The Forest's Secrets

Chapter Thirteen: Memories

"I'd tell you if I knew", Eli said quietly, looking at the wooden surface of the table.

Brooks sighed and asked:"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I can't remember. I only know what I've just said. And about the fight with my sisters bullies", said the girl, her voice cracking.

"Wow. That's just amazing", the officer remarked sarcastically," but I am not taking your word for that."

"How do you find out if I'm telling the truth?"

Jamie smiled and replied:"You're going to take a test. With a lie detector."

Eli laughed and said:"Great, but those things don't work."

"You'll see", Brooks promised, before continuing:"You'll stay here until I have set up everything."

He stood up and left. As the door closed behind him, Eli stood up too and started to look around the room. There wasn't much to see, a file of her on the table, three locked drawers underneath the piece of furniture. There were cameras in the top corners of the room, always watching.

The girl stepped up to the mirror and looked at herself. She looked sick with the white hair and skin, her figure and the weird eyes. But she also looked strong and badass, she thought to herself, with all the bandages she wore. Then she stepped even closer, determined to find out about the truth of the mirror.

She looked very closely, knocked at the glass surface and even searched the room for a light switch. The girl couldn't figure out if it was a normal mirror, used to make people think there was someone standing on the other side, or a doubled mirror. It took her fifteen minutes of trying to see through the shiny surface, to remember a trick she learned in gradeschool.

As Jamie came back to get Eli, he found her standing in front of the mirror, her fingers pressed onto the glass. The girl slowely turned to look at him.

Eli smiled like a kid that had been offered candy, as she proudly explained:"It's doubled!"

Brooks sighed and replied:"Great. Come on, I don't have all day here."

The girl smiled and went over to the door. As Brooks grabbed her upper arm, that smile faded.

"I can walk on my own!", the girl complained and tried to shrug out of the man's grip.

"Either this or handcuffs, I'm already giving you more options than usually", the officer explained coldly and dragged her to another room, just a few doors away.

Eli looked around the new room and remarked:"You need a better interior designer."

There was a round table in the middle of the room, a laptop sat on top. Next to it was a box, that was hooked up to the computer and had various cables leading from it. Around the table were a bunch of chairs, the one in front of the computer was already taken by a young woman in uniform with red hair.

"Just take a seat next to Miss Jaly", Brooks growled.

Eli did as told and sat down. But as the woman tried to cuff her hands to the chair, the girl immediately jumped back up, her back bumping into Brooks' chest.

"No, forget it", she hissed. Jamie grabbed her by the shoulders and carefully pushed her back down.

"It's necessary", he explained quietly.

"It's not, I'm literally in a police station with I don't know how many guarded officers!", the girl complained, her voice was breaking as she kept fighting against the man's grip.

"Elisa", the man said quietly, his voice sounding calming. But that seemed to make Eli's mood even worse.

"I won't do anything", she growled," just don't do that."

The cops looked at each other for a moment. Eli's whole body seemed to be under tension and a few tears started to fall down her cheeks. The girls voice was breaking as she gave in and quietly asked:"Please?"

Brooks sighed and let go of the girl. She immediately seemed to relax a bit.

"Really?" Miss Jaly asked surprised.

"Yes", Brooks replied,"She needs to be calm for this. Let her calm down and then we can do this. Just without the cuffs."

The woman sighed and sat back down in front of the laptop. But just a few moments later, she stood back up again, and pulled Jamie towards the door. Right in front of it she stopped.

"That girl is supposed to have killed somebody?", she asked quietly, she didn't want Eli to hear her.

Brooks nodded. "Lisa I know she looks harmless, but she could probably kill an officer. She stole our bullets when we were in the forest, without any of us noticing. We even checked to see if those really were ours. And you know what nightshift reported."

Lisa Jaly sighed and looked back at Eli, who sat just a few steps away. She seemed to have calmed down.

"Are you ready to start now?", the woman asked as she stepped closer. Eli just nodded in reply.

Whilst Jamie put funny little clips and bands to her body, on both wrists, her left collar bone and her jaw and temples, Lisa explained:"It's fairly simple. Jamie will ask you questions, starting with easy ones to test if everything works, and you have to answer. I'm keeping an eye on your vitals, to see if you're telling the truth."

"Ok", the girl shrugged.

Jamie sat down in a chair that he turned to face the girl, Lisa was behind her.

"What's your name?"

"Elisa Zeve Waters", the girl replied coldly.

Brooks looked behind her for a moment, then said:"That's a lie."

"My name is Eli. It says Elisa Zeve Waters on every document, but I'm just Eli", the girl sighed.

"Well then, how old are you?", Brooks continued after Lisa seemed to have signed that she told the truth.

"I'm sixteen years old."

"Why were you in the forest at night?"

"Because I can't really go out into the sun and I really like it there at night."

"Where were you the past two weeks?"

"At home and in the woods."

"Why weren't you at school?"

Eli took a moment, before she replied:"I didn't want to bother Fate. She seems scared of me."

"Do you know why that is?"

"She said I remind her of her kidnappers."

"Ok, I think we can start with the important questions now", Brooks sighed.