Lisa Karim's Story

Lisa Karim 's writer is testing this function. Ignore.

The motel staff had been polite enough. She had left her equipment there, locked the room and her bags, praying that no one would be stupid enough to attempt to touch or access any of it. Unfortunately, she was now nowhere near New York, and she wasn't too keen on having to explain herself later. She needed a way out of here, but she didn't particularly want to rush it.

It was a small town. She liked that. Quiet, without the bustle and confusion of the big city. In a way, she was glad she wasn't in New York. God knows she'd hate the place. Burden. Strange name, but she had found it strangely attractive. There was some poetic quality to it, she mused. Something she couldn't quite place. Maybe it was her aunt's lullaby, or maybe it was the Father's dying prophecy.

She'd spent much of the morning wandering the streets, looking for all the world like a poor, lost puppy, with big, wide eyes, looking curiously in every direction, every window, flinching at any semblance of a loud noise. The careful eye might have noted the jerkish reaction - her hands, almost lifting up to her ears, at sudden sounds.

Voices. She heard distant voices, words unintelligible, indistinct. It had been a while since speaking to others, not since the bus ride, a jarring, cacophonous journey through sensory hell. It would be better to forget that. She turned toward the auto shop. It was where she'd heard the voices. Cell phone in hand, she ducked her head, pushing open the door, and walking in.

Lisa Karim looked up, flinching at the bells jingling, before her gaze trawled over to Ivy, eyes traveling over the woman's face, though not meeting the other woman's eyes. "Ivy," she repeated, nodding once, the fingers of her right hand slipping her phone into her pocket, the fingers of her other hand flicking lightly against her thigh. "Nice to meet you too!" She looked over to Kate, moving further inside the store, and away from the door, though she kept her back to the wall. "Yeah, I decided staying at the motel all day wouldn't be, well, a good use of time." She offered a forced smile.

Lisa Karim shrugged to Kate, mumbling, "It's fine. I'll deal with the schedule change." She turned to look at Ivy, though she made no effort at eye contact, seeming to be watching Dom's back as the man epic failed at the dinosaur machine. "It's Lisa," she answered, still flicking her fingers against her leg as she spoke, tilting herh ead somewhat to the side. "I'm not particularly inclined to sharing my entire story with strangers, you know. Don't you think that's kind of, um, rude to ask?"

Lisa Karim looked utterly horrified at Ivy's overtures. "Mass murderer?" she repeated, laughing weakly. "Well, I'm pretty sure mass murderers wouldn't be standing around in an auto repair shop. Or anywhere like Burden, for that matter." She cringed a bit, shifting her weight as her gaze turned to follow Ivy as the gossip made her departure, not sure she wanted to go outside into the heat again. She looked around again. "Well, uh, that was strange," she commented, not sure what else to say, flushing as she spoke.

Lisa Karim was known among her friends and colleagues for her excellent sense of hearing, but unlike Kate, was trying her hardest to tune out the sounds of Annie's conversation over the phone, as opposed to listening in to extract information. She tried to look normal, but what was normal? Not standing too stiffly, not moving around too much. Not speaking too little. Not speaking too much. It was too hard to figure it all out. She too turned at Dom's outburst, cocking her head to the side. "Speed dating shit?" she repeated. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Lisa Karim headed for the door without protest - there didn't seem to be any particular reason to resist the flow of people moving toward the door. That's when she saw the police cruiser. Her heart hammered to a stop, her fingers flicking faster against her leg as she ducked her head down, trying not to look in the direction of the cop. Oh god. They'd followed her here. Either that, or something worse was happening. She let her hand rest on the door as she stepped outside, keeping her back to the cruiser as she made her way outside, perspiration exacerbated by the heat.

Lisa Karim made her way down the street, avoiding the sheriff as she went, doing her best not to look in his direction, though she couldn't resist a quick backwards glance, momentarily revealing a look of sheer panic to anyone watching before hurrying on her way through the small town, head down as she walked, fingers flicking against her pantleg. He wasn't here because of her, she reassured herself. He was here because of some small-town incident in some small-town. Yeah. That was it. But she wasn't sure she believed her own words.

Lisa Karim headed away from the auto shop, back in the westerly direction of the motel. She couldn't get away from the cop soon enough. If he didn't know who she was, small town mentality and he'd have have her name, and being a cop, he'd probably run it through the system, and naturally, she'd come up. Maybe it was paranoia. Or maybe it was survival instinct. She'd flown under the radar for years. Now they knew who she was, or at least, they thought they knew. And she couldn't risk being caught, especially not out here in god knows where Burden City.

Lisa Karim paused in her tracks, turning slowly on her heel, eyes registering Kate, the woman from the motel. "Dinner would be great!" Lisa shouted back, offering a parting wave before turning around again, slowing her pace to a normal speed as she walked with head down, further and further away from the auto shop. The cop hadn't come after her. It was a good sign.

Lisa Karim had gotten lost. It was only to be expected. She wasn't a savant of some kind, and she didn't really know where she was. Directions confused her. Somehow, she had ended up outside the General Store, and the heat was killing her. It was probably air conditioned inside. Almost panting, sweat dripping down her face, she pressed a palm against the door, pushing it open to a rush of cool, air conditioned air. She sighed in contentment, shutting the door behind her. Ah. Peace.

She took several steps further into the store, ready to lie down in the cool air, when her mind tuned in to the sound of voices, eyes sliding over to Leah Wingate. The teenager looked vaguely familiar. And talking about a bus ride breaking down... Ah. She nodded, as if to confirm her own thoughts to herself. That was where she'd seen her. Coming up behind Leah, she added, "And thanks to the obvious lack of competency of that bus company, I'm going to have myself a very, very livid boss to report to when I finally make it to New York."

She offered a friendly smile, somewhere between easygoing and frustrated, hoping she had been all right, that she'd made a socially appropriate entrance into the conversation. These kinds of things were hard for her, always had been. "It was an awful excuse for a trip," she continued, standing just behind Leah and to her side, flicking her fingers against her thigh as her eyes rested on the countertop. "I swear, I'm going to sue the bus company when I get to New York. My boss probably will too. No one's going to be happy about this one."

Lisa shrugged, reaching out to grasp Leah's hand in a firm handshake, as she'd been taught to do. "Leah," she repeated, smiling pleasantly. "Nice to meet you too. I'm from, uh. I'm from Montreal." And she had the expertly forged passport to prove it. Dammit. She always blanked on what city she was supposed to be from. It changed every six months or so, ostensibly for security purposes. She swore it was to drive her off the wall.

"University sounds nice though," she added, leaning against the counter, though careful to keep everyone within sight lines in front of her, nowhere behind her. Inducing panic was not high on her list at the moment. "Back when I went, there wasn't the stress of this standardized testing, and everyone competing internationally. You applied. You went. It was easier."

She looked down again at the counter, not once having made eye contact during the entire conversation. "So what do you want to study? Young woman, you must have ambitions, right?" Lisa asked, trying to make small talk. Small talk. Right. Useless conversation that apparently made everyone socially happy.

"Well actually, I once audited courses there," Lisa said, somewhat defensively, immediately regretting having spoken. Never give out personal details, especially true ones! Dammit. "Never mind, though." She nodded at the sound of her name. "Lisa," she confirmed, nodding, her smile somewhat weakened as she turned to take in the sight of Annie and Martin entering. They had been on the bus too, she thought, but wasn't quite sure whether or not that was correct. "And yes, I was on that goddamned bus, the one straight from hell."

I found you can study allthese things at Bournemouth: http://onlineservices.bournemouth.ac.uk/courses/

The motel was all right. Katie had been kind to let the stranded students plus herself stay free of charge. But there was little to do, and Lisa knew that sitting around with her computer all day simply wasn't the best use of her time. Not too keen on continuing to New York City alone and without certain transportation - and equally reticent to face her handler in the wake of her tardiness - she decided to venture out into the city again. It was a small town, and she liked that.

Quiet. Pleasant. Americana in every sense of the word. The only downside was it was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone, and she was sure to slip up if she wasn't careful. The other day, she'd almost forgotten where she was supposed to be from. Idiot, changing the details of her identity every six months. It was enough to make her boil. How was she supposed to keep track of her own identity if he kept changing the details every time the wind blew?

The Platter Diner seemed a nice enough place. Maybe she could get herself a quick lunch, go back home freshened. Maybe, she even thought, she might have a chance to make pleasant conversation, something God only knew she could use. Lisa wasn't particularly skilled at the silent innuendos of conversation, the subtleties of social niceties. It was difficult for her to read people, and that was why she stuck with computers. Machines she understood. No question.

She walked up to the door, pushing it open as she stepped inside, appreciative of the air conditioning. It was a respite from the unrelenting heat of summer outside. Lisa looked about, seeing a few others inside, trying to decide what she wanted. She took a few steps in further, looking up at the menu, her fingers flicking against her thigh absently.

She wasn't too good with faces either. One woman was tapping on the table (Lisa was pretty sure she'd never met her). The other teenager was preoccupied with her cell phone and the texting craze of the twenty-first century (Lisa thought she seemed familiar. From the other day, maybe?). The clicking, the tapping, they echoed in her mind, bouncing around, growing louder and louder as she squeezed her eyes shut, her fingers dancing against her leg, until finally, Lisa hissed, in a low breath, "Stop!" throwing her head back for a moment before letting her gaze dart between Ana and Leah. "By Allah, can you just stop?!" She spoke just as Feliyn was about to slide through the door.

A girl brushed her way in past the door, shoulder skimming that of the woman that had entered before her. Her brown bangs hung almost dejectedly in front of her eyes, hiding their clear sky blue from any onlookers. She was a short girl, but gave off every appearance of self-confidence; and this, in and of itself, was enough to turn heads. She didn't recognize anybody that was in the Diner, which was odd, since she'd lived in this town since forever. When something was off, she knew about it. And right then, as the women with the computers tapped away at their keys, she knew.

Dammit. She hadn't meant to let that slip. If her handler had been here, he would have cussed her out with his eyes. Those dark, probing orbs could do it too. Lisa shoved thoughts of him from her mind, preferring to think about other things. Like where she had seen the teenager from hell before. She curled and uncurled the fingers of her left hand into a fist, the fingers of the right flicking against her thigh.

Javid was too intellectual, too absorbed with himself. Not unlike herself, in fact. But Lisa was constantly aware of everything around her, to the point of experiencing certain sounds and sights as physical pain. Like the incessant tapping! She stared a death glare in Leah's direction, not bothering to hide her obvious exasperation. Lisa couldn't even begin to think of what she wanted for lunch, not until she made the goddamned tapping stop!

Unaware of her own actions, she had begun to hum a lullaby under her breath, fingers flicking harder against her leg as she fought to keep her glare on the impudent teenager.

Blinking, she let a wilting gaze slide from Leah, who had finally stopped to the woman who had come in behind her, already on the other side of the diner. Dropping the glare in favor of a focused look, she paused, taking stock of Feliyn's words. "Ah, no," she answered, not sounding particularly convincing. She was godawful at lying. Lisa simply didn't understand why Javid insisted she must never use her real name, never say anything true about herself. What was wrong with what she did, with who she was? Nothing.

She offered a weak smile. "I'm from Montreal. Montreal, you know. Canada?" Lisa continued, moving closer to the counter of the diner, as she began to wonder what she would have for lunch. Something. She wasn't quite sure what yet though.