i_disappear False Life (Narrative)
Darien's phone had stopped ringing a few days ago. He was pretty thankful for it - who wanted a wakeup call when they were trying to sleep in? Not to mention the fact that whoever-it-was had been persistent, which sort of bothered him. At least now it was one less thing to worry about.
He had been sitting at the table in his apartment, reading a book - Harry Potter and Philosophy, one he hadn't been able to resist picking up - when there was a knock at the door. "Coming," he said distractedly, putting the book down spine-side up. Darien headed over to the door, and opened it without thinking to look through the peephole first, which was perhaps a bit of a mistake. "Fawkes, where the hell have you been?" It was a woman, and though it wasn't Harley, this lady looked about mad enough to go around blowing doors down. She had dark skin, and was wearing a sensible dress, with a long coat over it. None of that told Darien anything, and he was pretty certain he had never seen her before.
"Do I know you?," Darien asked with a furrowed brow. "I mean, you seem to know me, but I know I haven't..."
"You don't know me?" Now she looked both incredulous and angry. "I was the one that put you through training, you'd better damn well know me! This had better not be a joke, Fawkes, or I swear I'll..."
"Look," he said, more firmly now. "I haven't been through training. If I had, I would've remembered it." At least, he had never been through formal training, and definitely not from this chick. "Now, are you going to tell me who you are?"
She looked at him for a long moment. "You really don't know, do you?" After a pause, she asked, "Are you doing to at least let me in?"
Darien stepped back without a word. He closed the door after she entered, moving a short distance to the kitchenette, where he leaned against the side of the counter and crossed his arms. "You first," he said sarcastically.
The lady stood just a few paces from the door, frowning at him. "I'm Detective Mallory. From the City Police?"
The police? Even though he hadn't been read his rights, hearing that was enough to make him wonder if he had done something. Let's see.. he hadn't stolen from anyone since he got here, and he definitely hadn't run into any officers...
Mallory must have seen the look on his face, because she chuckled and said, "You're not in trouble, detective. At least, not from me. I expect that the commissioner is going to chew you out for not showing up for the past week."
Darien looked down at the floor, running a hand through his hair. A detective. A police detective. This was ridiculous. Didn't they know about his record? He wasn't a detective, he was... ... a government agent. Yeah, okay, so maybe this wasn't quite so far-fetched, except for the whole part about having never applied to be a detective.
The other detective was frowning at him again. "Fawkes? Listen to me. It seems like you've lost your memory. If you have a medical problem, you won't get penalized for the disappearance, and I'd say you need to see a doctor anyway."
He looked up quickly, "No! ... No. I don't.. like doctors." Oh, that sounded lame. Darien just didn't want to get another x-ray. The last time that had happened at a local hospital, the doctors had thought the gland was some sort of brain tumor. "I'm fine, okay?"
"You're not fine, Fawkes," she said harshly. "Even if you haven't cracked your skull open, something is wrong with you. If you won't go to a doctor, how about a good psychiatrist?"
"You want me to go to a shrink?" He considered that, "...Yeah, okay. I guess it couldn't hurt." Honestly, he wasn't really wanting to do that, but it would be easier that way. He could play along, pretend he really hadn't lost his memory... which wouldn't be hard to do, since he really didn't have any memory of this. Later on, he could start to 'regain' those memories... yeah, this would work, if he was careful.
"Good. Give me a minute." Mallory slipped a cell phone out of her pocket, turning her back to Darien as she dialed a number. He caught snippets of the conversation - it sounded like it was someone from the police station, because she mentioned his name and told someone about his apparent loss of memory. Once she was done, she shut the phone and turned back to Darien, looking almost... cheerful.
He didn't trust it for one minute. He hadn't known this Mallory person for very long, but he suspected she could give a certain Alex Munroe a run for her money. That would be a fight worth seeing, especially if there was mud involved.