A Fool or a Clown?

"Good morning, sleepyhead!" a childish voice spoke. I slowly open my eyes to meet Jasper's shining green eyes staring down at me.

"Gah!" I pushed him away, causing a loud crash as he stumbled into the dresser and fell on the floor.

"Owww... What was that for?" He mumbled as he rubbed his head.

"What was that for? What do you think!?" I yelled. Jasper moved his hand along the dresser as he got back to his feet.

"It's your fault for not locking your door," Jasper grumbled with red eyes.

"But I did lock my door!" I retaliated. Jasper just smiled at the comment.

"Anyways, you said you would help me out, remember?" Jasper reminded.

"Yeah, I remember you forcing me. But what time is it?" I scoffed with a yawn.

"I have no clue. The clock in the entrance hall says five, but I don't know if that's correct." Jasper casually answered.

"Five? Why so early?" I rubbed my tired eyes.

"Well, If I killed you when everyone's awake, then they would figure it out pretty quickly." Jasper's eyes turned yellow as he tilted his head. I just sighed.

"Even though I know you're lying, I don't like that statement," I stated as I stood up from the bed.

"Whoops, my bad." Jasper chuckled with a playful smile.

"Yeah, your bad. You're really making yourself a target," I replied as I stood up from bed. Good thing I sleep with my clothes on.

"Are you saying that you really are going to kill me, Mr. Detective?" Jasper grinned.

"When did I ever say anything about harming anyone," I rolled my tired eyes as I tilted my head toward the kid.

"It just felt like you inferred it," Jasper chuckled as I put on my grey jacket.

"Let's just go," I began to head out the door. Jasper followed behind me. "Do you even have the right equipment to pick locks?" I continued.

"How else do you think I got into your room?" He grinned.

"Figures."

"Don't worry, I found everything I needed in the storage room," Jasper answered adequately. It irritated me, but at least I knew that he didn't lie about his ability.

It didn't take us long to arrive at the locked door. It was made of dark oak and had fancy engravings on it that looked similar to chess pieces.

"They didn't tell me that this was a combination lock!" Jasper's eyes converted to red for a second.

"It is? It looks like a normal door handles to me."

"Huh? I thought you would be able to tell Mr. Detective." Jasper's eyes were locked on the door. I looked a bit harder at it. Soon noticing several knobs all around the outskirts of the door, with engravings that resembled Roman numerals.

"I see. I guess that's why there's no keyhole," I leaned on the railing behind me as I let Jasper get up close to it.

"Jeez, what an overly complicated door, It's almost like a vault. Unlocking it might take longer than I thought." I guess he's experienced enough to tell off a glance.

"How so?" I inquired.

"Well, looking at this door, it seems like it has a needlessly complicated unlock process. Around ten knobs. Less complicated and more time-consuming." Jasper mumbled as he started fiddling with one of the knobs, his ear against the door. As much of a nuisance as he may be, it does seem like he wants to help.

"While we're here, let's get to know each other a bit better," I suggested. Undoubtedly, I was curious about Jasper.

"You're not afraid that I will lie?" Jasper turned back with an inquisitor look.

"I bet there's some truth to your lies," I replied. Jasper seemed to find the comment humorous.

"Truth, huh? Sure, I'll play along. But I'll only tell you as much as you tell me about yourself." Jasper winked.

"Sure, what do you want to know?"

"I guess, for starters, you're a detective, aren't you? Where exactly do you work?" He asked as he turned the knob slowly.

"Chicago, Illinois, I am one of the leading officers of the city," I smirked at my own accomplishment.

"Chicago, huh? That's strange." Jasper replied.

"Why's that?"

"I live nowhere close to Chicago; I live in Colorado,"

"What? If you live in Colorado, then where is this mansion located? And more importantly, how did the mastermind kidnap multiple people from different states?" I asked out loud.

"I don't know, magic, I guess." He chuckled, seemingly unfazed.

"I guess," I laughed a bit with him. This situation is so absurd that it's almost humorous. It's almost like we're living in a dream.

"So, what's your job? You must work somewhere." I changed the question.

"I'm an astronaut," He chuckled.

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, why would I lie?" His eyes turned green. I just stared at him.

"Jeez, fine, I work at a circus." Jasper's eyes turned grey as he continued to focus on the door.

"That makes a lot of sense, actually," I replied; Jasper paused for a moment like I had hit a nerve.

"What? Is it because of my eyes? Fitting, right?" Jasper's eyes turned blue as he spoke with a smile. His actions and words are so contradictory...

"I didn't mean that as an insult. I find your eyes interesting. Detective's curiosity." I scratched the back of my head.

"You find them interesting?...." Jasper's expression remained static, but his eyes shifted grey.

"Of course, it's not like you find someone like that every day, you know?" I smiled. Jasper just dismissed it.

"Hey, do you have a family?" Jasper changed the topic.

"Not really, both of my parents are dead, and I have no siblings," I coldly replied.

"We're both orphans then." Jasper smiled with blue eyes.

"What happened to your parents?" I questioned.

"Nothing, they just disowned me, something about impurity or whatever," Jasper spoke like he didn't mind the dark past looming in his words.

"I see," I glanced over my right shoulder.

"Do you think I am lying?" He asked.

"Why would you lie about something like that?" I responded. He shrugged.

"Why would I indeed." Jasper grinned.

"Well, now I don't know if you were lying or not," I squinted.

"Haha, me either." Jasper chuckled. How peculiar...

After a moment of silence, I decided to change the topic once more.

"Do you have any friends? Maybe at the circus?" I asked. He took a second to reply.

"Not really. They don't like me for obvious reasons." Jasper's eyes turned yellow, "There is one person I would consider an acquaintance, not like it matters now," He continued.

"Can't say I blame them," I responded bluntly.

"Heh, you need to have a filter sometimes." Jasper's eyes became green.

"Says you." I retaliated.

"Fair," Jasper chuckled and then continued, "It's not like I don't like how forward you are. It makes me trust you more. I have no clue how the others are feeling, but I can read you like an open book."

"What do you mean?"

"You're very easy to read, is what I am saying. You're logical, thinking only of the best option without considering emotions." Jasper went on.

"That's always how it's been." I sighed.

"Then I bet you didn't have a lot of friends either, huh?" Jasper asked as he moved on to another knob.

"I never really got the whole friendship thing," I chuckled, "I do have one friend, at least, a work partner of mine," I added.

"We have a lot in common then, don't we?" Jasper gave a cheeky smile.

"Do we? We seem pretty different." I replied.

"Who knows," Jasper was concentrating on the knobs; he was over halfway done by now.

"Hey, I know I asked this before. But what exactly is with your eyes?"

"Jeez, are you obsessed with them or something?"

"Like I said, just curious," I responded. Jasper took a moment to answer.

"Fine, since you're so curious. They represent emotions. I bet you've realized that by now." He answered this time, and with a pause, he continued, "They react with the signals my brain produces when I feel different emotions."

"That's interesting; I didn't think that was possible," I put my hand on my chin.

"Because it shouldn't be. The doctor said that it was an anomaly." Jasper clamped up a bit.

"Why do you hate it so much?" I asked bluntly.

"Why do you think?" Jasper's eyes turned blue.

"Touchy, huh? You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"It's fine. The past is the past." Jasper sighed. A weird tension filled the air. "My childhood wasn't the most pleasant," Jasper continued.

"What happened exactly?" I curiously questioned.

"How about you tell me about your childhood first, Hank?" Jasper grinned.

"Mine was nothing special," I replied.

"Come on, that's gotta be a lie! someone as interesting as you must have a cool backstory." Jasper winked.

"You find me interesting?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Perhaps, or perhaps that's just another lie," Jasper's eyes shifted away from me. I laughed at the absurdity.

"Of course. As far as I know, everything you've told me might be a lie. I might just be giving up free information about myself, huh?"

"Yeah? I warned you from the beginning, didn't I?" Jasper laughed.

"Right, but as I said, there must be some truth in your words. Perhaps everything you have said is the truth, but you're just expecting me to think they are lies." I pondered out loud.

"Are you trying to analyze my thought process Mr. Detective? I'm going to tell you that it's impossible." Jasper fidgeted with the door.

"I gotta start somewhere. A mind like yours is dangerous in a game like this. It might prove beneficial to understand how you operate." I teased.

"Is that so? Well, all I can say is good luck," Jasper smiled with grey eyes. A few moments passed.

"So, how's the progress with the door?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"I almost got it, I think," Jasper fidgeted more with a knob.

"Where did you learn to pick locks anyways?" I inquired.

"I needed it to be able to rob people, of course," Jasper responded swiftly.

"Uh-huh, well, I guess it's a useful skill to have in these types of situations." I looked away. I just figured that his comment was another lie.

"I suppose, though I doubt this door will lead anywhere special." Jasper sighed.

"Why do you say that?"

"Think about it, why would the mastermind leave this here when they must have known that I could break through it? The mastermind handpicked us for some reason. Looking at the situation, They must have known about our capabilities." Jasper tapped his temple.

"That's true...." I put my hand over my face to think. Jasper was intelligent; I'll give him that.

"Ah, got it!" Jasper's eyes lit up yellow as we heard a click from the door. Suddenly, a panel opened up in the middle of the door with a long series of small levers. His eyes suddenly turned blue, "Well, that was a waste of time.." He sighed, moving in front of the door.

"There's no way we could brute force the lever combination of that size...." I looked down with my hand on my neck.

"We have to give up for now. There's nothing we can do about that." Jasper quickly gave up at the sight of the levers. I had to agree with him.

"Why don't we eat something?" I suggested.

"Haha, I could eat away my sorrows right about now." Jasper chuckled. I smiled a bit.

"Then we better get going," I stood up from the balcony and started walking to the kitchen with Jasper. He may be a fool, but maybe that's just what we need in this situation...