The Devil In Disguise

CHAPTER 25: Embedded in Lies

"Karissa..." Corina trailed off uncertainly.

"Hm?"

My eyes refocused on her after zoning out for the millionth time this morning.

It was Monday; three days after the incident. I'd found out that Simon had woken up early that night — not completely, he was still mostly immobile — and had called the police with the rest of his energy, seeing the other three unconscious and me missing.

Grey was on the run, but he wasn't a criminal. By that, I meant he wasn't used to the criminal ways of life. He didn't know how to run, hide from authorities. He was the rich guy who was spoilt down to his bone and he'd be caught soon. He hadn't been caught already since he probably had connections. He had a shit ton of money, so I wouldn't be surprised. With money, he'd managed to get the waiter of a perfectly innocent restaurant to spike four teenagers' drinks.

Though Simon, Xander, Corina and Grace had told the police about Grey, they hadn't known that the waiter was the one who'd actually carried the deed out. I was the one who told the police that, when I was giving my statement. The waiter had received a jail sentence of ten years.

And then I'd told the police about what happened next. However, that was the part I had to hide from everyone else.

The story was that Grey had hired someone to take us hostage after spiking our drinks. His motive was that he was obsessed with popularity and he'd figured out that the five of us didn't like him. This made him go bat shit crazy because he had 'underlying mental issues' on top of an obsession for popularity and wanted to get rid of us in a spectacularly evil way. When I didn't fall unconscious, he ran; but he forgot to alert the kidnapper, who came and tried to subdue me anyway. It didn't work so the kidnapper ran too, when he heard the sirens.

It was a hasty story, but ended up on the local newspaper anyway.

Grace believed it. Simon believed it. Corina thought it was suspicious and kept trying to find loopholes in the story. And Xander just plain refused to believe it.

"Karissa!" Simon yelled in my face, making me jump.

"What?" I snapped, irritated. Simon's face softened.

"You never answered our question," Corina said, twirling her brown hair around her finger, her eyes fixed on me.

"What question?"

"How did you fight off the kidnapper?" Xander answered for her, leaning forward. He looked me deep in the eyes and I became unsettled. I could tell within a second that he was searching me, trying to tell if I was lying. He knew that the story, though the police had 'confirmed' it, seemed too unbelievable. And I was acting too dodgy. I'd toned it down, or at least tried to, but I was haunted and it showed.

So I told the truth. Embedded in lies.

"Um... well, he dragged me to his car. It was a simple car, one you wouldn't look at twice if you saw it on the streets..." I trailed off, my eyes hazing over, remembering who the car actually belonged to, "And, uh... he asked me if I was ready never to see you guys again. That he was going to take us all and split us up, from each other and also literally. I tried to run but he grabbed me and threatened to kill me if I tried again, but I was too hysterical. So I spat in his face and ran for my life."

As I was telling this rehearsed story, the entire class had gone silent, listening in. I hadn't exaggerated, telling a spun story of how I fended him of with karate moves, but something realistic. They seemed to believe it; or at least I hoped.

"I wonder how much Grey paid that kidnapper," Grace said, fuming. Her blonde hair was perfect as usual but her face was scrunched in anger; a face I'd never seen on her.

"Would've been a shit ton," Simon mused.

I doubted that. Grey had been bribed by him to get my four friends in a helpless position and Grey'd gone through with it like the spoilt bastard he was. So technically Grey would've got most of the money, and maybe five to ten percent would've gone to the kidnapper and the waiter each.

"Karissa," Xander murmured. Everyone had gone back to their own conversations, mostly about the Five Hostages (the new name for us, though we weren't actually taken hostage) and kept shooting furtive glances at our table.

I blinked myself back into reality. "Yeah?" I said, turning to Xander.

My gaze met his and all falseness vanished as I stared at his green, no-bullshit eyes. He observed me with a detached, calculating look, mixed with what I thought was concern. I blinked, thinking I was wrong, but when I looked again, it was there again, suddenly intensified now.

"Are — are you okay?" he struggled out, human emotion apparently being a difficult thing for him to show.

I laughed, somewhat humourless, and shrugged. "I'm fine," I said, turning away —

But a coarsely soft hand gripped my shoulder and turned me back round.

"I know you're lying. Why do you lie so much?"

My heart contracted and so did my windpipe. Oh, Xander, I thought. I want to tell you everything but I can't...

I had no choice but to lie again. I hated myself for it, but it was what I had to do so the words rolled off my tongue, leaving a bitter taste in my lying mouth.

"What do you mean? The story's true, the police confirmed it..." I faltered because of the look in his eyes. Their green depths had darkened and their facets sparkled in frustration. He knew I was lying but couldn't call me out on it; all he could do was ask. And all I could do was deny.

"There's something different. This ... sounds very far-fetched, but ... you aren't acting like someone tried to kidnap you, you're acting like someone tried to kidnap you again. It's like you've been through this before, you're not acting as ... on edge as people would usually act. You just keep dazing off, lost in your memory, which obviously consists of something more to the story you're telling me."

I almost gaped but kept my face carefully clear of the shock at how diligent he was. Smiling slightly, but sadly, I said, "I get why you'd think so. If I were you, I'd think so too. It all seems so surreal, doesn't it? But... for real, I'm telling the truth. If there's anything you should know about me by now," I laughed a humourless laugh, "it's that I'm weird as hell. I deal with things in a different way; I mean, of course I'm on edge and stuff but the likelihood of that happening again is low and all I can do is think about it, what I could've done different, y'know?"

Xander nodded slowly, staying silent, his expression unreadable. The sunlight through the window reflected off of his chiseled cheekbones, getting absorbed by his darkened, suspicious eyes, which were still narrowed slightly. But he had no argument in reply to mine so, as the bell rang, he said a short goodbye and left for first period.

The bitter taste in my mouth remained for the day.

A/N

How did you like this chapter? Do you think the story about Grey is believable? Are you surprised that Xander's so close to the truth?

Well, so close...
but so far.

VOTE please!! And share this story!

—deainlustris