A Heart's Thoughts

Day 44

Julian let out a pained groan as the pull of gravity grew stronger, pulling him down. He felt the air being pressed out of his lungs and he gasped for breath. He tried lifting his head to look at Cecilia, several panicked thoughts running through his head.

"Tell me what you did to Jack." She said. Julian managed to lift his head high enough to barely be able to look at her. She wore a furious expression.

"I... did noth... ing." He barely managed to let out.

Jude behind her took a step closer and put a hand on Cecilia's shoulder.

"Cecilia, there's got to be a more civilized way of doing this. You're causing a scene."

Cecilia shook her head, her expression still angry, and pointed at Julian. She turned her face to Jude, "the Julian sitting in front of us isn't the Julian we know."

Jude's expression became blank and Julian managed to let out a chuckle, causing Cecilia to turn back to him with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh? What's so funny?"

Julian shook his head as he tried to raise it a little more and huffed, "have you... completely... lost it... now?"

Cecilia slapped him across the face just as Anthony entered the room.

"What's going on here?" he asked as he observed the scene. He took a few quick steps toward Cecilia and grabbed her from behind, pulling her away from Julian.

"Cecilia? What's going on?"

Cecilia pulled herself out of Anthony's grip and turned around to face him.

"When Clover came back from the timeline she was staying in, she had interesting news. Matthew had found similarities between the people from that timeline, and the Julian sitting here in front of us. We've been observing him and he's most definitely not from this world."

Anthony shook his head in confusion. "Wait, Ceci, what does that even mean? And why would that make you so angry? Come on, let's go outside and take a deep breath, hm?"

Cecilia shook her head, "I don't care what world or timeline he comes from. My problem lies with his allegiance to the Ministry. He's been spying on us since day one."

Anthony turned to Julian with an unreadable expression, "is what she's saying true, Julian?"

Julian took a deep, ragged breath, "no."

Anthony turned back to Cecilia, "is he telling the truth?"

Cecilia shook her head, "I don't know. It's been on several occasions now that I haven't been able to discern a lie from the truth. It's not because he's from a different timeline, though. I tested it on Matthew."

Cecilia's expression changed from anger to horror the moment she finished speaking. The others had heard her slip-up as well.

"Wait, what do you mean, you tested it on Matthew?"

Cecilia cursed under her breath and looked away. Anthony took a step closer, worry clouding his face. "Cecilia?" he asked, his voice trembling ever so slightly.

"Matthew is dead."

Everyone turned to the voice and saw Clover standing at the door together with Matthew. She smiled sadly as she entered the room.

"Matthew is dead, and I killed him."

Matthew made a protesting sound, hitting Clover's arm softly with the back of his hand and whispering "that's not true."

Jude finally spoke again, "what do you mean, Matthew's dead? Who's this standing next to you, then?"
Clover heaved a sigh, "this is the Matthew originally from the other timeline. The timeline we suspect Julian to be from as well. Matthew died in an accident staged by the timeline itself, trying to get rid of his foreign existence."