Persona 5 - The Jester's Point Of View

Scene 157

Back at the police station, just a day later on his shift. Honestly, Eli had not thought about that nor that it would happen anytime soon, that he would see her again. After all those years where he had been trying to not see her. Because how could he see her in the eyes? Given that she was the woman of the man who had died in the cell – Karl’s wife and Anja’s mother. And yet now he was sitting at a table, right across her, eyeing her directly. Though she seemed to be in a rather awful mood, to say the least. No, awful wasn’t even describing it.

She was just sitting there, trying to keep herself together from the looks of it. Her hands were clutching onto the jeans she was wearing, very tightly as she kept on staring. Her arms were both shaking and so was her entire body. She held her breath seemingly for a short moment, trying to speak up yet didn’t. Was it because of his presence? He wasn’t sure but he considered it a possibility at the very least. And he wouldn’t really put it past her. Why out of all the people they had to pick it was him after all? Someone else could have heard her out at the station. But no one else was available at that point.

He didn’t say a word either, only waiting for her to speak up. After all, she should say something first. And he didn’t want to pressure her either. It just felt wrong if he did, so very wrong. He had no right to make demands towards this woman in any way. So waiting for her word was the only thing he could do. 

Though he wanted to say something, anything. Even if it was just the simple question like “What’s wrong?” Because he could clearly see that something was up. He remembered what Karl had said about his wife after all.

“She is a woman who is a little overbearing at times. She finds time to pester you about the smallest things sometimes but she has no ill will. In fact, it’s not uncommon to see her smile. She is always in great spirits, even with her nagging sometimes.”

But this was the exact opposite of how he described her to Eli that time. Her blue gaze was blank, almost cold, and she was at the brink of tears. Her shaking like a dog, as if she was scared of something. Makeup was Not just that but her long, blonde hair looked all messy, something which according to her late husband was unlike her.

“The thing she looks out for is to always look her very best. Neatly put together hair and an outfit made from old clothing. Yet you probably couldn’t tell if you looked at her. She knows how to make it look brand new. And she always manages to look stunning! Then again, I’d obviously say that because she’s my one and only wife!”

So one could see clearly that she was clearly distressed. But what could have happened? So many things ran through his mind, the possibilities… Not endless but it was jumping to the worst case scenario. Even if he didn’t want to go there straight away. And the worst case scenarios only involved one person no matter what. One person in particular could only imagine being involved – Anja.

Yet it didn’t make sense in his mind all the same. After all, it had only been a few days ago that he had seen her. And nothing seemed out of the ordinary. No moment of distress, no moment which could suggest anything going on with her. So he was hoping that it wouldn’t go in that direction. 

But of course things are not so simple, they never were in his line of work. But he was still baffled when hearing the sentence from her mother, that one sentence which would put him into a temporary moment of shock, even he was freezing in place. Out of all things he expected to hear, this was not one of them.

“My daughter went missing!”