The Institute - Propoganda

Chapter 3

The room was small and dusty, exactly like a store room should be, dust and wall plaster flew down from where the door hit the wall. There was a solitary window in the back of the room,  the strong, high noon sunlight poured through it.

Inside was just what I had expected to find. Iyer was sitting in a straight backed wooden chair, it had apparently been two days since the incident but he still looked like hell. His eyes had huge dark circles under it, his lip was cut. He had scratches on his face that had partially scabbed over. His frame sagged in the chair and his hair fell on his face. He had taken a bigger hit from the incident than I'd realized.

Beside him, on either side, were the two people I loathed the most. Mr. Gil was a short, portly man with a handlebar moustache dominating a lot of his mouth, He had a small, pug nose and a smug resting face that made me want to punch him in the face. He was the aerodynamics professor for the seniors and was currently standing with his hands behind his back, He gave me a disdainful once-over but I doubted he knew me. He also happened to be the stand-in supervisor on our mission.

"J." called the other guy, a familiar looking sneer of a person in full uniform. He smelled like after shave and snobs. "Sebastian." I said, glaring at him. I had guessed right. The over ambitious teacher and is faithful sidekick.

Mr. Gil cleared his throat; Sebastian had been doing nothing but staring at me in contempt. He snapped out of it, "You need to leave. Now, please. This is confidential-"

I raised my hand and he stopped talking, I took a step back. "I'm sorry sir but may I know what exactly it is that you're doing here?" I addressed Mr. Gil directly, which infuriated Sebastian further.

Mr. Gil puffed out his cheeks, "None of your damn business gir-"

"Because, Sir, according to Section 57, sub section A relating to the procedure during court of enquiry states very clearly that no interrogation, interviews or even questioning of the parties in question are supposed to be conducted before the formal testimony of such parties for preparation of the report.

Mr. Gil glared, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink, "Nobody likes a know-it-all. How dare you-"

I smiled, "Not at all Sir, I was just sent here by the Headmistress Ma'am. She wanted a word, but if you're too busy I can just go and tell her-"

Sebastian growled, "As if. The headmistress sent you down here in your hospital gown? You look like shit; you aren't even supposed to be here, are you?"

"Why, Sebastian that's not very nice. If our looks were to judge where we're supposed to be, you should be thrown off the planet. "I leaned close and whispered, "But you're already a lackey so I guess it's justified."

And he finally barked, "You're dead you little-"

"But, anyway," I cut him off, addressing Mr. Gil again, "I was just finishing up on one of my prescribed walks around the premise and I was going to come see Iyer anyway and I bumped into Madam Johar. "

Mr. Gil stroked his moustache while still glaring at me, giving him a very animated look, My eyes flicked to Iyer who was watching me intently, still silent. I turned my eyes back to Gil, who said "I'll speak to Madam Johar immediately." He swung on the balls of his feet and started walking out, he looked over to Sebastian, "Come along boy." he ordered.

"For the record, all we were doing was helping the process along." Sebastian spit.

"Boy!" Mr. Gil yelled, he turned to me, "You, lawyer. Take your friend back to his dorm building and it might look to you like we're doing something against the rules but whatever we're doing is very sensitive and goes way beyond you; you dare not mention any of this to anybody."