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Shifting Consequences--Chapter 2: Eyewitness

By: Zmeydros AKA Lucien Quinn

zmeydros (Twitter), Malfedrosti (Mal Twitter), zmeydros.tumblr.com

The moment Zack steps out of the nurse's office a lanky black police officer starts walking down that hall toward him. Zack walks toward the police officer. "How can I be of service, officer?"

"You can come with me quietly. You are not under arrest, but I would like you to come to the precinct with me to answer some questions. Is that okay with you?" The officer looks very non-threatening.

"Sure. I don't know how much help I can be, but I will go with you." Zack looks down at his clothes. "Is there any way I could get a change of clothes? Mine were destroyed during the commotion in the cafeteria."

The officer pushes the talk button on his police radio. "The student is willing to come to the precinct, but he requests a change of clothes."

An authoritative voice comes over the radio. "We will contact his family and he can arrange for them to bring clothes if he is kept at the station for an extended period of time. Get the student to the precinct ASAP."

Something doesn't add up in Zack's mind. "Why am I not being arrested? I was the one closest to Bella when she disappeared."

"Right now you are the victim. Most witnesses claim that you were assaulted." The officer looks Zack in the eye. "Should you be arrested?"

"N-no, I guess I was just expecting the worst... What is your name, officer?" Zack can see the relief on the officer's face.

"My name is Harold Barnaby. Please follow me to the car." Harold starts walking.

Zack follows Harold, who is walking at a brisk pace. Students are leaving their classrooms to get a better look at Zack as he leaves. The teachers appear to have given up on getting their students to pay attention.

The principal's voice echoes throughout the hallways. "All classes will be dismissed in ten minutes. Classes will resume tomorrow morning. Please use the rest of the day to relax. The school counselors will be holding an assembly in the gymnasium at one-fifteen for anyone who wants to attend. Many of you have had a traumatic afternoon and all of us at Greatland High care about your well being. Remember our motto. I care, you care, we care. Have a good afternoon."

Principal Fairlady's cheesiness never ceases to amaze Zack. He shakes his head. Who would go to the gymnasium instead of going home? The main doors of the school are near and Zack can see eight police carsâ€"more than Zack has ever seen in one place. Ever since the high school shooting in Elgin last year the police have been overreacting to any crime that occurs at the high school. He has seen the school pot heads being pushed into a cop car more times than he can count.

As Zack gets into the cop car he feels a tinge of nervousness envelop him. He has never been to any police building. Officer Barnaby closes Zack's door and then starts the car. Zack watches Greatland High shrink into the distance, then he turns his attention to Harold. "So, how long have you been a cop?"

"About six years." Harold's voice is calming.

Small talk was never Zack's strong suit, but he has to do something to distract himself from the anxiety he is feeling. The metal bars separating him from Officer Barnaby and the doors that he can't open himself are causing him to feel claustrophobic. "Uh, why did you become a cop?"

"I wanted to join the military, but my mom was against it. She said that she would die of grief if I died fighting wars for rich white men."

Nervous laughter comes from Zack. He manages to get himself under control eventually. "I think I would like your mom."

"Yeah, my mom is a fun woman. She'll tell you exactly what is on her mind and never apologize for it. Often the things that are on her mind are things that you would rather not know. One time at a dinner party she told the host that their brie tasted like goat poop." Harold chuckles.

Zack laughs again. "I like brie, but I have to admit it can taste pretty rank if you get the wrong kind. So how far is the precinct from here?"

"At least you didn't say ‘are we there yet?' We are about three minutes from it." Harold glances back at Zack. "Don't worry, I will make sure you are treated well."

"I've never been to a police station before." Zack looks at the metal grate between him and Harold. "And I have never ridden in a police car before. I wish that metal grate was not there."

"I agree with you. I don't like those grates either most of the time, but every once in a while I am glad they are there. I have picked up some scary people in my six years of duty." Harold's voice is warmer than it was when he started talking to Zack.

Zack hears Harold push a button on the police radio the he hears Harold talk to someone. "This is Officer Barnaby. I have Zack Graff; where do you want me to bring him over?"

"Roger that Barnaby. Bring him to interrogation room alpha charlie two over." The person on the other end of the radio has a husky female voice.

"Roger that over." Harold pulls into a parking spot in front of the precinct. "I'll take you to the interrogation room. I know it sounds scary, but it isn't. Just answer their questions to the best of your ability and don't be afraid to tell them that you don't know or don't remember something."

For some inexplicable reason Harold's reassurance actually works on Zack. "I will do my best."

"I'm sure you will." Harold gets out of the car and then opens Zack's door.

Zack practically jumps out of the car; he is free once more. He follows Harold into the precinct. The utilitarian design is only interrupted by the occasional messy desk. There are so many cops, detectives, and other important people here that Zack feels outclassed.

The design of the offices is a bit weird... Why would anyone want an office that had glass sides if they were just going to put in mini-blinds to prevent people from looking into their office? A few of the officers seem surprised by the fact that Zack is not wearing shoes. He just smiles at them and hides behind Harold. This much attention is unnerving.

Eventually Harold opens the door to the interrogation room and motions for Zack to enter. Zack looks Harold in the eye. "Is there any way you could leave the door unlocked? I really don't like being locked in rooms."

"I will stand outside the door, and if you need me to open it, all you need to do is knock." Harold smiles at Zack. "I don't think you will be waiting in there for long. They already have someone ready to talk with you."

"That's good... Can I wait outside of the room with you?" Zack really doesn't want to be in a room he can't get out of.

"Are you claustrophobic?" The look of concern on Harold's face is genuine.

"A bit. I was stuck in an elevator for eight hours once." A frown forms on Zack's face. That was one of the only times he ever cried out of fear.

Harold puts his hand on Zack's shoulder. "Man that must have sucked. You can wait out here with me." He removes his hand.

Zack smiles at Harold. "Thank you."

Harold smiles back. "You're welcome. Now you have to help me pass the time. What is your favorite subject in school?"

"Chemistry. I am thinking about going to college to become a chemical engineer." The look of surprise on Harold's face annoys Zack. Can't people that don't look like nerds like science? Nothing is wrong with nerds, but Zack likes taking care of his body and if that makes him look like a jock, so be it.

"Sorry about my being surprised, but I was under the impression that you liked sports more than science." Harold raises an eyebrow.

"I get that a lot. I actually never really liked school sports. My physique comes from going to the gym and practicing Tai Chi." Zack rubs one of his bare feet on the rough commercial carpet.

"Oh, I heard that Tai Chi means supreme ultimate or something weird like that." Harold looks off into the distance.

"Yeah, I think that is what it means. My instructor says that if you speed up the movements Tai Chi is actually a very effective fighting style. One time when I asked him what one of the moves was used for, he said ‘this' and threw me to the floor. I couldn't believe how quickly he took me off my feet." Zack can see that Harold is distracted.

Harold turns toward a woman in a turquoise pantsuit. "I let him wait outside of the room. He is claustrophobic."

The woman in the pantsuit is about fifty years old and has the most horrible hairdo Zack has ever seen. Her blonde hair is permed into tight little curls that make it look frizzy. The fact that real life is very different from television is even clearer in Zack's mind nowâ€"no one on CSI would be allowed to have a hairdo like that.

The woman smiles at Harold. "That was kind of you. I'll take it from here."

"I will leave him in your care then." Harold turns toward Zack. "Zack, Rhonda is a good person. Just answer her questions the best you can." He shakes Zack's hand. "It was nice meeting you. Ask for me if you need anything."

"I will." Zack watches Harold leave and then follows Rhonda into the interrogation room.

The interrogation room looks run down. The metal table has scratches all over it, the chairs have dents and gouges in them, and many of the ceramic floor tiles are broken. Even the mirrored glass is run down. He can see little cracks and scratches in it. Everything in this room is gray or metallic colored. Rhonda's voice interrupts his observations.

"Please have a seat." Rhonda's hand is outstretched toward the chair that is next to Zack.

Zack sits in the chair and looks at Rhonda's weathered face as she sits down. The lines under her eyes make her look older than she really is. He is not sure how it is possible, but something about her smell tells him that she is very ill. Her hair is wrong somehow. Zack feels a tinge of sympathy when he realizes that she is wearing a very convincing wig.

"Can we tape this session?" Rhonda leans back in her chair and fiddles with a pen in her right hand.

Being on tape does not seem like a good idea, but Zack does not want to give the impression that he has something to hide. "Yes."

Rhonda sets down her pen and relaxes visibly. "Good. Please state your full name."

"Zack Allen Graff." Zack sees some amusement in Rhonda's eyes.

"Did you realize that your initials spell the word ‘zag'?" The smirk on Rhonda's face in endearing.

This is not what Zack expected from an interrogation. "Never really thought about it. I don't think about my middle name much." Something about the word ‘zag' catches Zack's attention. Maybe that can be part of the name he will use when he is transformed.

"Do you not like your middle name?" Rhonda tries to twirl the pen in her fingers, but it falls onto the table instead.

What is Rhonda doing? If she is trying to make Zack feel more comfortable she is not succeeding. "I don't really dislike it or like it. I hardly even think about it. It only makes my name longer when I am signing an official document."

A thoughtful look is on Rhonda's face. "So you are a very pragmatic person."

"If you mean that I don't like things that waste time, you are correct." Zack shifts in his chair. He can feel a slight headache coming on.

Rhonda leans forward. "Would I be correct in assuming that you aren't a very sentimental person?"

"Yes you would be. How did you figure that out?" Zack can feel his foot burning. Hopefully it is the only part of him that will change.

"You said that you didn't like to waste time. That combined with your neutral feelings about your name lead me to believe that you are unsentimental." Rhonda picks a pice of lint off of her ugly pantsuit. "What is your favorite subject in school?"

Zack hopes that Rhonda is going somewhere with this line of questioning. Is she going to try and figure out his whole personality or something? "Chemistry."

A knowing smile appears on Rhonda's face. "Are you proud of your skill in that subject?"

"Very." Zack is getting bored.

"You must be a scientific person then. I am going to guess that you do not believe in the supernatural. Am I correct?" The tiredness on Rhonda's face is gone.

This is pointless. Zack feels annoyance well up in him. "Yes, please start asking me questions about what I saw in the lunchroom."

"I will start asking you those questions now. Your belief or disbelief in the supernatural is important information that we need to take into account when we hear your testimony. Thank you for being patient." Rhonda pulls a pad of paper out of her briefcase and then she picks up her pen. She writes down a couple notes.

"I wasn't patient." Zack hates it when people thank him for something he didn't do.

Rhonda holds up a hand. "I apologize, I am courteous to a fault. Okay, please describe what transpired in the lunch room. Start at the beginning of your lunch hour." She puts her hand down and gets ready to write on her notepad.

The burning on Zack's foot is gone and his headache has subsided. "I was eating lunch and talking to my friend named Anton. Then Bella came up and started yelling at me for something I did to one of her friendsâ€"

"What did you do to her friend?" Rhonda is looking Zack in the eye.

This sucks. Now he has to tell some middle-aged woman that he fucked his girlfriend and dumped her. "I dumped her after the first time I had sex with her. Before you start thinking that I am an asshole, know that I was planning on working things out with her." He feels pain on the side of his face that is facing the mirrored glass. He puts his hand on it to obscure the scales that are forming. His ear hurts a bit too, but he can't cover it. Hopefully the people behind the glass are not watching him that closely.

A look of sympathy is on Rhonda's face. "I'm not here to judge your character. I am just here to get the facts. Please go on and don't worry about offending me. I deal with assholes every dayâ€"it's my job."

A chuckle comes from Zack. Dumping his girlfriend after sex is probably much tamer than the things that Rhonda hears about. He focuses himselfâ€"he cannot mention anything about his transformation. Zack takes a deep breath to calm himself. "The argument didn't go on for very long before Bella started pointing at me and chanting, like she was trying to cast a spell or something. She pointed her hand at me when I tried to get out of my chair, and I somehow got paralyzed. Then she paralyzed Anton when he tried to stop her. She continued casting her spell, or whatever it wasâ€"there were colors and shapes dancing in front of her. Eventually it was finished and it hit me, but I don't think it worked, because a voice told her that she cast a spell that was too powerful for her. Then a glowing hand reached out of nowhere and took her away. Anton wasn't paralyzed anymore when the hand reached out, and he ran out of the lunchroom. After Bella was gone I was no longer paralyzed, and I left." Zack looks down. "I guess this all sounds hard to believe."

The speed at which Rhonda is writing notes is somewhat surprising. She has probably been doing this all of her life. She looks up suddenly. "Thanks for your testimony. I would normally have stopped you and asked you to tell me the truth, but your story fits with most of the accounts we have heard. I am glad you suffered no ill effects. I will have Harold bring you home." Rhonda starts getting out of her chair when the intercom comes on.

The voice on the intercom is a soft male one. "Rhonda, this is Chief Emery, I need to talk with you for a moment. Harold will sit with Zack while you are gone."

Harold walks into the room and Zack is glad to see him. He is very worried about the fact that he is being kept in this room. Did they see his changes? Is he going to have to stay in a jail cell tonight?

* * * * *

Rhonda steps out of the interrogation room. Chief Emery is standing in front of her with a concerned look on his thin face. His long nose and skinny body make him look like someone could use him as an icepick. The curly white hair on his head always looks messy. Just how old is he? 60? 70? It is good that his personality makes up for his looks. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I want you to see something before it gets classified and your young man there gets carted off to God knows where." Chief Emery takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes.

The thought of Zack getting taken away by the feds angers Rhonda. "Gerald, I think you may be overreacting. I didn't even know you were sitting in on that session."

Gerald Emery puts his glasses back on. "I wasn't sitting in until Charlie called me. She sounded like she was about to lose her mind, so I came over here to see what she was talking about."

"Show me." The moment Rhonda finishes her sentence Gerald grabs her hand and starts walking toward the room behind the glass. She hopes that all this excitement is about nothing.

Once they are inside the room Rhonda can see that Charlie looks terrified. Her thin hands are balled up at her sides, her angular face is pale, her legs are trembling, and her black hair is frazzled. "Are you okay, Charlie?"

"No, I should have just stayed in bed today. Nightmares would have been better than what I just saw while I was awake. Let me show you." Charlie pulls up video on the flatscreen.

Gerald is just standing and staring at the screen as if he is expecting to see Jesus jump out of it.

Charlie moves the video slider and stops. "Look at his right foot. It is partially obscured by his other foot, but you can still see something really weird going on. I called the chief when I saw this."

Rhonda watches Zack's right foot shake slightly and then get darker. It looks like the toenails are turning into claws. "My God. What is going on?"

"That isn't even the thing that scared me to death." Charlie moves the slider to a time near the end of the interrogation. "Watch the left side of his face and his ear."

"His ear looks odd right now." Rhonda can see that it looks like a Vulcan ear. Is Zack wearing fake ear tips out of some obsession with Star Trek?

Gerald nods. "That's what I thought when I first saw him, but pointy ears is not anything to be concerned about. Charlie, hit play before Rhonda dies of suspense."

The side of Zack's face starts turning green and then he puts his hand in front of it. His ear starts elongating and turning green. Eventually it looks like it is covered in lizard scales. Rhonda feels dizzy. This is not possible. She takes a deep breath and watches Zack's ear return to normal. "Poor Zack."

Charlie turns toward Rhonda. "You just saw a man's ear turn into an alien ear and all you can think to say is ‘Poor Zack?'"

"He may never be free again. The government is going to put him in some hole so deep and so secret that he may as well just stop existing. That is, unless we erase the video footage and pretend that nothing happened." Rhonda shakes her head.

The emotion in Gerald's voice is so strong that it cracks. "I'm sorry, Rhonda, but I've already called the feds. I thought about protecting this boy, but I realized that he could have a disease or be part of some experiment that only the feds know about. He could endanger everyone in this town for all we know... I can tell him that he will have to stay the night if you don't feel up to it."

"I hate you right now, Gerald, even though I know you are right. I will do it myself." Rhonda starts to walk out of the room.

"I'm sorry, Rhonda. This is one if the hardest calls I've ever made." Gerald turns to Charlie. "Charlie, I want you to go home and relax until the feds come tomorrow."

Rhonda takes one last look at Gerald's weathered face before she exits the room and closes the door behind her.