Tattooed

XXVIII

Going to work the next morning after a night like yesterday was like stepping into an alternate reality. I couldn't sleep last night so I went to the library groggy and ended up walking right into Gregory.

"I'm so sorry Mr. -"

"Cecil! Just the girl I was looking for!" I blinked while Gregory barreled on. I didn't catch everything he said except "We were requested by the government for certain books to be taken stock and removed."

"Who requested it?"

Gregory shrugged. "I don't know, and it hardly matters. Just make sure it gets done soon." And he handed me a tablet with a list of books and walked away.

I entered the library and looked down at the list. Strangely, some words in the titles were omitted, I had to piece together the titles and the descriptions. All the books ended up being in the same shelf where I found the History of Stratums too. It became too suspicious for me not to investigate. Instead of taking stock of the books and moving them to be transferred, I carefully skimmed through the pages and tried to figure out what were they about. I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure no one was coming in. Some books were so old the pages were so thin they were nearly see through and the type was faded. Some had water stains, and some were handwritten and smudged. One I realized wasn't really a book at all, but a binded stack of reports on the Colorless stratum. My heartbeat spiked. Lots of words were redacted, a bold black strikethrough over key words. The first reports were dated from one hundred years ago and the latest one was only three years ago. A lot of it was complicated jargon I didn't understand, but words like "experiment" and "memory wipe" were repeated a lot. I placed a hand over my mouth. It's not that I didn't believe Corinth when she told me that memories were being wiped, but here was hard proof in my hands.

I didn't have any way to jot notes down and I didn't have a lot of time, but I didn't dare take the book. The government wanted it, they knew I worked here, and I knew I would be the first suspect if it ended up missing. So I tried my best to commit important details to memory, whispering them over and over again so I could tell Wes or Corinth later. One page was a collage of the most vibrant colored tattoos I've ever seen. None of them were a specific design, but instead they were swirls and waves of different colors. I didn't understand what it meant or why it was here.

I traced one picture in the corner of the page that showed a tattoo that looked like a splash of watercolor. Next thing I knew the familiar feeling of a new tattoo burned on my neck. I moved my hand over it and scrambled to find a reflective surface. I used my tablet screen to get a better look, flicking my hair over my shoulder and seeing that my new tattoo resembled the picture from the book. It looked a bit like a splash of dye dripping down my neck, but it was vivid and seemed to flash in the light. It was like nothing I've ever seen before on anyone. I had no idea what it meant.

I stayed late at work, continuing to read a bit of each book I had to take stock of and box. Suddenly there was the sound of the doorknob turning and I jumped away from the books.

Gregory poked his head in. "Cecil, you still here? It's late, go ahead and turn in. You have a friend waiting to walk home with you."

I looked back at the books and then followed Gregory out. Corinth was sitting on a bench and stood up when she saw me.

"Took you long enough." She said smiling. I gave her a small smile back. She looked so at ease, you could never tell she was secretly in a resistance group. Meanwhile I felt like I was carrying stones in my stomach. I moved my hair over my shoulder to cover my new tattoo. I had the sense that it wasn't something I wanted to show off.

On the walk home Corinth chattered brightly about her day, I tried to hint that I had some news but she silenced me with a look. As soon as we were inside my house though with the door locked she became more serious.

"Ok, spill."

I told her everything I could. How the government was getting rid of books with important information about Colorless and life before stratums, how even those books were redacted and barely offered any concrete info. I told her how the government is so faceless that Gregory doesn't even know where his orders are coming from and there is nothing about them anywhere in the library archives.

"Also, I didn't know the Colorless stratum is only a hundred years old." I say. "It was created a couple years after the original stratums were designed."

Corinth sat on my couch and absorbed everything I said, nodding along. I was still standing, too fidgety to sit.

"I have to relay all of this to HQ." said Corinth.

"Let me come with you."

She shook her head. "Wes would want you to stay here."

I let out an angry sigh but relented. "Do you know if he's feeling better?"

"Better. But he's not the same."

I look at Corinth, and look at the couch. I remember the times Wes and I sat there together, talking. It felt like a whole different lifetime. The more I think about it, the more I realized our time together wasn't even that long.

"He still obviously cares about you." Corinth said, interrupting my thoughts. I nod but I still don't look at her.

She stands back up and wraps me in a hug. "I'll keep you updated ok? Have a goodnight."

Corinth leaves and I go get ready for bed. I changed into a night dress and just finished brushing my teeth when a knock came at my door.

I must have been real tired because I didn't think twice when I swung open the door. I expected to see Corinth, maybe she forgot something. But instead I was greeted by a broad chest. I had to look up to see the faces of two tall, big men in starch white clothes.

"Cecil Merzel? We are representatives of the government and we're here to talk to you."