Accessory Wars

Chapter 3-Ki

            They brought me to a small room with a table and folding chairs. On the table, they had a glass of juice and a plate with a pair of cookies on it. The last thing I felt was hungry. I sipped at the juice, finding it a cheap brand of apple, and set it aside. Across from me sat the woman from the coffee shop while another chair sat open next to her. I wondered who else might join us when the door opened and a burly officer with a thick mustache on his upper lip dropped a folder onto the table before sitting in the open chair. Oh, dear.

"Yeong Ki," the man said, picking a piece of lint off his rolled up sleeves before looking at me with his steely green eyes. Did I mention he was burly? Because his sleeves look just as strained as when I last saw him. "When I transferred to Bailey eight years ago, I never expected to see your face in my office again. You've lost weight."

I wanted to die. Officer Leon Colfry, previous second in command of my home town of Lestho. Pronounced Lesth-o, not Les-tho. Standing a tall six foot two with a square jaw and slicked back black hair, it had been nine years since I last saw him. He used to keep a stubby wooden pencil behind his ear but I see he replaced that for a pen clipped to his uniform collar. Other than a couple grey hairs in his impressive facial hair, he was the same.

"Hey, Colfry," I greeted half-heartedly, my eyes glued to a spot on the table.

"This is Officer Nadia Norstein, one of the ERT here in Bailey." I glanced at the woman, her brown, highlighted hair pulled back into a pony tail and her pale pink lips stuck in a flat line. Friendly. I say that with much sarcasm. No one on the ERT, the Elicit Response Team, is ever friendly. I think they're trained not to be.

"We have some questions for you today," Nadia started. Her voice sounded like she needed a cough drop, although she did do a lot of shouting at the Coffee Palace. It almost made me want to offer her my gross juice. Colfry flipped open his folder and began to riffle through the pages, retrieving his pen and clicking it three times before placing it on a page.

It started with a recount of my morning, although I left out my phone call to my parents. When I got to the actual scene, I found my jaw locking up. My tongue felt swollen to the size of an orange. Colfry remained patient, which was nice. He's been through this with me before. Nadia tapped her nails on the table and it started to grate on my nerves like a fork on a china plate.

"Do you know this man?" Colfry asked, sliding a picture across the table. I looked over the photo, recognizing the lanky blonde who equipped me. It appeared to be a student ID photo as the guy smiled brightly at the camera. Odd. I looked at those far too blue eyes of his, thinking how fake they looked on paper.

"No," I replied. I slid the photo away, not wanting to look at it anymore.

"Did he ask for permission?" Colfry asked. I wanted to shake my head, to cry and run from the room. I wrapped my arms around my abdomen, suddenly feeling very exposed. Colfry called out to me and I gave a shuddering breath.

"N..." I couldn't seem to get my voice to work. I thought of pointing the finger at him, to say he did it on purpose and to have the police monitor him constantly to make sure he behaved. But then I remembered how scared he was. How his arms shook and the fear that gripped at him on the ride to the station. Could I really destroy his life? "It was an accident, I guess," I managed to say. It sounded forced so I tried to elaborate more. "I don't think he knew what he was, an Elicit. I don't think he meant it. He probably panicked, which is what anyone would do."

"I see," Colfry muttered. He jotted down some notes on his paper before looking over to Nadia. "You remember it that way?"

"I was too preoccupied to notice," Nadia replied.