Beasts

9: Interview

"Hello?" After lunch with Iridescent I went over to 34 for my interview. The house empty though. There was a sign that said 'COME IN' so I came in. It was a simple little hut; a kitchen, dining area, sitting area, bed, and a door that I assumed was the bathroom. A stiff smell was in the dry air. There was a grandfather clock ticking slowly by an old rocking chair. Tick tock. Tick tock. I watched the pendulum swing back and forth, back and forth. It was surprisingly hypnotizing. Relaxing too.

"Having fun there?" A voice said into my ear. I jumped forward and held out my hands in a defensive stance. There was a fairly aged man bent over. He barely had any hair left and wore thin, round, glasses. Draped over his shoulders was an olive green cloak. He's a turtle. Calling it.

"Sorry if I scared you there." He chuckled. "I'm Isaiah. One of the seven Counselors." He said in a croaked voice and shuffled over to his sitting area. "You're June, right?" He said as he looked for a book in the bookshelf.

"Um, yes..." I said, unsure on what was going on. I did not expect someone like this to interview me.

"Ah, here it is!" Isaiah pulled out a large, maroon red, book. He sat down in the rocking chair started flipping through it. I looked over at the wooden stool in front of him with a cushion on it. Once I sat down, he stopped flipping. "Name." He said bluntly like it wasn't even a question.

"June Caron." I answered without thinking.

"Age." He said right after.

"18." Why was this going so fast?

"Beast type."

"Gold."

"Preferred spell."

"Pulse." That was so not the name of it but he didn't care.

"Favourite colour."

"Midnight blue. Wait what?"

He burst out laughing. "I'm just messing with you, deary!"

"Oh, um." I awkwardly chuckle. This guy was strange. Think he's just old.

"Okay," Isaiah said as he stopped laughing. "on to the serious questions..." His eyes skimmed over the page. I never noticed until now how vibrant green his eyes were. They were like a grass green. "I see you looking at my eyes. The more vibrant the eyes of a magic using Beast, the more powerful their magic is." He quickly glanced up at me. "You got quite a lot of power for your age and being half human."

"Thank you...? I think? You must have be very strong then." I said back.

"I will admit that my magic is quite good. I wasn't put on the Council for nothing, after all." He said proudly. "Here they are." He said and sat up straighter.

"How has your life here been so far?" He asked first. Finally, some real questions.

"Good. I like it here. I felt so lost back in the city." I spilled out. It was as if something was forcing me to say everything.

"What's your favourite part of here?"

"Probably the people. They're all so amazing and unique. It's like everyone here has there own role to play." I say, quoting Iridescent.

"Yes. What would you say your role is?"

"My role? I-I don't know. I never thought about what my role is here."

"Really? You're the chief's daughter! He won't live forever and someone has to take over."

'Yah, I guess so..." I practically just met my dad almost two weeks ago but I didn't want him to die. He gave me this new shot of life. One filled with magic and friends where I could never ask for better ones.

"Do you want to be chief one day?" He then asked after scribbling some things down.

"If I have to, yes."

"Answer truthfully, please." He looked up at me with his piercing green eyes. I notice how he has a bracelet too but instead of silver with the gold, it's green. I never saw Phoenix or Iridescent's bracelets before. Were they like that too?

"No." I finally saw.

"Now, why's that?"

"I'm not really the leader type. I don't want this tribe to fail of because of me."

"I see," he nodded. "what if you were given training and time to think?"

"I don't know. That's then. This is now."

"Good answer..." He said and scribbled down more things.

"How about this..." He flipped pages and drew something quickly then flipped the book around. I leaned forward to see what it was. A train and in front of it is two paths. One with one person and the other with many. Not this experiment. I've read enough psychology books to know where this is going. "Here you can see is a train. It's path splits into two. On one path is a bunch of people. The other has only one person. There is a switch in front of you. Currently the train is set to hit the group. If you pull it switch, it will change paths. Simple enough?"

"So, the question is: do you save the one person or the group?" He said in a way that you knew could only be bad.

"The group." I say and loosely cross my arms across my stomach.

"Okay. Sacrifice one life for many. What if that one person was... let's say that young lad, Phoenix." He said knowing we were friends.

"Um... I-"

"Can't decide?" He raises one of his graying eyebrows. "Don't worry. There is no wrong answer here. In the last test if you chose to kill the group, then something would of been wrong."He chuckled.

"Both." I say and he gives me a puzzled look. "Can't I just move Phoenix out of the way with my magic?"

"Hm. I never thought of it that way. If that wasn't an option though..." Come on. I don't want to pick!

Phoenix or a group of people? I took a slow blink. "The group..." Sorry Phoenix. I don't want to kill you but this old guy is making me.

"Great. Do you know why you chose to save the group?"

"Well yah. One life for many others. yes, Phoenix is the most amazing person I ever met, but those five people have loved ones too. I'll just go suicide and die with him."

"Why would you do that?" he said, shocked by my answer.

"Because, he's my friend. Friends stick together. If I kill him then I don't deserve to live."

"Would you change positions with him if you could?"

"In a heartbeat." I nod and he smiles.

"June, you are truly a compassionate person. Honest with yourself too. Thank you for letting me interview you. Sorry you have to leave with such a morbid ending. Here," He took the leather-bound book on the desk beside him and stood up. "I want you to write in this. Whatever you feel, write it down in this. Read back on what you wrote, think about what you would change if you could go back in time." He said, handing me the book.

"Thank you." I do a little bow then leave. So, in that interview I killed Phoenix and got a journal from a weird turtle dude. Not what I was expecting at all.

"I'm a tortoise!" He called out. I sigh and continue walking. Of course he is...