Not Real. Not Imaginary.

PART FOUR: GREER. [The office]

In all honesty…the office wasn’t anything great. It was just a big pure white space with white furniture and a bunch of uptight suckups that only cared to look good on the eyes of the bosses, so their positions would be secure and they could enjoy of whatever status that came with it. If you ask me…none of us was any better than the humans…the only difference was that…we ‘lived’ longer.

Wren walked in the reception, almost dragging me…unnecessarily, since I was cooperating already. He went up to the receptionist, and just a look was enough…she knew what was going on, and why I was there…. I sure wished in that moment I knew exactly why I was there. She just moved her head, signaling to the chairs…would've it kill her to just nicely asks us to sit down?

In better news…the headache was almost gone…or at least I had gotten used to it enough to not notice the pain so intensely as before.

The whole time, Wren’s hand was tightly grabbing onto my arm as if he feared I was going to scape if he loosened a little bit…I swear my arm almost went numb while we were there, waiting for the bosses to call us in. And by the way…I’m pretty sure they had nothing going on there…making you wait forever was probably part of the punishment, something like psychological torture…unnecessary, since our existence itself is torture.

“Seems like the bosses weren’t in such a hurry…or maybe they just don’t care about whatever you have brought them, enough to actually receive you.” I was trying to irritate him a little bit…just for fun....

I must confess he and I didn’t have the best relationship. There had always been rivalry between us, more from his side than mine. I didn’t care enough to have a rival at anything…but for some reason he always found reasons to create rivalry. And I just loved to push his uptight, suckup buttons once he got in that mode.

“Or maybe they are just tired of your smug douche face…” That one really fired him up…he squeezed my arm with a lot more strength and lift his free arm readying his hand in a fist.

Just when thing started to get fun…the doors opened.

The swishing sound made us both look in the direction of the bosses’ office. He immediately stood up and ‘dusted’ his suit jacket with the hand he had tried to impact in my face a second before…then straightened his tie and made sure his golden hair was still neat…I just rolled my eyes….

’Like they care’ I thought to myself as I lazily stood up.

All that was in view from where we were standing, was whiteness…pure…bast…bland whiteness. We both moved forward… he loosened his grip a little bit and I wasn’t sure if it was because he feared the bosses could notice the unnecessary strength he was using to retain me…or if it was because he was sure that his prey…me…couldn’t scape now.

I wasn’t going to scape…I was tired of their dumb rules, especially if they would prevent me from being with Nina like I had until that time…or like I really wished I was…. So, no…I wasn’t running away, and I wasn’t going to settle for whatever kind of punishment or for whatever stupid sanction they were going to drop upon me…they would have to listen to me...for Nina. I had to be heard for her sake…because I needed to keep making her feel safe…and because I needed her to be able to be herself and to be happy.

We walked into the main office…I honestly think they have never moved from that place at all in all the time it has existed…and that is a loooong time.

Wren suddenly looked slightly agitated…his smug expression didn’t disappear however…I guess that was his real face after all....

The door closed behind us, making the same swishing sound it had made when it opened…the only difference was that…. well…from the inside you couldn’t see any door. It was like being in a void…like Nina’s Prism, but it was entirely illuminated…you could only see pure whiteness around…and I really hated it.

A few feet forward, a huge desk stood…a white desk…I guess the sight would be really imponent if you went in knowing nothing about that ‘plane of existence’…but when you knew all about it and had already visited…under less unfortunate circumstances…the place was really…boring….

The bosses where four…beings, that were always changing genders and appearance, so it was hard to tell who was who. Since that was the case, they decided that instead of having an individual name, and being addressed as such, they would all be addressed as a unit, and called themselves: ‘The Highers’.

“Wren! You’re back. And I see you have brought someone with you.” I honestly couldn’t even see which one of the four spoke…the desk was so high that you wouldn’t be able to see much from where we were standing…so…I took a couple steps back, and I couldn’t help but to smile with satisfaction when I saw Wren’s panic face. The fool thought I was scaping apparently or was just very surprised that I wasn’t cowering up at the ‘view’.

“As if you didn’t know I was coming…didn’t you send for me? Or that headache was just a freebie?” I replied looking up at all of them. “By the way…it is finally gone…so…thank you.”

“How dare you talk like that to the Highers?” Wren walked towards me, ready to grab my arm again.

“It’s okay Wren, let him speak his mind.” Said one of the feminine looking Highers. She had long platinum blonde hair, and piercing blue eyes…she was obviously acting as the benevolent one…but her face didn’t really give away that vibe…it kind of screamed ‘beware’.

“Yes Wren…let the adults talk…”

He looked at me with fury but, knowing he couldn’t do anything about it…he just stood there staring daggers at me.

“Greer, do you know why we have brought you here?” The oldest looking one said. He was a darker skin male, with white hair and a white beard. He had light green eyes, and unlike the first one, you could actually see the compassion sparkling in them.

“I would like to think that it is because you missed me so much…probably you are tired of having this around...” I couldn’t help it, to push Wren’s buttons was too much fun, and if I was already in for a punishment…or whatever…might as well get some fun out of it…so I just pointed back at him without even looking back. “But I guess that’s not it…” I sighed “I have an idea of why I am here…yes…”

“So, you willingly and knowingly decided to just…break the rules?” The youngest looking one asked, his appearance was very androgynous, so it was hard to know the gender, and the voice didn’t give any clues either. The hair was reddish, long and tied in a low ponytail. The features were very soft and defined…and whatever else I can say is just that I absolutely hated those grey eyes…they reminded me of Terry too much.

“Well what other option did I have?! I followed your stupid rules and she got nothing but pain, even when I tried to do my job, everything just kept going wrong…she is special…so isn’t she supposed to be able to receive as much love as she is supposed to put out? How can she even put out any love at all if she gets nothing?” I knew I wasn’t acting like what I was supposed to.…but I was tired of following the rules and just let things keep being as terrible as always without being able to change anything, just spectating all the time.

“That is not for you to decide!” The blonde female snapped, revealing a little of her true colors.

“I am not just going to sit around and watch her spiral down like that anymore!” I could feel something building up inside me…a bravery that I didn’t know I could possess…that I had never used or felt before. Nina had truly changed me…in more ways than one…I could see now.

“What happened to her was very unfortunate, but if she can’t handle it then maybe it’s for the best...” Said the fourth one. A shy looking female with brown long hair and violet gentle eyes.

“Aren’t we responsible for it though?” The youngest one and the blonde female looked offended, while the oldest man and the shy female looked slightly…regretful? Maybe….

"We are supposed to take care of them, so why can’t we make sure they are happy…and that they are away from toxic environments that only attract more shards? Why can’t we lend them a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen to their troubles…just...someone that exist there with them…and keeps the solitude away?”

“They are just humans; they aren’t divine being like us. They are supposed to go through all of that and cleanse themselves.” Wren spoke for the first time, he seemed to genuinely believe every word he had just spoken; he believed he was better than the humans…he believed he was better than Nina.

“We are no better than them…especially you…you act like many of those humans that I have known…and not precisely one of the good ones…”

He couldn’t contain his rage anymore and ran towards me, tackling me to the ground. He grabbed me by the collar, pulling me up and readying his other hand in a fist to hit me…again… but he was interrupted.

“Enough!” the four of them slapped their hands against the table and spoke in unison.

“Wren, darling, please wait outside, we will handle this from now on.” Said the blonde one as the swishing sound was heard again and the doors opened.

Wren looked back at the door and grunted as he slammed his fist against the floor…next to my head…he stood up and ran his hands back on his head, getting his hair back in place before straightening his tie and walking away, dedicating a furious glare to me as he did. I just waved at him from the ground.

“Greer…please stand up.” The older one asked….and I did, sighing heavily.

“Wren will be sanctioned accordingly, as his actions were uncalled for and out of line. But he isn’t entirely wrong in what he said.” The blonde one spoke, trying to put on a gentle expression once more.

“I cannot believe you are saying that…You!...our higher authorities. The ones we are supposed to look up to. That is…so disappointing…and it only reveals that what I said before is correct. We are no better than them, we are just like them, or maybe…even worse.” I looked at them with disappointment written all over my face…my shoulders slumped…. I felt discouraged, and ashamed of being one of…those beings….

“That is enough! Have you no respect for your superiors?!” Snapped the youngest one.

“Not anymore…I’m afraid…” I replied and shrugged, looking right at their eyes.

“If you can’t accept you were wrong, and refuse to show respect for us, and for the rules we’ve stablished, to keep the order among all beings…then…you leave us no choice Greer…” Spoke the shy one.

“Yeah…I guess I don’t leave you any choice…so…what is it gonna be this time?”

“We’re sending you to The Witness”.