Trap
2113 Words
2
Trap
"If there is good, there is evil."
***
I have always been told that everything in the universe is nothing but a compression of a single speck of dust in the eyes of someone far beyond the ends of it.
Whatever we do, whatever existed, are just millionths of what the universe is made up of. In this sense, we are just a part of a wet painting.
And if that is so, then someone out there could actually wipe us out with their thumb like a god.
“Mira. Attorney Ye wants you to bring this file to the Prosecutor’s Office.”
But since it was just something people say, we are down to the actual ones who play gods on earth.
“Be careful with it. It is a confidential case file. You have to get it to Prosecutor Guan no matter what happens.”
Caroline flipped her hair as she left the sealed envelope on my desk. With my cancelling lenses on, it was usually easy for me to avoid distractive strings wandering around me but this morning, I did not require any of my n***d vision to feel her intent.
The electric shocks cannot lie.
Even if I blocked my vision, the vibrations brought by the strike of her decisive string took a little longer to stabilize and I waited for her to completely disappear into her cubicle before I reached for the file.
THE BUILDING WAS never anyone would have expected of a city prosecutor’s office but nonetheless, it is in the heart of the academic belt and is just blocks away from the financial district. If ever Prosecutor Guan was urgently needed, no one will ever be lost because of a couple of given landmarks.
People came and went through the lone door while I stood by the secluded parking area, waiting for his secretary to answer my phone call.
“Hello. This is Prosecutor Guan’s Office. How may we help you?”
I have grown to adapt to the sensitivity of my strings that I have quickly step away from whoever was coming straight behind me as soon as they started going aggressive, thirsty to attract stray wires.
I whirled around just to be met by a whirring fist straight to the direction of my face and I was ready to face it head-on but the man stopped midway, revoked his aim, and stepped back as if he was being careful around me.
“What do you want?”
He was wearing a navy blue dust mask and a set of faded blue jeans and green shirt. With his shaky hands and cautious leaning of his body away from me, I already knew what was about to happen. But just like before, I was bound to let it be.
“Give me the file and I will spare your life.”
Without any hesitation, I fished the file off my bag and handed it over to him.
“Who are you?” I asked.
I was taking my time, calculating the depth of the vibrations his strings inflicted on me. He was rather surprised and now, he is thinking whether I am fooling him.
“You’re going to steal it from the office anyway. I’ll just let you have it quickly then.”
He slowly stepped close and cautiously reached for the file. His eyes were hard-set on my face, as if he was drinking in every detail before I show some cracks.
I did not let the other end of the file go when he tugged at it.
“Tell me who sent you.”
“It doesn’t matter! I don’t know!”
He was taking his time not to make a scene even if there were no curious passers-by who give a glance over us.
“What is that over your—
He managed to wrestle the file from me by sending his full weight backwards. By doing this, he landed flat on the ground.
I tried to offer him my hand but he only pushed himself away further from me with his eyes mirroring freight.
“Let me help you.”
“No! Stay—Stay away from me! Don’t touch me!”
AS HE SCAMPERED away, I dug my soles as deep as I think I could against the concrete floor and imagined the traces of his strings slowly fade away if not for my lenses.
“Did you get a clear audio record of that, Miss?” I said, holding my phone over my ear as I walked round the corner on my way to the entrance.
“Yes. Yes,” she awkwardly let out a breathy laughter and stuttered. “I will inform Mr. Guan that you are here.”
“Thank you.”
I SAT FACING Mr. Guan as he finished listening to the playback of the audio his secretary has recorded for me while I was downstairs.
“Can you remember his face clearly?”
“I am not certain I completely do but if I could see him again, I will be able to tell apart, Sir.”
“This murder case is actually really confidential. If it’s not for your precaution, I am afraid I would have to say that your firm has become a bit careless.”
“This will never happen again, Sir. I apologize.”
“I will take care of this now. Do you want me to send someone to drive you back to your office instead?”
“No, don’t bother, Sir. I can handle it.”
“Do you mind if I ask you something?” he asked from his desk as he leaned, looking at me with such intrigue.
“Not at all, Sir.”
“Why does he seem to be afraid of you?”
The shot of shock that immediately spiked me was a direct warning of suspicion. These are the kinds of energies I had hard times to dodge.
“He may have been aware of my rumours back during my earlier years, Sir.”
He raised a brow in a considerably non-offensive way but is enough to tell me that I should go on.
“I kind of made an impression that I bring terrible luck to people I come to touch.”
“Does that affect you?”
“Not this time.”
I fished out another similar-looking file folder from my bag and left it on his desk.
WHAT I LAST told him was not true at all. But I had to say that unless I would never get rid of the disturbing frequency of his string’s strike towards me. He was holding on to it for so long as if I actually have something to scare my attacker.
If anything, Prosecutor Guan was not worried at all.
CAROLINE WALKED UP to me with a puzzled look.
“How did your errand go?”
“I got mobbed.”
She did her most expert attempt to make an incredulous reaction and I took my chance to turn round to pick my left contact out of my eyes.
“What do you mean you got mobbed?” she asked behind me as I walked.
“A man took my folder.”
Her gasp roused a few peeping heads out of the cubicle rows.
“How dare you give it up so easily?”
“I had nothing else I can do.”
“How could you be so careless?”
Her glare emitted enough amount of hatred that I was calm despite what I am reporting her. While her feelings still linger with her, I stared walking towards our boss’s office.
“Where do you think you are going?!”
She was gritting her teeth as she raced against me on my way, her arms spread subtly on her sides.
“I think I should be the one asking you that, Miss Su.”
I turned on our side to see Atty. Ye standing with his calculating eyes trained on both of us.
Caroline immediately stood properly and looked frantically over me.
“I am talking to you, I believe.”
“Atty. Ye, it—it is nothing. We were just having a chat. Right, Mira?”
She desperately lifted her lips despite the fact that they are quivering in order to give me a meaningful signal.
“Yes, Sir. She was trying to lecture me of my mistakes. I appreciate it.”
Atty. Ye, as a young man who made it to the advanced accelerations of his career due to his renowned reasoning, stared at me, his head tilted.
“I believe you both share the same levels for either anyone of you to have the audacity of lecturing another.”
“I’m sorry, Atty. That was not my intention—
“Miss Su. Kindly leave us at the moment. I will have a talk with you after I receive Miss Luo’s report.”
Caroline’s eyes snapped up to me as if she was struck by something only she could see and tears quickly welled up around her waterline.
When she stormed away, Atty. Ye regarded me with his thrifty youthful smile and led me to his office, giving me enough time to slip my contacts back on.
“I ADMIRE YOUR foresight,” he started as he guided me to the couch opposite his desk.
“It’s been a reflex, Sir. Thank you.”
“Does this usually happen?”
“Intermittently, Sir. Yes.”
A sudden shock poked me lightly which already gave me an idea of what just happened a while ago.
“I am here to deliver you a message from the prosecutor, Sir.”
He raised his hand and I figured that he waved off whatever I was about to say.
“I am aware of it. You don’t need to tell me.”
I was left speechless, not really wanting to push my luck to squeeze him out of his intentions. Anyway, he will spill it himself.
“I am curious. How do you accomplish your transcriptions so fast?”
I happen to ‘see’ what comes next, Sir.
“People say I do have a set of flying fingers in encoding, Sir.”
“That’s remarkable.”
“Anyway, I want to confirm about Miss Su’s scheme. How did you know she has something to do with sabotaging the file?”
The recent event where I slyly picked my left contact off my eye flashed at the back of my head.
“I have been assigned to the transcript of this case, Sir. I can remember a few details and I got curious about some included names within the victim’s testimony. I did a background check whether the Su Lianshuo mentioned in the testimony as an accomplice has anything related to Miss Caroline Su. It turns out Lianshuo is Miss Su’s uncle.”
“So?”
“If my assumption was right, she would look at the progress of the testimonial of the victim to help her uncle provide a valid and believable counter testimony.”
“And? If that is what she actually planned, why did she need you to get a hold of the file?”
“I guess she knew that I was the one who transcribed it. Yesterday, she told me over a not-so-friendly lunch that she has heard a lot about me. The man who attacked me seems to know something that is why he was acting too frightened to touch me, Sir.”
“Why is that?”
“I was thinking that Miss Su warned him not to touch me.”
“What happens if he touches you?”
“Rumours ever since my high school years say that whoever touches me either dies or gets severely unlucky.”
“Are you saying, she was trying to frame you in order to sabotage the testimony?”
“Bravely so, Sir.”
“Why?”
The phone in his office suddenly rang and we happened to meet each other’s eyes, measuring each other’s thoughts whether what the other one is thinking is similar to what I/he was thinking.
“I already took care of the evidences, Sir. If ever you need me to deal with your client’s sudden revocation of testimony, I will be here right away.”
- Writer
