I am….
Life #: 001
“Alllright…” The big man with the notepad boomed. He took out a pen and flipped over to a new sheet of paper.
“So… Kory, was it? Would you mind telling me what happened at the beginning?”
I glanced over at the huge mirror where I knew another person would be behind, staring at me. Watching me.
“I am not Kory…” I answered, my voice barely reaching to my own ears.
The man gave me a confused look, but then repeated with his question anyways. “I see. But would you mind telling me what happened? From the beginning?”
I looked at him, scrutinizing his features. The thinning black hair; the cold, calculating, grey eyes; the thin line that I could only guess was his mouth. “My house burned down today..”
He nodded, his eyes growing impatient. “Yes Miss, I already knew that. But would you mind telling me what happened BEFORE the fire started? Or rather, who started it?”
I winced.
I shook my head.
The man sighed, and closed his notebook, raising a hand motion at the front of the mirror.
Another big man appeared, and lead me out of the interrogationr room, back to the lobby where my grandmother was.
“Here you go, Mrs. Strussneck.” He motioned me over in front of him.
“Anything?” Her eyes looked up hopefully at the burly man.
He shook his head. “Not even a word.”
“But couldn’t you do something to convince her to tell you-“
“No. I cannot. Her psychiatrist had told me to not pressure the young girl, as it might lead to more psychological trauma.”
My grandmother looked at the floor, her eyes welling up with tears, once again. She took me into her arms and cradled me, as her sobs grew louder.
I hugged her back, my eyes ablaze with rage and sadness. She pulled back, wiping stray tears from her eyes, as I led her outside back to her car. I went around to the driver’s side and hoisted her down to the carseat. I heard her fumble around in her bag for her keys as I went around to the passenger’s side, climbed over to my seat, and buckled my seatbelt as the car started.
The trees and bushes were a blur as we sped down the highway to Grandmother’s house. There was a still, almost uncomfortable silence, between us besides the radio.
“Kory…”
“That’s NOT my name.”
“Your name is KORY now, alright?!” She nearly yelled, her fists clenched tight on the steering wheel. She closed her eyes, and slowly released a breath of air, softening her grip on the steering wheel.
“I’m sorry, little Missy, but as long as you are under MY care, you will listen to what I have to say.” she said sternly, not bothering to look at me.
I scoffed under my breath, continuing to stare out the window.
“I know… That this must be a rough time for you right now.. But you must cooperate with the officers. If you can’t help them, who will?!” She said, almost pleadingly.
Then, in almost a whisper, she said, “This is what your parents must’ve wanted right…?”
I clenched my fists together, and whipped my head around to face her.
“No one needs to know who started that fire or WHAT happened.”
“But why, Kory?! Why?! What is it that is so hard for you to talk about with the officers?! Are you involved with starting the fire or something?!” Grandmother yelled back at me, her face fierce with anger and frustration.
I slowly moved back to my seat, relaxing my hands and placing them on my lap, my head bent down. Breathing in slowly, I answered, “I will explain it to you later… Just.. Not now.”
Grandmother fully relaxed as she let out a small sigh of relief and took my hand in hers. “Honey, I promise you will NOT get into trouble if you reveal to us who started this…”
I slowly nodded, not raising my head up, as I felt the tears streaming down my cheeks.
***
“Alright class, let us all welcome a new student here! Go on! Introduce yourself to the class, Hon!” A young lady with a swollen belly, gestured to me.
I suddenly looked up, my eyes darting around the room. I then looked down at the floor, fiddling with a loose piece of string on my dress. “My….My name’s Kory..” I answered, my voice barely above a whisper.
“Wait what?”
“What did she say?”
“Who is she?”
“Where did she come from?”
“Did she say Dory?”
The teacher clapped her hands together loudly, bringing the student’s attention back to her. “Class! Class! Attention! C’mon! This girl’s name is Dory-!”
“Kory.”
“Kory! Excuse me, sweetie. Alright class! Now let’s all greet ‘Happy Sabbath’ to dear Kory here!
“Happy Sabbath, Kory~” the class answered back, their eyes shining with curiosity.
I waved awkwardly back, not wanting to reply with this foreign ‘Sabbath’ word.
“Alright Kory, now let’s seeee…. Ah! Why don’t you sit with Tony over there? Tony! Wave your hand!”
A tall, lanky boy with messy brown hair and glasses slowly raised his hand from his seat.
I went over to the empty chair right beside him and sat down, looking at the desk before looking up to see him staring at me.
“What?” I asked, alarmed as to why he was staring at me.
He looked over to the other side of the classroom, “Nothing.”
I shrugged my shoulders and returned to look back at the teacher and listen to the lesson.
***
“-Alright class, now that was our lesson today! Now let us end with a prayer! Kory, will you pray for us please?”
I froze. Of COURSE she would pick me! I sarcastically thought as I nodded awkwardly and closed my eyes.
“Uh… Jesus.. Hey.. Uhm…” I started, my voice shaking a bit.
I could almost feel the students’ eyes stare at me from behind their closed eyelids.
“Thanks for uh.. The trees… And the sky… And the clouds…. And the flowers… And the uh, ground… And the-“
“Thank you for having us all here today and having this new student here with us, in Christ’s name we pray, Amen.” A male voice rang out, interrupting me.
I opened my eyes quickly to see Tony looking at me, his hand beckoning me over to him as the other students started to pack their things.
“Instead of praying about everything on this planet, start by praying for the things you’re thankful for in your life.” He whispered into my ear.
I looked at him, confused, but he then just shrugged and went to get his Bible. I walked over to him, my hands twidling idly.
“Hey.” I called out, tapping his shoulder.
“Yeah?” he answered, gathering his bible and other papers he had gotten from class. “What is it?”
“Thanks…. For uh, helping me out there.” I said, awkwardly, rubbing my left arm on my right.
His dark blue eyes gazed over at me, then his mouth twitched into a small smile. “You’re welcome, Kory.”
He stood up, ready to leave, as the students and the teacher had already left the classroom.
“Uh wait!” I went over to tug at his sleeve.
His head turned abruptly, his eyes widening a bit, startled. “Wha-“
“Anne-Marie.” I said, a bit too quickly. My head lowered, not daring to look at him.
“W..What?”
“Anne-Marie.” I replied, a bit louder. I turned up to look at him, my face flushed with embarrassment. “Call me… Anne-Marie.”
I am.... "Anne-Marie".
*****
END OF: LIFE 001 – ANNE-MARIE PT. 1
UNLOCKED: LIFE 002 – _________ PT.1
*****
Author’s Note (Beware: May be extremely long with no significance to the story whatsoever):
So! That was a long beginning! Hah, I never thought it would be THIS long but… Whatcha gonna do?
(“/)/
Anyways, this is my first attempt at entering for the Talent Showcase and I’m not going to give any spoilers (Unless if you make me french fries… Then maybe we can get something arranged 😉 jk jk).
And also this is a weird kind of story, since it is a kind of genre I had never really touched on before, so excuse me if this story becomes boring (I’m sowwy ;-;).
Oh! Also, this one of the first stories I am actually serious about since I’ve had writer’s block for a while, so that’s always a good thing :D.
IMPORTANT QUESTION TO ALL READERS BELOW:
The names of all the characters that I’m doing is written in alphabetical order, so if you want to suggest any names that start with the letter ‘B‘ and so on, please do! Doesn’t matter if it is a boy or girl’s name, or even your OWN name! I just have the backstories laid out, so all I need is NAMES!
Yup. That’s all. I’m hungry.
ლ(◉◞⊖◟◉｀ლ)
GIVE. ME. FOOOOOOOOOOOOO-okayI’llstopnow.
