Fractures (Post #9)

 

Final assignment submission

This may or may not happen in the story if it continues.  This was the best way I could think of to introduce all the story elements in 1000 words.  Submitted as my final assignment for the Start Writing Fiction course that got this whole universe going in the first place!  This is exactly as posted.  An edited version will follow at some point, maybe later today.  See if you can spot why!!

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“What do you mean, you came through a crack in the sky?” asked the man in the black jacket, clearly frustrated.

“I did,” said Anna. “I woke up in the hunting blind. I suspect that is where the man – Saul?”

The detective nodded tiredly.

“I suspect we exchanged places,” she said. “In fact, I am certain of it.”

“So you didn’t butcher him with those tools of yours and bury his body?”

“Are you quite mad?”

“I’m not, but you might be,” said the man.

“I carry my tools so that when I hunt, I can butcher the kill and we carry only the meat we can use back to our settlement. But I have already explained that.”

She stood up, but of course, she couldn’t go anywhere since she was tethered to the table and the floor. Even so, he stood up and stepped back from the table and his hand went to his hip.

“I know you refuse to believe anything I say, but tell me this? Why would I remain in the blind with his belongings if I were his murderer?”

“Maybe you didn’t think anyone would come looking for him?”

“If any hunter is missing for more than one night, settlers send out a party to search for him or her.”

“You said that.”

“Because it is the truth,” said Anna, insistent. “I have authorized too many such parties. I have led many of them. I have found my friends dead, or signs that they were killed by animals… or taken by the fractures.”

“No, not that again! No more damn fractures!” he said. “What did you do with the woman’s husband?!”

“I did NOTHING!” She shouted her answer, and she was on her feet so fast, the pain in her shoulders as the chains snapped taut almost made her scream. “This is a pointless exercise. Do you truly believe that by tormenting me with questions for many fractions of sun travel that my answers will change?”

“Stop that nonsense! It’s hours. You’ve been here 12 hours!”

“That is of no import! I killed no one! I abducted no one! I am from the other side of the fractures. I am Chief of my people. I am Anna of the Hill Grove Peoples! I do not have a last name! I do not have a number! Cease your pointless torment! This is an illogical, immoral procedure. No decent people would allow such conduct! I refuse to continue this pretense of an investigation even one moment longer! No more of these questions without reason! We are finished here!”

As she’d slowly grown slightly calmer, she’d begun to speak in what she thought of as her ‘chief’ voice. The calm, commanding voice that declared her words with absolute authority and clarity.

Suddenly, he was seeing her with new eyes. He stared at her in shock.

“Are you… asking for a lawyer?” His expression was one of confusion.

“A lawyer?”

Anna had no idea what a lawyer was. She glared at him and sat back down on the uncomfortable metal chair, crossing her arms. She was tempted to say yes, since he looked very unhappy about the whole idea. Instead, she did what she had long learned could be her most effective tactic in ignorance. She simply said nothing. Instead, she held his gaze until he looked away, smacking his hand onto the table sharply, clearly frustrated. Anna flinched, but she was unafraid. Unless she was very mistaken by her measure of the man, he would not strike her.

“Great!” he said. “Now she wants a fucking lawyer! My day is complete!”

He stood up, turned abruptly and left the room, closing the door with a bit too much force.

“Greene’s wife wants to talk to you.” The man who called himself ‘detective’ had returned. “Will you speak to her?”

“I will.”

“Her name is Angela. Angela Greene. I question the wisdom of this, but I’m not the boss.”

Angela waddled more than walked, her hand pressed into the small of her back. She sat heavily. Anna suspected she was only days from her delivery. A wave of sadness hit Anna. Angela was far from the first to have lost a partner to the fractures. Women had gone into early labor or miscarried after such a loss.

“I am so sorry,” said Anna.

“Then you admit it!” Angela’s voice was angry.

“I’m sorry you’ve lost your husband,” said Anna evenly. “I did nothing to him. I truly would exchange places with him if I could.”

“You really believe this bullshit, don’t you?” she said.

“That is…” Anna smiled. “Our expression is rat shit… but I’m afraid it’s the truth.”

“If it wasn’t impossible, I’d believe you,” she said.

“I cannot prove it to you, but I can show you my tools. They are… different.”

“They showed me your clothes. They say you’re some kind of historical reenactor. But you’re not, are you?”

“We have an expression… that the simplest expression is usually the truth,” said Anna.

“We have one much like it,” said Angela. “Ockham’s Razor, we call it.”

“Ack-ham?”

“Close enough,” said Angela. “Problem is; I’m a scientist. An engineer; actually. What you speak of — well, there are theories… but there’s never been any evidence…”

“Evidence?”

“I shouldn’t tell you this, but the cops don’t have any evidence against you.”

“You mean proof?”

“Yes,” said Angela.

“That would be difficult, as I’ve done nothing,” said Anna. “The only evidences as you call them… might be partial remains of items that did not pass through the cracks completely.”

“You mean, like this?”

Angela produced a Nikon camera that looked exactly as though someone had bisected it with an impossibly sharp knife. Both lens and the camera were cleanly cut with no signs of tool marks. The cut wasn’t quite square, so all that remained of the lens when viewed from above was a triangular wedge of glass and plastic.

“I believe you,” said Angela softly.