All Four Of Me

Chapter 2

KENZIE

Silence.

The air in the room is thick with it as I keep my gaze positioned solely on Nathan. He continues to wait patiently for me to introduce myself properly, but I can't seem to pull myself together enough to form the right words. Instead, I nod towards him, acknowledging his greeting while remaining in my position close to the door.

A hint of a frown forms on Nathan's face as my silence continues, but he quickly replaces it with a friendly smile. If I was younger and more naive I probably would have felt bad for acting the way I am, but I have been through too much over the years to care what anybody else feels. I don't even have it in me most of the time to care about how I feel.

"Alright Mackenzie, why don't you take a seat next to Nathan and we can try and get this over with as quickly as possible." Lachlan keeps his chipper attitude intact as he motions towards the spare seat with his hand.

The chair is way too close to Nathan for my liking so I do the only thing that makes sense in my predicament; I grab the chair by the top of the back rest and maneuver it so that it is sitting next to Lachlan's desk rather than right next to Nathan. This way I can see both men in the room and out into the corridor while maintaining a safe distance from both.

Lachlan begins to close the door behind him but I block it with my foot at the last second. I don't want to be trapped in a room with two men I don't know with my only escape exit sealed off. No chance in hell.

Lachlan looks at me with a surprised expression which I respond to with a simple shake of my head. Lachlan and Nathan seem to be in some sort of silent conversation while I continue to hold the door firmly in place with the side of my foot.

"That's ok. We can leave the door open if it will make you feel more comfortable." Nathan is the first to break the silence while offering me a small smile.

I nod again for what feels like the millionth time today and straighten my leg away from the door once Lachlan re-opens it back to its former position against the wall. As soon as he walks further into the office towards his desk I sit myself down in the chair I had previously moved and lean back so that I am more comfortable.

"I think you have been in this situation enough times to understand the process so I am not going to waste anyone's time explaining it all again." Lachlan begins talking in that annoyingly cheerful voice the second he sits behind his desk.

He talks for what feels like forever, not once showing any sign of frustration when he has to draw me back into the conversation multiple times when I zone out on him. I can feel a headache starting to form and the longer Lachlan continues to drag on about my last foster home the worse the pain seems to intensify.

Just when I think my brain is about to explode, Lachlan's continuous rambling is suddenly interrupted by the sound of a pager beeping. Now, I might not be the most tech savvy person on the planet, but I do know that pagers are like the dinosaurs of the phone world and it is pretty rare to see someone using one.

Lachlan's attention is suddenly diverted to the pager which leads me to believe that the device must only be used under important circumstances.

"I'm very sorry, I have to leave the room for a few minutes for an emergency, I will be back as soon as possible." Lachlan's chipper tone has disappeared and is replaced with a more serious one. Whatever message he received on that pager must be serious as he doesn't even wait for a response before running out of the office.

For a few seconds I just sit there and take in the perfect silence that has filled Lachlan's sudden absence. My head is still pounding but the lack of extra noise that was present when Lachlan was in the room makes the pain more bearable.