Faye trudged down the corridor with the large cookie tin under her arm. She dropped it once she reached her room, letting it plop down onto the bed. She still didn't know what to make of it.
She could smell something being burnt, oil and vegetables and some sort of pork or beef or something. She entered the main room and hung over the railing so that she was hovering above Spike who was in his usual place, rooted to the bright orange sofa below.
"Did I miss anything exciting?" She asked, dangling her arms. She looked at her fingernails. She'd really been neglecting them lately. They were sort of ragged from her nervous habit of biting them. She'd been doing a lot of that lately.
"So how much did Akaido pay you?" He asked casually. He tipped his cigarette into the ashtray on the floor by his head, tapping the loose ashes from it. He brought it back to his lips.
"Pay me? Pay me for what?" Faye straightened when she heard someone coming up behind her.
"For giving him the idea to do the movie. For selling our stories." Jet added gruffly. Faye turned to look at him and then back at Spike.
"What are you talking about?"
"Oh, come on! Appledelhi told us! How much money did you make off of us?" Spike glared up at Faye with a frown on his face. "We're supposed to be comrades, remember? You were the one who was always telling us that."
Faye was indignant, something she wasn't too often. Her eyes narrowed angrily at Spike. She turned instead to look at Jet. "Who's Apple-whoeverthefuck? I don't have anything to do with that movie. I'm asking all the same questions as you!" She cried. Then suddenly pleaded for Jet to believe her with her eyes, "We are comrades! Why would I sell you guys out? And anyways, half of that stuff about you I didn't even know about."
"We know you didn't do it alone. You're not clever enough to find all that stuff out on your own. You had help." Spike spat. Faye gripped the railing until her knuckles were white and sharp like arrowheads. "Right. Who?"
"Ed." Jet answered. "And we figured something else out, too. All this crazy shit that's been happening to us the past little while...it all has something to do with that tape and deck you got. Those packages. Someone's in on this thing with you. Ed's just a kid. She doesn't know any better. But we work together. How could you do something like this to us?" Jet seemed more hurt than angry. He looked like he really wanted to know why this had happened. Spike, on the other hand, looked betrayed and furious. Like he didn't care why this had happened, but that he was going to end it. Probably by throwing Faye out a window.
"I can't believe you think I'd do this to you. You're all I have. I wouldn't mess with that."
"You're nothing but a greedy bitch. We should have handed you in when we had the chance."
"Come on! Don't say that! I swear I have nothing to do with this movie. I've never met Akaido or Apple-whoever or anyone. I don't have any money. Search my room if you don't believe me. If you find anything, you can condemn me or whatever the hell."
Jet let out a long sigh. He stood staring at Faye with his hands on his hips. "I don't know what else to think, Faye. I'd like to believe that you don't have anything to do with all this shit. But I don't know..."
"Jet..." Faye begged. Suddenly, Spike rushed up the stairs and shoved past the two of them. He stomped down the hallway, "Screw both of you and all this talking!" He marched into Faye's room and started opening drawers and compartments. He overturned her mattress and the cookie tin went bouncing across the floor, hitting the wall.
Jet and Faye had followed him. Faye was almost in hysterics when she saw what he was doing to her room. Jet stood back and wondered if he should stop Spike or not. He hoped Spike wouldn't find anything.
"You're fucking crazy!" Faye cried, leaping onto Spike's back. Spike threw her off of him and pushed her out into the hallway. His eyes fell on the cookie tin. He took it in both his hands and Faye jumped at him again, grabbing at his arms. "Leave it!" She screamed.
Spike tore the lid off and what seemed like hundreds of envelopes and photographs fell out onto the floor. Spike was suddenly calm as Faye fell to the ground, gathering papers and pictures in her arms. One picture grabbed Spike's attention and he took it carefully from Faye's hand.
It was a photo of Spike. Or someone who looked like Spike. Younger, but brown-eyed and grinning in his navy blue school uniform buttoned up to the neck. He turned over the photo in his hand and scanned the back.
"Ezekiel." Spike said.
***Hi, guys. Just wanted to say that this is eventually going to end. Don't worry. I'm completely aware of how long it is but I don't want to end it improperly or abruptly. But I assure you, it WILL end! Thanks for the reviews. I absolutely love reading them!