"Let's go now." My weight shifted a little to the side as Nix yanked my arm. Immediately, Mademoiselle Picket's eyes snapped on to us. We both froze on the spot like a deer caught in the headlights.
"What are you missys planning?" We innocently looked at up her. Just as she opened her mouth to bark something at us, Lisa interjected. I shot a grateful look towards her though she didn't see me.
"Ms Picket?" Mademoiselle Picket turned towards her and glared at her through her frames.
"What?" She snapped again and eyed Lisa the way a snake does before pouncing on its meal. It could've been the awkward lighting in the call center but Lisa's face looked as white as the moonlight.
"Um, H-Head Agent H-Hernandez has requested your presence in his office. Just yours." She looked nervously between the two of us and Mademoiselle Picket. I sighed in relief. Sometimes timing was truly perfect. I know Adams and Hues had warned Mademoiselle Picket to keep an eye on us incase we were continuing our research-which we were and by the way Mademoiselle Picket had locked eyes with me, knowing exactly my intentions, she seemed hesitant to go. When Lisa insisted again and mentioned a free lunch, Mademoiselle Picket immediately got up and followed her out the door though she did turn back around and glare at us.
"Come on, let's go find the library and do this thing." I mumbled and we both got up and exited the call center.
Outside, we walked on the shiny marble floors, our footsteps echoing loudly in the silence. I remember Hernandez mentioning that the library was on the first floor so it must be here somewhere.
We continued walking down the hall, passing by gray colored doors, mostly likely offices belonging to agents and meeting rooms. We passed the big front desk where instead of Lisa, a man probably in his late forties, judging by his graying hair and the slight sags in his cheeks was sitting. Perhaps she had gone on her lunch break as well.
We turned right into the corridor and at the end I could spot a clear, glass door and see a bunch of shelves with different colors of books sitting on them.
"Found it." I said and pointed at it.
We pushed the handle down and entered the space.
Dark, Oak bookshelves lined the the gray bricked walls. The book covers varied from new to old with rips and tears on their bindings. Dust lined the shelves as if they weren't used much. Most people did research on their devices these days.
In the center of the arched ceiling, a large, old chandelier hung, illuminating the dark and gloomy room. Right beneath the chandelier, there was a large round table and around eight computers sitting on them, waiting to be used. As we ventured in, there was a bay window towards the left. With the blinds drawn half way, a little light was able to escape through the bottom half and light the red couches a few feet from the window.
We set our bags on the ground and each grabbed a computer, selecting the option 'GUEST' to sign in. Back in New York, we didn't have a proper library at Secretum. The one we had was small and since there were so many agents and agents in training, the space would always be cooped up. There was a library right outside of Secretum where most of us went if we needed some quiet space but the databases didn't hold much or if any information regarding cases conducted at Secreutm. That made sense though, the data was supposed to be private and it would be concerning if it was available to the public.
Over here however, we had databases available to get our research done. The agents sometimes need to use computers to conduct their research so they have access to more information than the students. Since there weren't any students here, they wouldn't need to hide data from them. When I logged in, I was able to find Secretum's data bases containing the data we needed-not all of it. There was some that were hidden but for now, we would use what we needed. We both decided to use a VPN in order to hide our activity.
I pulled the crumbled up research sheet we had created and laid it out on the table, smoothing the wrinkles out.
"Alright, where do we want to start?" Nix asked as she readjusted her fake glasses.
"Where do we want to start? How about why the hell did we get turned into reptilians? Who did it and how do we deal with them?" I felt rage bubble up in me, not towards my best friend, but frustration. How could we still be so lost on answers after months had passed by?!
Nix sighed sympathetically and held my hand. "I know. But we should focus on one thing about him. Otherwise we'll never get anything done. Here, show me the paper." She pointed towards the pathetic scrap piece of paper and I handed it to her. Her eyes scanned it, taking in the information she already knew, then she nodded.
"So...any ideas where we should begin?" I inquired.
"Andrew. Let's begin with what we do know. Andrew injected us. Why? Well...we'll get to that at some point but we first need to start off with figuring out who he really is." She pushed her glasses to the top of her head and started using her hands more to explain her point. "We don't know anything about the guy and how he knew about us. We need to start from the very beginning. Kind of like with serial killers you know?" I shook my head and she laughed. "Maybe I should watch less crime tv shows." I scoffed.
"So we start off with his background? Like where he lived, studied, worked? Snippets of his life?" Iasked and she nodded.
"Exactly. I'm sure there's some information about him out there. Plus, since he's American, I'm sure the database has some information about him, especially now since he's on their hot list. We're not the only ones trying to do research on the guy." Whatever information they've imputed into the system, we can now also access it now that no one is here to monitor and hide the data from us.
We could've managed to find information back in New York too I'm sure, but it would've been difficult-perhaps nearly impossible with Adams breathing down my neck.
I leaned down the desk to pull a pencil out of my shopping bag and re-adjusted my bandana, making the knot at the back a little tighter so my hair was kept out of my face. I locked my fingers together and pushed them out, cracking the bones in them and then flexing them.
It was time to get answers. Nix and I weren't going to stop until we found out everything about Andrew. We would go through whatever lengths we had to, stay awake as long as we needed to because we wanted- no, we demanded answers. And answers we would get.
"Let's do this."
***
A loud yawn escaped my mouth as I scrolled through another police report with complete jargon and nonsense.
The library was quiet, save for the clicking sound of the mouse in my hand and Nixs' loud snores filling up the room.
"Goodness, snore any louder and the dead will wake up." I leaned back in my chair, stifling another escaped yawn.
I forced my eyes back on the excruciatingly long report, scanning to find the spot where so left of.
...Callum resided in Westpoint in Salt Lake City.
I ended up googling Westpointe to learn a little about the neighborhood, look at what the place was like and I've got to say, it looks like the type of place where someone like Andrew wouldn't been from. The place had a population of roughly 7600 people. The homes were mostly bungalows in contrast to New York's sky scrapers. I switched the tab back to the report and continued scanning through it.
Neighbors said that he was not known for his friendliness nor his kindness and would often disappear for prolonged periods of time, such as days, weeks and months and then return back as if he had never left.
I pushed the mouse back and rubbed my eyes, groaning in pain. I had been searching for the past two hours on his background but could find nothing on who he actually was. I looked down at the piece of paper. All the new information I'd learned about him was that he lived in Westpoint for the past few years, his father was dead while his mother was living in a senior's home and that he had never been married. I couldn't find anything else.
I pushed back my chair in frustration. I needed a break and a cold glass of water. I pulled my mason jar out of my bag, hiding it in the pocket of my cardigan to save myself from humiliation.
My footsteps echoed loudly and the library door creaked behind me and slowly shut with a soft thud.
I didn't know where the water fountain was so I'd probably head to the gym. I followed the sign pointing towards Gym A and walked down the hall. As I was walking, I halted and groaned as a wall bumped into me.
That didn't make any sense, how could a wall bump into me? I stumbled over my feet and looked up to see Thomas staring at me, rubbing his chin.
"You have a very sturdy head." I quirked an eyebrow and laughed.
"Thank you? I think." I looked at his attire, he was wearing black basketball shorts, sneakers and a tank. "Coming back from the gym?" I asked. He nodded and I could spot the beads of sweat dripping down the sides of his face.
"You here for your rotations?" I nodded at his question. He narrowed his eyes at me.
"What?" I asked innocently.
"You're coming from that direction." He pointed his finger behind me. "That's the library's direction." I slowly nodded.
"Yes...and?" I crossed my arms, waiting for him to finish whatever thoughts were cooking up in his mind.
"Don't the rotations take place with actual agents, scientists and the rest of the careers we have here. Not in the library." I tilted my head and smiled at him smugly. He had caught me, but I had been trained by more experienced agents than him to tie up and conceal my real reason for being here.
"You're forgetting that the rotations come with homework as well. I have to prepare for my next week's rotation by doing a long and boring reading on fingerprints. Care to join?"
He grimaced and shook his head. "I indeed forgot about the assignments and readings alongside the detective work. When will you be heading back home? Or well, back to your temporary home should I say?"
I shrugged, it all depended on whenever Mademoiselle Picket was released by Hernandez and who knew how long that would take. "Perhaps in an hour or two? I still have to finish the report and answers questions as well but it's just pages full of nonsense. At one point, I wasn't so sure if I was still reading English." I joked and he chuckled gently.
"Do you need help?" He asked. I was immediately going to say no. I definitely didn't want him to know what I was up to. Although what we were doing wasn't technically illegal, it was better for Thomas to not know the truth. He would most likely tell Adams who would be furious, or he'd watch us more carefully whenever we came next which would stop us from finding answers. I didn't want that to happen. However, Thomas was an agent, he had been trained in doing hundreds of hours of research, there must be some useful researching tips he could offer.
"Sort of. I-" For a moment I hesitated but continued. "I'm conducting research on fingerprints as I said but there's a police report on some guy I have to read as well and there's just so much information that I can't even understand what is important and what's not. How do I get through all of it?" I tiled my head and stared at him. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, gears shifting in his mind as he stared at the wall across from him.
We stayed silent for a few moments and then he sighed loudly, "It's a good question. Usually when I have to go through such long reports or hunt for answers, I try to narrow down my question." He must've noticed the confusion on my face. "Here, you're researching on fingerprints right? Fingerprints itself is a very broad topic, try to focus on the questions you're answering and pick keywords from it. So if you're question is where to look for fingerprints...that's pretty broad. Fingerprints could be anywhere. Maybe change the question to where would you mostly likely not find fingerprints. That's just narrowed down your question to a few places. Sometimes you have to change your perspective."
Those words rang in my mind as I head back down the corridor and sat down in my seat and typed the new question that had formed in my head. I hit enter on the search engine and when I looked at the results found, I realized I'd hit bullseye.
"They say time has to change things, but you actually have to change things yourself."
mental health links.
Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868
Crisis Services Canada: If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, call the Canada Suicide Prevention Service at 1-833-456-4566 (24/7) or text 45645 (4 pm to 12 am ET).
Hope for Wellness Help line: Call 1-855-242-3310 (toll-free). Available to all Indigenous peoples across Canada who need immediate crisis intervention. Experienced and culturally sensitive help line counsellors can help if you want to talk or are distressed.
06-07-2021
(Month/date/year)
Edited: October 5, 2022