G 1.2 Ch 3 – Secrets

Almas announced another promotion and then chuckled slightly as she announced her newest partner on patrol, she winked at me and said “his name is Gage Briody and he’s about the same age as us.” Ah finally, now she would stop complaining about the lack of men around town. Then she started talking about a need for something to write reports with and on, and how was she supposed to write when she didn’t know how, all she knew was mom’s written language. Hopefully a lack of reports won’t hold her back.

After all I wasn’t being held back by unattainable goals set by mysteriously vanishing bosses. The whole lab space issue had become mute when I was informed that I would need to hold a party, as if something like that would ever happen in my lifetime.

Almost everyday Almas talked about Gage and how well they are getting along. Almas announced that she was confident she could get another promotion at the end of her next shift, she told me that she believes her next promotion will be the one where she chooses a specialty field within the department. Since she had brought up the topic I asked her about the burglar incident. Almas refused to look me in the eye, she said the less I knew the better for both of  us.

It was late by the time my shift ended, as I was heading out Dallas … yes the vampire is now my boss because he doesn’t age very fast … stopped me and introduced me to the newest person to get hired, a woman name Jill Pool, slightly attractive longish green-brown hair. Dallas also hands me a small device tells me it’s a beeper and that I’m on call, as if I wasn’t tired enough but I want another promotion so I take it.

When I get home there’s a squad card parked in the yard, that’s new I thought. Thinking I’ll get to ask Almas about it I head in only to discover that she’s asleep. Eying her uniform I notice some new tabs on it, looks like she got the anticipated promotion but maybe not the one she wanted.

She’s tossing something fierce and murmuring, I head for the crib near the bathroom to add my pay to our stash. I stand and stare blankly …… from behind me I hear Almas yell out “It’s all we have I swear on my life!” I look over my shoulder she’s still asleep and thrashing on the bed sweat beading on her brow. I don’t know what’s going on maybe it’s Almas said in the morning that it’s better I don’t know. I hum a little bit of a song that our father used to sing, it does the trick Almas settles into a quite sleep. Exhausted myself and with the prospect of extra hours I head for my sleeping bundle.

I awoke about an hour before Almas and pulled out some papers I had brought home from work when Dallas wasn’t watching. It was a basic primer that an intern had been flipping through. I couldn’t read it easily but I was learning, mostly this one had pictures of different body parts with labels scientific and standard. I had to learn this written language if either of us wanted to get ahead to the tops of our paths. I was always sharing what I learned with Almas during our chess games and she was a quick learner, although for the most part she said she was doing her reports verbally and so far the chief was fine with this.

When Almas got up she didn’t even look at me, just grabbed a bowl of soup and ate quietly, without her usual banter. I noticed some bruises on her right arm and asked her what had happened.

Almas ignored me and finished getting herself ready for work, just before she headed up the stairs she said “don’t ask questions that can’t be answered” and left. What was going on? What couldn’t my sister tell me? We’ve always talked about everything. That’s when I noticed the bruises on the back of her neck as well. I didn’t know what was going on but someone had hurt my sister and I didn’t like it!

Over the next few days I tried talking to Almas to no avail, sometimes I would see what looked like fresh bruises when she changed for bed and work. I did the only thing I could do quietly read the medical books from the clinic. My boss tried to get me to go to his house one day during shift, while I considered him attractive enough I flat out told him I wasn’t into hooking up with a vampire I’d work with him because I had to and that was as close to him as I wanted to get. He looked at me hard for a moment and then walked away. I was worried that I would get fired at the end of my shift, instead I found a note promoting me to intern tucked into the cover of the latest book I had borrowed. So Dallas knew I was taking them home and apparently approved of the practice.

None of that though helped with Almas. When she did speak the laughter was gone, her words were terse and her voice was gaining a hard edge. Gone were the days when she would laughingly tell me of what she and her partners would do during their shifts. That she was still working with Gage I knew because every once in a while she would mention his name. She didn’t even talk about our bet anymore. About once a week I noticed that our stash would shrink again not as much as that one night but still it was obvious to me that payments were being made to someone.