I’m more than a prophecy!

That gorgeous smile isn’t going to work

Kristina’s POV

I’ve spent lunch time locked in my office with my eyes closed, feeling thankful for my migraine relief meds. I’m still not 100%, but I’m not curled up on the bathroom floor either, so I’ll say it’s a win. There’s a gentle knock on the door and Rafael walks in, closing the door behind him. He carefully studies my face, before asking if I’m ok.

“I’m better than I was,” I reply, but he cuts me off.

“That’s not what I was asking darling,” he says, his deep voice laced with concern. “Are you ok? You look like hell.”

“Oh wow, you really know how to make a girl feel loved,” I try to look offended.

“That’s not what I meant, I meant you look ill , I mean pale, I’m mean you don’t look well at all…”

I put one hand on my heart pretending to be heartbroken and the other one on his lips.

“Stop digging…” I whisper, and Rafael looks absolutely mortified. I can finally no longer hold my laughter in and burst out laughing, immediately regretting it as the sharp pain shoots through my head.

“I’ll be fine. I’ve had worse migraines before. I think the important question is, how are you? I have never seen you like that before, you looked and felt broken.” I stroke his face as I’m talking, but Rafael is just staring at the floor. I can feel he’s ashamed.

“Rafael?” I ask after a while of him being quiet.

“Hmm?” He grunts back.

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of, I’m just worried. You’re always so confident, it just really confused me.”

I get hold of his head and look into his eyes, before I overbalance and fall on top off him. Rafael holds me around my bottom, squeezing it tight. I feel the heat spreading between my legs and moan softly. Rafael giggles and sits us both up, sighing deeply.

“Now’s not the time,” he whines, his eyes black. “Staff meeting in 5,” he grunts before roughly pressing his lips onto mine.

X

X

Every member of staff that could be spared is assembled in the lunch hall. Those who cannot attend now will have another meeting at the end of the day. I’ve tried to not go, but guess I can’t be asking for special treatment.

I sit at a table with Monika and James, both fellow teachers on the rehab pathway. I don’t join in with their small talk, after all my head is still throbbing. The feeling of being watched doesn’t help.

Everyone goes quiet as Rafael stands up at the front, clearing his throat and scanning the room seriously.

“Afternoon everyone, thank you all for coming. A special thanks to those who came in on their day off,” Rafael nods his head in the direction of the guards and the medical team. “You didn’t come in to listen to me blabber on,” a few people giggle,”so let’s get to business.”

“You all know that there has been a lot going on, but only a few of you are aware of the full scale of the situation. Nearly two weeks ago an inmate had a psychotic episode while outside in the community. This has lead to drugs being found in his blood, and thanks to Kristina’s perseverance and ability to think on the spot, we have discovered that 165 prisoners tested positive for drugs. 67 of these for the first time and all of them on the rehab program.” Rafael pauses to take a breath and people start muttering, looking between Rafael and me, confused.

“165 out of 600 is, we can all agree shocking. On Kristina’s suggestion, we have isolated all of the inmates that tested positive for the first time, interviewed them and run additional medical examinations. 75 inmates were drugged either against their will, or without their knowledge. These last two weeks a full investigation was going on, and a large number from our midst arrested.” Rafael takes a deep steadying breath, before continuing, completely ignoring my “stop talking about me” look.

“You will all find out sooner rather than later, that the person behind these attacks is Angela, for those of you who don’t know she’s my monster of an ex wife who was released from prison a month ago, two weeks before we discovered these attacks. She has been discovered hiding in Jane’s house yesterday evening. They have both been arrested and are unlikely to be free any time soon.”

Rafael pauses to look around the room, as everyone erupts in urgent whispers. He raises his arms in the air, but the room is too loud to notice him now, so he whistles loudly, making my head feel like it’s going to explode.

“As I’m sure you’ve figured by now,” Rafael shouts, causing everyone to quiet down. “There is going to be a lot of personnel changes. We have started recruitment process to replace all of the folks who have been arrested. However, there is more you should know.” Rafael’s face is serious, and I feel a sense of dread settling over me.

“I have overheard a lot of talk and wondering about why and how is Kristina involved in this, she’s a teacher, not a manager, bla, bla, bla… let me make this clear. Without Kristina, we wouldn’t have discovered what happened. It was Kristina who put a plan together and analysed all the data that lead to discovery of the scale of the situation.

She has spent the last two weeks in meetings and despite looking like she’s going to bite my head of right now, she has kept track of everything and kept her wits with her.

As I’m sure some of you have probably heard already, the board has tried to sack me this morning. And that quiet little lady there, that’s trying to look invisible, has took on the board and gave them a piece of their mind. Once again showing her dedication to this place and to the right cause.

And what was Kristina’s reward for cussing the board out, you ask? They have decided to offer her Jane’s position on the spot. I need your help to convince her to take it.”

Rafael finished talking and the room is silent, with everyone looking at me. My temper is rising again, and as I see Rafael smiling at me, I shake my head.

“Not going to happen, Rafael. The last two weeks have been hell and I don’t want to be in another meeting ever again.”

Rafael tries to give me puppy eyes, as my headache starts picking up again.

“That gorgeous smile isn’t going to work, mate,” I mutter to myself, unfortunately the room is still deadly silent and literally everyone heard me. Everyone starts laughing, including Rafael and I just bury my head in my hands.

“On that note,” Rafael says, still laughing, “we will be informing prisoners about what has gone on in about an hour. Everyone is being moved back to their cells soon, and we will be trying to resume normal activities from tomorrow.”

“Will there be an additional focus on mental health, post trauma counselling, or are we resuming where we left off?” I just can’t help myself can I… I had to interrupt.

“See? Natural leader,” Rafael teases and I show him a middle finger, causing the people around me to gasp and then laugh, when they see Rafael’s amused face.

“I’ll leave it to you to judge the situation,” he smirks.