Chapter 10: Or the moment of truth in your lies

They were sitting in the MRI room again, and Kutner was talking. Usually, Thirteen listened, but right now she wasn't. It wasn't that she didn't care. She did. She just had other, more pressing, issues on her mind.

Kutner paused and she realized he'd asked her a question.

"What?" she asked. "Sorry. You know I haven't slept in a while."

"Did your dad watch a lot of sports?" Kutner asked.

Thirteen couldn't imagine what the rest of the conversation had been. She assumed it had led up to that topic. She assumed this wasn't just a random question.

She thought then about the answer, if it would give anything away if she answered honestly. She'd been thinking twice about everything she told him lately, because she seemed to be having trouble keeping information from him.

"Does he watch a lot of sports," Thirteen corrected. "He's still alive. And no, not that I can remember."

"You told me both your parents were dead," Kutner said after a minute.

Thirteen furrowed her eyebrows in thought. She didn't know why she would have lied about that. What's more, she didn't remember telling anyone that.

"When?" Thirteen asked.

"Remember? Searching the patient's house that one time before Christmas?" Kutner answered.

"No," Thirteen replied. "Sorry, I don't know why I would have said that."

There must have been a reason, Thirteen thought. She probably didn't remember it right now because of the strange impact Kutner's presence seemed to be having on her lately. She would remember it later.

"Do you lie a lot?" Kutner asked.

"No," Thirteen answered.

"Good, because you don't seem like you're very good at it," Kutner answered. "I mean, you've got the basic lying down. You just can't keep it up. So what about you're mom?"

"My mom's dead," Thirteen answered quickly. "I'm not lying."

Then she mentally kicked herself, because she shouldn't have told him that. She pressed her mouth shut and vowed not to say anything else to him the rest of the time they were here.

Kutner noticed her face.

"It's okay. I won't tell anyone," he said.