Lies

Nina

Even if she had wanted to Nina couldn’t stay hidden in her old childhood room forever. She knew she had to go back to her own place and back to work too, back to her life. The small voice in the back of her head reminded her of that whenever she thought about giving up. So after a couple of days she when back to her room in the apartment where the words had been scrubbed off the wall, although she was sure she could still see their outline. Her roommates told her they were pleased to have her back, and that they were sorry about what had happened. The landlord had changed the locks and they hadn’t had any problems since. She would be safe there with them. The hugs they had given her felt stiff and awkward, but she guessed that was just because none of them were really the touchy feely type.

At work her colleagues were all very sympathetic. They too gave her those awkward hugs and welcomed her back. But when she approached the break room she overheard them talking.

“I always knew she was a fruitcake,” one was heard to say.

“With extra nuts,” another chimed in, followed by laughter from at least three other voices.

“You know they found no evidence, no one else here has had any problems, what makes her think she is special? I bet she wrote the words herself just to get the attention.”

Nina clapped a hand over her mouth to stop the cry of hurt from coming out. She couldn’t however stop the tears from slipping down her cheeks.

“They lied to me, welcomed me back, they acted like they cared about me,” she cried inside her head.

“They think you lied about everything,” the quiet voice in the back of her head answered her.

“I didn’t lie! Is that what my roommates think too?”

“We both know you didn’t lie, it doesn’t matter what they think.” The voice seemed to be her only friend, the only one on her side, so mentally she turned to it.

“What do I do now?”

“Go back to work, prove your worth to everyone. Lose yourself in it.”

“Yes, yes you’re right, throw myself into my work, that’s what I’ll do.”

She spoke these words out loud, although quietly to herself, as she turned away from the break room door and headed back to the research lab she shared with the others.