Raiyev Part 10
#10 of Raiyev
Raiyev was a bit uneasy going back to work after lunch. He meandered slowly down the long corridor of his building before entering Lab 8. What did she have against him and his fiancée? Why did Bilicek seem to have it in for him and Brad? Or did she just treat everyone the same?
When the raccoon entered his lab, he saw most of his coworkers milling around the bulletin board. He walked on over to the bulletin board to see what the new posting was.
"Questioning schedule," the sun bear said to Raiyev, a slight hint of disgust in his voice. "Taking away from our work!"
Raiyev took a closer look and found what he was looking for. Around the middle of the short list, it read: Kosecovic, Raiyev 10/02 10:20 a.m. "Shit, that's tomorrow!" Raiyev said softly.
"They're finishing it up quickly," the sun bear told him. "They want to be done by the end of tomorrow."
"And to think that I usually look forward to Fridays," Raiyev said.
"You almost sound like you've got something to hide..." the sun bear drifted off, grinning at him.
"Oh, you know I didn't do anything, Jake!"
The bear chuckled. "I know, Raiyev, I know. So why are you so worried?"
"I hear that Bilicek's being a royal bitch to people that she questions. She gave my fiancée a really hard time."
"That sounds like Bilicek," Jake said with a grimace, then walked back to his workstation. Raiyev took one last look at his time to verify it in his mind, then went back to work. He was still having a hard time concentrating, as his mind continually drifted back to everything that had happened since Monday. He was so distracted that he got nothing done for the rest of the day and stayed late afterwards so that he could try to catch up.
The lab emptied at the end of the day, and Raiyev called Brad, telling him to go have an early dinner and come pick him back up around 6:30. He decided the best he could do for now was to inject the chemical into the few untouched plants. His head felt a bit woozy as he reached for the chemical-bearing syringe and stuck it into the stem of the first plant. He continued surreally, his mind going back to the week's events...
"The world started shrinking due to some unknown force..." he recapped aloud. "...Toni, a new assistant, had only been there a couple of days, and she seemed to know about what was really going on...Dr. Paxton came in right on time to stop Toni from telling me what she knew or thought she knew...right on time...how odd was that? What were the chances that she would turn up at the very moment that...AAUURGH!"
Raiyev let out a loud cry as he stumbled back, holding his left forearm. He looked down and gazed stupidly at the syringe still stuck into his arm. What the fuck had he just done?! He slowly and painfully took the syringe out of his arm, rushing to the sink to wash the wound as fresh blood began to ooze out slowly. He grabbed a bandage and sealed up the wound, then picked up the syringe again, looking at it.
His expression of astonishment at his own stupidity turned to one of horror as he realized that the syringe was half empty. "Oh, shit...no...please, PLEASE don't let this be true..." He started babbling at the syringe in his hand, trying to come to terms with what he had just done. He cursed himself, berated the fact that he let himself get so distracted...
Maybe it wasn't in his blood? He tried to remember if he had injected any from that syringe into the plants... He couldn't remember. He slowly made his way over to the break room and sat down in a chair. He was shaking violently, he was so nervous and scared. "What the fuck have I done? What's going to happen to me?" He looked down at the Band-Aid covering the small prick on his left forearm.
"Come on, Raiyev!" he said to himself. "Get your head on straight and think rationally! Now...what would be the outcome of this? What's the worst that could happen to you?" He looked at the clock on the wall of the break room. 5:43. He still had about 45 minutes before Brad was supposed to pick him up.
After another minute, he headed back to the lab and started to clean up, leaving no evidence of the dire mistake he had just made. He spent the rest of the time looking through the data already collected to see what, if anything, might happen to him...there was nothing clear; it was all too vaguely hypothesized. So with a tired head and a guilty conscience, he made his way to the front parking lot where Brad was waiting. Raiyev barely slept at all that night.
****
At his scheduled time the next morning, Raiyev headed to Bilicek's office for his questioning. The room was rather cold and barely decorated. Large metal filing cabinets stood in a row behind Bilicek's small desk. In front of her desk were a couple of uncomfortable-looking armchairs. Only a small plant in one corner made the room feel as if it had any sense of life.
"Sit," Bilicek ordered Raiyev when he walked in. She was holding her clipboard, filling out some paperwork quickly, muttering incoherently to herself.
"Raiyev, right?" she asked, looking up at him.
"Yes," the raccoon replied.
"So...tell me what you saw, from the beginning."
Raiyev told his story. He told her how he had only really seen anything after he heard the crash of Paxton's coffee mug shattering on the floor. He told her how he had sat there and watched, just like everyone else, and everything following.
"That's it?" she said, after he finished.
"Yeah," he said innocently, as if the matter was closed.
She looked at him, a queer look in her eyes, as if searching for something more. "Fine, you can go."
He left quickly, hurrying back to his lab. So far, there were no signs of any sort of change in any of the plants. Everyone was somewhat upset, though patient, about this. Everyone except Raiyev, who gave a silent sigh to himself. Maybe nothing will happen after all? he hoped. He was glad it was Friday, and that his questioning was done. He now had the whole weekend to look forward to, and he, as well as pretty much everyone at EarthTech, could really use a couple of days off.
The weekend went by too quickly, though, and before Raiyev knew it, it was Monday morning again. He was still in the bedroom when Brad was calling for him from the living room.
"Raiyev, honey? What's taking so long?" Brad's voice rang throughout the small apartment.
"Uhh...I'll be there in just a moment!" he called back. The truth was that he was having difficulty getting his clothes on. His pants didn't want to zip up, and his shirt didn't want to button; they were stretching on him, as if too small. Had they shrunk in the wash? Was Raiyev putting on weight? No...Raiyev looked down and noticed that he was still in the same perfect shape that he had been in for years now. Why were his clothes suddenly a touch too small, then? With a good struggle, Raiyev finally managed to make his clothes fit on him--somewhat of an uncomfortable fit, but still a fit nonetheless.
When he got to his lab, the team had just started working when Bilicek and her young cougar assistant waltzed into the lab. Bilicek pointed the cougar in the direction of Harper, and the cougar walked right up to the tall rabbit.
"Dr. Amanda Jean Harper?" he asked.
Harper, looking a bit confused, responded, "Yes?"
The cougar held up a document. "Dr. Harper, I have a warrant for your arrest for the premeditated murder of Dr. Amelia Tabitha Paxton. You have the right to remain silent..."
Raiyev watched surreally as Bilicek walked behind Harper and cuffed her, while the cougar continued, and the two officers led the rabbit out slowly out of the laboratory. Harper had frozen up. Raiyev couldn't tell whether she was scared or just solemn. Either way, she didn't protest at all. She left the room without a single word.