I Feel Like A Monster

Chapter 20

Bigby made his way towards his office that was just down the hall of the Business Office where Nerissa had waited. When he entered he saw her standing there, waiting patiently for him.

"Hi sheriff." She said with a smile.

"Hi Nerissa." He said as entered shutting the door behind him, "Have a seat." He said taking a seat just behind his desk. Nerissa sat across from him placing her purse beside her feet. She rubbed her arm awkwardly as she asked, "Umm... Are you... Okay? You didn't look good last night. I wasn't sure you'd be... you know around..."

"Don't be fooled by this." Bigby replied, "I didn't get the worse of it." He let out a couple of coughs.

He took out a cigarette from a box nearby. He placed one between his lips, before he offered Nerissa one.

"Huff 'n' Puffs?" She said, "Not many people smoke those."

Nerissa had proceeded to get her own cigarette from her purse. Bigby lit the cigarette before offering a light to Nerissa; She leaned into the small flame and her cigarette was lit. She inhaled and let out a small puff.

"So, what is it you want to talk to me about?" He asked after letting out a puff, "I know what you did for me, sending me to the Open Arms. And I think you want to help me again.

"There's not a lot to talk about." She replied, "You know that."

He had asked her, "So that spell Crane was trying to break... It's not while your at work is it, huh?"

Nerissa let out another puff and discarded some ash on a nearby ashtray.

She had replied, "What I mean is... I don't want to waste your time. But I don't you to waste your own time either."

"Back in the dressing room - at the Pudding 'N' Pie - I told you what I was looking for and you found a way to tell me." He said, "You sent me to the Open Arms. Maybe that'll work again?"

"...You can try. I just... Go ahead. It might work..."

Bigby then went ahead and asked, "Crane wasn't the murderer. The Open Arms was a set up. And you sent me there. Was there someone else you wanted me to find there?"

Nerissa let out a sigh, "These lips are sealed." She said, "If I could answer you just like that... I wouldn't have made that appointment with you."

"No, I guess not." He said.

She had said, "Sometimes... We have to find our way through life on our own. Grasping and fumbling in the dark. I... Used to have friends. To help me find my way. But now... They're gone. And I don't know what to do." She inhaled the cigarette and let out another puff.

"Is this... making any sense?" She asked him.

"Are you trying to say something about Faith and Lily?" Bigby had asked her.

"What I'm saying is... Friends matter." She tried to explain, "And... I don't have any left. So I hope your looking after yours. Are you? Look around you."

"Are you... Trying to say my friends are involved?" He asked her.

All Nerissa did was shake her head. "I'm sorry." She said before gathering up her things in her purse, "I thought I could do this... I need you to know... I want to help, but..."

"But your lips are sealed." Bigby had finished for her.

She rubbed her neck as she said, "I'm... Sorry. If I'm wasting time. I thought I knew how to say it..."

"Ribbons." Bigby had said to her, "Faith wore one too."

"Do you like it?" Nerissa had asked, putting her hand on the ribbon, "Do you?"