Stained

Simple

“All happiness or unhappiness solely depends upon the quality of the object to which we are attached by love.”

-Baruch Spinoza

                Rosa was trying to scare the waves away with her light playful barks as they washed up on shore and was jumping into them as they came forward. It was good to see that there was still innocence in this cruel world, even if it could only be found in this puppy.

                I sighed and looked back down at the files that were in my hand as the puppy attempted to catch the salty water that kept crashing up to play with her. They were files on everyone that was assumed to be with Nic at the moment. Including a file they had put together about Zoey Richmond. My former Head of Security who had decided to make a fool out of me. I read over the information I had already read and reread over and over again before picking up the phone and dialing a number quickly.

                “The phone was picked up on the second ring. “Hello?” The voice asked, even though he knew who was calling and why I needed to call.

                “It’s Erik. Can you give me information on Sean Lark?” I closed my eyes and waited for him to tell me about that thing again.

                “Sir, we have some bad news.” The voice was hesitant, and my eyes sprang open again and I leaned forward, as if I thought he could see me.

                “What do you mean bad news?” I asked, my voice was harsh and I could imagine the person on the other end wincing and biting his lip as he tried to find words to explain.

                “He went on a mission yesterday. We got your message about Stark and the rest of them, and so we sent out two Units to try and bring them down. All 7 were killed. We recovered six bodies yesterday in the forest where we assumed the fight took place. We are still searching for Lark’s. We think it’s around the same area, but we haven’t found it quite yet.” The voice was quiet and I could tell he was scared of my reaction.

                “You haven’t found Sean’s body, but you think he’s dead? You think that he’s dead? When you can’t find a body you don’t assume they’re dead!” I shouted into the phone, causing Rosa to look back in curiosity before the waves captured her attention once more.

                “There was no way that he could have escaped. They wouldn’t have let him survive after killing the rest.” He protested weakly.

                “So they didn’t let him escape! They could have captured him or persuaded him to join them! Or he could have willingly joined! That’s the obvious answer you simpleminded fool!” My hand was clenched in a fist and my teeth were clenched. I was astounded at how many people here would’ve thought the same thing instead of looking at the obvious answer.

                “Sir, we didn’t think he was with them because we didn’t think the enemy would stop and ask questions or take prisoners if they were too busy killing the others. It seemed like the obvious choice that he had been killed somewhere else. Why would they have taken him? They were in the middle of a fight; it seems stupid to take him if they were fighting.” He was challenging me, trying to say that he knew what he was talking about when he clearly didn’t.

                “So he gave them something! Let them know he was on their side! Do any of the dead have electrical burns or any other signs of Sean?” I tried ignoring the fact I was dealing with a moron.