Without A Trace (Open Novella Contest) [Completed]

Chapter 2: Catch Phrase

I understood why I was in this room. I understood this place perfectly. Every little aspect of it. Why it was the way it was and what they were trying to do to me.

It was a white room. Exactly like the one I had been interrogated in. But this one seemed more comfortable. I couldn't see where I was or what time of the day it was but I knew what day it was because they left me a newspaper every morning? It could've been the middle of the night for all I knew but they sent in a newspaper everyday?I figured it was to give me an idea of how much time I was losing by not cooperating.

About an hour after breakfast, the same guy would walk in and try to question me. I had given him a name because it made our conversations seem more...alive? I called him Dave. I thought he looked like a Dave. He'd make the perfect Dave. I'm pretty sure he'd make the best Dave ever. Or the worst.

Dave always wore the same clothes. A pair of charcoal grey shoes with socks that were hardly visible, a pair of dark jeans and a gray full sleeved t-shirt. Didn't he ever get bored?

I did.

It wasn't the kind of formal attire you would expect in this sort of a situation but it felt like something a person his age would wear. I guess?

I had been here a total of four days. At least that's what the newspapers said. I read it meticulously every day. I was detached from the world but it didn't affect me as much as Dave had hoped it would. I actually quite liked being in a safe space like this.

The menacing white room did not seem to have any specific effect on me either. It was supposed to be intimidating. It was meant to disorient you. Throw you off. Not knowing the time of the day was supposed to kill your perception of time. Being locked away. No sunlight. Either that, or they think I'm a vampire and they're just trying to keep me in ideal vampire conditions, minus the drinking blood part. Thankfully.

Needless to say, I was in no hurry to escape. The only thing that really bothered me was that my powers didn't work here. They should've. They didn't really have a way of controlling my powers. Technically, they shouldn't even know about powers like mine. There was no real way of proving their existence to anyone--I heard the door open. It was Dave.

"Morning Dave." I greeted the poor guy. He must hate his job at least a little, right?

"What's your name?"

"Nathan Sparklesman." I think I'm getting better at this fake name thing. I was getting creative but I always remembered to use a boring first name now. I understood it was the only way to make your fake name sound believable.

"For fuck's sake!" He was getting tired of this. He was properly exhausted. He was an overconfident prick who didn't anticipate me to last so long without showing any interest in escaping. I just had to keep this up until he couldn't do this anymore.

I could just tell him I lied and there's a pretty great chance he'll let me out of here but I'm enjoying the attention?

Dave hates my guts. It's obvious.

And honestly, I've never really had that. Nobody ever remembers me long enough to hate me. Not even heroes who've fought me before. It makes it much easier to fight them off later considering how I already know every weakness of theirs.

When I first got here, I was desperate to escape, but now--I like it? I'm a mystery they can't solve. I'm doing what I love. Being an inconvenience. I enjoyed every moment of it. It was easily the most fun I'd had in a long time. Dave added the right amount of spice to my life and I was thankful to him for it.

"Put this on." He handed me a mask.

"You know, I've always wanted one of these." Not being remembered meant you didn't need a fancy super suit. Or a mask. You didn't have to hide you were. But I had one anyway. I liked feeling like I was a part of something. It also helped the Superheros identify me in a crowd.