INFINITE WHIMS: THE CONDITIONAL EXISTENCE

Chapter 29: All about Selica

April 8, 2014 (Tuesday)

"You see. I am the 121st student."

The words echoed in his mind as he blinked rapidly, scrutinizing the girl before him up and down. Shaking off his momentary surprise, he quickly relegated back to his composed self "Well, this is certainly one way to quell my curiosity."

"Sorry." She smiled weakly and drooped her shoulders. "I didn't mean to spring this upon you like that. It is just...that I didn't expect you to notice so fast. I suppose nothing goes past you, does it, Max?"

Slumping back in his chair, he crossed his legs under the table. "Interesting choice of words, Selica. So you were expecting to be noticed. Why? If you wanted my attention so badly, you know, you could have just acted like most incessant fangirls."

"No! " She vigorously shook her head, as if horrified at the thought of being compared to those rowdy bunch. "I would never ...wish any trouble for you." Her eyes steeled with a kind of determination, which he couldn't comprehend.

"And on what basis should I believe in your innocence?" His face scrunched up annoyed, as he raised his hands in the air. "Is there even a strand of fact that I can check, to extend the benefit of the doubt to you ."

Her eyes rose up reflexively at the sudden bitterness in his voice. Either, he didn't seem to notice or he simply didn't care but he continued. "Before you say anything else, Selica, let me warn you, I am tired of participating in fake charades with no real purpose. I have had enough of that with Fixer, Killsinger, and Silver Pence Case. So please, be very frank with me now. Who are you and what is your purpose?"

The affable face that had been laughing with her just a while ago, a face that seemed to brimming with carefree and amiable attitude had suddenly turned into one of wariness. Eyes that she so dreaded to face. Those eyes of suspicions from whom she had attempted to run far away now seemed to be rekindling in the gaze of one person who should have been bereft of it all.

"I am just Selica, Max. " Keeping her emotions bottled in, she placed her hands on the table as she spoke gently. "If truth is what you desire, then that is what you will get. After all, there is nothing even remotely interesting about me that may pique your curiosity. "

Max crossed his arms, setting his gaze on her. "Only time will decide that, Selica. Go on then. I am all ears."

She nodded affirmatively as she took a deep breath."Right. Well, for most of my life, I have lived in an orphanage. It wasn't anything fancy like most orphanages in Scotland but it had enough, enough for me to keep on going. Food was provided twice a day and we were allowed to go out in a local park once a month. It was a relatively mundane life."

 Yet, I was content with the fact that I had a roof over my head.

"But it seemed that fate couldn't let this contentment remain on our faces. A few years ago, the orphanage was suddenly closed due to it being an illegal undertaking and handed over to a government-appointed consignee. Half of the children were housed in a nearby NGO facility while the rest of us were relocated far away to a local orphanage in Cardiff. The car was supposed to take us to the orphanage though never reached the destination."

"On the way, the vehicle met with an accident by colliding with a tree in the forest. The impact was so great that not only the driver whose head bashed against the trunk but other children were also flung out of the broken windshield at collision, leading to their instant death. Since I was in the back, I managed to survive but still suffered an injury to my head.

 At first, I couldn't believe that I was alive. As the blood oozed out of my head, in my delirious state, I was convinced that this was the purgatory everyone talked about. But as the acute pain kept coursing through my head, I felt an irresistible urge to quieten it. Writhing in pain, I moved my legs almost half crawling and pushed the backdoor open with whatever strength I had left."