Secrets Are For Keeping

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"Your name is Nova Carlson."

"You're sixteen years old."

"Your legal guardian is your sister Olivia."

"You were absent for a day because of recent malfunctions with the simulation activity."

"Have you ever had a ruined relationship?"

"Yes."

"Did this relationship affect you in any way?"

"Yes."

"How so?"

Why? Out of all the questions they could ask, they had to ask how.

"It upset me."

The doctor, seeming to realize I wasn't going to talk further on how it upset me, continued.

"Has anything ever happened to negatively impact your life between you and your sister?"

I tried thinking back to all of the years that we'd been together. Of course there were all the small fights, but nothing really major occurred between us.

"No."

"Have you ever gotten in trouble for anything?"

"No." I almost hesitated before realizing the wording of his question. So it only counted if I got caught.

"Have you ever done anything you regret?"

I couldn't stop myself from pausing this time. I stared down at my hands which were clenched around each other, making the surrounding skin white. The tile floor beneath my feet was also white, just like the four walls of the small doctor's room. I tapped my foot anxiously as I tried thinking of an answer while avoiding thinking of the one thing that would give me away.

I forced my mind away from the topic that none of the inspectors could know, taking into account the fact that my Animus was probably being closely recorded during the interrogation. Then I tried to think of something I had regretted during my life. I could've just lied and said no, but I knew how unbelievable that would sound, and how nobody would trust me. Also, I had a good feeling my Animus would be more likely to betray me if I completely lied. So I decided to stick to a more honest answer.

"I regretted not being more thankful to the family who helped me and Olivia survive."

"Do you currently feel any leftover emotions from negative events that have occurred in the past?"

"No," I responded, not caring that it was also a lie. I definitely couldn't risk them thinking I was still possibly angry or sad or whatever they were considering.

"Have you made any new friends recently?"

The question felt extremely random and like it'd come out of nowhere.

"Yea...," I replied, cautiously. I didn't understand the purpose of the question and that worried me more than any of the more personal questions I'd been asked.

"What are their names?"

"Why....why do you care?"

"Their names?"

"But..." Some part of me was ordering myself to protect them by not mentioning their names, but it was no use.

But what was I protecting them from? From being related to me? That could've been the purpose of the question. To try wheedling out the names of people's friends so they could see who on the warning list was friends with who and possibly add more people to it.

It didn't matter what I said though, because my Animus was already listing off the two people who came to mind when I thought of "new friends". One of them I was uncertain of, but the other, Pepper, I knew was my friend.

"Pepper...and Kain...," the doctor muttered as he wrote down the names. He sighed in disappointment, like I'd failed him.

I reflexively hid my Animus closer to my chest when the doctor turned back to stare at me.

Then the doctor surprised me by repeating a past question. "Have you ever regretted anything?"

I stared at him in confusion.

"I already answered."

"Please answer the question."

"No." I forced the word out, spitting it out between my lips.

"Are you positive? Nothing huge happened in your past that led you to suffer guilt?"

"No. Nothing did."

"So you didn't feel any guilt when your parents died? Usually guilt is a common emotion surrounding times of death."

I tried to keep myself calm, and stop myself from getting angry at the fact that it felt like the doctor was trying to pry open the lid of my secrets so that they all could spill out.

"No."

"That seems quite unlikely."

"Do you not believe me?" I challenged him, wanting to just tell me it. If he didn't trust my word, then why was he even asking the questions?

"I do, this is just mandatory. Has anything else dramatic happen in your life that may have caused guilt?" he asked.

"No. Nothing else," I said, trying to add certainty into my voice. The less suspicion the better.

He seemed to give up on asking me the same question in various forms.

Until he glanced down at my Animus.

I'd forgotten it'd existed in my aggravation to have the interrogation over with. Because it was much more of an interrogation than an inspection.

And this time nothing could hide or prevent the words that had appeared on my Animus. I knew at that exact moment, that it was over. It was all over.

Because while I'd said no in response to his question relating to regrets, my Animus still clearly had the word written down in caps lock, as if it wasn't bad enough.

Y E S