Find Me a Cure

Chapter 14: Her

Gasp and scream!

Everest didn't seem to care less, and continued marching forth like he owned the place.

"Everest!" She exclaimed, a huge smile spreading across her face. She gazed behind him, and saw me. "Oh, Emerald!" She looked like a proud mother who just found out that her child got accepted into Cambridge.

What the hell?

Everest didn't stop until he got absolutely close to her, towering over her body like the Everest itself. "What are you doing here?" He demanded.

"I'm here for you two."

I couldn't exactly see Everest's face, but judging by the next expression Amanda wore, I could have imagined.

"Oh, no, Everest. It's not what you think."

I walked over to them, all interested.

"It's not?" His stare pretty much penetrated through her soul.

"No, I'm the one who opened the door for you."

Her attention snapped to me. The smile returned to her face. "Emerald, you're okay."

I had a wide variety of things I could have said to her. But, what the first thing that came out of my mouth was:

"You didn't open the door for me!"

She blinked, looking taken aback by my random comment. "Oh, that! I'm sorry, I had to come down from the twenty-ninth floor to convince them to disable the system. Everest was at the door by then."

"What were you doing on the twenty-ninth floor?" Everest inquired. Good question.

"Um," she looked around. "How about we don't talk about this at the entrance? Here, come this way." She led us into a small room. The room was softly furnished with a pair of turquoise two seaters, and a silver, lonesome looking mini fridge positioned at a corner of the room. A blue orchard sat at the windowsill, watching the rain shower the city. Apart from that, everything else was white. From the walls to the small coffee table, in between the sofas.

I took a seat on one of the sofas, shivering, as a result of my soaked clothes. Everest stayed standing, and waited for Amanda to begin speaking.

"Emerald, you're shivering!" She got up quickly. "I'll fetch you a towel and some new clothes."

"No!" I grabbed her wrist. "I'm fine. Explain. Why are you here?"

"You're all wet, you'll catch a cold!"

"Amanda," it was Everest this time, "start talking."

Understanding that the minute – or zero – patience he had was running thin, she spoke.

"Okay, firstly, Emerald, I want you to know that I had no part in all of this."

"Bullshit," I accused.

"Emerald!" Amanda was always had a zero tolerance when it came to the fine gesture of swearing. I couldn't even count as high as the number of times she had rebuked me for my vivid choice of words.

"You were his secretary for years, Amanda! You're the manager of the company, an now you're telling me that you had no part in this?"

"Director was a very secretive man, Emerald," she spoke gently, despite my outburst. That's Amanda for you. Always calm and collected. "I understand where you're coming from, but you have to believe me. I raised you. Why would I ever harm you? Did you even see me there in that termination unit?"