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Chapter or Story
Unwelcome Return
pretender_gurl
Office of the Chairman
The Centre
April 10, 1994 ~ 08:18
"Ah, there's my Angel! Come and give your father a kiss. How are things at the London house?"
Miss Parker closed the glass door gently behind her. She paused a moment before crossing the room to where her father stood with his arms outstretched. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
"But where are your things? You didn't come home from Europe, did you?" her father asked, holding her hands out to get a good look at his daughter. She pulled away and walked to the windows behind Mr. Parker's desk.
"I stopped at the house," she said harshly
"What's wrong, Angel?"
Miss Parker turned around and folded her arms across her chest. Her icy blue eyes flashed as she glared at her father.
"Daddy, where were you two days ago?" she asked accusingly. Without waiting for an answer, she continued. "I can tell you where you weren't. You were not in London, where I was graduating from college."
Miss Parker walked to her father, her expression changing to one of sadness.
"Daddy, I sent you three invitations and never heard from you. What happened?"
"Angel, you know that I have responsibilities…"
"More important than your only daughter?" Miss Parker shot. "Daddy, you knew how much this meant to me, how much it meant to Mom," she whispered, the second part almost inaudibly.
Mr. Parker sighed. He looked at his little girl - no, that wasn't right. She wasn't his little girl anymore, she was a woman. Mr. Parker placed his hand under her chin and raised her head so she would look at him. Her eyes held the wisdom of adulthood, the kind that comes from experience. Her figure was no longer the awkward frame of an adolescent, but the curvaceous form of a woman.
"There is nothing more important than my Angel. I was called to Africa a week before your graduation. I didn't want you to be upset, so I didn't call. I'm sorry, Angel. And because I do know how important this event was for you," Mr. Parker crooned. He walked behind his desk and brought out a large package. "I got you a little something."
Miss Parker's curiosity got the best of her and she walked over to the package. Peeling back the brown paper, she let out a small gasp. It was a painting, one that she had admired for a long time in the Dover Museum of Art.
"Daddy, it's beautiful…" she began. "But where did you…?"
"Only the best for my best girl," Mr. Parker said, kissing the top of his daughter's head. "Now, I'm due at a meeting. I'll see you at home, Angel."
Before she could say a word, Mr. Parker had left the room.
SL-21: Outside SIM LAB 2
The Centre
April 10, 1994 ~ 08:49
"I'll take it from here, gentlemen."
Jira looked up at the familiar voice. Mr. Lyle was nodding to the Sweepers, who took a few steps back from her. He did not look at Jira, but simply waited for her to take her place to the left and slightly behind him. Jira hesitated for a moment. She feared this man almost as much as she feared the Sweepers. Ever since she could remember, he had been a looming threat, a constant blip on her radar. His presence was a bad sign.
Sensing his impatience, she gingerly approached Mr. Lyle. He turned his head when she was beside him and smiled at her in a leering manner that sent chills down her spine and caused her to tremble.
"Hello, Jira," he greeted, his smile broadening as he noticed her shivering with fear. God, I love my job.
"H-h-hello, Mr. Lyle," Jira stammered, looking at the floor. Their last meeting had been under less than agreeable circumstances and Jira was hoping against hope that he wasn't here for an encore.
"It's been a while, yet you've hardly grown," Lyle mused as he began to walk toward the elevator. Jira was very small for her age, about two inches shorter than the national average and noticeably underweight.
"I-I'm trying, sir," Jira said, unsure where this conversation was going.
"Maybe if you stopped all of that running," Lyle chuckled.
Jira's heart sank even lower. He was here because of her escape attempt. Her shoulders sank as she pondered the torture he probably had in store for her.
But Jira was quickly proven wrong. "Jira, Mr. Raines and I have a special project we'd like you to help us with."
Figures. I'll bet it's another psychopathic simulation. Whenever Mr. Lyle mentored her during a simulation, the experiment contained frightening scenarios that replayed in her nightmares for weeks.
"I'm here to serve," Jira replied monotonously as her sub-conscious had been instructed during Raines's re-programming.
The foursome stepped off the elevator into the corridor of SL-23.
"Excellent. There will be a slight difference in the execution of the project, but it should not be a problem." Lyle gave Jira a meaningful glare. He was really saying that there had better not be a problem. "You will be teaming up with another subject."
Jira's eyes widened. They expected her to work on one of Mr. Lyle's scary projects with a stranger? How was she supposed to concentrate if a new person with strange new emotions was standing right next to her, their thoughts bombarding her mind? Jira took deep breaths, trying to steady her racing heartbeat. She hardly noticed as one of the Sweepers prodded her into her room after Mr. Lyle opened the door.
"The subject's file is on the desk. I suggest you read it and familiarize yourself with the project. You will begin soon," Lyle instructed from the doorway. He looked pointedly at the mounted cameras. "And Jira, I'll be watching."
With a final smirk, Lyle closed the door. When the hydraulic lock had hissed into place, Jira allowed herself to release her breath. One thing was for sure, things had gone from bad to worse.
