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Liar
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It wasn't the truth. It couldn't be. There was no way the bitch standing in front of her was telling the truth. A feeling of utter disgust crawled up her spine as the words dropped like poison from those venomous lips, a fragment of glass embedding itself into her center. Riza breathed in a long ragged breath as the words registered in her mind. They weren't true, they couldn't be. She wouldn't believe that they were real.
She hadn't said it straight out. She hadn't walked into the room declaring unfailingly that he was dead. That would have been easier to reject. It would have been easier to brush away like an errant wasp, a sting, but something easy to differ. It would have been so much easier if she had said that, she could have denied it with more certainty, with more force, if the words had been simple. 'You look like a very loyal officer. I'll let you follow your superior in no time.' The words danced in her head like a heathen ritual, a tormenting chant of cruelty and deceit. She wouldn't let them control her, she had to fight it. If she had only said that he was dead she could have instantly said no. But the words tossed into her mind as she tried to make sense, the meaning carving itself into her, leading her to believe it was the truth.
She couldn't have failed. She had promised him she would see him to the top, promised she would cover his back. She would give her life for him; there was no way he would just die. Not when she would do it for him. It wasn't plausible, there was no way he would just walk out. He had ambitions, dreams, people he needed to support, he wouldn't walk away without doing that. He wouldn't leave without saying goodbye.
It wasn't possible not to be able to see him again. There was no way the world would be right with itself if he decided to leave. There was no way the earth could go on spinning on its axis if he wasn't in the office procrastinating on his paper work. No way anyone could breath without him constantly annoying her with his delaying tactics. No way she could go on if there wasn't someone for her to protect.
She couldn't have failed. She couldn't have let him die. She'd never left a task unaccomplished, this was a lie. Those words, that venom could be nothing but malicious deception.
I'll let you follow your superior in no time.
No. This can't be… no one could have…
The words played in her mind, chanting over and over like some pagan cry. They melded into her soul; meshed with her innermost being, tearing the foundations she had built her self upon.
Liar. You're lying.