Wednesday, December 29th, 2021: Joint Branch Lewis-McChord, Tacoma, Washington 02:44PM
“And, remind me, that prize was for when you killed the boy in your class with the rock, right?”
A voiceless expression of hesitancy was all she could muster in response, met with a retaliatory cough from the agent sat across from her. A gentle reminder that a nod wasn’t good enough, instead Julia opted for a softly spoken “yes”, just loud enough for the tape to pick up. The choking on the stagnant air and her own tears that followed called in the end of this session, the agents were very open about not wanting to inflict more trauma on her and the other survivors. It was very kind of them, after all, it was true that they had been traumatised more than enough for one lifetime.
They tried all they could to make the questioning feel less pressured. That they weren't there to judge, it was just a way to help them understand. Yet none of that stopped her feeling like she was facing a brutal interrogation. Perhaps because they didn't understand... they couldn't understand. The agents continued to dwell on the prize she had won for her Best Kill Award, as if the fact she had been rewarded with a meal and a weapon meant that she knew more than the other survivors. This was her third time in with agents, and each day added a further layer of intimidation, each session more daunting than the last. She genuinely didn't know anything, she just wanted the best for everybody. For the survivors to recover, for the deceased to be honoured, for her to stop feeling so distraught and useless. Even the thought was enough to bring her tear ducts to the brink. She didn't know anything, yet the longer the inquisition continued the more she doubted that they believed her. The paranoia she had endured on that island, the unthinkable type where you have to be suspicious about even your closest friends, the overwhelming fear that each minute could be your last.
Her spirit was well and truly broken.
And with that, Julia was escorted back to her room. The shrugs and sighs of the agents at her emotional instability burning through her skin like she was a witch on fire.
She had felt like a prisoner ever since arriving, a chilling irony from those first feelings of freedom from that god-forsaken island. The Interpol agents had been crystal clear with their intention, that this was nothing more than short term processing to make sure they had all fully recovered and were in the right state of mind to return to whatever remnants of normal life awaited them. Yet that didn’t stop her feeling like a prisoner, a captive animal trapped in the vicious hooks, left to wilt in self-anguish and regret. They dressed up the room and tried to add some personal touches to make it more appealing, yet none of that stopped her wallowing in the face of reality.
Julia had spent most of the time stuck within her colourless confinement in silence, second guessing every voice she heard from the corridors. Were they well-intentioned? Or were they coming to punish her for what she had done? She wasn't interested at all in eating, the bile in the pits of her empty stomach bubbling in rejection to even the thought of an appetite.
Lying in a foetal position, Julia lay in silence as she wished away the rest of the day.