a couple of times and lost his composure.
    I quickly slammed the door shut on him before he could do anything and leant against it, shutting my eyes in absolute discomfort. I slid down the door and curled up into a ball, waiting and wanting to disappear.


    - A great mistake, I knew that it was. I should have insisted on going somewhere else.