THE "TRUTH"

Bill walked into the room nervously all alone, almost tripping on thin air and falling face first on the ground. Even though he felt embarrassed, that couldn’t stop his pride from feeling like a VIP, coming in through the mouse door, with professional bodyguards beside him. Even though their black suits and glasses looked intimidating, Bill felt like he was a protected celebrity in those short minutes of walking towards the courtroom.

As the judge pounded the gavel and called the room to silence, Bill bit on his fingernails, a habit he wasn’t able to break since he was young. He waited, and waited, and waited, and after what felt like eternity, he was called onto the platform. Bill was taken by surprise when the guard beside him lifted him up from under his armpits with his hand, and flew him through the air towards the table.

Bill took a deep breath and bowed to the judge, “Your Honor”. He started recounting everything that happened, pacing back and forth on the table. It was dramatic, or more specifically, if you didn’t know that he was a witness at court, you would’ve thought that he was performing a TED Talk. He had a big microphone set up in front of him, and he yelled into it with all his might. Bill is a dreamer, and in his mind, he’s a hero that survived the war with battle scars. He dramatically fell on the table when he remembered the unconscious human, and recounted the attack on the kidnapper with glee. He even reenacted the cursing that happened when the kidnapper was attacked by the mice troop, and when people let out a few snickers, he went on with the cursing passionately, but thankfully, the judge quickly silenced him. Outgoing Bill eventually finished with a 90 degree bow, and welcomed the judge to his home. Though, after saying this, Bill quickly realized there wasn’t a chair big enough for the judge to sit on if he came. Oh well, Bill thinks.

Once again, he was flown down the table, and the kidnapper’s parents looked at him with tears in their eyes, mouthing a silent thank you. Bill was instantly filled with pride, and he walked out proudly, puffing up his chest like a warrior.

He walked off confidently, without turning his head around, just like the heroes do in movies.

But, like always, he breaks character from the hero, and his real personality comes through. He opened the small mouse door and took a deep breath in, and sighed in relief, the scent of cheese strong in the air. Bill followed the trail of scent excitedly, the smell getting stronger and stronger as he walked forward. Thoughts of cheese float through his mind, and he starts running, but a big snapping sound and a sudden pain stops him in his tracks. Bill struggled, his legs moving frantically to get out of the mouse trap that got him, but nothing budges. At that moment, a sudden realization dawned on him, “I’m going to die.” He stared up at the kidnapper’s menacing face, knife in hand, ready to kill.

“I’ve got you now, so stop struggling. You’re not getting out of my grasp.” Bill felt despair, and all the colors drained from his cheeks. For the first time, he felt like there’s no way out, with the knife almost pressed on his neck. The kidnapper takes Bill into an alley, and down a dark tunnel.

“I’m going to make you pay for everything you’ve done to my brother, I’m going to torture you so badly, that by the end of it you will wish that you were never born. This is the beginning of your end.” The brother says this through gritted teeth, tying Bill down to face a group of mices tied down in front of him. The brother’s hand shakes despite his best efforts to stop it, and he grunts frustratedly.

“Oh, he’s the kidnapper’s brother. Phew..” A sigh of relief passed through him, and the clockwheels in his mind started turning. Like his utmost hero, Jerry, he’s going to outsmart the cat called Tom.

Suddenly, a light bulb clicked on in his brain. Or maybe, he doesn’t have to outsmart him, he just has to tell him the truth. At least, the truth he’s going to make up. He starts laughing, the laughter shaking his whole body, coming up from deep inside of him. “Kid, I’ve lived way longer than you, and I would advise you to not mess with something you don’t understand. You’re trudging in dangerous waters. Teenagers these days. You know, I really think you’re really smart. You kidnapped me in broad daylight and never searched my body for a phone or a knife. There’s so much that you don’t know.” Bill smiled knowingly, his laugh vibrating through the tunnel.

The kidnapper’s brother’s face turns from intimidating into confusion, and Bill smirks.

“We’ve been investigating you for a long time now. I know you’re too nice to harm anyone. Your brother told me all about you in the courtroom. I asked him why he did it, and he told me that he has nothing to lose, no family members that he values. So, you think your brother cares about you? Well think again. He hates you, you know that right?” He clutches his dagger, fist turning white, teeth clenching.

“No, man. I am not going to let you get into my head.” He brushes it off as if it’s nothing.

In the brother’s head, everything rushed past his mind, and he smiled. He knows how much his brother cared. They were the best of friends, and late night talks were surprisingly common. “He loves me a lot, more than anyone else. He even helped pay for my college tuition.”

“Ha, you wish he was that nice. I know what you’re thinking. He paid your tuition because he loves you. But no, I can assure you that he only did that so he can send you far away from home and him, cause he was sick of you. 3am beer runs? Ha, he came to you just because none of his friends were available. He was dumped by girls, and that’s the only reason he went to you. Also, did you know he told me the only reason he got into the gang was just because he needed money to pay for you, cause he didn’t want to be with you. So at the end of the day, I don’t know if you reached the conclusion, but, the only reason he ended up in jail was because of you all along.”

The brother put a hand out and leaned against the wall, stabilizing himself. How is it possible that the small and lowly sewage rat knows all this? The 3am beer runs were their secret.

Seeing the brother’s face, Bill also falters a bit with empathy, but he has to push through. “He doesn’t love you, so why should you care about him? Why seek revenge for him?”

The brother is left speechless, and he sits down on the ground, contemplating. There’s no way that all that is real, he thinks. But then again, anything’s possible. He never thought for a moment that his brother would commit such a sin, but he did. After a while, he reluctantly stood up, and walked over to Bill. In his mind, he thinks, “Of course, I’m being stupid and childish, taking out my anger on a bunch of mices. He reaches out his hand and starts untying the ropes.

On a closer look, Bill sees that his face is overcome by tiredness, and he suddenly feels a bit of remorse and empathy for him. But no, Bill thinks, it had to be done. The kidnapper was the person who wanted him to do this. Even though he works for the mafia, he’s still kind at heart. The kidnapper was the person who wanted to cut ties with his brother to protect him. “It’s for the best, it’s for the best, it’s for the best” Bill keeps repeating this under his breath, trying as hard as he can to believe what he’s saying.

“Just saying, the only reason why I’m doing this is because I thought about all you said, and I figured I don’t want to go against my judgement and kill you guys. I mean, what was I thinking? Capturing and torturing small mice… I can’t believe I’ve sunken that low.” He dropped his knife on the ground, and turned around, leaving all these mice behind. Bill, though feeling sad in his heart of destroying two brother’s bond, felt proud that he accomplished his goal once again.

Bill, taking a deep breath and taking everything in, walked over to the corner of the tunnel. From there, he put his finger on the hidden sensory pad, letting out a green glow and a beeping sound. He stepped into the elevator, and as soon as he arrived into the MCIA (Mouse CIA) secret laboratory, the doors opened up and revealed a crowd of mice, looking very excited to see him.

As the applause went on and on, the detective sat in the building above the sewer, finishing up his paperworks just as the sun set. Pieces of tiny documents flew up the sewer and went right into the detective’s face. He gathered them up and began to go through each page one by one. The document was so tiny to the extent that the detective had to reach out to his drawer to get his magnifying glass. He holds it close to his face, straining his eyes looking hard at the documents in tiny scrawly handwriting. As he reads through, his eyes widen after each line, each information, and even when he sees the official CIA stamp at the bottom, his head refuses to wrap around this fact. “This is definitely fake, this is not real.”

The true color of the kidnapper was slowly being revealed. It showed how good he is as a person, and as a brother. All his records before depicted a guy that loves doing community service, and helping out when he doesn’t have to. All of his friends were surprised about what he did after the news came out, and several people defended him where the case was being

discussed heatedly online. Unlike what he stated in court, all the evidence points towards the total opposite of what he said. He didnt’ kidnap the girl because he was angry that she rejected him. He was actually forced into it by the gang that he is in. Drug trafficking, kidnapping, and other illegal things. Even after he was arrested, he was threatened by the head of the gang to lie about everything. They threatened to kill his brother if he told the truth. And what’s even more shocking, the bystander that went to court to testify for the case was actually a gang member also.