Hate Of The Unknown

Chapter 3- Secrets You Cannot Keep From Me

The chilly air seemed to be seeping through my clothes as I trudged towards my home. I couldn't pinpoint the emotions that had taken a hold of me. It seemed like a constant state of living recently for me, not knowing what I was doing or thinking. The entire encounter at the club was strange.

I kept hearing people mention some boss they were certain would be enamored with me. And well, my mind came to the worst conclusion, Sex workers being one of my first ideas, which terrified me. Then again, I could be mistaken; perhaps they are simply in search of dancers or attractive bartenders.

I arrived back home shortly before midnight. It was still relatively early in the night. The house was quiet. Grandma must have been exhausted after a long day of work. And Jaron... well, at least he behaves when it comes to his sleep schedule and doing his homework.

I decided to call Jake and let him know how it went. I was confident he was still awake. After two rings, Jake picked up the phone, his voice heavy with exhaustion but still welcoming.

"Hey! I was beginning to worry about you. Was it alright? Did you get it?" he asked eagerly. My lips tagged in a smile, "It was alright, a little bit strange. I don't like the party scene too much. And everybody thought I was some kind of a stripper or a dancer. Correcting their assumptions was an uncomfortable experience. I'm only here for the cleaning tasks."

There was some silence at Jake's end. "Well, you know, stripping is a serious line of job. Please let me know if you ever decide to go down that path." I rolled my eyes. "Jake, please be serious about this. You know it's a bad place of employment when everybody keeps saying, 'the boss loves boys like you' and ogles you to no end."

"I don't think they do that for every new hire, just the pretty ones." was his reply. "Jake, you're an awesome human being, but sometimes I just can't with you," I said. "Well, that's because I'm not human. Therefore the argument does not apply to me. And also, the boss likes 'boys'? A little bit pedo if you ask me."

Yeah, Jake wasn't helping much. "Don't worry, I'm pretty sure they meant guys," Jake chuckled at his end of the call. I suddenly realized there wasn't a buzz at the back of my head.

People never really realized just how much they were lying. It was ingrained in our culture, becoming a type of slang and a way of talking like sarcasm. Most of the time, it had no sinister meaning behind it, just a way of speaking.

I was getting the little vibrations all day long. When I was younger, it always put me off balance. As I grew older, I was getting better at ignoring the unimportant lies, the white lies. I was used to it by now but still looked out for anything major. Just a walking lie detector.

At that moment, upon hearing Jake's words, I felt nothing. The latter half of his statement was simply an opinion with no truth or lie in it. But he said he wasn't human, and I felt no buzz. What did that mean? I understand it is a figure of speech. But like all the other similar lies, I would expect to feel it.

I would always feel the lie as it regards the absolute truth. I trusted myself and knew the statement was true. My ability was working for facts, not for the symbolic meaning behind words. It can't mean he feels like a monster or something along those lines.

Not human means not human for my little buzzes. But what else could there be? Maybe Jake is someone like me? Am I even human with this ability I got? Too bad I cannot feel my own lies. Left with the ability to lie to myself. Jake's words brought me back from my thoughts.

"So, did you get it?" I could picture him on his bed, keenly awaiting my response. "Yeah, I got it, thanks to your uncle, who bagged Sam to take me. Thanks for that, by the way." Jake sounded surprised at that. "Oh, I didn't know he did that. That's Michael for you. He takes care of family. And you practically family as well."