“You are too.” He leaned back, reminding me not to judge.
We were both in a predicament and we were both saving each other with a lifetime of lies and pretend love.
I cocked my head, intrigued. “Do you have problems with conjuring emotion?” I asked him. “I rarely feel much of anything.”
He yawned. “I love torturing cats.”
I tightened. “Oh.”
“I'm probably a psychopath.” He shrugged. “Don’t worry, I’ll support you and whatever your urges are.”
“I'm…I’m a good person,” I said loudly. “I just…I have a hard timefeeling.”
“You’re not a good person, you're Soulless.”
Is this what the rest of my life would be like? With him? I tried to imagine loving this man. Unfortunately, I did not find him attractive at all, unless of course —
“Would you consider wearing sunglasses?” I tapped my chin. “Specifically, heart-shaped sunglasses in red?”
“What?”
“What?”
“What?”
“Never mind.”
Mindy pulled her glasses down her nose. “Your heart isn’t looking for it's Soulmate is it? No deep thumping? It’s not safe to put on a fake insignia while you have a true Soulmate, causes blood clots.” She pulled open a cupboard. “This is your last chance.”
I pressed my hand over my heart, just as I did every night when loneliness knocked on the doors in my head. “Nope.”
Charlie checked his own. “Definitely Soulless.”
The door to the room burst open causing both of us to jolt and Mindy to drop a tray of newly sterilized tools.
Police strode in bringing their batons and shouts.
Mindy dropped to the floor.
So did Charlie.
I gathered these gentlemen police were not friends of Mindy.
I raised up my hands in defence as an officer flung his baton to point at my face.
“We’re not doing anything strange here.” I smiled weakly. “Certainly nothing illegal.”
4
They stripped me naked of my white Georio dinner dress and offered me a new selection of clothes.
Standing under the stark light with my hands covering myself as much as I could, my skin pebbled from the chill in the police station. It smelled like peroxide and dread.
“Ah, no thank you,” I said to the woman holding out the bright red pants and top to me. “I cannot wear that, I will look like a criminal.”
She shoved them at my stomach. “You are a criminal.”
“I am not.”
