Perfect School

Jonah:

Marie wasn’t the slightest bit surprised by what we told her. She had sent them. It was more training for us. Four lives equaled training. It wasn’t the loss of life that bothered me, it was how trivially she treated it.

And our training wasn’t over. Kira and I had to deal with the bodies on our own without outside help. When we were done we would go back to the school.

I was annoyed after the call but was careful to not let it show. “We need a car so we can get supplies,” I said quietly. We couldn’t rent of buy one, that would draw too much attention.

While he'd been on the phone with Marie I'd taken the time to order us appetizers. It was for the sake of appearing normal than actually wanting to eat them. I'd already told the waitress we were simply feeling a bit peckish and wouldn't be eating much.

Focusing on Jonah I nodded, "We just need to go for the valet, or check one of the parking garages. So long as we return it in a timely manner it will be fine."

Jonah:

“Parking garage will be less attended.  Less eyes,” I murmured.  The waitress brought our appetizer and I nibbled at it while running through a list of supplies in my head of things we would need to clean up the hotel room.

I was more interested in the food than he was, but it also gave me time where I didn't have to look at him and could let my thoughts wander. What had happened to me last night? I only barely remembered getting back to the room. And I'd never been one to go to sleep in what I had. I was always ready in case something happened or I needed to get right into training.

After we finished and paid, we stepped out into the street and into the night. It took me only a few moments of looking around before I pointed towards a parking garage down the way. "There is one."

Jonah:

IT was a simple matter to “borrow” a car. Before long we were on our way out of town so we could buy supplies at a story outside the city. Most of the things we would need could be purchased at any supermarket. “She had us drugged,” I said finally. I could tell that Kira was dwelling on something and that seemed to be the clearest answer. The car couldn’t possibly be bugged by Marie, so there was no danger of speaking freely.

"She?" I asked. I knew the answer already, and it left me feeling cold and numb. I doubted this was a random exercise or training. If it was, then we'd have lessons on what should have been done, and people watching out for us. But this seemed almost like punishment instead of a test. Jonah and I had been good though.

My stomach seemed to drop out of me, and I regretted eating the appetizers. Had I been getting too close with Jonah? Was Marie seeing what I hadn't been?

Jonah:

“Marie. This was never meant as a reward for us. It was a trick.” The only thing we learned by this exercise was to trust Marie less. “She put us in a place where we had to act exactly in a way that would get us in trouble. The job was a simple one. It could have been done without the theatrics, without the acting. I could have done this alone with an hours work. She’s just playing with us,” I was aggravated by it and it was showing through my words. I would not have spoken so easily if I had not been sure of Kira’s attachment to me. She wouldn’t get me in trouble. Not now.

I tried to swallow the bile in my throat, tried to ignore my growing nausea. I wanted to tell him that he was wrong, to rebel against the very idea of what he was saying. But I knew he was right. This was all a set up. A cruel set up. It didn't matter to me that he was being tested. It mattered that Marie didn't trust me, that she knew something I didn't about what went on in my head and inside. Clenching a fist into my stomach I looked out the window, wishing I was back in a shower. I felt unclean, like I needed to purge myself free of everything that felt so wrong. But what troubled me most is in the back of my head, a small kernel of thought kept repeating to me. 'Maybe its Marie who has been wrong this whole time.'

Jonah:

“Has she always treated you like this?” I asked her, hoping a question would force her to talk.  As far as I was aware, Marie favored Kira and pampered her when it was possible.  But recently that did not seem to be the case.  With the emergence of Kira’s parents, Marie was pulling out new tricks.  She was doing a poor job of it.  Being around Kira as much as I was, it wasn’t hard to tell that she was slowly driving her away.  It was just as well.  It served my purposes.

"I've always done what I was told...always performed flawlessly. I never had cause or reason for her to punish me except when I didn't try hard enough." I spoke softly and again swallowed the bile in my throat after. It was true. Marie had pampered me, placed me upon a pedestal but it wasn't for me that I was placed so. Others worked harder, performed better when they had something to strive towards. I was her favorite but I was also another tool she used against others. Many wanted the position I had and were ruthless in their quest to obtain it. She valued such qualities.

Jonah:

“I suppose you’ve become more than a weapon,” I said. It was easy to control someone who didn’t get emotional. It was easy to control someone who was emotional too, but Marie didn’t hold those strings. I did. And more so than me, her family did.

"I've become weak." The very words came out as a sigh and an admittance of defeat. I was weak. The me from the past would never have let any of this happen. Never have faltered. I was Marie's porcelain doll. Beautiful, terrifying, and everyone wanted a look. But now the porcelain was cracked and stained.

Jonah:

I was quiet for a moment.  She wasn’t wrong.  “I think your problem is that you haven’t faced your demons.  You’re weak when it comes to your family.  You won’t be able to overcome your weakness until you resolve those issues,” I told her.  It was something I had been battling my whole life.

I glanced over at him, a brief look from the corner of my eyes. "My family is not my only problem." For a brief moment I saw the path that would be necessary for me to return to what I was. To replace the mask and become a machine again. My family would have to leave me life. No more contact. Kyra, Andrew, Paublo would also need to be sent away. But the main thing would be for Jonah to be removed from my life. Permanently. Perhaps the best way would be for me to put a bullet through his heart myself.

"They haven't reached out at all. As far as it matters, they don't want me. They mean little now."

Jonah:

“And that bothers you. You may not show it but I know that it does,” I said. We were nearing the store now. “You can’t control what other people do, only how you respond to it.” It was what I had done at eight. I couldn’t stop my father from treating me the way he did, but I could change the situation. I killed my stepmother to get out of it.

"Apparently I'm wrong when I try to do that too. Between you and Kyra, my views of family and how I should interact with them have been the wrong choices." I shot him a glance his way for a moment then focused out the front windshield. "So tell me what I should have done then. Since you seem to know all the answers."

Jonah:

“Do whatever you have to do to get over your abandonment issues,” I said dismissively as I pulled up to the supermarket.  It took us half an hour to get everything we needed, along with an assortment of other things to make our purchase less suspicious.  “When we get back, I’ll go in and get you what you need to look like part of the hotel crew, then you can bring the supplies in on a cleaning cart,” I told her on our drive back.

"Fine. I'll wipe down the car so you can return it after you bring me the stuff." Letting out a soft breath I waited until he was gone to open up the trunk and start organizing everything together to make transport easier. I couldn't deny what he'd said. I did feel abandoned, and I was abandoned. But how did one get over that?

Jonah:

Before long we were back in the hotel room with all our supplies and four dead bodies. With some help from her, I got two of them in the bathtub and began mixing the chemicals to dissolve the bodies. Only two bodies would fit in the tub at once, it would take six hours to fully dissolve them then the other two would go in. We had a long day ahead of us.

While I was working in the bathtub, Kira was scrubbing at the blood stains on the floor. That was almost more tricky than getting rid of the bodies. Blood was difficult to erase.

I had to mix my own chemicals for a spray. But there was only so much good chemicals could do. If I was telling someone else to do it then I'd say it would just be easier to rip out the carpet and padding underneath then replace it all. But I didn't have that time or option for it. So I had to scrub. The living room was easy, hard tile and Jonah's care at not leaving traces made it easy to finish. But my room was something else entirely. I started on the walls and furniture, even my bedspread before I went for the real difficult task.

On my hands and knees I scrubbed at the floor, working out a particularly tough stain. My hands were practically stained with it at this point, but for once I didn't feel myself losing it like I usually did when blood was involved.

Jonah:

When I finished the chemical bath I closed the bathroom door and went to help Kira. I sighed at the mess she had made before getting on my hands and knees to help her scrub at the carpet. “I’m surprised Marie never taught you how to control that side of you,” I commented quietly. The night had soured my mood. I was harsher with Kira than I normally would be now, especially considering the hotel room was almost certainly bugged by Marie. She had to know that everything before had been an act.

"It's not something I am familiar with myself Jonah." I retorted while taking a moment to roll my wrist and work out some soreness. Standing I took the bucket I'd been using and went for his bathroom. Rising the bucket clean I refilled it with water, and prepared some more chemicals before returning to scrubbing.

Jonah:

We worked in silence for the next couple hours. When the morning light started shining through the windows I got up and left the room. Minutes later I returned with a latte for her and a double espresso for me. “Give it a rest for now. I ordered breakfast for us.” The stain on the carpet was light now. The best thing for it would be to soak now and return to it later.

My body felt like it was quivering slightly as I stood and accepted the cup from him. Holding it gingerly between my fingers I took only a few sips before setting it on the table and heading for his room. As mine was currently being cleaned I closed the door, changed out of the clothes he'd 'borrowed' and back into what I had been wearing before. I also rinsed my hands as best I could to remove the red stains.

Jonah:

Returned to the livingroom and sat on the couch sipping my espresso. My eyes fell on a spot that Kira had missed in her cleaning but I put it out on my mind for the moment. We were taking a break. We had been up the whole night, we had been recovering from being drugged, we deserved to rest for a few minutes.