If there was one thing I was certain of it was the fact that the death of Jamie Blanchard was the biggest news ever to hit... Well wherever I was. Who am I? That's the question I've been ask myself ever since I woke up in a white room my arms bandaged up. I knew there was a reason I was here, there was a reason for everything anyone did, you just have to look close enough. There was a crime. At least that's what the man in the suit kept saying over and over to me. He wants me to respond, he thinks I'm in shock. I must keep him under that illusion, so I continued rocking back and forth staring at the wall while I made my plan. I would lie, if I said I forgot everything then that would make me more of a suspect. I needed to play the victim card. I recalled episodes of my favorite tv show, Law and Order, how did all those criminals get off? Criminal...... What if that's what I really was? Right now that didn't matter, I just need to get out of here.
I turned my gaze very slowly to rest on the man, I held my eyes in a hazy look.
"We need to know what happened that night Alex. If you hold back any information you may face jail time."
Say it all happened so fast you didn't have time to process it, that you only saw the shadows of people's faces but the light didn't allow you to make out any detail.
I repeated what the voice had told me to say slowly, and the man sighed. "That's exactly what Drew said." Obviously have hoped that what I said would contradict what this drew character had said. "Do you recognize any of these people?" He handed a folder, and photos spilled out. "Now take a good look at each of them"
I moved slowly, but my mind didn't.
Remember their faces. The voice came as quickly as it went.
Should I say anything about them?
Don't. Tell. Them. Anything.
The voice had not led me astray so far so I pawed carefully through them and shook my head. "Like I said, it as too dark to be certain." This seemed to satisfy the man, and as he took the folder back he gesture for me to stand up and follow him.
It's not over, it won't ever be over. Do. Not. Relax. They will always be looking for weakness, if it's not the police then it will be others. If they see you so much as flinch, you're as dead as Jamie.
I swallowed a gulp as I walked past the other rooms similar to mine, holding teenagers in all sort of conditions. Some had broken bones, others were burned beyond recognition. I examined my arms with the band aids on them, and pealed one back to reveal burns. How the hell did this happen?
"The school is expecting you, Jamie's death has shaken up pretty much everyone, and you're still not out of suspicion for this horrendous crime so you cannot leave the premises of the school under any circumstances. You are expected to be on your top behavior. Lots of people are waiting for you to fall. You can't show any weakness." The man explains. Why is he trying to help me? Is this some sort of bad cop good cop things? He slides a bin over to me containing some belongings. "These are yours, you may take them and leave out that door. We will be in touch" he explains and I nod slowly, still keeping up he facade. As I turn towards the door the voice speaks again.
Don't for one second think it's over. Promise me, you won't forget those faces, promise me you will uncover the truth about who you are, and you'll come for me.
The words seemed to tingle through me with an icy chilliness. "I promise" I whisper, unsure why I felt the need to promise the voices in my head anything.
quia nunc vale. The voice made the last echo in my head that I would hear for a long time as I exited the physicality and strode into the the light.
