Authors: George Saoulidis
Tags: #speculative fiction, #young adult, #greek mythology, #dystopian, #european, #greek gods, #athens, #mythpunk, #bundle, #science action thriller
“
You must be tired, here, I brought you fresh
clothes.”
I gave
her the clothes through the bars and turned my back to her. The
police officer looked down and then stepped out the
door.
As Zoe
was changing, I explained what I had done through the
morning.
“
Uh huh. Yeah, good job, for a noob. Gawd what I wouldn’t do
for a smoke right now.”
“
I’ll ask. They are warming up to us after Athanasiou talked
to them, but no promises.”
“
OK. Hold on to him. It seems he is the only one reasonable
enough around here. Ask him to talk to Tina Foinos, maybe he can
get through to her. And don’t scratch my car.”
I turned
around and looked at her with disbelief. The mental image of the
battered old third-hand car came to me clearly.
“
More
. Don’t scratch it any
more
. I’ll know. Now go
and negotiate the terms of my surrender so I can finally have a
smoke.”
They
sent me to an office to file a request. A police officer in blue
overalls instead of the light blue uniform was sitting on a desk. I
approached him and he casually dropped his rifle on the desk. The
heavy metal added another dent to the collection on the desk’s
surface.
I
flinched.
He
pulled up a request and asked me, “Name?”
“
Surname?”
“
Occupation?”
I gave
up every bit of personal information that exists and they called
the office back in Athens. A few minutes later they were talking to
Mr. Epiktitos, who was politely explaining to the officer that we
carried a normal CDI kit.
The
police officer made sure to triple-check everything and write it
all down, in case anyone forgot that a rabies shot that says
“rabies shot” on its label is actually a rabies shot.
I heard
a heated discussion out the corridor and peeked around the door.
The middle-aged police officer who had tried to stick his fingers
up my cavities last night was arguing with his fellow officers.
They saw me and immediately stopped talking.
I walked
up to him.
“
I know what happened. I’m not here to condemn your nephew. On
the contrary, my investigation entirely helps his case. The rabies
infection corroborates everything your nephew said in his report.”
I made sure to speak loud enough for everyone to hear. “A positive
test exists already. A report from the Rabies Division, the only
relevant authority in Greece, only makes his trial easier to get to
an accident verdict.”
The man
tensed his jaw.
“
We’ll release your girlfriend tonight,” he said firmly and
turned around to leave the room.
I caught
up with him and said,”Um, could you do one more thing?”
“
What?”
I made a
pained expression. “Let me give her cigarettes. I don’t want to
deal with her jonesing like that.”
The
officers laughed.
Chapter
24
I offered
to pick him up from work, to get a chance to chat on the
way.
I parked
across the school, being extra careful with all the kids running
around. It was like a mini-riot. With lots of potato chips, for
some reason.
Athanasiou the science teacher approached me.
“
Your car’s a piece of shit.”
“
Thank you for the compliment, but it’s not mine. I don’t even
have one.”
We got
inside and drove towards the mother’s house.
“
You are a reasonable man, a scientist. You got me through to
your friend, I need you to get me through to Mrs. Foinos,” I said
so that I could be sure of his cooperation.
“
Lefteris is a wreck you know. I’m not even sure he
understands anymore that it wasn’t his fault,” he said looking out
the window, waving to a few parents.
His best
friend, Lefteris Oikonomou was suspended pending investigation and
was awaiting trial. The lab report of a positive rabies infection
would severely help his case legally. But psychologically, yes, he
was a wreck.
“
It’s a long term thing. With good friends and family, he will
get through it.”
“
I hope so. Nai, I know Tina. Not that well, but we all know
everybody around here. Tina and Vangelis, they’re both a bit dumb
to be honest, I wonder how Emma got to be so clever.”
I forced
a smile.
“
Don’t tell anyone I said that. But it’s true.
“
Have you spoken to Mrs. Tina lately?”
“
No, the Principal carried our condolences for the staff. She
was a mess, her brother didn’t want too many people around. You are
worried whether she will listen to me.”
“
Well, yes. She did slam the door on our face
yesterday.”
“
She’ll talk to me. I can’t guarantee if she’ll do an
interview or whatever it is you want, but I’ll try.”
We
pulled up to the house. I waited near the car and let the teacher
talk to the mother.
He rang
the bell and waited. He was patient.
After a
while Mrs. Tina, the girl’s grieving mother opened the door. I
couldn’t hear what they were saying. She was bitter, but
listening.
He took
her hand into his. He seemed to be explaining things for a while,
then pointed at me, then talked even quieter.
He
seemed to be apologising. Then he was crying.
The
mother was on the brink anyway so she cried too.
Chapter
25
Mother’s Report
Tina Foinos
Transcript
TF:
[SOBBING]
CDI: We
could do this another time madam.
TF: No,
let’s get this over with.
CDI: As
you wish. Please tell us what happened, in your own
words.
TF: Why
are you even here? What do you have to do with this?
CDI: We
were called automatically madam, the routine blood test of your
daughter came up positive for rabies.
TF:
Rabies? You mean lyssa?
CDI: Did
your daughter come into any contact with wild animals?
TF: Not
that I know of, but we live in the country. Animals get run over
all the time, so yes, they roam around I guess. Everyone has dogs
around here.
CDI: I
know it’s not what you want to hear at this time, but we need to
identify the vector. Other kids might get infected too, I’m sure
you understand that.
TF: Nai.
Yes I do. Please, ask whatever you need.
CDI:
Please try to remember. Were there any animals whatsoever? Cats,
even small birds? Any hypersensitive animal behaviours?
TF:
[INHALING] - PAUSE - Not lately, no.
CDI: It
could have been as far back as six months ago.
TF:
PAUSE - No.
CDI: OK.
Go on, tell us what happened.
TF: It
was months ago. She came home with those books on biology. She
didn’t even watch cartoons, only studied those books. I guess they
were cartoons too, that’s why they are for children. Anyway, she
kept asking questions, about biology. I don’t know nothing about
biology. Her dad bought her that microscope.
CDI: Was
it a children’s kit? Do you still have it?
TF: No,
I threw it away. Yes, it was for kids, but it was very expensive
so, I dunno.
CDI: OK.
Go on.
TF: She
loved that microscope. She kept asking her teachers for things to
do with it. We thought she was - PAUSE - become a doctor, you know?
It was great. I even fantasised about Dr. Emma and everything…
Anyway that’s when she started having cuts all the time. Grabbing
thorns one day, scratching her knee the next. I told the teachers
but they said she was quiet, they didn’t think she was getting into
fights.
CDI: Can
you know tell me if the cuts back then were intentional or
accidental?
TF: Uh…
Accidental. Yeah. I think so.
CDI: So
you think she hadn’t began to injure herself at that
point?
TF: No.
I think I know when she did. It was after I threw away her
favourite skirt. She’d ruined it one day, and I yelled at her. I
told her that she was careless and threw it away. She was really
upset about that but I had to make her see that she should take
care of her things.
CDI:
Could you say that it was an emotional trigger then?
TF: What
do you mean?
CDI: Do
you believe that because Emma was upset, that she started cutting
herself?
TF: Yes,
that’s why we took her to the doctor.
CDI: I
see. Please go on.
TF: She
was filling those slides with drops of her blood. She scratched her
old cuts to bleed them and they got, what do you call it,
reddish…
CDI:
Infected.
TF: Yes,
infected. So we scolded her and didn’t let her take the band-aids
off. Then she cut her arms. It was one or two at first but then I
knew, she was doing it on purpose.
CDI:
That is when you took her to get examined?
TF: Yes.
She came to me one day and asked about getting her period! I mean,
a kid asking about sex? It was in those books of hers… - PAUSE - I
sent her to the doctor with her dad and took the microscope away
while she was gone.
CDI: How
did Emma react to that?
TF:
What?
CDI: How
did Emma react to you taking her microscope away?
TF: She
freaked out. Like kiddie freak-out, only worse. She screamed and we
locked her in her room. She said - PAUSE - She said she hated
me.
CDI: Did
that go on?
TF: We
kept her home the next day, and then we took her to the doctor
again. The doctor asked that we stay outside. I can’t understand
why he wouldn’t let me be in there, I mean it’s not like I won’t
let my daughter say… - PAUSE
CDI:
Would you say now that at that point, her cutting herself was
severe?
TF: Yes,
it was severe. Very severe. She didn’t drink water. Or anything at
all. Her lips were dry, with sores.
CDI: Was
she letting you bathe her?
TF: No.
Now that you say it, no.
CDI: Do
you know what she actually did? Did she tell you?
TF: She
said she was doing “experiments.” That’s all. She was babbling
about some chemicals or something. I dunno.
CDI:
When you took the microscope away, did she stop her
experiments?
TF: No,
she did them again. With her phone. Taking pictures and pictures,
of her blood. Hundreds.
CDI: Did
you take her phone as well?
TF:
[YELLING] Of course I did!
SESSION
END
Chapter
26
I entered the girl’s room. It was nice and
colourful. Posters of boy bands on the wall, dolls neatly groomed
all over the place.
I
noticed that anything sharp, anything that could pierce skin, was
missing. No scissors, no mechanical pencils. The edges of the desk
and chair were trimmed round. The parents must have gone through
everything in all the time Emma was bleeding herself.
I noted
where she would place her hands. Everything was clean, but you can
never really get blood off anything. A discolouration here, a stain
there. Dried in the chair’s cloth seat.
I opened
the books. They were from the school’s library, months delayed but
I had a feeling no-one was trying to return them anyway. She had
little sticky bookmarks with poppies on them, for easy reference on
the blood pages.
To be
honest, for a nine-year-old, this was meticulous work. I’ve seen
graduate papers less organised than this.
In
colourful plastic cases were the blood slides. Placed in rows after
rows. The blood was in dark spread out drops, in all its deep
colours. Some were months old, some were newer. There didn’t seem
to be a system in place for cataloguing the slides.
Emma
couldn’t have bought these from anywhere in town. There were rows
and rows of blood slides, in various boxes. Some boxes had stickers
on them, others were plain cardboard ones. The slides were probably
ordered, which meant that her parents would have to place it. That
meant they had no idea at first, they enabled Emma’s “research”
acceptingly.
I took
clear photographs. I was thorough, taking my time, straitening the
pages digitally with an app, evenly lit. I then asked the mother if
we could take them.
She said
no. She wanted to burn it all.
Chapter
27
At dusk, I
went back to the police station. I filed the forms needed and went
to the holding cell with one of the police officers. It was the one
with the blue overall and the rifle. He looked bored.