Misdirection

Part I, Chapter 3: Old Friends Again

MARIBEL

An automated message echoed from the loudspeakers.

"Attention. Attention. All personnel report to the recreational dome for your emergency safety briefing. Repeat. All personnel report to the recreational dome for your emergency safety briefing. Myna thanks you for your cooperation."

We were packed into the HQ like sardines. Lab technicians and coworkers alike were standing shoulder to shoulder all around me. Some were panicking and crying, making phone calls and telling family they loved them. Others were entirely despondent and blank-faced, staring at the white-tiled floor as they followed the line. But me, personally? I still couldn't process what I had just witnessed on the way here.

The freeway in flames. The bodies, lying in blood. What exactly was going on here?

I had felt a tiny hand squeeze my fingers, shocking me back into reality. I glanced over my shoulder at Remmy, who was holding my hand. He was wiping his eyes from the painful glare of all the bright lights in the lobby.

"I want to go home," he pleaded.

"Me too, Rem," I responded.

"...Do you know if he's okay?"

I stared onwards at the bustling line. "...I don't know. I really don't know."

We slowly stepped towards the for what seemed like forever. I rarely got the chance to come to HQ ever since I started working for Myna. I had almost entirely forgotten just how large it was, and just how many people worked there. There was a large water fountain with a marble statue of a myna bird - the company's mascot. A shining glass roof encompassed the entirety of the ceiling; I could even see our reflection in it.

That loudspeaker made its announcement every passing minute, to the point where Remmy had started to repeat it himself.

"Miss Jefferson!!!"

I hushed Remmy, because I thought I had heard something. I looked around but didn't see anything. Must've been in my head. I was mentally disheveled anyways. I was worried sick about everyone.

"MISS JEFFERSON!!!"

Remmy suddenly let go of my hand and ran straight out of the crowd in a frenzy. 

"SANDWICH MAN!!! YOU'RE ALIVE!!!"

The entire crowd had gasped.

I haphazardly spun around and saw the man, alive and in the flesh.

Professor Lazzari picked up Remmy and danced around with him wildly. "The Rem-Ram! You've gotten so big!!! You were a little bean the last time I saw you, haha!"

My heart thumped. Without even thinking, I immediately pushed my way through the crowd and bear-hugged the two knuckleheads. I don't know what drove me to do so, but it felt like all my internal worries had subsided for just a moment. My eyes were watering up a storm.

I almost didn't even notice his wife, who was silently grinning next to us. She was stunningly gorgeous, with a stream of beautiful brown hair down her back. The blazer and slacks that she wore matched the professor's pinstriped outfit, which I thought was cute. She had a quiet, yet powerful elegance about her, and I couldn't figure out why. 

Maybe it was because she was the tallest woman I had ever met in my life.

"So this is the little monster that you've been talking about," she wistfully stated while she leaned over to mess with Remmy's hair. "It's nice to finally meet him."