Opaque

13 | Rule Number Ten

"It's amazing where the paranoid mind can take you." - Bill Ayers

                Chapter Thirteen

If it wasn't for the medium sized window, my bedroom would look like the clean version of a prison cell. Keeping the same design as all the other rooms of the apartment, these walls were void of any objects and colors, and the room only contained a twin sized bed with white sheets and a black pillow.

I hadn't found it necessary to buy any cabinets or tables, since there was already a built-in closet, which held my neatly organized clothes, and the empty space under my bed was large enough to hide two large plastic containers, filled with all my papers, case files, and personal belongings.

I sat down on my knees and, after lifting the sheets off the floor, I pulled out the two plastic containers. They were heavier than I remembered, but then again, it had been a few months since I last organized them. Instead of picking them up and carrying the fairly large boxes, like I had originally planned, my sore muscles and the nagging pain in my back prompted me to use a different tactic. I dragged out the boxes, one by one, and planted them in the middle of the living room.

With no other furniture in my living room, besides a bean bag chair, a couch, a small table, and a mounted television, there was more than enough space for the two of us to go through the piles of files and paper in the containers.

"Why are you bringing out those containers," Agent Beta asked, her eyes widening as she saw the hefty amount of papers stacked neatly inside the boxes.

I smiled at her and said, "Well, wasn't it you who wanted to go over the Irwin High case files?"

"Yeah, but—" she started saying, but I cut her off.

"And wasn't it you who wanted to discuss the moves we were going to teach the students?"

This time, she merely nodded. Smart move on her part, because more likely than not, I was going to interrupt her again.

"Then, let's get started," I said with mock excitement. Agent Beta, on the other hand, groaned.

"This is going to take forever," she said, frowning.

I smiled again; my facial muscles hurting from the exertion.

"Payback's a bitch, remember?"

She sighed and sat down on the floor next to the containers.

"Why do you have so many case files anyways? You were only supposed to investigate suspicious people and activities."

"Yeah, but I figured that since I'm going to be around five hundred plus students, I might as well investigate all of them," I said, sitting down next to her, and taking the lids of the containers.

"You're crazy, you know that?" I shrugged in response.

"Each of these files only contain a page or two of personal information about a specific individual. We only need to separate the ones who have some sort of prior training from the rest of the bunch," I said, in an attempt to make the task look slightly less daunting.

"How many kids had training," she asked me.

"You're the one who has the list," I told her.

She blushed, her cheeks became rosy pink, and said, "Oh right, give me a minute."

She stood up and went to the couch to pick up her bag. Taking out the clipboard with the list of students on it, she threw her bag back on the couch before sitting on the floor again.

"Okay, so," she said going through the pages, "Sidney Lopez, Mia Thompson, Ethan Ross, Andre Joan, Chad Taylors, Anastasiya Joyner, Dean Victore, Madlyn Garnett, and Aura Southgate are all the starred names."