A Change (of fate)

The Chair

She didn't get far. When I left I had only turned a couple of corners and I found her stuck having a conversation with Chelsea.
"Oh, look who's here!" her tone of voice didn't match how I would have liked to hear that statement come out as.
"What do you mean?"
"Where's Guy?"
"How should I know?"
"Carrie?"
"Wha- I was already here with you!"
"Fine, let's go find him then"
"Wait! Can someone please tell me why were finding him?"
Then they both just looked at each other, and smiled, not happily though.
It appeared that Guy was in on it too, as when we found him, on the rooftop patio, he was already setting something up.
"What's that?" I asked, gesturing to the strange chair and box which was next to him.
"Not my idea, but the girls asked me to set up this old lie detector for them to use, on you"
This statement entered my ears along with a strange mix of feelings. They were calm, like the fact that it was just a truth detector and not a torture machine, and this situation could have been a lot worse. But they were also wild, like realising that the girls didn't trust me, to think I would lie to them!
"James, we know that you wouldn't lie to us, but we just want clearer answers"
Yeah right.
"Where'd you get it from Guy?"
"Well, I sort of half acquired it by mistake. And for free. She is scarily accurate though"
"Guy, are you sure it will work on me though? I'm not exactly human"
"That's why I was working on it just now, I was making a few adjustments so it would work on you"
"Alright, as much as I question the reliability of these things, I may as well get this over and done with"
Once I sat down they strapped me onto it, tying up my wrists and ankles.
"You know this won't change my chances of escaping if I wanted to"
"Yeah, but it may work psychologicaly"
Chelsea was apparently the one who was going to lead the interrogation, "Okay James, who do you like?" which I don't blame her.
"You, of course"
"Just me?"
I wanted to test the machine, so I gave an obviously false answer. I regretted doing so straight after.
"Yeah. Ow!" the stupid chair zapped me!
"You lied!"
"Okay, congratulations. Despite that answer being obviously false anyway. Guys stupid machine doesn't need to tell you that!"
"What's wrong with my machine?"
"I don't think you've realised, but normal lie detectors don't zap people"
"Shouldn't have lied!"
"I was testing the reliability on a easy question!"
Chelsea dragged the conversation back to where it was meant to be next.
"What do you mean easy?"
"Well, saying I liked only you is obviously false, none can like one single person, I like everyone who's here."
"Seriously! Fine, let me reword it. Who do you love?"
"I love you. Ah! What?!"
She then stood back and threw her arm into the air saying, "Knew it. Just knew it."
What? But I knew that I loved her! I thought, no, I was sure I did.
Fortunately Carrie was able to continue for Chelsea, before she emotionally collapsed, as what happened next was as unexpected as before.
"James, do you love me?"
"Yeah...? Ahhg! Can we please stop the zapping, this stupid thing just likes to torture me!"
Turns out it was a torture chair after all.
With this latest zap, all four of us were really confused, as none of us could think of anyone else I could be in a relationship with, and it's not like I have interacted with a large amount of women.
Chelsea, once again composed, returned and suggested something I wish we'd done from the start.
"Hey Guy, are we able to ask questions that require more than just yes or no answers? Would more open ended questions still work?"
"Yeah, she may be old but she's efficient!"
"Alright," she said, turning back to me, "James, who do you wish to..." she paused for a couple of seconds, trying to find the right words, "...be with, as a partner?"
Not wanting to het zapped again, I thought hard on the right way to answer, eventually responding with "It's because I don't know who I love better, I wish I could be with both of you!"
What did I just say? Well, there wasn't any zap at least.
"No, zap. But that was a curvy sentence. Almost like you were dodging a zap." A few moments after she said this did she have a big idea dawn on her, as her expression showed it.
"James, what I will ask next, is a yes or no question. I want to do answer yes. Okay?"
"But how will you know- nevermind"
"Do you still love Shell?"
"Yes"

No zap.
Chelsea found it. An old wound I thought was only a scar.
"Wow. I, I'm sorry Chelsea. I didn't, even know"
"It's alright, I know you didn't"
Carrie cleared her throat, "Shell? Isn't she, you know..."
Guy also chipped in, "Passed on?"
And Chelsea spoke for me, "Yeah, but that doesn't change the fact that she was James's first love interest"
"What happened?"
"He met me, unconventionally, and, well, shifted"
"So he moved on before she, went?"
"Yeah" that was the first thing I had put in the conversation, and it wasn't going to be the last. As I, quite easily, rose out of the chair I tried my best to say what need to be said.
"Ladies, you don't need me in the chair to know what it say is true, I hope you can realise that now. Clearly I miss Shell, very much. But she's gone, and I can't just wait until I meet up with her again, that is a depressing waste of life. I'm not sure if I can ever stop loving her, as even when I thought I had, well I'm still talking about her. But I believe there's room in my heart for more, but my heart is struggling to understand that, which is what is causing this problem in the first place. I honestly, don't know"
Despite my foucus being completely on the girls, I swear I could see Guy in the corner of my vision finger clapping. What a strange unit. But back to the girls. They both weren't focusing on whatever they were staring at, I believe they were thinking over the words I had said.
Chelsea was the first to speak up.
"James, I'm always going to prioritise your needs over my wants. And I feel like I've placed unnecessary emotional stress onto you. That's why I'm requesting, only until we sort everything out, that one of us move into the spare bedroom"
I was going to say "oof", but fortunately I refrained from speaking so, as it would gave broken the seriousness of the situation.
"Alright" was all I managed to get out.
The rest of that day turn night I can't remember clearly, as I was no longer focusing on what was going on around me, I was thinking about what Chelsea had said. She meant well, that was sure. But, I couldn't help but feel there was a hint of distrust in her words and decisions.
That night, as recommended, I spent in the spare room. I decided to sleep on the floor to refrain from covering another bed in my fur, I slept in a curled up position. And it was one of my best sleeps in a long time.