The Higher Define (2018)

30

"You better tell me the truth." I snap, flashing Friday a look of anger. We stand on the conveyor belt where I have just caught him and the belt is shifting past the aquariums. The fish in the aquarium do a slow dance around us, their eyes set on Friday and I but they can't hear a word of the dangerous conversation we're having.

Friday's lip curves into a careful smirk that I contemplate wiping off.

"I don't owe you anything, Aspen. Especially not the truth." He picks his words carefully which makes me shiver. He's evil and manipulative. I need to make sure I don't fall into a trap while trying to get some answers.

I struggle to come up with an idea that will force the truth out of him but my mind draws a blank. I quickly sift through my folders and files, searching for anything to give me an edge over him.

That's when I find the recordings.

"I'll send everyone proof that shows you killed Terry." I say, trying to ignore the low urgency in my tone and the way Friday catches it too. He smiles at me almost knowingly.

"Do you really think that you can blackmail me with that pathetic thing you call proof?"

Resentment circulates through my body as I bite back an insult. I can't let him see that I'm annoyed beyond anything, that I can't control my emotions the way they control me.

For now, I need to maintain the level of perfection that everyone sees when they look at me.

"Yes. Yes, I do." I respond calmly, trying to tell the cutting remarks about his allegations that dart around my mind in a hurry to quiet down.

Friday turns away from me, pressing his hand against the glass that separates the heavy water and schools of fish from us.

"Guess you're wrong." He says, sounding flippant.

A look of surprise leaps onto my face but I quickly wipe it away, hoping that he doesn't catch it. His back is still turned towards me so I heave a soft sight of relief. I need to concentrate if I really want the answer.

"What makes you say that? Richard may fall for your lies but I'm certain the Higher Defines aren't quite as gullible as he is." I smoothe the imaginary wrinkles on my clothing, putting up a false image of calmness. In reality, I'm struggling to fight down the feelings of doubt that have been crashing over me since the kiss.

Friday sniggers.

"You say it like you know that it's going to happen. But let me tell you this," He twists his body once more so that I'm staring into his heartless, cruel eyes that reminds me of charcoal- dark and dirty, "Richard believed me because he was my alibi. We were crossing the waterfall when Terry tumbled to the ground, from the peak of it."

I can't seem to explain the horror that consumes my veins when I hear him.

Richard is his alibi?

No.

This can't be it.

"You're lying." My voice is unsteady, the tone of confidence that I try to underline my words with failing to remain intact.

The thin line on Friday's face grows more savage, "You're the one who seems pretty uncertain of herself."

He ends his statement with a casual shrug that taunts me, his pose ignorant to my silent pleas for the truth, for the answer as to what he saw when he hacked into my database.

I need to know more. I need to understand why I have developed feelings for Hayley when I'm not supposed to. I'm a Higher Define- not a filthy Corruot who falls for anything and everything.

My brain is a jumbled mess as I debate between hacking into Friday's database or to continue at my failed attempts to get an answer.

That's when a soft noise wafts through my earpiece. A wireless message dances along my contacts.

[Private Message from Spencer Anderson]

Need you in Richard's office IMMEDIATELY.

The moment I read the last word, the lights overhead go out. All I see is the night sky that is barely visible through the Hub's interior structure. The steel poles, the glass that runs along the materials are all turning dark, shifting and moving.

Something strange is happening.

The world around me turns pitch black which is more than enough to send me running towards Richard's office, where at least I'll get some answers.