KMS Ch 2

Chapter 2: Secrets and Suspicions

"Thank you! Thank you! You won't regret it, sir," Amelia said quickly, grinning happily.
"Yes, well, I wouldn't be certain of that. I don't expect you to last long, but I do have to go over everything first. To begin, I don't believe I ever introduced myself. My name is Donald Dyson. You may call me Dr. Dyson, or just Don, but I promise you that I will not respond to 'Donald', for I am not a duck," he said solemnly. Amelia giggled.
"Yes, sir," Amelia said quickly.
Don smiled, nodding his approval as he moved towards the desk. Looking over the surface that Amelia realized she would now control she frowned. The top of the desk was littered with papers of all color, shape, and size that did not appear to be in any order. Behind the desk was a gray filing cabinet with half its drawers partway open, the contents spilling out on all sides.
"It's a bit of a mess," Don admitted sheepishly, noticing Amelia's distaste. "It's not too late to back out, you know."
"I'll have it organized in no time," Amelia replied confidently. "Though, if you don't mind me asking, how long has it been since you had a secretary?"
"Oh, about a week now," Don said quietly, "And as you can see, I am hardly an organized person myself. Jane did not leave me with any help, though I can't say I was too surprised by her departure. I certainly did hope she'd stay, though."
"Excuse me for asking, but what exactly happened to her?" Amelia said softly, her curiosity getting the better of her. "Your last secretary, I mean."
Don turned to look Amelia in the eye, his expression grave. "She left," he said simply.
"Did she give notice or-?"
"No," Don said, shaking his head, "Just up and left. Can't say I blame her much, though. Like I said, we get a lot of odd people here."
Amelia fell silent, though part of her wanted to ask what he kept meaning by "odd people". In the end it was Don who broke the silence, suddenly smiling again.
"But however long you last, I'm glad to have you. Before you start, though, you'll have to take this paper home to get signed by your parents," he said, handing Amelia a bulky packet of papers. Glancing at the top page Amelia recognized it as the HIPA form, a privacy agreement form used by doctor's offices.
"Yes sir," Amelia said quietly. "I'll get them signed tonight. Would you like me to start tomorrow?"
"That would be fine, Amelia," Don said with a nod. "I'll see you tomorrow then."
"See you tomorrow," she agreed, leaving out the door. On her way home Amelia couldn't help thinking about everything that had happened that day. By now she'd almost completely forgotten the joke played on her at school and it seemed unimportant. All her thoughts were swarmed around the mysteries of her new job and the doctor who hadn't wanted to hire her.

~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~

Amelia did not stop smiling the entire next day. During English she was cheerful, in history she was humming, and by lunchtime her happiness was positively unbearable. It was strange, she reflected, to be so excited about having gotten a job that she was being paid so little for, yet somehow the fight to get it had made it that much more of a triumph when she succeeded. She would begin working that evening, and remembering the agreement realized that she needed to impress her employer as much as possible before he was able to replace her.
Coming out of her thoughts Amelia looked around the lunchroom. Like usual she didn't know where to sit. Every table had at least one person at it, and no one seemed to ever want to sit with her. Finally she spotted a table in the back of the room with only one other person, and though she couldn't see anything besides a navy hoodie, it looked as though the person was asleep.
Sitting down as quietly as she could so as not to wake the table occupant Amelia started eating her lunch. She was almost finished before she really started looking at the person sitting across from her. It was a boy she realized, with dark, coal-colored hair and eyes which, behind the closed lids, she was sure would be a vibrant blue. Even asleep with half his face hidden Amelia recognized the person across from her, and as fast as she could she gathered her lunch to leave.
She was too late, though, for at that moment the boys eyes flew open, focusing accusingly on Amelia. His head flew up so that he was sitting up straight, the face of Zendoro Zoola glaring across at her.
"What are you doing here?"  he demanded curtly. Amelia blushed, wishing with all her heart that she had picked a different table – any other table.
"I didn't realize who you were," she said quietly. "I just saw no one was sitting here except someone who was asleep. When I realized it was you I was leaving."
"Too good to sit with me, huh?" Zen demanded, his tone a little less cross now that he was over the surprise of seeing Amelia so suddenly.
"No," Amelia said patiently, though part of her wanted to say "yes" out of spite, "I just didn't want your friends to come make fun of me some more. I do my absolute best to avoid morons like them."
"What friends?" Zen asked, clearly confused.
Amelia frowned, finding this question borderline ridiculous. "Your friends," she said, exasperated. "The ones from yesterday."
"They were just a bunch of idiots who think its funny to mess with someone else's life," Zen said indifferently, "No friends of mine."
"But then why did they send me to you?" Amelia asked, forgetting her annoyance as she froze, half standing, half sitting.
Zen simply shrugged. "Dunno. Just to make me act like a jerk like them, I guess. I told you, they never let me in on what was going on."
Slightly surprised by this information Amelia wasn't sure what to say. Finally she asked the only question she could think of. "Well where are your friends, then?" she said impatiently. Zen glared at her a moment, finally seeming to decide she was serious.
"Where are yours?" he countered coldly.
To this Amelia had no answer – or at least not an answer that she would ever admit to Zen. The truth was that with her odd, slightly compulsive tendencies at doing her best to reach perfection she'd never made time to try and make some friends. Sure, there were a few people who were nice to her, and a few that pretended to enjoy her company, but none of them were friends. They weren't there celebrating with her if she won an award and if she got in trouble no one came to her rescue.
"Never mind, you obviously want to be left alone," Amelia snapped, gathering her books to balance under her lunch tray. "Sorry to disturb you."
She could feel Zen's glare on her back all the way out of the lunchroom but she didn't turn around. It wasn't until she was sitting in her next hour that she really paused to consider what had just happened. Was it really possible that Zen didn't have any friends? Wouldn't it make sense that since neither of them did, that they should be friends?
Amelia thought about what she knew about Zen and quickly decided against it. Zen was the type of person who slacked off and would never be anything. There was no point wasting her time with a person like that.

~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~

That evening Amelia reported to her first day at work the smile from earlier returned to her lips. With a brief greeting to Don she sat down at her new desk and began sorting through the papers, moving and filing until all of them had been put into their rightful place. As she cleaned up she began noticing things that didn't seem to belong anywhere at all. There were pencils with crosses drawn on them, a basin of water sat for no obvious reason on the far corner of the desk, and the entire space smelled as if the last secretary had put garlic on all of her meals. Even ignoring these things Amelia kept finding old possessions of the previous secretary, and at one point felt the need to mention it to Don when she found a gun taped under a drawer.
Soon enough Amelia decided the desk was clean and began on the file drawers. By the time she finished the sun had gone down and the office was one of the few shops still glowing with light. As she was putting the last folder into the drawer Amelia paused, recognizing a name quite suddenly that she had not expected to see. Flipping the folder open she read,

Name: Zendoro Zoola
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Type: Blood

Amelia paused, staring uncertainly at the fourth line. Type? Type of what? She was unable to investigate, however, for at that moment the door tinkled to announce someone's entrance and she quickly stuffed the folder into the drawer. Straightening up as nonchalantly as she could Amelia froze when her gaze met the visitors. Standing before her was the real Zendoro Zoola, and he looked just as happy to see her as she was to see him.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded in a way that Amelia felt was much ruder than was necessary.
"I work here," Amelia replied coldly, "What are you doing here?"
"Work here?" Zen repeated incredulously. "You? God, he must be more desperate than I thought…"
Amelia bristled angrily, "What's wrong with me working here?"
Zen gave her a withering look, as though she was missing something that was glaringly obvious. Whatever it was that she was missing though, she did not find out for at that moment Don emerged through a door that Amelia had not noticed before and quickly stepped between them.
"Know each other, do you?" he asked conversationally, pushing Zen down so that he was sitting rather than towering over Amelia.
"We go to school together," Amelia said quietly, unable to keep the dislike from her voice. Don chuckled, looking from one teenager to the other.
"Don, usually I'm willing to help you out, but this? Don't you think hiring someone like her is getting downright ridiculous? Don't you have any standards?" Zen demanded.
"Someone like me?" Amelia repeated shrilly. "And who are you to decide if I'm good enough to work here? Is it because I'm a girl that you think I'm not up for it? Because you don't think I can do it?"
"Amelia, I promise you that isn't it," Don said quietly, the amusement gone from his voice as he turned back to Zen. "Who else do you suggest, Zen? I've got to have help… I can't do it on my own."
"I help," Zen snapped.
"And I appreciate it, but you've got your own troubles if I'm not much mistaken. I need help, Zen. It's hard enough keeping stocks up high enough…" Don said heavily.
"But her?" Zen persisted.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Amelia snapped, glaring at them.
"You don't understand, Don," Zen continued, ignoring Amelia. "She's about as far the other way as they come. Perfect grades, perfect eyesight – perfect at deducing things from information presented her! You really don't think she'll figure it out?"
For a moment Amelia was not quite certain whether she was being insulted or praised, though considering who was speaking she decided on the former.
"So what?" she demanded, her cheeks flushing with anger.
"And what if she figures it out?" Zen spoke over Amelia, positively fuming, "What then? She'd probably turn you in the second she could. She'd ruin everything!"
Amelia's eyes went wide as she suddenly fell very quiet. Slowly she turned to look at Don, still somewhat shocked. "Are you doing something illegal here?" she asked in a whisper.
Don froze looking even more stressed then he always seemed to be. Even so, it was not he who answered her.
"Of course he's not! You'd know that if you'd pay attention to someone besides yourself for five minutes. Don could make a cop look guilty in comparison. Don't try to understand, Amelia. You'll just embarrass yourself," Zen said, still fuming.
"But what do you mean-" Amelia began, her eyebrows drawing together in confusion. Don cut her off.
"We shall continue this discussion inside my office, Zen," he said quietly, suddenly regaining control over the argument. Zen hesitated as if he were going to argue the point further but one look at Amelia's curious expression sent him storming through the door into Don's office. Don followed him pausing only long enough to flash Amelia an apologetic smile before the door was closed and, from the sound of a soft click, locked.
The rest of the time she sat there Amelia felt troubled. Despite what Zen had said about Don's innocence, it sounded a great deal to her as if the two were doing something illegal. Didn't that make it her job to report them? Didn't they always tell you at school how you shouldn't be a bystander? But how could she report them if she didn't have the faintest idea what they were talking about? Whatever it was, it was clear that Zen didn't think she should know about it. Didn't that make it twice as likely to be something illegal? Something that they wouldn't want reported to the police?
Quietly Amelia looked around the small office taking in every detail from the bookshelves to the filing cabinet. In the office she could see something that most doctors offices lacked. It was a poorly run business to say the least – no charge for a very costly procedure and as far as she could tell, one doctor for a twenty-four hour clinic. She had listened only that afternoon to the faint sound of snores coming behind the very door Don and Zen had disappeared to and taken it for laziness. Was that the only sleep he got? Did she really want to report a doctor who tried so hard to make everyone else's life easier?
Amelia was still trying to decide when Don's office door opened again and Zen came out looking both resentful and sulky.
"I'm supposed to walk you home," he said miserably. "Every day… And you'd better not complain about it because I promise you that I hate it more than you do."
"I'm perfectly capable of walking myself home," Amelia replied tersely.
Before Zen could utter a reply Don emerged behind him, smiling kindly at Amelia. "I do not doubt your ability to walk on your own, Ms. Evans. I simply fear for your safety at leaving at such a late time of night. This is not a good neighborhood and I feel that if I were to let you walk on your own then it would be my fault if something were to happen to you."
"Well what good is Zen? If I'm going to get mugged I don't see Zen stopping them," Amelia muttered, frowning a little. "He's not exactly intimidating."
"Can't you take her home?" Zen snapped, glaring at Don too.
"Amelia, please. It would make me feel much more at ease if you would allow Zendoro to escort you."
Amelia looked from Don to Zen, frowning a little. A thought had suddenly occurred to her that was far from welcome. What if they had decided she'd heard too much? What if that was really why Zen was walking her home… To finish her off! What would she do? Zen really wasn't intimidating, but he was still bigger than she was, and in a fight she was fairly certain she'd lose.
"Thanks anyway, Dr. Dyson, but I think I'd feel safer without Zen," Amelia said quietly.
"See? I told you she wouldn't want me to come. Personally I haven't got a problem with letting her be leech bait myself…" Zen said thoughtfully.
Though Amelia did not know or care what Zen was talking about it sounded a great deal as if he was threatening her indirectly.
"Amelia, if you want to work here any longer I insist that you walk home with Zen. Despite his less than intimidating appearance I assure you that no one will try to harm you when he is around. Now please, I am tired and losing my patience for the night."
Amelia bit her lip, obviously torn now on what to do. Finally she nodded, slowly rising from her seat. Though Zen looked annoyed at her change of heart he accepted it, moving to the door quickly. His hand was on the knob when Amelia's voice made him turn back to look at her.
"Dr. Dyson?" Amelia said softly.
"Yes Amelia?"
"Sir, what you and Zen were talking about before…" Amelia faltered as Zen let out an exasperated sigh. Bravely she pushed on, "Whatever it is you're doing here… It's not illegal, right?"
"That is correct, Amelia," Don said with a patient nod.
"But you can't tell me what it is?"
Don nodded and Amelia frowned a little. "But Zen knows?"
"Correct again," Don agreed, his eyes twinkling mysteriously.
"But sir… If you don't mind me asking, why is it a secret? It's obviously not because of doctor patient privacy if Zen knows… So why-?"
Don hesitated, seeming to decide how to word something delicately. "Let's just say that if the police were to find out our secret then I would never have a moment of peace again."
"But if its not illegal-" Amelia began quickly.
"I think," Don cut in softly, "That I have answered enough questions for the night. Have a pleasant evening, Ms. Evans."
Without another word Don turned on his heel and slipped back into his office, leaving behind him an awkward silence which Zen had no trouble filling.
"Come on, Evans, we've got to go," he said, opening the door. "I have better things to do tonight than to walk you home."
Reluctantly Amelia followed Zen out the door, walking in silence beside him. They did not speak the entire way to her house, they didn't even look at one another. Quickly Amelia's fears of Zen attacking her died away, leaving her with a nagging sense that she was missing something. All the way home thoughts plagued her as she tried to decide what to do. It was obvious that Don did not want her to go to the police, but at the same time, if something illegal was going on then she might get blamed.
In what felt like minutes they'd reached her street and she led the way silently to her house. Like a gentleman Zen walked her to the door, though glancing at his expression Amelia was sure he was mentally insulting her with each step they took.
Amelia's house was medium sized with two stories and a neat coat of white paint all along the outside. The trim was done in a navy blue and the sidewalk they'd walked on was an assortment of flat rocks, which gave the house a charming appeal. Around her yard was a white picket fence, which looked just like a picture book, and in front of them was a navy door, which opened before Amelia had so much as a chance to extract her key.
"Amelia!" a woman exclaimed, folding her daughter in a hug. "How was work, honey? Did you have a good day at school? We were awfully worried about you walking home in the dark but you've become such an independent young woman that we were sure you wouldn't let us-"
"Let her breath Laura," a man laughed behind her. The two were both beaming down at their daughter happily, like they were some idealistic family from a children's book. The woman had large, inquisitive brown eyes much like her daughter, though her hair was a dark brunette. Her husband had smaller green eyes, which were magnified behind glasses and carefully brushed brown hair the same shade as Amelia's. She was truly a perfect mix of her two parents.
Quickly Amelia pulled out of the hug, her cheeks burning as she glanced towards Zen in a way to suggest she expected him to laugh. This was not something she should have worried about, though, for the expression on Zen's face was far from one of enjoyment. Indeed, he looked as if he had been slapped hard in the face. His mouth was turned down in a frown and his eyes held something Amelia had never expected to see there: sadness.
Before Amelia could hurry inside, her parents noticed Zen standing like a statue beside her, both smiling pleasantly at him.
"And who would this strapping young man be?" Mr. Evans asked teasingly.
"Zendoro Zoola," Zen said politely, offering his hand which was immediately taken. He and Amelia's father shook hands twice stiffly then both put their hands at their side again.
"He's a guy in my class at school," Amelia said, trying to explain a little better. Though she normally would have left it at that, she figured she might as well add what he was doing there at that precise moment. "My boss was worried about me walking home alone and Zen offered to escort me."
Amelia could feel the surprise of Zen's stare but she had no way of explaining to him. The truth was that if her parents thought she was walking home with someone she hated, and who hated her, they would insist on picking her up every day – a punishment Amelia was not willing to accept.
"My, what a considerate fellow!" Mr. Evans exclaimed, clapping Zen on the back. "I know it's late, but won't you come in for a moment?"
"I really should be getting back," Zen answered stiffly. "Don's going to wonder where I've gone."
"Come on, lad, just a quick chat. We won't keep you long," Mr. Evans insisted, smiling.
"I… Alright, I guess I have a second," Zen agreed reluctantly. As they were ushered inside Zen threw Amelia an accusing look, which she was quick to return. After all, it wasn't as though she wanted him there anymore than he wanted to be there.
"So, you go to Amelia's school, do you?" Mr. Evans said the minute they'd all sat down in the living room.
"Yes," Zen replied quietly. "We're in the same class at school."
"And are you going to walk Amelia home again or-?"
Zen sighed a little, "Every night," he said sullenly. Feeling Amelia's eyes on him he added, "If she'll allow me to, of course." Amelia breathed a sigh of relief, though Zen was rather indifferent. If he'd wanted to, of course, he could have acted up in front of Amelia's parents and at worst got himself forbidden from walking with her and at best got her to resign, but what was the point? There would be many chances to make Amelia's life miserable if he wanted to but as far as he was concerned using parents was a blow below the belt.
"Splendid, splendid," Mr. Evans said genially, "We would of course like to meet your parents…"
"No." Zen said sharply, causing both of Amelia's parents to exchange surprised looks. "I mean, I only have one parent, my mother, and she's always really busy. If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not bother her with something like this. She doesn't mind me walking Amelia home, if that's what you're worried about. If you have anything to say to her I can pass it on for you, but otherwise it isn't really possible."
The room fell silent and for a moment Zen was sure that Amelia's parents were going to shout at him. Instead Mrs. Evans spoke in a voice that was only a bit abashed.
"Of course," she assured him, smiling reassuringly, "We didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, dear. We just wanted to tell her what a charming young man she was raising, though I'm sure that she already knows that. But of course, we don't want to bother her unnecessarily."
"I appreciate your understanding," Zen muttered, though he looked if possible, even more sullen. Amelia watched him silently wishing she understood what was wrong. "If that's all you wanted to talk about…"
"Well, I think we've taken enough of your time up this evening," Mr. Evans consented. "Please, feel free to stop by any time you like, though. Amelia never has her friends from school over…"
Her face burning with embarrassment Amelia was the first to rise and start towards the door, though Zen was close on her heels. In seconds he had gotten the door open and was halfway out when he paused, listening.
"Amelia, say goodbye to your friend," Mrs. Evans scolded lightly, "It was so terribly kind of him to walk you home."
Amelia looked as if she would have rather done just about anything in the world than to tell Zen "thank you", though with little other choice she muttered, "Thanks for walking me home. I'll see you tomorrow."
With a stiff nod in response Zen walked out into the night, disappearing from view in a matter of seconds. The Evans family watched, two smiling and the last rather glum. With a soft click the door was closed, Amelia's parent's smiling faces imprinted forever in Zendoro Zoola's mind.