ALL MOTION NO EMOTION
The next few weeks involved a ruthless cycle of planning, training, fucking and sleeping. I had managed to tame the beast that unfurled inside me after dinner with Cherry by drinking myself to oblivion and working until I dropped. Sometimes in the little cubicle I was given upstairs (for the purpose of planning out this mission), I would work until an insistent light kept poking at my eyes, when I finally raised my head to look I'd see the sun coming up over the horizon. The whole night would pass and I'd be none the wiser. To a lot of people this would seem ruthless, a merciless way to treat your body, but to me I was just stamping out any emotion. I was putting myself back on track. Back to the way I could function effectively.
Part of what I had to do was be in disguise. A new mid level admin officer was being transferred to the city's DSS and I was going to be her. The officer in question was deceased (not by our doing), but they- the DSS were currently unaware. Krystal Atkinson was on a solo road-trip through the countryside, she was on her official leave so nobody thought to call her. Both her parents were deceased and she was an only child who never married and had no kids of her own. She was a loner with little to no friends and no family, a sad life to live but to us she was perfect. She was invisible, invisible was good.
We'd had our eye on her since we saw her upcoming transfer, trying to work out the logistics of capturing and replacing her without anyone noticing, we'd followed her around for almost year before our agent found her unresponsive in the back of her camper, god rest her soul but this was exactly the break we'd been waiting for. This coupled with her imminent transfer gave us the perfect break out, or in this situation the break in moment we'd been scheming for.
Her transfer was due in the next month and we'd tidied it all up. Signed her out, settled the last rent on her apartment and gotten her a new apartment in the city so all was ready for her to resume her job and for me to be Krystal.
Learning her mannerisms and her voice was a bit tasking but i had most of it down pretty good now. She was a tall woman, however I was a little taller than she was so I had to figure out how to breach the height gap, after realizing that she wore a lot of kitten heels which brought her closer to my height, we'd unanimously decided to ditch them for flats . I also had to wear a binder vest because she was pretty small chested I also needed to wear a black pixie cut wig to replicate her hair.
The make up and disguise department made me a mask. I stared at it nervously the first time I'd been brought in for fitting. It was eerily identical to Krystal, eerie because Krystal was dead and with the empty holes where eyes should have been staring back at me I felt shivers running down my spine. There were little moles, a silver of a scar beneath her lower lip, her strawberry pores, skin texture, fine lines and crows feet were all captured in the waxy mask.
I half expected it to be heavy due to the amount of detailing it had but it was light and breathable on my face, thankfully so because I would rather not be sweating buckets. The lines emphasizing her smiles and frowns were etched into the mask in a way that let them move when I smiled and frowned. Everything was clicking into place somehow.
I still had to master her southern twang and with my existing accent it was proving difficult. Infact mimicking the American accent in itself proved easier than mastering the specifics of the southern twang. I was working with our resident speech analyst Sanchez.
'Genevieve, you have to sorta pronounce your t's like d's.' he said dragging his hand over his face.
'Why don't we take ten? I'm getting tired of saying water as wader'
He threw his hands up
'You know what, I think that's enough for today. Practice over the weekend, we'll pick this up on Monday.'
I sighed in relief
'Thank god, I'm exhausted' I said
'Practice Genevieve, I'm serious. We have just one week left'
He picked up a sheaf of papers and walked out of the office.
I sank into the couch and closed my eyes.
I woke to the sound of rain hitting the window and a warm hand shaking me awake
'Ginger' Cherry whispered 'time to go'
I stared around the room as sleep slowly ascended from my lids.
'What time is it?' I croaked
'Way past closing time'
I sat up and looked around again, it was already getting dark outside. How long had I been asleep for? I rubbed my fingers over my eyes and nodded.
I packed my bag and left the office with Cherry. In the back of the car watching the city swish by, I reflected on my past weeks. Cherry had tried to reach out to me a few times and I always responded but I knew I was distant. Thankfully her new boyfriend was keeping her very occupied, he made her very happy.
Cherry was a lover girl and couldn't quite do relationships without becoming seriously emotionally attached to the man she was with, this had ended in heartbreak time and time again but this new fella of hers seemed to be the real deal.
'So' I said 'got any plans tonight?' I asked in my newly acquired southern twang
'You're really getting the hang of it' she said laughing
'And yes I do have plans'
'Oh, do pray tell'
'Well… Alex bought two tickets to the cinema'
'Oh, movie night… that's great'
'You really like this guy' I said, looking at her shadowy profile beside me. She nodded
'Yeah…I don't want to rush into anything but..'
I put my hands up to stop her, I knew what was coming next
'Don't say the capital L word'
'I…..I wasn't going to'
'Yes you were' I smirked, although it was dark in the car and she probably couldn't see it.
She sighed
'I really like him, is all I'm trying to say'
'And I'm happy for you' I said putting my hand on her thigh 'just try to take it as slowly as you possibly can, okay?'
She nodded.
I squeezed her hand and left our fingers interlocked together.
Once upon a time when we first met, Cherry had an experimental phase and I was more than willing to help her out but after a few rounds and a buttplug she was decidedly straight. We remained good friends afterwards and only became as close as we are now when we'd both decided sex wouldn't work between us. It was as if by somehow totally removing our physical bodies from the equation our hearts had flung fully open. She was the closest person and in my opinion the closest thing to family I had now.
'The Chief asked me about you' Cherry said
I shot her a look that said 'I don't wanna hear it'
She threw her hands up
'I know, I know. I'm just trying to say she's thinking about you. Could you at least try and think about her too?'
I snorted 'yeah,sure'
'Genevieve…'
'Can you just stop! Please, you don't need to play peace maker' I said, annoyed that she had reverted to calling me Genevieve and that she was taking my aunt's side, I told her as much.
She shook her head
'I'm not trying to play peacemaker and I'm not taking anyones sides here it's —'
'That's the problem Cherry, you should be taking my side!'
'I'm doing what I think is best. I know you don't want to hear it but I'm seeing how much this is affecting you. You don't have to power through everything you know? I'm here for you'
'Except when you have a date' I mumbled
'Genevieve! He has nothing to do with this and you fucking know it!'
I closed my eyes and tried to push the anger and bile rising from my chest to the back of my throat. I was angry at Graciela at SSIC at my parents at the fucking DSS! At the whole fucking world and even at Cherry! How did they expect a person to just go on living normally after everything fell apart!
I shook my head. I knew I had no right to be angry and yet I was. I opened my mouth to do the logical thing
'Sorry Cherry, I'm just going through it'
She nodded saying nothing. I knew she was upset.
We drove the rest of the way in silence. I alighted when we got to my apartment building, quietly packed my bag and reached for the door handle when I felt her hand on my shoulder
'Don't shut me out Ginger'
I looked at her and offered a weak smile.
'I know, I'm sorry I'm being an asshole'
'You really are' she said smiling at me 'good night and you can call me anytime you want to talk okay?'
'Okay' I said.
I watched her car disappear down the road before walking into my building. My doorman smiled and feigned doffing his flat cap
'Good evening miss' he said
'Hello Charlie'
I stood in the lobby a little longer, mentally preparing myself for the elevator ride to my apartment, to my dark empty apartment and bottles of alcohol and dirty dishes strewn about the house. I needed to call in my housekeeper whom I'd been sending off for weeks now.
I suddenly realized I didn't want to be there alone, drinking and stumbling around in the dark with a muted tv show playing in the background. Today would be one of those sex days. I turned around to Charlie
'Hey Charlie' I said as I took my jacket off and placed it on the front desk
'Yes miss?'
'Could you hold on to my jacket? I have to do something really quick'
'No problem' he said pulling the jacket down and and folding it into a neat square.
'Thank you Charlie' I said.
I grabbed my bag and walked back out of the building, putting an arm out to hail a taxicab. Without my jacket I was left with the thin ruffled chiffon shirt and slacks I had worn to work. The air after rain smelt like wet sand and crushed leaves. I wrapped my arms around myself as a cab pulled up.
Time to paint the town red, or at least try.