The All Seeing Eyes (Discontinued)

Chapter 4- Branches (Unedited)

" Are we there yet now?"

" Lowe, be quiet!" Pauly was close to strangling him. They'd only been driving for 20 minutes and he had been complaining for 15 of them. And Cristian wasn't helping. Quite the opposite. He was joining in! She looked at him. He was in fits of laughter. Sometimes she could have sworn he had never grown past age 12. She found herself smiling too. She tried to keep back from laughing.

" Hey, Cristian, know any good jokes?"

" Yeah, my job!"

She couldn't help it. She laughed with them. She even joined in.

" I know a really good joke. It's called Cristian!"

" Very funny!" Cristian tried to look hurt, but ended up smiling. They had continued in silence for the first journey into town, but after a stop ( due to Cristian's growling stomach,) the two boys seemed to get a sudden burst of energy.

Pauly saw the building they were looking for. Typically though, she couldn't find a parking space. Eventually she decided a walk around a corner wouldn't kill them. She pulled the car to a stop.

" OK. Before we go in, make sure you have those badges with you at all times. The security here is stricter than NASA."

" I have a question." Lowe raised his hand like he was in school.

" What is it?"

" Where are we?"

That was right. She'd forgotten to tell them where they were going.

" Sorry. We're at the PIO-Branch 3. This is a smaller base where we deal with minor cases in the area. This is where we will interview witnesses for today."

Lowe nodded and they all got out the car and stared walking to the building.

Avairy examined the PIO-Branch 3. Like the main building, it was made with a large double glass door and was painted White. It looked very modern that way. They walked through the glass doors and were immediately stopped by a security guard. He was tall, not much taller than Lowe and Cristian but still tall to her and Pauly, in a blue uniform with a blue hat. He had a deep voice and piercing blue eyes that seemed to study them inside and out.

" Passes?" Pauly presented her badge. Avairy, Lowe and Cristian done the same. The guard took Pauly's badge, still attached around her neck, and lifted it up to take a closer look. He almost lifted Pauly up with it.

" Michelle Pauly? Never heard of ya'."

" Well you should have, I'm the chief investigator at the PIO Main Building." The security guard thought about this for a moment. He dropped the badge and told them to wait there. He then wandered off talking to his radio. Pauly looked at the others.

" Told you it was like NASA."

Avairy had thought Pauly had been joking about that, but now she had seen it for herself. The guard was heading back towards them.

" Alright, y'all can go in."

He stepped back into the side to let them pass. Avairy decided they better move fast before he changed his mind.

They followed a long White hallway to a large wooden reception desk. This time, they never had to take out their passes. The receptionist here was younger and much nicer than the Main Building. She recognised Pauly right away, and gave them directions to the room they were looking for. Avairy followed Pauly and Cristian.

They eventually found the dark oak door on their left. Pauly stopped to look at them.

" You two go in and wait."

" Fine. But we'd better not be in there waiting for another half hour!"

Lowe pushed open the door as he spoke. Pauly and Cristian nodded and disappeared down the hall. Lowe stepped back and bowed at Avairy, motioning for her to go first. She smiled and went in.

" That was very gentlemanly, Lowe."

" Hardly. I let you go first so I had more time to run if someone was in there."

" Thanks..."

She glanced around the room. It was mirrored. That was the first thing she noticed. The second was that there was a large table with two chairs facing each other. Something seemed familiar to her but she didn't know what. Lowe didn't notice anything strange at all. She didn't sit down, neither did he. She watched him admire himself in the mirror.

" I'm impressed, Lowe. I thought you would have tried to follow them."

Lowe looked at her in the mirror.

" Well I... I never thought of that."

Something made her think he had. But then he would have followed them if he'd thought to. So why didn't he? She looked at him again. He was back to the mirror. Avairy was starting to feel uncomfortable. The mirrors made the room feel isolated and she didn't like how wherever she looked, she was staring at herself. Suddenly, she remembered why this seemed familiar. Mirrors, a desk, two chairs facing each other, it made sense.

" Hey, Avairy!..."

He was posing in the mirror now. Flexing. She laughed. Then the mirror turned black and a light appeared in the darkness. That light wasn't in the room. Lowe stopped. He tapped the mirror. Then he put his face inches away from it.

" What the...?"

A face appeared back at him.