Malnourished

Chapter 20 Now She Knows

Sharron sat in her old truck and cried, she needed to get to her best friend right away but she wasn't sure how she was going to do that without being picked up by the Communicators.  The bruise on her face hurt and her head was pounding to the point she thought she was going to be sick.  How could she have let this happen and now everything has gone so terribly wrong.  She got a call on the vid screen last night from Greg and he filled her in about Devon.  She has been terribly hurt and no one seems to know if she will get better and Sharron could not help but to think it was somehow her fault. 

 Darren was a perfect man, he was tall and handome with a personality that made you feel he could conquer the world for just you.  She should have realized that the perfect man would not simply walk into your life one day, the two of you fall in love and the world is perfect.  Now she understands that the Communicators found a guy that fit her personality profile.  Everything she liked he loved, everything that interested her he was either an expert in or knew more than she did.  For the first time she was able to sit and simply talk about all of the things that were important to her.  How many times did the two of them sit on her couch and simply snuggle with each other.  She had truly fallen in love only to learn that she had been a patsy,

They had spent the night together then had a liesurely morning.  He cooked and she cleaned up after a breakfast of eggs, bacon, instant potatoes, and dried fruit.  This was considered very unusual because real bacon was meant only for those of privledge.  Darren had been upset that morning because he had promised her fresh fruit but again that was something that only great privledge got you and he couldn't pull it off.  It seems the head of the agency was having a party and ordered all of the fresh fruit to be delivered to his home.  Sharron didn't really mind, she was used to dry fruit and potatoes.  The comman person ate food that was processed and dried all of the time.  They were told that it was a healthy way to eat because the food corps would add vitamins and extra protein to the food.  It was also cheap and readily available.  So all in all the breakfast was outstanding!

It wasn't until the afternoon when Darren got a call on his mini vid screen.  There was a problem at the agency and he needed to come in right away.  Sharron was disappointed because they had a great plan for a picnic then attend the new carnival that set up outside of the city.  "Look I'll see what is going on then try to get back as soon as possible.  Hopefully we can still get out tonight, okay?" he put his finger under her chin and gently raised her face.  They looked into each others eyes then he kissed her slowly and with great passion.  It took her breath away."Okay, I have some errands to run anyway so I'll get them done quickly then get ready.  So I'll hope to see you soon, right?" He grabbed his overnight bag and said "Right" as he walked out the door.

Sharron told the truth she did have errands to run. There were papers at work that she had to drop off to head office then pick up some groceries.  It was getting a bit costly feeding her lover but she didn't mind. Then she had a couple of books she knew Devon had been waiting for and she wanted to drop them off.  Just before she left the apartment her large vid screen rang, It was Greg and he had terrible news for her.  By the time she clicked off she was in tears and terrified for her best friend.  She decided to change her plans and drop the paper off at work then grab the books and go straight to Devon's house. 

The morning had started off overcast but the sun was slowly working it's way through the clouds. Sharron got into her car and went directly to the old library.  She had found the books strictly by accident and set them down on her desk.  She thought she would give them to her friend when she came in to work in a couple of days.  Luckily there was little traffic even for the small amount that was on the roads any day.  Almost all of the people were house bound and worked from a home office so there was never many reasons to go out.  Sharron was always different and went out everyday to work or to simply explore the city.  She knew the streets better than just about anyone.  Sharron pulled in front of the old building and ran up the steps, two at a time.  The books were still there .  She grabbed them  and turned to leave when she noticed something was different in her office.  At first she couldn't put her finger to it but after a moment or two she realized that things had been moved around.  She was very particular with her work and had papers in a certain order.  It looked as if the papers had been disturbed, so she went over to look at the first pile.  The front page was correct but it was sitting haphazardly and that she was sure she did not do.  She quickly rifled through her work only to discover that they were out of order.  She moved to the next pile and the next and the story was the same for all of them.  "What the hell is going on?" she said "Why would anyone want to break in here and read my work?  This just doesn't make any sense."  Sharron started to sweat.  "Could this have anything to do with what Devon had discovered?  Darren said he would make sure that no one was going to come and bother her or Dev.  He promised to protect them and bury anything that came along to threaten their safety, so what is going on then?"  It was apparent to her that this was not a random act but something that was deliberately done.  Someone was looking for something in particular and she was starting to wonder if they found it.  "I am going to have to call Darren and ask him what the heck is going on."