They quietly approach me, closing the space between us. The lights gently brighten their bodies, appearing the two men in police uniforms; "Lanya Breiman?" One of the officers ask me, "I'm Inspector Endler and this is Lieutenant Davis" He gestures to the other officer. I stare at them expecting them to say something, but they don't; "Why are you here?" I question them, "We're here to talk to you, Layna. About what happened at your school"?
"Oh" I mumble,
"Is that okay?"
"Uh yeah ,sure" I murmur avoiding eye contact with the two men as they both pull out a chair from a near-by desk, the Inspector pulls out a notebook and matching pencil, whilst the other pulls out a voice recorder. "We're going to record everything you say in this, Is that alright?" I nod sitting up further to face them both.
"Alright Lanya... Did you see any strange activity during your school hours over the past week?" The Lieutenant questions me leaning forward with the recording device in hand.
The past week? I saw some kids around the science room but that could've been nothing.
"No, no I didn't"
"Are you sure? You stalled a bit there" The Inspector asks;
"Yes, I'm sure"
"Okay...When you were at school, the day the fire happened, did you see any 'peculiar' students and or people?"
I remember all the students who had acted or seemed abnormal that day, the ones who had bumped into me or the ones who had seemed eager to be in gym class. The students who had kept to themselves that day or the ones who had been overly-excited, the students who had stayed at the back of the class, the students who had been at the front and answered every question. But that's our school; built up of the eager and the quiet, the popular and the nerds, the clumsy and the perfect.
"No".
"Stop the recording." The Inspector replies harshly whilst scribbling something in the notebook clasped in his hand; The Lieutenant pushes a red button the device a quiet beep echoes in the bland room.
I look up at the officers, they both stare back at me waiting for me to reply; so I don't. I stay quiet and let the silence devour the room, ricocheting off the tinted windows, silently whistling in the frozen air.
"Layna, are you telling the truth?"
"Yes" I say without thinking back.
The officers give me a long cold hard look before standing up and sliding their chairs back under the rectangular desk.
"We'll be back , but for now, get better" The Lieutenant says before exiting into the dim hallway, The inspector follows soon after looking back at me; I sigh as their shadows disappear into the dreary lights.
