Truth, at 350 Degrees for Twenty Minutes

Frank stood before FELP, staring at Stewart as the policemen took the cuffs off of his wrists.

He gently robbed his wrists and leaned forward into a podium that had been put there. Frank’s voice carried across the chamber easily thanks to the microphone. “You could have just called me. Was the police escort necessary?”

Stewart didn’t address Frank’s question. “The Party has been made aware you pulled a woman from a crashed vehicle on our street. Do you deny it?”

“I do not,” said Frank. “I did what anyone else should do. Brought her inside, made sure she was alright, gave her a spare bed to sleep off whatever happened.”

Stewart’s eyes narrowed. “And where is she now, Frank?”

Jordan and Grey both started getting worried. But Grey was the one sweating bullets – Jordan was still just cold sweating.

“She’s not at my house, if that’s what you’re asking,” Frank told the assembled council. “I haven’t seen her today. As far as I know, she’s skipped town.”

The other councilmembers looked disappointed or upset with this news. It was Debra who put their thoughts into words. “We’ve been very clear that the Party is to be informed when people come in from out of town. Elijah and you have always been terrible at following that rule. Thankfully, he won’t make that mistake again.”

Mentioning Elijah seemed to set something off in Frank. He went from a stern calmness to showing an anger bubbling beneath the surface. “What did you do to Elijah?”

One of the younger councilmembers, a severe-looking young man on the far end, leaned in. “You should be more worried about what’s going to happen to you, if you keep ‘forgetting’ the rules.”

Frank smashed his hand into the podium. “You literally ran the last black people in Green Pines out of here. This town’s gone to shit since you guys got in charge.”

Debra rolled her eyes. “There was always going to be a struggle to put this town back on track. It’s not our fault that so many people have been uncooperative.”

“‘Uncooperative’?” spat Frank. “Is that what we’re calling it now? Elijah was ‘uncooperative’ so you ate his face?!”

“There has been a conspiracy,” said Stewart, “of people being funneled through this town. We have been weeding them out, one by one. The last remnants of this ring have finally been eliminated. And that by proxy, just leaves you.”

A chill came over the room. The sweat was almost glistening on Jordan’s head and she could start feeling something creep up the back of her throat.

Stewart sighed. “We’ve been friends for years, Frank. So out of respect for that friendship, I’m giving you until sundown to leave town. Any longer and you might get caught up in the rest of our plans for Bolloron.”

Jordan felt herself start to retch. That oppressive feeling was climbing up her throat. Grey seemed to realize what was happening and hurriedly rushed her out of the room. The two rushed into a bathroom and locked themselves into a stall before Grey helped Jordan plant herself directly above a toilet.

“It’s ok,” Grey whispered as she pulled Jordan’s hoodie back. “It’s ok. This is the last bit. Just let it all out.” She put her hand on Jordan’s back and gently rubbed.

Jordan leaned over…

And with each heave, she remembered.

She remembered holding the acceptance letter in her hand. College, out of state and far away from home.

Her family having very mixed reactions with only her mother showing any bit of happiness for her. Grandmother and father both demanding she stay local. Her brother telling her she has everything she needs at home.

Stewing on the knowledge that she could never be honest about who she was if she remained in that house.

Teeth grit as her foot slammed into the gas pedal and peeled out of her family’s driveway, her father continuing to shout and run after her down the street.

Her eyes shot open as the last of it was spat out of her mouth. Jordan’s heart kept racing as her body weakly kept itself over the bowl.

She blinked hard as she saw what sat in the toilet bowl. It was a thick and shimmering blue liquid at the bottom, failing to mix with the water. Tears had been steaming down her cheek. From the memories or the physical strain, she was not sure.

Jordan felt that hand still rubbing her back. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a paper towel be presented to her.

“You look like hell,” said Grey. “You going to be okay?”

Jordan took it and wiped her face off of the excess blue whateverthehell had been expelled from her body. “I remember everything.”

She slowly pushed herself up and fumbled with the button on top to flush. Jordan tried to get up too fast and fell into the stall’s wall. Despite Grey’s pleading, she stumbled out of the stall.

“What the…”

The bathroom looked completely different than it had when she’d come in. Where had once been a perfectly file bathroom of tile and old-fashioned charm was now a run-down hole with a single flickering light hanging over the sink. The mirror had a crack running along its righthand edge.

Jordan wandered outside and nearly screamed.

The dingy halls felt oppressive. Reality kept shifting between murals of the town’s history and posters proclaiming the ideals of the Fixed and Eternal Legacy Party. Policemen, no, face eating leopard men, wandered around the halls in their overly decorated uniforms.

One of those posters caught Jordan’s eye. It was a bare-foot pregnant woman standing next to an oven with bread baking in it. She had a great grin on her face but the teeth showed a little too much. But it was the text on the poster that sent Jordan into a panic.

Always Have a Bun In the Oven.

“Jordan?”

She swung around and saw the man form the bowling alley standing with that blonde hair and those blue eyes. “Lyre!”

“What are you doing here?” he chuckled. “I thought you were home sick. Not going to question it. Do you want to get some lunch or something?”

And at last, she saw the truth. In the blink of an eye, Lyre’s head was replaced with one of the leopard men’s. And she knew why her family had been pushing her so hard to date this thing.

Grey rushed out of the bathroom and put her hand on Jordan’s shoulder. “Come on, we need to go, you’re going to start… seeing…”

The silence hung over the three.

Each of them looked to the others, slowly realizing what they knew. It was only a question of who made the first move.

A clawed hand grabbed at Jordan’s shoulder and gripped it tight, Lyre starting to show his fangs and growl.

Grey pushed him away from Jordan but the claws sunk into her arm and cut deep. Jordan screamed in pain while Grey took her by the hand and started running down the hall.

Lyre ran after them, shouting at the top of his lungs, “THEY’RE HERE! THE GIRL IS HERE!”