Losing Time

3 | Maris

Maris

It had been two hours since Maris' partner had her arrested, although she still couldn't fathom what everyone thought Maris had done. She -of course- had a few suspicions but in the end, she dismissed all of them for their ridiculousness. Somehow it seemed better if she simply stopped thinking about it, because, honestly, none of it made any sense. 54 minutes had passed since; she knew that because she counted the minutes in her head. A habit she'd had adopted from her mother who liked to control just much as her. So in these 54 minutes, she'd resigned herself to staring at her own reflection while she waited for her mother.

Maris frowned when she looked at her reflection in the one-sided mirror in front of her. It was a sight she saw too often, not on herself, but on her mother. The high brows, almond shaped, amber colored eyes, the tan skin, long hazelnut colored hair. It was all she had ever been, all her mother had always been. She liked her nose, though; straight – maybe a little bit too long – but defined.

Her mouth formed a short but full line on her heart shaped face reaching toward her eyes on one end. Her eyes were usually observant, but now she wrinkles formed around them. In 4 Months Maris would turn 22 years old but still the only thing she ever thought of when she looked at her reflection turned out to be her mother. Nevertheless, her mother helped Maris to finish high school early, taking the childhood away from her daughter. That enabled Maris to start the police school two years ahead of time – same as  everyone in her family had; everyone but her younger brother.

Her family was extremely vain and as most other rich families they made sure that the fetuses they decided to bring into this world were perfect. This meant that everyone of them looked how they were supposed to. However, her mother didn't actually carry her own children out but made a surrogate mother do it for her . Every McCloud child had its DNA checked to make sure it would fit into the family. Some families fancied appearance. They wanted to be recognized. The McClouds all had hazelnut colored hair, amber -almost yellow- eyes, fawn beige skin – her mother claimed they were part Cherokee but I never quite believed her – and a body that would make it easy for them to develop muscle. All of the three McCloud children were taught martial arts and other types of sports ever since they were children; However, Maris used to love her martial arts classes.

Sometimes Maris wondered how she would look as if she hadn't been given plastic surgery as an embryo; to assure she looked the way her family wanted her too. But then again, what did it matter. It wasn't like she could undo her.

Then the door opened and her mother, her partner and a stranger walked in. Malik Reid towered above all of them. He had short cut hair, his umber brown skin grayer than usual – probably from the stress – and he looked as if he'd been crying. Her mother looked the way she usually did. Tall, hair and eyes corresponding to the one from Maris. However, her mother didn't smile.

Though, the stranger appeared interesting. He was maybe a little bit smaller than Malik, not as bulky but he still appeared strong. His naturally olive colored skin possessed freckles and his hair resembled a wild mess of a dozen different shades of brown; in addition, Maris was sure he had some south-east Asian ancestry. His eyes were the color of chocolate with bits of green near the irises. He must've been about two years older than her. He did not look nice. The stranger wore black cargo pants, a black shirt and one of those high-tech bulletproof vests that were only a quarter of an inch thick -also in black. He either did not have enhanced skin, or he only wanted to be extra certain. Or maybe it was just a ruse.

The stranger clenched his jaw making it seem as if he wanted to break every bone in her body, with a chair. She didn't take her eyes off him because  Maris liked to control a situation, and he made it darn hard for her, since she didn't know a thing about him.