8 The Interrogation

Jesse told her everything would be alright. On this account, even the cold concrete floor could not bother her anymore. Alexis woke up with the thought that she would be free this day. After a short period of sleeping, Alexis saw some of her friends still had eyes open wide. All acknowledged the fact that Belinda Carter reported the lie. Therefore, some felt more comfortable with the situation but some continued to be unsettling. Due to this law directly related to the H01 case, the authority regarded the Risk and the Suspect as harmful threats to the federal republic and so did the arrested. As everybody here was caged because of the lie, if the law was strict but just, the authority would not treat them like criminals for sure. Alexis had faith in justice and Jesse.

Thanked the luck or whatever, Alexis stayed in the opposite cell that imprisoned Wade and Belinda together. They shouted and stopped and shouted. The heat around them might be hotter than the heat in summer and it could be visible to the eyes, as she saw the way friends moved away from their radius and let them fight at the center. They had never been enemies until this day.

Belinda had to suffer as many friends penetrated her with their angry eyes after their parents told them who brought up this trouble, they blamed her for everything. It might be hard to believe that this girl, who was the student president, had done such a thing. Firstly, Alexis felt indifferent to Belinda’s behavior but began to feel a little bit frustrated when she insisted on her right to do. Sometimes smart people could be unexpectedly stupid but Alexis wanted to know the real reason behind her action. And no matter the long time it was, she had never mentioned regret.

Later, the argument between Wade and Belinda started to be more violent until the other had to intervene or else they might kill each other before being released. It was about an hour and the new fight started. It turned out to be a boring loop.

After midday, the police came to release some cellmates. At least, the whole cheerleader team was freed. Alexis and Oslo watched their friends walking out of the cell crying with happiness. They were eager to be free like them but as the sunlight withdrew from the small window above their head, they began to be anxious because there were only Alexis, Oslo, Wade, and Belinda waiting for the call, even Wade and Belinda stop fighting. They were looking at each other, confused and scared.

“Why there are only us...left?” asked Oslo wrinkling his brows together as if his brain worked so hard.

“There are many people. We’re just the last,” Alexis tried to explain the current situation.

“Why me?” murmured Belinda.

As Alexis saw Wade’s capillary on his forehead gradually danced, she hurriedly talked to him just to shift his attention to herself; or else, they might fight again, “It’s gonna be alright.”

“Don’t you think it’s weird? We’re all the candidates,” Oslo was still skeptical and then he pointed out the clue. It did sound reasonable.

“We’re no more candidates, redhead. Thanks to this bitch,” replied Wade.

In a few seconds, Alexis understood Oslo’s point. He was right that it was too long and the only people left were the crème of the school. They should be released since the others were free. It was not a good sign at all.

“Just take time,” Alexis comforted herself her fingers crossed.

In the late evening, the policeman, named Joseph, called them to change the clothes that their parents packed them for yesterday’s night. It horrified them so they demanded an answer from him.

“Why don’t you free us?”

“Is there anything wrong?”

“Please, I can’t stay here any longer!”

“I’ve done nothing!”

“Easy…easy, guys, we found some errors on your profile data. Actually, I don’t have anything to explain. Now, no more questions. Just follow me, okay?”

“So cold,” the soccer team captain muttered.

Oslo and Alexis exchanged their looks. Both were confused. But when the girl thought of her brother’s advice, she continued to obey and told her friends to do so. The girls were taken into the women’s shower room. It was divided into two small booths as same as the shower room in the school’s gyms but here was smaller. As they were allowed to wear the clothes that their parents had prepared, not the prisoner’s uniform, this comforted them a little bit.

Jesse, I can trust you, right?

It was the longest showering she had ever experienced. Staying with Belinda was the same as sitting on the giant ice cube. They used to be friendly as an acquaintance but now the former student president acted coldly toward her as if they were enemies for ages. Nonetheless, the change in Belinda’s reaction did not irritate Alexis as much as her non-guilty face. Belinda believed that she did the right thing even telling lies. It was really upset to live with this type of people who blamed everyone but themselves and hated everything but forgot to fix their attitude.

First, June, now Belinda…Alexis exhaled tiredly. She faced endless problems.

She was confident that their family must take a visit and hoped to get them back but because there was no order to release the adolescents. They might be sitting somewhere in here or mournfully staying at home waiting for the call.

“Do you think we can get out?” Oslo asked when they returned to the cell, fresh and clean. At this time, they moved all teenagers to the same cell and there were only them. The other cells were empty. San Bosa was a peaceful town with a 0.02% crime rate. There were only four teens in the cell and the atmosphere was oddly restful.

“I don’t feel like that,” Alexis admitted. Her faith in Jesse’s words began to fade away when the clock ticked and ticked. At this point, her disappointment with the withdrawal of the government scholarship became a tiny problem that she almost forgot. It was the justice she desperately needed to exist but the hope without light was not different from hopelessness.

“We can. Maybe it takes some time to check our innocence. The video is just a magic prank. And it’s the best evidence to prove that the bitch beside me reported the false information.”

Belinda glanced sideways at Wade. Alexis tried not to look at the girl when her haughty face had the effect to provoke anger.

“That officer did say that there were errors in our data,” Oslo reminded him. “What errors?’

Everybody closed their mouth, no idea about it.

“If we…If we can’t get out?”

Wade shook his head. “No way! Stop saying that Ossy!”

“Oslo! My name is Oslo.” The boy with red hair yelled. “Bel, why you did it?” Now the boy turned to ask Belinda. Wade did not start another argument which was really thankful. He kept his mouth shut, dying to know too.

Belinda hugged herself tightly and budged to the corner, replied shortly, “I’ve done the right thing.”

Wade evilly laughed. “It’s obvious you tried to eliminate us from the list. You can lie to yourself as you please…arrogant bitch.” He moved away from her as if the girl was the most disgusting insect he could not tolerate living with. At the same time, Alexis and Oslo sighed. The girl did understand how Wade’s temper rose easily but it was useless to be frustrated with the person who had no regret for their behavior. The situation attracted her attention more than the will to blame Belinda because it was about her whole life.

Can I believe in you, Jesse? Can I still believe in you? She thought. Jesse had never broken his promise or never lied to make her feel better. But there was something wrong. She was so sure about it.

On the next day, the same officer came to wake them up. Thought that they would be free, they were disappointed again when he just came to serve bread for their breakfast. Wade could not control his temper as always. He started blaming Belinda but this time she chose the other way to fight him…by sleeping. And it brought peace to the other two when Wade had no counterparty to challenge for a while. Anyway, the heat still existed when Wade tried to make Belinda answer him why she destroyed his party until Oslo was unable to listen to his complaint anymore.

“Miller! Please shut your mouth. You get on my nerves!”

Before Wade countered, Alexis stopped the new war, “You guys! We can do nothing. Don’t make another quarrel, please? Wade, trust me. No matter whether you shout or scream or blame anyone, they won’t come to release us unless they receive the order. Calm down, please?”

She placed her hands on his shoulder. Like Alexis could activate his wisdom and tolerance modes, he remembered how she told him what Jesse had suggested what to do; the boy shut his mouth finally. A few minutes later, this time, the policewoman came.

“Come with me. The interrogation team is waiting for you.”

They glanced at each other. Only Belinda bubbled to herself, “It’s ok, it’s gonna be ok.”

“Why do we have to be interrogated?” Alexis asked the officer.

She did not answer. They had to follow her anyway. These officers did not like being questioned. All of them wore an emotionless face mask. The police officers were not local people. They came from other cities, changing their face every two or three years. For this reason, they had no close relationship with the local people.

The interrogation room had no similarity to the room she had seen in the movie. In the movie, the table stood in the center and the interrogator would perform the interrogation process while the other officers stood behind the glass window listening to the conservation. It was far from likeness and it was scarier. There was no table but four ordinary office chairs and four electric chairs that looked like mechanic tormentors in a horror movie. No doubt, they were prepared for Alexis and her friends. The atmosphere was not chilling. What would they do to them? Alexis did not understand why they treated them like violent criminals.

Age of terror, it still existed.

They led Belinda to the first chair and she was crying in fear; Wade sat on the second, speechless. Alexis sat on the third and Oslo sat on the last one. Her legs weakened. She watched the police officer lock her arms on the armrests. The police wore the metal helmet with wires connecting to it on her head. Oslo and Alexis exchanged their eyes, wondering why these people had to use this kind of method to them. Four interrogative officers in black suits entered the room and sat on the empty chairs. Two men and two women sat opposite the boys and the girls. The woman in front of Alexis put the stonehearted mask on her oval visage, with her eyes fixed on the encounter. The two police, one was the woman who brought them here and another one was Joseph, stood as their assistants. The silence frightened them. The time slowly killed their courage. She heard herself swallowing the saliva and the beating heart.

She still could not believe it was real.

“Good afternoon young ladies and gentlemen, we brought you here for more information and the truth. Don’t be afraid.” The man opposite Wade spoke. “We have normal questions to ask you. All we need is the truth, the most truth. You can see that you are sitting on the polygraph. In fact, it’s not the normal lie detector that you may have recognized. Once your mouth spread one lie, the chair will transmit the electrical current to cause an electric shock to you.”

He paused and smiled as if demonstrating how to brush teeth for little kids. “Listen carefully, one lie, your friend on the left-hand side will get the electric shock. And you, redhead,” he mentioned to Oslo, “For your lie, Ms. Carter will pay for it.

To warn you all, don’t try if you don’t want to cause pain to your friend. Am I clear?”

They slightly nodded. Wade fixed his eyes on Alexis, trying to give a message through eye contact that he should not have to sit next to Belinda who was the biggest liar among them.

“Gosh! I must be roasted alive.”

She heard him whispering. It did not sound joking but serious.

“Okay, let’s start with Ms. Carter,” the first female officer began. “Ms. Carter, tell me. Did you report the false information to us that some of your friends who attended the party at the Miller’s mansion performed something that may involve the qualifications of being the Risk?”

“No”

Wade screamed in pain when the electricity shocked him. In Alexis’ horror, she saw his big body shaking violently. The scream of pain made her blood run cold. It lasted just one second. Yes, only one second but that one second killed all her optimism. There was no sign of burns but Wade breathed hardly. It felt like he was suffocated and he still shuddered for a few minutes after the shock.

“Fuck you, Bitch!” At least, he still had the energy to curse Belinda.

“Are you alright?” Alexis asked him, shocking; still, her heart seemed like it stopped moving for a while when heard his howl. The boy shook his head telling him he was alright with a dreadful look. Alexis was incapable of seeing Belinda but heard the former student president’s sudden sobbing. Perhaps, Belinda might feel sorry to cause Wade’s pain which she didn’t mean to do or she was just too scared.

Dad’s right. This is not a joke. This was indeed a torture room, not the interrogation room. Alexis put all her effort to search for the answer but found none.

“May I ask you again, Ms. Carter? Did—you—lie—to—us?” The woman stressed her words.

“Y…es”

Nothing happened. Wade exhaled, soothing.

“Why did you lie?”

Instead of answering them, Belinda preferred crying. For a few seconds, Wade screamed again. “Tell them!” He yelled after taking a breath.

“I—I—I want to win the scholarship. I want to get rid of her. If—If she’s withdrawn, I know I will get it.”

She? Belinda meant to entrap me only? What The Hell?!

“She? You mean Ms. Davis?”

“Yes. Yes, of course. She was likely to win…and I need the scholarship. I didn’t intend to frame all of them but-but I can’t think of the other way to frame only one.”

“My dear, you can win if she wins. The scholarship provides for five students and we don’t set the quota-limited for just one district. It is still possible for you all to win together.”

Belinda sobbed.

“Thank you, Ms. Carter, you committed the wrongful act in accordance with the Surveillance and Control of the Risks to Humankind Act 2966, Clause 31, the punishment of false accusation committed with the purpose to defame the other to be the Suspect or the Risk, the convict must be sentenced to life imprisonment. And you’re convicted.”

Life imprisonment? Alexis thought that it was excessively severe punishment but if she considered it carefully. The false accusation could destroy someone’s life, for example, Wade, Oslo, and Alexis were automatically withdrawn from the scholarship. It might not be an overaction. However, if they could prove themselves that they were innocent; this punishment for Belinda was a little bit too harsh, especially when she had a bright future awaiting.

Belinda did beg but Alexis could not catch the words because her pleading fused with her wailing.

“Calm down, Ms. Carter. (Who can? Alexis thought.) If your action leads us to discover any Suspect or any Risk, intentionally or unintentionally, in other words, by your luck, the sentence shall be pardoned. Unfortunately, we still have to punish you in another way.” The woman changed her paper, an act of carelessness. “The good news is we found none of your pieces of evidence demonstrating that you are one of the Suspects or the Risks. Therefore, please wait for the others and we will come back to make the final judgment for your wrongdoing again.”

She ended the interrogation with an ugly fake smile and Belinda could not control her emotions anymore. Life imprisonment meant the end of everything, the bright future, the dream…all gone. Belinda might not expect the softer punishment because it was not softer. Alexis had the complex feeling toward Belinda, between sympathy and satisfaction. She did not know which one weight heavier.

The man who had to interrogate Wade moved his focus from Belinda to the boy in front of him. He arranged a pile of papers several times before uttering a word.

“Mr. Miller, please answer our question carefully. Do you have any idea about this?”

He showed the photo of Peter walking on the water. Because the picture had been captured from the video clip, its quality was not good. Wade held his breath, ready to answer.

“Well, we tried to create a magic trick video to upload on our school community website. You can see clearly that there is a glass sheet under the water and four boys in the pool carried it. I was the one who recorded the video. In the video clip, it may look like he can walk on water. We tried to trick our friends and intended to upload the second video that reveals the trick after the first one. Anyway, I was drunk and now I see that it’s the most stupid fake video.”

No electric shock, Alexis listened carefully. In the deepest sense, she knew he would not lie after experiencing the pain he had experienced and his answer was assuring without any staccato rhythm.

“Good. Now this,” he showed another photo. It was the drugs at the party, including packs of cocaine, marijuana cigarettes, and condoms.

Wade confessed immediately, “Only one belongs to me. The others, I don’t know.”

“Which one belongs to you?”

“The cocaine, that one in the blue zip lock.”

“Did you regularly organize sex and drug party?” The officer chortled, and so did the others.

“Once a month, is it regularly?” Wade paused and seemed to concern about his bad mouth. He looked at Alexis to see if his answer was wronged them. When she said it was alright, he continued, “No…sir. It’s a normal party. You can find it at every party, teens or adults. They always have these things”

“But they’re illegal and you’re the candidate and the team captain.”

“Is condom illegal too?”

The eyes of cruelty glared at them. Alexis got chilling when those eyes fell on her. Wade realized his mistake. “My bad, sir. Yes, I know wholeheartedly they’re illegal.”

The man who questioned Wade controlled his temper. The boy had the irritating habit sometimes but he should know when he could do it.

“Mr. Miller, you are convicted of illegal drug possession of fewer than 100 grams and will be fined 50,000 rels or sentenced to one year in jail. Unless we find any Suspect or Risk, your punishment will be pardoned but we still have to punish you another way. Like Ms. Carter, we found no evidence indicating you are qualified as the Suspect or the Risk, please wait for the final judgment again.”

Alexis had expected it but she understood that it was impossible to control her temper when their judgment was clearly unfair.

“Excuse me? Do I have to wait for the final judgment? If you find any Suspect or any Risk, I have to go to the program with them, right? To seal my mouth and my witness in this room, I know what you’re going to do. Can you tell me how it relates to my offense? This is unfair and I want to pay the fine.”

In a flash of time, the electricity passed through Alexis’s body, she could not help but scream in agony. It lasted just one second but was absolutely painful as if it fed all her energy and all she could do was breathe difficultly. The girl tried to control her stiff hands.

It’s not a lie detector. Someone must control it!

“I’m sorry, Alex. I don’t know it will hurt you,” Wade apologized and kept his mouth shut eternally, losing his courage to go against the judgment that lacked legitimacy. This proved that Jesse’s warning was right. These people had made the decision. They could do nothing but listened to bullshits.

“Do you have anything to say, Mr. Miller?” His tone was full of mockery.

“No sir,” Wade replied, his hands shaking.

“Good.”

Alexis lowered her head in disappointment. Jesse was right but not all of it. He was correct about the authority acting as the bully. Like Mr. Miller’s case, she meant Wade’s father who threatened the police with the will to free his child but the outcome was dissatisfactory. More importantly, Wade was right. They tried to close their mouth about this cruel interrogation and unjust judgment. Alexis could sense they attempted to accuse her and her friends of the wrongdoing they did not commit. She prepared her mind to handle anything that was going to come to her next.

It took a few times for Alexis to discover the answer. If all the adolescents were released, the government would be a fool in front of the public when they listened to the girl’s lie without proper investigation. She thought she knew what would happen to her. The girl clenched her fists.

I can handle it. I can prove that they threaten innocent children.

The woman in front of her revealed a soft smile, the same smile that the psycho murderer showed the victims before slaying them cruelly.

“Ms. Davis, tell us what is your special ability that Ms. Stephen tried to cover from us?”

Alexis sensed the eyes of friends staring at her but she truly did not understand the question. How did Ms. Stephen relate to this case? “Ms. Stephen?” She frequently met this nurse when she was a little but it was long ago. To be honest, Mary Stephen was not the family’s close friend. Bianna, her mother did not like Alexis to play with this nurse.

The corner of her left eye caught how Oslo tried to shrink away but nothing happened.

I speak the truth and my feeling is true, except that someone is holding the controller.

“Yes, Mary Stephen” The officer stressed her words but the girl was still confused.

Alexis shook her head, “I don’t understand, honestly not’.”

And Oslo was still fine.

The interrogative officers discussed with each other. It granted her sometimes to peer her eyes around the room, learning how the two police stood still like marble sculptures. Alexis could not see the blonde police’s name because her fish tails covered the nametag.

A few minutes later, the officer continued her job.

“Ms. Davis, please looked at this screen.” Alexis raised her head, watching the plan of this police station on the screen object. Surprised, the screen size was similar to a large book. She had never seen this kind of advanced technology before because the users only touched the screen and could control all functions. The female officer counted to ten and then signaled the police Joseph to unlock her right arm. “Please draw the plan,” she ordered and overturned that tablet.

“I’m left-handed sir.” She told him. The cop nodded and changed his position to unlock her left arm.

They gave her a transparent sheet and a black pen. Alexis began to draw the plan from her memory. It took about five minutes then she returned her drawing to Joseph. He locked her arm again.

The woman laid her drawing on the screen. She showed it to everyone in the room. Alexis’s drawing perfectly fitted the original plan. The other officers nodded to each other.

“When did you discover this skill?

“Maybe seven years old, I’m not sure.”

“With this skill, don’t you think you’re better than anyone else? Or different from the others?”

“No, it’s just a memorization skill. There are plenty of people who have better skills than me or weirder than me. I like it, especially when I have exams.”

Her interviewer laughed softly and bobbed her head.

“Did your parents know?”

Alexis got stunned for a few seconds because she was afraid that they would try to arrest her parents too. “…Yes, they said God kindly gives me a gift but it doesn’t make me different from the others.”

“They did say that? Don’t you think they try to cover it?”

Alexis tried to be wise. “No. If they try to cover it, they would ask me to hide it but they didn’t.” It was the half-truth but the electric shock had not harmed Oslo.

“She and her parents really think it’s normal,” the male officer who interviewed Wade interrupted and all of them were nodding in mutual agreement. Their similar gesture stirred up a strange feeling inside her stomach.

These people act like robots from the same factory.

Alexis tried not to let her anxiety be shown. She spoke the truth or at least, she thought it was the truth and it would not harm her. Their attempt to accuse her would be unsuccessful, the girl assured herself.

It gonna be alright. I just have a good memory. Father always says that it’s a special talent but not a danger. But what happens to Ms. Stephen? Why did they mention her name?

“Ms. Davis, how do you feel when you’re in a dusty room?”

“Itchy, I get running nose and rash on my skin. I’m allergic to dust.”

She hated the way they exchanged their eyes with each other.

At last, the women declared the judgment. “For your case, we can’t say you have hypochondria because you are made to believe that you’re allergic to dust since childhood. It’s our body that sometimes plays a trick on us. Ms. Davis, according to your blood test, you have no allergy to anything, which means that you are 100% healthy and Mary Stephen who recorded this false information in your medical history is trying to cover something about you…from us. And it may relate to the talent you have.”

“It’s a normal gift,” Wade blurted out. Again, another electrical shock ran through Alexis’s body. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t say anything. Please?” She begged him even though knowing that he just wanted to protect her and himself for the reason that if they found none of the Suspects or Risks, Wade could just pay the fine and returned to his normal life.

“I’m sorry to say this, but Ms. Davis, you are qualified to be the Suspect.”

It was the same feeling when she saw June and Davy together, the emptiness inside her chest. After that, the greatest disappointment flooded her mind.

“I speak the truth and this skill is just a normal skill,” she said to them, trying so hard to control her voice volume.

“My dear girl, we’re all in mutual agreement that you’re qualified and need to join our rehabilitation program. Don’t worry, child. We can fix you.”

Fix me? Ridiculous. So, what? So, I can’t argue with your wrong judgment? Alexis tried to steady herself. Be calm. Be calm.

It was hard to accept the judgment with the same old obedience because the judgment denoted the undesirable legal process. A few days ago, apart from the heartbroken story that seemed to be ancient, Alexis still saw her life as the new freshman in the medical school of Delphi in the case that she could not win the scholarship, bright and beautiful her life would have been. She would have joined a sorority and the basketball club, taken the other magazine shootings, and returned home during the breaks. Even though her father did not like the model job, Alexis loved it and dreamed to be a famous model and a smart doctor at the same time. Being the suspect means the end of everything, the end of liberation, and the dream. The rehabilitation program they claimed to fix people had never succeeded to cure those whom they were charged with. No one returned to tell them what they had encountered and how. Alexis could not return home, the best place in this world. She could not return to the people she loved.

Is it…the new freedom they claimed?

“Is there anything to say to us?”

“Obey them,” Jesse voiced in her mind.

No, her heart opposed but…What can I do? How can I change their judgment? If I try to defend myself, Oslo will get hurt.

“No” Alexis reluctantly answered. Her eyes brimmed with tears.

She was always obedient but what gave her? Her life was ruined. Alexis was not the only one who was crying. Belinda and Wade also realized their fate.

We are merely the slave of the corrupted system.

“…if you found any Suspects or Risks, I have to go to the program with them, right?” She looked at Wade but he did not return his gaze to anyone. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I can’t defend myself and you’re dragged to the doom with me.

The last one was Oslo. She hoped that he would survive this unjustness. Even so, the man that interviewed him mentioned the abnormality of his grades recorded by Mrs. Dobies, their math teacher, and was Ms. Stephen’s sister.

“…Mr. Jessens, it is clear that Mrs. Dobies, similar to Ms. Davis’s case, tried to cover something about you. Regarding all of your profiles, it is possible that you are qualified to be the Suspect. We all have the mutual agreement to judge that you are qualified and needed to receive the rehabilitation program as same as Ms. Davis.”

“It’s not clear that I’m one of them. There’s no clear evidence indicating my identity as the suspect. I don’t think I deserve…”

Belinda bellowed in suffering. Oslo closed his mouth tightly. Alexis saw the tears at the corner of his eyes but he held them bravely. In this room, everyone’s name should be removed from this fucking H01 case. They swallowed the bitterness inside because sometimes tears could not release the entire sorrow they were enduring now.

How was their future?

Who ought to be responsible for it?

How would the program treat them?

Who knew?

Bullshit, this is bullshit.