Stranger To Kind ✔

EPI 17

I looked at all four white walls surrounding me, a table paired with two chairs all in white was positioned neatly in the middle of the room. Currently, I was an alien with my pink midi dress since the woman who was sitting on one of the chairs also wore something bleached.

"Sit down, " said the woman.

I broke out from my stupor and walked to the table, taking the empty seat facing her. I smiled, yet she didn't return even the slightest curve on her lips. Alas, the void in her expression gave more space to my unease.

"So" —she looked at the clipboard in her hand for a moment—"Charis, right?" she inquired. Once she pulled her eyes to my face, I was locked in her stare. It went on for what felt to me longer than anything deemed usual.

"Yes, " I replied with confidence. At least I thought I did. Fear was the least of my problems here; my Alfie was utmost importance. I refused to let dread get the better of me.

"I see..." The stolid face woman idly muttered. She kept jotting down something on the clipboard which I couldn't see.

I pressed my lips, trying to avoid my mouth from slipping any information or anything at all that could make me look suspicious. Luckily the room temperature was low, or I would already be sweating from the heat of anxiety.

"Do you know why you are here, CHARIS?" She emphasised the latter. Unknown to me why.

Feigning oblivious, I shook my head. What else could I do?

Mute loomed over us for a while until the woman finally spoke, "Well. . . It stated here, it has something to do with a pod that—"

Won over by anxiety, I interjected. "My pod hadn't emerge yet."

Suddenly the woman smirked, but it wasn't the kind of smile that would make you happy. Instead, it sent a chill down my spine, and I baffled how on mother nature a smile could do such a thing.

"Are you sure it didn't just walk away?" she bellowed.

The curve on her lips disappeared for a mere second before a roar of laughter erupted from her mouth. It was so hoarse that the whole room felt like it was vibrating.

Regardless, I contemplated whether staying quiet or snickering would make me look upright. The situation was so complicated that even showing emotion worried me.

"Do you think that's possible Charis?" The woman asked. She continued to chuckle as she briskly wrote more things on the clipboard.

It had come to the point of even the cold couldn't hold back sweats from materialising on my palm. I gripped on my dress skirt under the table to wipe off the dampness. For some reason, I had the feeling the inquisitor was on to me.

"No... That's not possible, " I replied. My voice came out hush as if even it was afraid of the interrogation.

At the time, silence had become an enemy; there was something behind it, the lurking unknown. My wristwatch continued to make a clicking sound as the second passed, and I nervously watched the woman shuffling on her tab.

"I'm afraid we are forced to cut your field trip short Charis. Our representative will meet you tomorrow at the big city and escort you back home, " she concluded.

She didn't have to tell me what she meant by the 'escort'; it was something I had no choice but to follow. What was left of my options was putting on a calm face to mask my frantic heartbeat.

"You may go, " she dismissed.

***

On my way back to the bus, I saw some pod men on a stretcher. Looking at them reminded me more of the impending danger. My seat was in the middle of the row, so I was afraid of any unwanted watchers. So I had to wait for a better time to message my mother.