All The Lies We Told Ourselves

11 - Catching On

Celestine

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March 10th, Sunday

I was lying down when the surroundings finally started to make sense to me. It was a building near falling apart at the seams. Light fixtures hung from the ceiling and the walls were stripped bare of any covering. All that was left was the red brick surface. The ground was littered with debris and rubbish. A bit of light poured in through a window and I could see that it was dark outside, but not much darker than before. The whole place smelled stale, like clothes left abandoned at the back of a wardrobe.

I stood up in a haste, flailing my arms around for my bag and waiting for my vision to turn back to normal. When it finally did, I saw her sitting on the ground a few feet to the side, the light beam from the window hitting her like a spotlight.

"Where is my bag?" I asked, trying to sound stern. Rue only pointed next to me on the ground. I picked it up and noticed it was lighter. The gun was gone.

"Where is it?"

"Oh, this?" She said, holding it up. "Sorry, I couldn't risk being shot."

"Give it back."

"Can I trust you?"

She smiled like it was all a joke. I was in what looked like an abandoned building in the outskirts, alone and I didn't even have my gun anymore. Marcellus would, upon seeing me there, say the stars were not aligned in my favor.

"Yes. You can trust me."

"Are you sure? Because-"

"Please." I sighed with closed eyes, so as to not see the smug look on her face and to avoid the embarrassment of having to ask for it. "Just please give it back." I said reluctantly, wishing at that moment that I was anywhere else. Rue only glanced in my direction for a moment, with not a smidgen of pity on her face. Then, she laid the gun down on the ground and kicked it over. I checked it and the bullets were still there.

"You know I thought you were gone for a moment there, with how long you were out. Must have been like fifteen minutes."

I looked at the time.

6:55 PM

When I stood up to leave, the dizziness came back and I nearly fell again, until I gave up and sat down. It was then that I noticed I had been laying on her jacket. It was lined with what looked to be sheeps wool.

"I suspect you didn't pass out from shock?" She asked, walking over to me.

"No."

Rue handed me something wrapped in wax paper. I opened it and saw that it was some kind of dried beef. It smelled terribly sour, as if encased in vinegar for about half a decade, and perhaps it was visible on my face.

"If you don't want it then I'm happy to have it for myself."

Before she could say more, I bit into it, considering I hadn't eaten anything that day. The dried beef tasted better than it smelled, although not great to say the least. But I was better off eating something if I wanted to make it home without fainting again.

"Why did you bring me here?" I asked.

It flushed me hot in the face to think of her carrying me in the streets and I hoped that no one saw us. I would never hear the end of it. Never. The headlines would spin my name in the dirt like nobody, and I would be resigning my position as chief overseer as soon as possible, given that I couldn't come up with a good enough excuse. I felt stupid for even fainting in the first place.