previous chapter: Abetment [17]: 3.3: 2089, June 20th, Monday. 16:05
1182 words
The cell Ellie finds herself in is not the worst she has ever seen. The walls are painted pastel yellow, and it is a bed, with blankets, a table and chair, and even a separate bathroom, with a shower, a sink and a toilet. The only detail giving away this was a cell and not a hotel room were the giant metal bars on the window. The view behind the bars was nice tho, nothing but forest.
She turns around at a knock on the door. She doesn’t answer, but Finn walks in anyways. He sits down on one side of the wooden table, and gestures at Ellie to do the same. She doesn’t react and keeps standing.
Finn sighs. “Can you please sit down Ellie?”
Ellie considers fighting for a moment, but what is the point? If she wants to get out of this, she better play ball. Ellie looks at him and takes place across from him.
Finn crosses his arms. “You understand that you are held under the patriot act, as an enemy of the state? That you have no rights.”
Ellie stares into his eyes, trying to pierce him with her gaze. Finn shifts uneasily in his chair. Her intimidation tactic seems to work a bit, as Finn looks quite scared. sweat is dripping from his face, and he seems to shiver.
Ellie decides to drop the bomb. “I wanna talk to your supervisor.”
Finn looks taken aback by the question. “I don’t have a supervisor,” He answers. “I report directly to the president of the Reunited States of North America”
“Yes, that is exactly who I want to speak with.”
“I am afraid that President Stephanie is very busy running the country.”
Ellie shrugs. “He Mom used to babysit me until I was five and she was eight. We spend so much time together. I am sure she can spare some time for a childhood friend.”
“I am not sure she has the time. Running a democratic country takes a lot of time and effort.”
“A democratic country?” Ellie laughs. “Do you even hear yourself, Finn? Stephanie is not running a democratic country. She wasn’t elected. The Reunited States of North America is nothing more than an expansionist Empire. With Stephany as an absolute monarch. A Queen.”
Finn just stares at her. “I see what I can do.” He stands up and leaves the room.
As he is about to leave, he turns around. “Before I leave, I am really sorry, Ellie.”
“What for?” She scoffs. “Arresting me and throwing me in jail like a traitor. Without trial?”
He shakes his head. “No, I am sorry for breaking your arm when we were eleven.”
And with those words, he closes the door.
An hour later, Ellie’s jaw drops in surprise when Stephany walks into her prison cell. She is wearing a T-shirt, a baseball cap, and very short denim shorts. Ellie notices she is even walking barefoot, definitely not what someone would expect from a president. She is obnoxiously chewing gum with her mouth wide open and takes a seat not at the table, but comes to sit right next to Ellie on her bed.
“Long time no see, Ellie. When is the last time we saw each other? If I remember correctly, you shot my stepdad in from of me and my Mom.”
“I didn’t shoot your stepdad, Sophia did. I don’t kill people.”
Stephany laughs. “A yes, you think you are above that because you have those friends of you to do the dirty work. Cute. Except of course for Johnny Stirling, who you did kill yourself.”
Ellie looks at Stephany. Her voice sounds cheery and casual, but her eyes look like they can kill someone.
“I didn’t kill Johnny Stirling, I just changed out his medication so his implants would stop working.”
Stephany chuckles. “A yes, you only stopped his implants from working. Too bad the guy needed his synthetic lungs to breathe.”
Ellie stares at her. Did she really kill that guy? She balls her fists. No, Stephany is probably bluffing. Trying to get under her skin.
“You are bluffing.”
Stephanie smiles and pulls up her phone. “I have pictures, look. You see that typical orange foam on his mouth. Only one thing can do that. Synthetic lungs. Fighting with the immune system.”
Ellie looks away from the phone. She doesn’t want to see this.
Stephanie smiles again. “Not fun to look at, is it? Poor Sophia vomited after she found the body.”
“Wait,” Ellie asks. “Sophia found the body?”
“Together with your Mom.” Stephanie sounds like she is sharing an exciting story. Her face displayed a big smile. “Your Mom was really upset, thought someone was after her. She went on a killing spree afterwards, trying to find the killer. Yet she never realised it was just her little daughter, messing with things she didn’t understand.” She pats Ellie on the head twice.
“Mommy was even so distraught she kidnapped Johnny’s partner and tortured him. She shouldn’t have to, it really upset Sophia. Given this text.”
She shows her phone again to Ellie, and there she sees a text from Sophia. It reads: “Dad, can you please come over? Rose is torturing some guy. I don’t know why. This is getting out of hand.”
Ellie feels like she is about to vomit. “So that is why Mr Johnson was there that night.”
Stephanie emits a crazy high laugh. “After all these years, your best friend never told you she got your Mom killed? That the only reason Mr Johnson found the phone is because Sophia texted him. Wow. You girls must not be as close as I thought. Sad really. I expected she’d at least tell you.”
Ellie wants to defend herself, but she can’t. She feels frozen in place, and tears well up in her eyes.
Stephany laughs. “Ellie, you have learned your lesson of not poking around in hornet’s nests you don’t understand. When you found out I expanded my empire by blackmail and nukes, you didn’t act on that information. You didn’t even tell anyone. So I will not have you killed. But you should have taught Sarah better. She is poking around. She wants to find out what happened to her dad. And we can’t have that. So, tomorrow, at Noon, we will have her court-martialled. Which is a fancy word for a shot in the head. Now, I wouldn’t want you to miss that, so you are free to go afterwards. Have a nice day.”
And with these words, Stephany walks out of the room. She turned back right before leaving
“Oh, and before I forget. I have spread the rumour that you are selling fake Catherine extracts. So nobody will believe any information you extract from Catherine is real. In case you were thinking about releasing them to the world. You have nothing. No proof. No nothing. I am untouchable. Even if you wanted to fight me -and you don’t- there is nothing you can do.”
She exits the cell and closes the door.
next chapter: Abetment [19]: 3.5: 2089, June 21st, Tuesday. 23:05
all chapters: Abetment