Chapter 4. Split realities
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Footsteps echo off the hall Tom leads me down, and a silhouette of a Troop member is standing tall next to the interrogation room. A small square of light shines through the dirt fogged window onto the floor below him, Tom's foot stops on it.
"Don't take too long, we must be leaving before dusk. Road exits close at Twenty-two hundred hours." He turns away and his footsteps carry off behind me.
A familiar faced troop member opens the door, the squeak of it itches my mind as it slowly swings open. A rickety unbalanced table is the first thing I see and as I step into the room I see the outline of the man... Sitting with his head in his hands, he flinches up at the sudden sound. His flich is seen in the wall length mirror beside him.
His obvious sweat-stained clothes bring a rancid dog smell to the room. The scrub like material you can see is frayed at the collar, the seams barely holding on to life. His presence hollow for a moment but seems to come to life as he notices me step in. I can't help but sense his aura..
His eyes fall on me like water, and pass over me just the same. Leaving me cold on the inside.
The pent-up anger I had stored for this moment has washed away with it. When going over the interaction in my head I had so many good lines for interrogation, but looking in those ocean eyes has left me tongue-tied.
"Y-you asked for me?" I start. Shifting my eyes from his is the only way I am able to push the words out.
Why are you doing this, what is wrong? I think to myself.
I force in shallow breaths, the oxygen in the room depleting quickly with the steady momentum of my heartbeat. The small breaths that I can take are filled with the nauseating scent of the man in front of me.
I hear a huff and the legs of the table fall back to where it was, his pressure lifting from the unsteady side.
"Yes..." Shifting in his chair with unease he starts. "I wanted to see you before speaking to anyone. I'm having a hard time adjusting to this shift in reality, especially after you flinched away from me.." He trails off a bit.
"What are you babbling about?" I bark at him, harsher than I had really meant it to be. I see my body jerk forward in the mirror beside me. His voice dances on my memory as a tease and it brings anger boiling to the surface.
"I.. There is a lot, but to begin with I know you. Or a version of you, or I did.. That's the part I am having a hard time shifting with. You were in my reality, we had known each other since we were children. The other version of you, or the fake version of you? There are so many questions I am still trying to form the words to and the answers for."
"To be honest, I wanted to see if you were real.." He states.
I scoff a bit, finally having the courage to meet his eyes.
"What the fuck is that supposed to imply?" I ask.
He laughs a bit, bending his knees so he stands from the chair he was leaning forward in. His palms pushing himself up and the table almost gives out in the middle from the pressure.
His body frame moves in the mirror beside us, the two-way reflection is a bit lighter than what you would see in a regular mirror because of the two ways. And I can't help but catch my eye in the mirror for a moment, recognizing my unease.
"I'm not sure why I even questioned it.. " His scoff rolls off his tongue as he takes a few steps between him and the wall of mirror. "The electricity to your touch is not anything like what it was there. Your essence is a beaming light no one can miss." His words strike a chord and bring a bit of a chill to my bones.
The silence sits in the air as the emotion slips through his voice, leaving me to feel unhinged.
"I can sense the glow that you are, and I can compare it now to what it was there and it is so muddled in comparison. It's hard to bite the bullet on the fact I had sat in falsehood for so long.." I can see his eyes meet his own with disdain.
My fingertips fiddle with the bit of string left over from the seam in my pocket, alleviating the anxiety a bit. "Your mom had been good friends with my mom since I could remember. We had always known each other but we hadn't gotten close until a few years ago. You kept to yourself a lot but when I got you out of your shell you were like no one else.."
His thoughts begin to trail as his eyes meet mine through the mirror, a wave of energy rolls down my spine once again. As soon as they meet his eyes drop from mine, and my heart is searching for them.
What are you doing? I think to myself.
"My only guess is that I was planted there, for what reason I am still trying to piece together. There are so many things that I need to spill but so little time to be able to get them all out. I really just needed to feel your soothing energy again, I thought I would find the version of you I knew but I can see that she was only a cheap copy of you.." He trails off a bit as I see the light of the setting sun reflecting off his iris as it shines through a broken out window beside him.
"Look," I start unsteady but then gain footing as I gather myself. "I'm not sure what you're trying to get at by appealing to my emotions but I just have to say it's not going to work. I have no idea who you are, so how am I to believe a thing you are saying?" I ask curtly.
His body twists so he is facing me, his brown matted hair reflects in the mirror behind him as his hands move from the wall he was firm against to the pockets of his ragged scrubs.
"Because I can see you sense energies too, there isn't a way to hide that from me... That's my gift anyways." He raises a brow. The intensity in his eyes pulls me into his words, then he drops eye contact leaving his statement to imprint itself onto my mind's eye. A chill fills the room as he takes his steps towards me, my heart racing at every millisecond.
Sweat is gathered at the crevices of my hands held tight in my pockets and I can't help but imagine every second of the life he lived.. The faint familiarity to it makes the hairs on my arms stand up.
I feel as if he is going to step past me to the door but before he does he stops at my side. His face is no longer at the front of me and I feel his body heat close in on my shoulder. There is no courage left to move away from his heat as he whispers into my ear.
"I can tell you've been feeling on edge lately, like you knew something like this was to come... Now we both are left to find out what the hell is going on." He teters on ominous as the chill floats through his words.
He knocks on the door behind me and I hear the Troop swing it open..
"You coming?" The rough voice asks.
All I am left with is a brief nod as I follow them out, the Troop holding tight to the man's wrists.
* * * * * * * * * *
"What was that all about?" Lilly stops short at my side outside the warehouse. The blinding light from the truck headlights burns itself into my retinas as I zone out . My attention snapping back to Lilly's warm presence beside me.
A faint sense of Deja vu sets quietly on my chest as the evening breeze blows past, the dry air bringing a scratch to the throat
I shake my head in response. "Nonsense." Is all I can say as my mind works itself through the countless trails of questions. A restless feeling of impending doom sits on the forefront of my anxiety.
"Well, what did he say?" She asks.
"Not a lot, but he said he knew I had been feeling off these past couple of weeks... Like I knew something was going to happen" I trail off a bit as a tall troop member comes to guide us to the back of the trucks.
My mind glazes over as the line shrinks and we are piled into the trucks like sardines.
Lilly and I are the last to be packed in, my shoulders squeezing tight to the woman beside me. I can hear faint hollars come from passing guards telling others they're packed and ready to head out. The tall, broad shouldered man that guided us to the truck is just about to shut our door when it swings back open. Headlights blind us and grunts erupt in response. The silhouette of the man shines in the doorway as he shoves a body heavily in, scooting me and Lilly over a bit. I notice the familiar smell of his sweat drenched clothes.
A twisted knot sits in the pit of my stomach as my heartbeat quickens. I don't give him the recognition he's there, I scoot as far over as I can to be sure I'm not connecting my leg with his.
His energy alone is hard to bear but his touch is something much more... The thought sends warning signals down my spine.
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A/N: I've been super sick the past week and I'm just now getting to catching up with everything, I'm sorry for the late update!
I hope you enjoyed this new chapter! How are you liking the flames between Devin and Cynthia?
I hope your day is going as beautiful as you!! 💖💗