Retrograde

Chapter 4 • Clarice

• Chapter Four •
Clarice

Rrrrrriiiip. Rrrrrriiiip. Cael heard the sounds of tape being pulled. While he was not fully in tune with the sensations going on with his body, he distantly felt flesh on him and then something being pressed on to his skin. His head hung forward, and slowly realized that he was sitting up. The pressure on his buttocks, coupled with something on the backs of his legs told him that he was in a chair.

He opened his eyes slowly, but that was a mistake; his grogginess and headache made him see wobbly legs attached to his upper body even when he was immobile. Was the coffee table always as uneven as Reena's vest?

Cael closed his eyes.

His mental faculties were returning faster than his physical ones. For one, Cael knew that he should stay quiet for the moment, making a now-conscious effort to not groan in pain from the whack in the head from however long ago. Two, he hadn't known Reena long, but somehow he could imagine the words 'I told you so' being stamped on her forehead. And three, he couldn't fucking move.

All that and he still wanted to believe that none of it was happening.

"Baby boy, you snore in your sleep. I know you're awake," she said, having moved to tape his legs against the chair.

Cael partially had himself to blame. Whether in the capacity of a girlfriend or a crazy bitch, he had given Clarice reason to be suspicious. He had never stopped wondering about his past, and in the past two days, he had gotten significantly worse. But then again, how was he supposed to believe a stranger when they basically wanted you to ice your girlfriend? How was he supposed to know that his girlfriend's idea of talking things out was knocking him old cold?

In any case, Cael felt free to groan in pain as a cathartic release. He slowly lifted his head up, pushing past the pain. Looking around, Cael saw that he was in the living room, the coffee table in front of him. When Clarice stood up, she pressed her hands flat on Cael's thighs. "Do you know how long I have been waiting for you to crack? Three years. The watching, the waiting, the wondering if you'll start making breakthroughs with your memories."

"You...are...a psycho," Cael said slowly, body functioning but otherwise tired.

Clarice bent down to pick up her gun and silencer, starting to twist the silencer on. Cael's stomach dropped, twisted, and turned. This was the second time he had gotten up-close and personal with a gun. "I'm not a psycho," Clarice explained. "What I am is a person doing their job." Clarice stepped back and ejected the magazine to check the bullets in her gun before putting the magazine back in. "So...what do you know?

"What I know is that you? Are a lying bitch," Cael spoke furiously. Clarice gripped her gun and used the back of her free hand to smack Cael across the face. He hissed in pain, his head whipping back to glare at her. 

"What. Do. You. Know." She spoke through clenched teeth, beginning to pace in front of him. "The bathroom incident. I didn't fucking look after you for nothing. So, what did you find out?"

Cael felt bold. He considered not saying a word, but when Clarice cocked her gun and aimed for him, he had a thought. "I found out that the Syndicate is full of liars and cheats. And that if you really had the clearance to kill me, then you wouldn't have needed to watch me for 3 years and sleep with me like you're some dispatched whore."

Her eye twitched, her finger hesitant on the trigger. A staring contest was set about until she finally gave in and lowered her gun, putting the safety back on. "You're right..." She set down the gun on the coffee table before approaching Cael again. She closed in, her face just inches from his as her hand snatched his chin. Cael swiftly turned his face away to get her hand loose, and bloody murder could be read just from the corners of his eyes. "...but I can do just about anything else to get you to talk."