Yasmine's eyes felt like they were going to explode as she looked around the file room. Even though the paper was organized A-Z, it would still prove a hassle as it has been hours since she arrived. And she still had nothing.
Feeling stressed, she rested her hands on her forehead. Was she missing something? She had to be. Her hands continued to sweep themselves over all the papers she collected so far. In front of her, all sections from Ea to Em. Nothing. Nothing in the slightest ever related itself to Espionage Despair. In fact, there was no writing of her at all. Not even the most recent one, being her daughter.
The woman looked over each list of people making sure, once again, she didn't mess anything up. Nothing. In her mind, she took note of every person on the paper she saw.
Eric Arnmin
Epero Baker
Emmy Bartruches.
Epson Deainon
Her name. It seemed… different. At first Yasmine thought it was just a child whose parents hated her so much. Yasmine smiled as she looked over the woman's information. No birth place. No birthdate. Not anything. Just a name. But why? Why was the name so obvious? It was in the same place her criminal name would be. It just didn't make sense.
Yasmine's eyes continued to scan the document she tightly grasped in her hands. After looking over the page front and back, she found the most blurriest image, or what seemed to be an image. Truth was, the photo looked so blurry, you could confuse it for a blot of ink that the printer messed up. The only thing that coils gave the sign of a picture was the fact that the ink stopped perfectly around an outline. Feeling somewhat confident, Yasmine pulled out her phone to save what information she had. She couldn't lose this. She had to make sure this didn't go anywhere.
But… What would she do? She couldn't steal documents. Lord only knows how much her mother put on the line for her to be able to get in here. If she was caught, her mom was bound to lose her job. Still this information could be what everyone needs. Did Clay know this? Did he ever see this? Maybe he hasn't.
After weighing everything in her head, Yasmine finally decided to shove the crumpled paper into her briefcase. It didn't seem like very much though. If she was to go back to show evidence, one page definitely wouldn't be enough. She drug her fingers through her braids before letting out an exasperated sigh.
"I need more." She started to sound even more desperate than before, if that was even possible. "I need something solid." Even though she was there, her body seemed to move on its own. Moving papers to and fro, trying to find some sort of evidence. For a moment, she reminded herself of her father. Scattering to find some sort of pill to drown his pain. Anything to take his mind off the loss of his son.
She was in the same boat.
Instead she's here now, looking through papers, trying to find the same sort of comfort in her dead child. When she was younger, she judged him. How could someone get so obsessed with something while trying to escape their reality? The question always perplexed her. From her father's first pill, all the way to the pills that tipped him over. She had that question.
"How?" Yasmine remembers starting the question to Danna, her little sister. "How could he leave us?" Did he really hate us that bad that he'd want to be with Phair more than us? Did he not love Mom? Did he not love his life enough? She worried about talking anymore. From an angry mother, but mainly… from Danna. Yasmine can't erase the memory out of her head. Finding out. Seeing the redness arise from her body. It painted the situation in a more somber color. She had the answer to her question.
The addiction is the escape.
~beep~
The sound of the phone going off caused Yasmine's body to fill with adrenaline. Who was it? She quickly flipped over the phone to see who interrupted her progress.
Lmol: Hey Yaz! I miss you.
After that several hearts are typed along the message causing her once stiff mood to settle down. Did he… really miss me? She knew it sounded stupid. He hasn't done anything wrong, it's just… complicated right now. The sound of her vibration once again caused her to slip out of her thoughts.
It was a picture, a picture of Clayton holding the phone in a selfie like position. His hair was pushed back and he still wore the same clothes from before. In his left hand, he held a tray of food, which Yasmine was dying to get. Alongside him was… Nathan. He seems to not notice the picture since he was way more focused on scarfing whatever food he had in front of him. But one thing stood out most of all.
Clayton's Addiction.
When she opened the picture, her eyes darted directly towards the bandage that snaked itself around his wrist. So that's why he wore that shirt. In the photo, Clayton is wearing a salmon colored button up that tapers off at the sleeves. It was perfect to cover anything, if you kept your arms down. She clicked her phone off before picking up her briefcase and walking out the documents room.
"Do you really love me if you can't let go of your addiction?"
No. You can't.