Who Broke The Universe?

Silence

Is it time already? Have they found me?

My line of thought was inturrepted by the sound of the door. I clasped my hands together in anticipation. A man and a woman walked in and took their seats in front of me.

Melissa McCarthy style if you know what I mean.

We sat in silence for a while. A minute or so went down. As the two detectives shuffled through their paperwork.

I'd read somewhere that silence during questioning is deliberate. It is meant to cause discomfort. Silence is one of the best tools detectives have at their disposal. I remember thinking, "What? How does silence cause discomfort?"

At that moment. I realised just how right that article had been

Silence. The simplest weapon. It was deafening.

I just wanted something, anything to fill up that void. It was just so uncomfortable waiting for the reason why I was here.

It felt like I was a child awaiting her discipline after getting caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"I'm detective Chang. What's your name?" The man asked.

Silence.

If I lied about my name I could be free... Or it could be a trap from my world's government.

"Talking is your only way out of this." Out of what? My crimes from my parallel world? Or are we on two different pages.

"If you tell me and my friend here-", he motioned towards the woman seated beside him." I could cut you a deal."

I couldn't bring myself to answer.

"Listen. Silence won't help you get out of the mess you're in. Who is your supplier?" The woman finally spoke up.

I almost laughed in relief. They thought I was just a lowlife, a druggie. Probably doing drugs, selling drugs. Making 'em. But my relief was cut short.

Did I look that bad? Oh come on. I know I looked like crap. But surely not druggie material!

"What?" I finally said. "Oh so she speaks. Good."

"Look officers. I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just a homeless person. I'm clean."

The woman stood up and walked condescendingly towards me. And grabbed my arm. While simultaneously pushing the sleeve of my jacket back.

The look of disappointment after noticing I had no injection scars was gone in the blink of an eye. She tried my other arm and found nothing.

"Are you done harrassing me.?"

"Harrassing? No, no. We're not harrassing you. We're just having a chat. About how unfortunate it would be to see you spend the fifty years in prison." The woman said.

"Detective Jones and I have an eye witness who claims to have seen you exchange money for a pack of white powder."

"That's a technicality. You can't hold me on a technicality." I said. "If you've got no solid evidence. I'm free. To leave."

There was no arguing that I wasn't a dealer. If I was being honest with myself. I looked like a dealer. Minus the injection scars. I couldn't win this fight.

"Funny. That's not a technicality. Eyewitness accounts count as evidence." Detective Jones stated. Chang walked over to an old television set that was mounted on the wall.

He played a video, its picture quality was crystal clear. There was a woman dressed in a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. She was handling a pack of white powder to a man with his hoodie up.

That woman looked exactly like me.