[WP] In a school for assassins and mercenaries, you're a beloved lunch lady. You ruefully realize that you're the only person nearly everyone trusts. Then you get framed for placing hemlock in an administrator's meal. The school board rushes to fire you, throwing the academy into turmoil.
*****
I stood transfixed at the spot, not knowing what to say or think at that moment. I knew hemlock to be a highly poisonous plant native to Europe and North Africa, two places that jointly accounted for 40% of the student population. Any of them could have brought it in.
But then, routine searches and security cameras dismissed the possibility of that happening. The only way that something of that nature would have entered the compound and into the kitchen was through my foodstuff supply unit. So it was only reasonable that I was the prime suspect in this situation.
"What? I thought you were going to deny the allegations, but now you've gone silent. Has your facade come crashing down on you? Have you now seen that there isn't any way you can lie to me about your attempt to kill-"
"Miss Amanda Keller."
She looked up at me, I had never called her by her full name before. Never. It was always 'Amanda' or 'Miss Keller'. Nothing more than that.
"Maira Hernandez. You have something to say for yourself?"
"Yes. It's not much in the way of an alibi; actually, it's nothing at all. I know this situation is irredeemably incriminating, and I have been set up in such a manner that all leads would point at me, no matter how one looked at it. Therefore, I will say this now: there is no factual way I can prove that I am not the one who poisoned you."
"Then-"
"Please," I cut in. "Allow me to finish. You always liked that saying, 'no one can prove that he is not the devil', and here, I find that more reasonable than ever. But then, I implore you to remember that I have worked with you and walked with you for 20 years. If I bore a grudge, if I bore any ambitions to kill you, I would have done it before now. We have been close, closer than I have ever been with another person, both in the bedroom and just on the couch, talking about anything that comes to mind. You've seen me at my best and worst, and I feel I can say the same for you as well. You know all my secrets, and you know me inside and out - more than I even know myself. So I will ask you to put this into consideration when answering this question..."
She maintained eye contact, her facial expressions having remained unfazed during my little speech.
"Do you really think I made this attempt at your life? Can you even consider the idea of me poisoning you as a remote possibility?"
"My answer? Yes."
Her face was as cold as I had never seen it before, lacking any emotions, and the weight of her words made me know that this was the truth. This was how she really felt.
"Do you think I got to where I am by trusting in people or doubting the extent to which humans will go for their personal desires, Maria? If you know me as well as you claimed to just now, then you'll know that it's foolish to think like that. The moments we shared seem so special to you, and to me they were special, but what does that have to do with this situation here? I do not know your motivations, and what you stand to gain from killing me. I do not know who sent you, and what you were promised. Our past does not affect any of this, Maria."
Was it all in my head?
Did I just put Amanda in a special place in my heart and assume she did the same? Was she just like any other human being, selfish and uncaring? Did I escape one demon 20 years ago, just to frolic with another one for two decades of my life?
In the end, was it all for naught?
"But then you're right. I should take all of that into consideration, shouldn't I? I should make it the highlight of this discussion, and place sentiment over logic and facts, shouldn't I? After all, it's a relationship that has spanned roughly two decades, isn't it?" she said, placing her legs on the table and crossing them.
No one can really prove that they are not the devil, but I'll give you a chance here, Maria. Prove to me that you are 'God'. I'm not asking you to prove that you're not the one who attempted to kill me, because we have established that you cannot. Now, I want you to prove that you're as loyal to me as you were 20 years ago. Can you do that?"
No matter how I thought about it, there was no way. No option whatsoever. Hug her? Kiss her? Swear on my mother's grave? Amanda was looking for concrete, logical answers to her questions, and I had none. I had my chance, and I lost it.
"No."
*****
The emergency assembly was buzzing. I stood at the podium, in front of all the staff and students, all of who looked at me with varying expressions on their faces. Confusion. Indifference. Pity. Sadness. Hate. I was in the public eye now, all for something I might as well have committed since I had no way of proving I didn't do it, and I had no way of proving that I loved Amanda as a person.
Amanda spoke up. "In the wake of the event which happened earlier this afternoon, being the attempt made on my life by the cook here, Maria Hernandez has been dismissed from duty-"
There was a silence in the room that was louder than anything else. The one person everyone could trust tried to kill the Director herself. That same person was now gone. The looks exchanged inside that hall were deathly, as everyone kept their hands to themselves, anticipating something big happening.
But there was nothing. I was led out of the room and placed in a private car which was driven by Amanda herself. She asked that we were left alone to ourselves, as she drove me to the point at the waterside where the boat would pick me up.
Asn we both stood and waited, nobody said anything for a while. We were both silent, and I looked away from her, at the water, expect the boat to burst out of the horizon anytime soon.
"I did consider all that you asked me to, Maria. If I didn't, you would have been lying at the bottom of this ocean with a bullet in your brain. I would have shot you myself," she said, and I looked at the gun holster at her waist, her pistol sitting in it.
"Then I'm glad all of it meant something to you," I said, extending my hand for a shake, which she obliged. The money she came closer, I reached for her y=gun and yanked it out of her holster, avoiding an elbow to my neck as well.
She was on guard, as always.
"And then? You'll complete your mission and kill me?" she said, standing and looking, unfazed by the gun in my hand.
"No. You just gave me the inspiration. You said I had to prove my loyalty to you, didn't you?"
She raised an eyebrow,
I cracked my fingers and said a silent prayer. "Then, should I prove it with my life?"
"W0what do you mean?" she asked. This was the first time I heard her stutter. The first time I heard the worry in her voice.
"If I put this gun in my mouth and pull the trigger, will I have proven my undying love, not just loyalty, for you? Will I have proven that without you - who saved me from the hell that was my life all those years ago - I have nothing else to live for?"
She stood wide-eyed.
"I'll take that as an affirmation. If there is an afterlife, let's meet there, Amanda," I said, putting the gun into my mouth and pointing it at the roof.
"Maria, don't!"
She scrambled towards me, but she was too slow.
I pulled the trigger.
*****
To Be Continued.
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