IRENE'S P.O.V
As I slowly opened my eyes, it was like the light was patiently waiting to torment me. Immediately, all the light rays came in at once, without waiting for me to adjust. I raised my head up, shielding my eyes with my palm, while groaning slightly in pain. I couldn't figure out how long I was unconscious and my vision wasn't a reliable organ now.
"You're up now". That voice was Alex's. I carefully glanced around and spotted Alex seated beside me.
"How was your nap?", He asked while flipping through the pages of an all too familiar book. My confused gaze just explained what was on my mind. My eyes instantly darted towards the floor. My bag and my other things were gone
"Where is my bag?, I demanded
He pointed towards the chair directly opposite us. I got up somehow and grabbed my bag. While I was walking back, I felt weak all of a sudden and was about to crash to the ground, but instead I crashed into a chair. Alex had pushed the chair to my direction probably when he saw that I staggered a little bit
Thanks", he nodded
He suddenly closed the book shut and looked at me seriously. What he asked was the last question I expected
"Do you think paranoms still exist?", He tilted his head, his eyes patiently waiting for an answer
I was shocked for a quick second. I wondered what made him ask of that out of the blue.
"They existed before and no matter any myth circling around their current existence....
"I believe nothing stops them from living like our own, even now"
" You seem to know a lot about these things", he said closing his eyes, while leaning back into the chair
I just shrugged him off, preparing to end this conversation now. Just then, he placed the book that he was holding down on the table. I had only caught a glimpse of the structure, which made me realize it was the weird book I picked earlier. My eyes travelled to the title. It read:
"The real Paranormal among us" by Matthais Slyven
What was a book like this, doing in a school's library??.It looked really old, apparently it wasn't dusty or ripped apart. The silver book had unique orange patterns like an ancient magic book. I glanced at him after I was done examining it.
Was Alex already on to me or was it sheer coincidence that he brought up these paranormal talks with me?
"Who wouldn't be interested in anything far from normal?". I tried to divert his attention away from my main purpose here. He couldn't know about my sole reason here, that may just jeopardize my mission that was already going south.
"Normal people" Alex teased, at least I thought he did. He looked so calm almost expressionless while he spoke
I rolled my eyes, closing the book I had previously opened and placing it carefully inside my bag
"Are you going to tutor me or should I leave you to tease yourself"
Alex stretched to glance at the clock, more conveniently since it was at the top centre of the library. Leaning back comfortably on his chair, he let out a small sigh.
"We can't do anything, at least for today"
Without another word, Alex stood up from his chair and left. This was alright by me. I needed to find out what Mr. Neil knew, one way or the other. So I made my way over to the chemistry lab, hoping this time, he will open up to me
*****
Meanwhile throughout the day Irene's words have been replaying over and over, stuck like a broken record in Mr. Neil's head
"If something similar to this happens to anyone else--
Mr. Neil was one of the few people that suspected Mr. Ryan's accident wasn't an accident. He wasn't totally sure, but he had a strong hunch like Irene. As if right in cue, Irene walked into the lab at that moment. She was making her way to his desk, her eyes burning with determination to get answers. Her eyes met his for a brief moment. However, no matter what Irene was ready to bring up. Mr. Neil had now finally set his mind. Nothing could change that now. He just hoped he was doing the right thing.
"Miss Irene, I thought I made myself clear the last time. Mr. Neil still tried to push Irene away from the subject. However just as he had made up his mind, she had to. She was going to get something out of him, by any means possible
"You didn't. Mr. Neil just tell me what you know. You've had a lot of time to think about this"
"Somethings aren't best discussed, you know the walls have ears, he said looking over his shoulders
Irene knew he had a point, who knew what could be lurking around waiting for them. Irene would rather get to know the paranom first before the case gets reversed.
"So are you going to wait for someone else to get hurt like Mr. Ryan?, Irene asked
"The less people know, the better. That way less people will end up like him", Mr. Neil tried to stand his ground and defend his view, which he believed was right and just. Mr. Neil was afraid, who wasn't? Irene understood that fear was clouding his judgement, but she couldn't let him get devoured by his fear completely
Irene hit her fist on the desk in frustration
"That's called bondage. You think the victims will reduce, because you keep shut to play by the rules. You become vulnerable to the puppet master. And who knows what the puppet master has plans for his puppets!!!, She exclaimed breathing heavily. Thinking about the way he was going to give up, while there was still hope annoyed her. She couldn't let Mr. Neil or anyone continue like this.
"If that's what it takes to keep most people safe, then so be it", Mr. Neil continued
"I understand why you don't want to fight, but I can and I will. But I definitely can't do it alone. Mr. Neil, I'm urging you to tell me what happened that day!!"
Irene waited impatiently for Mr. Neil's response. He didn't say anything immediately for a while. He had that look on his face that proved that he had made his decision which he was going to stand firm by. Placing his spectacles on his desk, he let out a sigh. He pinched the little skin between his brows
"I want to protect my own skin and the very few I can, any way possible..... Even if that implies being a puppet to the unknown"
He stood up from the desk and started walking back to his personal office. Seeing this, Irene shot up from her seat too, still hoping she could convince him
"Mr. Neil.... Mr. Neil.....!!", She called out to him
As he placed his hand on the door knob, he wondered for a quick second if what he had done, was really the right thing. He glanced back at Irene, but alas there was no turning back
"Irene.. I have made my decision", he told her one last time, opening then closing the door behind him
"Tch!!, Irene muttered in frustration. She plopped back into the chair. If there was even the slightest ray of hope, that door had been sealed shut.
"How am I supposed to find this thing, if I can't even get my first lead?", Irene thought deeply. She rubbed her palm over her face hoping something will come to her. Just then, she struck a cord
"Somethings aren't best discussed~"
"The walls have ears~"
"Could...it be?...!", Irene muttered. She didn't waste a second longer thinking about it
She glanced around her surroundings and saw it was out of place. She hadn't realized that the desk which seemed to be always organized, was a mess for some reason. Well, not until now. Documents stacked roughly on another and the disorganized texture had finally grasped her attention. Instantly, she dug through the mess of documents looking for something, anything out of place. After scanning and searching through, she found nothing. However, she didn't give up. She was confident that she would find what she was searching for. Even though, she had no clue of what it was she had a feeling that she would know when she saw it. Still carrying her confident spirit, She searched drawers after drawers of the desk meticulously. Finally, She pulled out the last drawer, revealing a video tape.
"Bingo!!"
While grabbing the videotape, a yellow sticky note fell to the ground. She picked up the sticky note which read
"I don't really know what is going on, but I hope this helps. Be careful, Irene"
This was no doubt from Mr. Neil. When Irene realized this, a small smile found its way to her face. It was a smile of satisfaction. She felt more confident with the hope that had been added to her shoulders. Before anyone could catch her scattering the chemistry lab, she picked up her things and exited the lab.
IRENE'S P.O.V
I shut the door behind me and started walking away. I looked, contemplating which way to go. I had passed this route about three times and I knew that I would end up at the hall, if I simply turned right and walked downstairs. I wondered which way the left side led to. I had gotten what I needed from him and also discovered an old book on paranoms. I allowed my curiosity to lead the way and I found myself turning left to the lab, walking through the corridor. There were no classrooms on the corridor, just a male and female restroom. The end of the corridor was another spiral flight of staircase, exactly like the one on the right side. After walking down the stairs, I walked a little more and found myself in front of a huge open space. There were couches, bean bags, desks, vending machines and so much more. A bright flashy print on the side of the wall, caught my attention
"So, this is the student lounge"
I took a step in and saw it was almost empty. A girl was crying alone on one of the couches. I really didn't want to find out what was wrong, but I went to her eventually. I took a seat next to her and when she raised her head, I easily recognized her
"Giselle??!!"
"What....do..you....want ?", She sniffled her voice breaking with every word
"Why are you here crying your eyes out?", I replied ignoring her question. Giselle avoided my gaze, clutching her phone tightly. She quickly wiped her tears, fixing her hair, she turned to me with a smile on her face.
"It's nothing", She assured me
The way she suddenly repressed her emotion would have been enough to fool anyone, but not me. Headquarters should have taught me that, instead I was taught by my parents with the stigma from HQ, almost too perfectly. Back then, I unconsciously pushed my true emotions to the farthest place on my shelf. For a long time, I was blinded by the determination to make my parents take pride in me. To me, nothing they did or said to me was important as long as the end result was their love. Eventually, I realized that I was all alone, they were never going to accept me. The stigma from HQ grew worse, though it made me learn that showing your real feelings was dangerous. Wearing your feelings on your sleeve, what good was that before? People would only manipulate, trample or ignore it. Isn't that what they were made for?.
"It doesn't seem like nothing"
Her eyes were still red and puffy even though she had stopped crying. We sat there in silence for a while. I rested my head on the couch gazing at the ceiling fan as it gyrated occasionally
"I don't expect you to tell me. To be honest, it's none of my concern"
I got up from the couch, turning to her.
"Anytime you think the whole world is against you...
"Just remember that there's someone else this world is against too"
I didn't wait for her reaction, I started walking away. She let out a small chuckle and I couldn't help but smile.
****
Irene reached the school's gate, instantly spotting the car. School had closed which meant everyone was walking in groups of two or more. She entered the car, slamming the door a little bit too aggressively. It seemed on the outside that she was kind of envious of the students relationship, however it was far deeper than that.
She always longed for a friend, since she never had any, but that wasn't the cause of her mood swing. She sat in silence as usual. She finally broke it when she noticed him.
"Could you quit staring at me?", She yelled out
"Of course ma'am", the driver complied. He started the car and finally drove off. When they were half way close to the mansion, Irene stopped him
"I'm going there", She placed my palm on her forehead as if she was almost regretting her decision. Just thinking about it was bound to give her a headache.
"Alright ma'am", he made a left turn diverting away from the mansion.
"But before that, please stop at the nearest clothes store"
He nodded in understanding. After a while, they parked in front of one. Irene grabbed her bag and entered the store alone. After a few minutes, she walked out wearing a blue floral dress short with a black denim jacket to match. She had on a white combat ankle boot, half of her face was covered with a black mask. She slung her bag over her shoulder.
She grabbed her phone in an attempt to text him
"Thanks, but I will walk from here", She pressed send and almost immediately, her phone pinged
"Alright ma'am. If you need anything, just text me"
With that the car drove off.
IRENE'S P.O.V
I watched the car drive off in another
direction. I slipped into various concealed, yet connected alleyways in order to shake off anyone that may have been following me. On the sides of the dingy alleys, were cut up cardboard boxes which appeared to serve as mattresses. There were lots of them. I guess these cramped spaces were home to hundreds of people. I walked for a while, then finally I stood face to face with the all too familiar building - HQ