They look like people

09

I had never left the country. Okay, to be completely honest, I had never left Vancouver too.

Even after leaving the Blackwell orphanage at eighteen, the little bit of money I was given from the State was far too less to allow me to travel to another city. Vancouver was a really a great city, but the fact that I had spent most of my worst moments in this city made it difficult to live completely free from my past.

So Rio de Janeiro? Brazil? Holy shit, yes!

My mind was a complete mess. Even so there was a little part of me that was cheering about the fact that I would travel the world in the next six months and was going to be paid indecently well for less than six medical check-ups, the rest was only drowning in a sea of fear and anxiety.

It had been too easy. I had the horrible feeling that I had made a pact with the devil. I surely missed out on something, they were not telling me the whole truth! My stomach twisted. In a way, I was already regretting what I did. How could I have been so stupid to say yes?! Normally I was reasonable, always thinking rationally before doing something. What I did was so... reckless. At least, in comparison to the rest of the depictions I had taken in my life.

Breathe Nea, breathe. It's already done, you can't change it now.

"So now, we're gonna make sure that your little escapade won't make somebody suspicious."

Marvin opened a brand new laptop on the desk and began to type something. I blinked a few times, my brain not able to make sense of that piece of advanced technology sitting on the desk, in the middle of that room that looked like a museum. Oh, my brain was not even able to make sense of everything that was just happening to me. So the modern laptop instead of some vintage writing machine? No way.

"So, I just found your file in the Venanti system. Our informaticiens did an amazing job and could find almost every information we needed. There is just one question they couldn't answer." Marvin looked up from his laptop. "They couldn't find any information about your parents. Could you pease give me their names and their address ?"

My spine straightened and I gave him an embarrassed smile.

"Oh, it's normal, there is no address to find, beside the one of a cemetery." I let out an awkward chuckle. "I was told that their name were Estelle and Louis Smith, but I grew up in an orphanage since I was four."

Marvin's mouth opened itself, before he closed it again.

"Ah... uhm..." he didn't look really embarrassed, but needed to think a few seconds before trying his chance again. I fixed my gaze on my shoes and made the blue and red knot of the shoelaces again and again. "I am sorry to learn this." Marvin said politely.

"If it's not indiscreet to ask...what happened ? And could you give me the name of the orphanage?" he asked.

"I was four when two men broke into our house. I was told that the burglary went wrong and one of the burglar lost control of his weapon and killed both of my parents. I was injured too, but I survived. The memories I have are very vague. I lived in the Blackwell orphanage since then, in the downtown of Vancouver."

I kept staring at the floor, feeling more confident with the talking when I didn't have to look at someone's face. It was a bad habit I couldn't shake off since I started to live in the orphanage.

"Always keep your head down and look down to your shoes", said the tall girl. She squeezed my trembling fingers tightly to reassure me, but I could feel the sweat making her hands clammy and the strong scent of fear emanating from her with every exhales. "Mary-Rose doesn't like when people stare at her."