Forever Young

"It may be closer than you think."

"So, doing this will protect me, sitting in your office like a comfy couch potato!" I yell.

"Keep your voice down," he whispers.

"I'm tired of obeying every single command that shoots out of your mouth!" I complain while throwing my hands up in the air.

"And I'm tired of your complaining mouth! I'm trying to help you, despite the past disputes."

"I really would like to you trust, but I can't."

"I don't blame you," he mumbles.

"What?" I ask.

I stand up from where I was sitting and take a couple of steps away from Dr. Evans. He sighs and says, "I don't blame you. I haven't given you hardly any reasons for you to trust me."

"Okay," I say. "Give me some reasons why I should trust you."

"Have some faith in me," he replies.

"That's not a reason."

"Miss Swift, faith is better than any possible reason I could have given." He gets up from his desk chair and walks over to the door.

"Wait," I say as I block the doorway. "Where is the elixir? If you really want me to save humanity, you would tell me where it is."

Dr. Evans freezes. He releases the doorknob and turns to face me. "It may be closer than you think."

He reaches for the doorknob, but I stop him again.

"I don't have time for questioning! I have to clean up the mess that you created!" Dr. Evans whisper/yells.

"What mess?" I ask.

Dr. Evans groans and paces back and forth across the office. "The files! The files that you stole! When the files went missing, it only drew even more suspicion to you than before. There is a meeting in about ten minutes, if I am not there, nobody will defend you. I can't take the fall, if that happens. We will continue our discussion when I get back."

Without another word, Dr. Evans rushes out the door.

I stare at the door for a couple of minutes. I'm too frightened to move, and even more frightened about what's going to happen in the near future. Blood might be spilled today.

My stomach starts to push me toward the door...

Not literally. That would be a strange sight to see.

Anyways, the feeling in my stomach tells me to leave the office. I follow that instinct and I find myself on the outskirts of the conference room.

"Attention! We have called an emergency meeting regarding a thief that is roaming these halls."

Oh, the irony! I giggle as everyone else yells complaints. It sounds like pure chaos.

"Hush up! We believe it's this young woman." The man turns on a powerpoint and a picture of me shows on the screen. Everyone gasps and breaks out to even louder commentary.

"Be quiet!" The man yells. Everyone immediately stops. "Thank you. As I was saying, her name is Taylor Swift. She was recently hired by Matthew Evans and--"

"Sorry! I'm late! I had some business to take care of," Dr. Evans exclaims. He sits down at the edge of the long table, while placing his bag on the table. I don't understand how he arrived later than me.

"This has been the second time, Matthew."

"I know, sir. At least I showed."

"Don't get smart with me, Mr. Evans. I can have your job just as quick as it was given to you!"

"Yes, sir."

"Now, you said you had something to add?" It was asked more like a question than a statement.

"Yes. Miss Swift is innocent. I asked her to get the files for me. Besides, those files are mine, anyways."

"You work for us, Matthew. Those files are the company's not yours."

"Okay, okay. I understand. Won't happen again." Dr. Evans stands up and begins to collects his things.

"Sit back down. This meeting is not over."

Dr. Evans sits down again.

"You lied," the man barks. He plays the surveillance footage of that night. He pauses the video. The screen shows me rummaging through the drawers. "As you can see, there is the thief. She looks a little nervous, doesn't she?" He continues the footage and stops it again. This time he pauses it when I hid behind a filing cabinet. "Why would she hide if she was permitted access to the files?" He asks Dr. Evans.

"You can see fear in her eyes. It was dark and scary," Dr. Evans says.

"Yes, she was scared. She was scared of getting caught!"

The surveillance continues rolling until Dr. Evans and a man enter the room. As I continue observing, the unidentified man is the same man who is accusing me of stealing.

"She was hiding from us. She didn't want us to know that she was in there. Your lie was crumby. You were there that night, Matthew, so you could have gotten the files yourself! Stop defending her!" He turns off the powerpoint and slams his hands against the table. "You must fire her, Matthew. She is no longer welcome here."

"Actually, sir, she resigned," Dr. Evans says.

"You're lying again! She was over here today!" the boss guy yells.

"She's packing up her things. That's the reason she was over here. I'm giving her today to pack and leave."

"If I find out this is a game, I will--"

"Boss, I have something on the girl," a man says as he runs through the door on the other side. The same door Dr. Evans entered through.

"What now, Phillip," the boss groans.

"Play this!"

Phillip inserts a disc into the DVD player. The video plays on the projector and I gasp as I realize what surveillance tape this is. This tape shows my first day of work here. The day I cut myself, on accident, with glass.