The 4th Subject

Chapter 4: Who's This?

I spent the rest of the day hanging out with everyone. CJ taught me more about filming and different cameras and lenses. Hannah, Sam and I got to go around and eat all the snacks and talk about girl stuff. I even got to help Pat, Tanner, and Matt with some Dope or Nope stuff.

The end of the day was getting close. I was sad the day was almost over, but I knew we could still hang out other days. I walked into the warehouse to see Tanner, Woods, Matt, and someone else I didn't recognize.

"Hey guys," I called out, "who's this?"

Matt looked up from what he was doing and replied, "Hey! This is Carl. He's going to interview for a job here."

I smiled and stuck my hand out. "Hi, I'm Sarah."

The man, who was probably almost 18, looked me up and down, then asked, "Where have I seen you before?"

"Oh, probably on my YouTube channel, Sarah's World Official."

He chuckled silently and said, "Oh that's where I've seen you before." He sounded kinda condescending.

"What do you mean by that?" I questioned, my brows scrunching together with confusion.

"I've seen that little video you made about your life story, or as you said, your "testimony". It's a really good story. My only advice: make it more realistic."

I was totally taken aback by that. Did he believe that my story was fake?

"Are you suggesting that I made up my story for views?" I snapped.

"Why wouldn't you?" He said with a smug smile. "A lot of people don't have interesting lives or stories, so they make up their own. Everyone does that nowadays. Except me."

I took a step back, shocked and appalled by what this boy was saying. At this point, Matt stepped in.

"Did you even watch the video? She has x-rays and paperwork, as well as her parents to prove it."

His face dropped a bit. He clearly didn't watch the video. "Well, that-"

Woods cut him off. "Why would you think that? You just assumed she was making all of that up for views? And why would you just say that?"

"Especially with that tone," Tanner added, the three of them now staring hardly at Carl.

"That was totally uncalled for," Matt said, "And you said yourself that you've had surgery to remove a tumor in your brain. Shouldn't you be more understanding?"

"Well, that was different. That was real." Carl snapped in a seemingly nervous tone. I looked at him quizzically, then with concern.

"Oh my gosh, you had a tumor removed? That must've been awful! What kind of tumor was it?"

I saw a flash of fear in his eyes. He snapped, "Even if I told you, would you know what it is?"

"Was it a Dandy Walker?" I said, my eyes widening and my tone worrisome. Carl relaxed and replied with a slightly smug smile.

"Yes, actually."

"Are you sure?" Matt asked, looking at the two of us, confused.

"100% positive. Surprised you knew about-"

"That's not a tumor," I interrupted, "That's not even a cyst. Dandy Walker Syndrome is actually what I had as a baby. And don't you think you would remember what kind of tumor you had? You really should've done more research if you were going to lie about something like that."

Carl's eyes widened, terror in his pupils. Matt, Tanner, and Woods turned to him, shocked and upset.

"You lied about having a tumor removed?" Tanner yelled.