The Little Crow

Chapter Twelve - [Ghosts]

Day two was better than day one of officially starting the interviews. Many of the men were already beginning to speak to her now that they had seen her a couple times and Thea was thrilled. Despite deeming this day successful, she was well aware of the fact that she didn't really get any information that the General would find useful.

She didn't fret too much though, knowing that he'd probably be relatively satisfied with the fact that they were at least starting to open up.

It was however, when she got to Rue's door, that she started to feel a bit of panic again. She hadn't even really had a chance to speak to him at all yet but for some reason she felt rather intimidated, her mind constantly drifting back to the sight of his dark, unamused eyes.

Or maybe her fear had nothing to do with him at all.

Maybe it was entirely because of the fact that the General had made clear that getting information from this man was the most important and that his life was on the line. Maybe she was more intimidated by the responsibility, and also the fact that she had no idea what information this man would give her. Whatever it was... how she handled that information would also determine whether or not she was a traitor to her own people.

"You can do it," Luana said as she unlocked the door, snapping Thea out of her thoughts. "I believe in you."

After letting out a breath, Thea smiled before stepping in after the door creaked open.

Rue was in the same spot he was in when she first saw him, looking exactly the same as he had that first time too. He only looked up at her after Luana shut the door and the sight of her didn't look to please him. Instead, it made him let a sharp breath out through his nose and sigh.

"Good afternoon, Rue."

"I thought I said I didn't want to talk to you."

Thea hesitated. Despite thinking about this moment for so long since she first met him, she hadn't thought of what to say to him when he said something like that, which of course, she should have expected. "I... umm..." she began wringing her hands together. "I was hoping we could just get to know each other."

"I don't want to get to know you."

She frowned. "If you could just spare me a half hour–"

"No."

"Ten minutes, then?"

"No," he closed his eyes and leaned against the wall, as if looking like he was trying to sleep.

"How about five minutes? Let me talk to you for five minutes, at least."

He let out a long, loud sigh that clearly showed his irritation. "Listen... What was your name again?"

"Thea," she said.

"Thea," he continued. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to talk to you," she answered. "I've been given the opportunity to speak to Crows to share their stories and enlighten the public on your experiences."

"Hmm," he nodded slowly. "Well, listen carefully. I am not stupid enough to believe that that is actually why you're here. And if you truly believe that that's why you're really are, then you are the stupid one. You would be someone who is incredibly naive and foolish and I refuse to waste what little time I believe I have left talking to someone that stupid."

Thea was speechless as she swallowed back her frustration.

"So I ask you one last time. Leave me alone."

Theavi felt incredibly defeated as she sat at her desk in Milo's office and cleaned up her notes before her meeting with the General. She didn't fail to notice Milo, whose desk was facing hers, though being on the other side of the room, look up at her quite a few times while she sulked. However, it was only about an hour later that Milo spoke up. "You look... disappointed."