Elemer Confesses

A Chapter by Alti

An introduction to the guardians.

GUARDIAN. THAT WAS the title that had been settled for, although they’d never yet done any guarding. They could not rightly be called peacekeepers because peace kept itself in that city. And it was not desirable for them to be known as police officers, enforcers of Law, the familiarity could remind people of bad things.

Terracoche had not prepared them, had not prepared, for any crime, beyond employing guards whose job description was until then essentially to sit in a room or tell people to pick up their rubbish. There wasn’t a lot for a guardian to do, and the lacking had made them overly comfortable, so that it may well have been more beneficial to appoint a civilian to figure things out when a crime was actually committed.

Their office was virtually unused, untouched. Guardian Sanel sat back in his sleek, glorious armour that did not suit him - polished, titanium-like metal of a magnificent white-grey colour, each piece perfectly fitted and fastened together at the joints with a strange, black material of rubberlike qualities. So complete was it that Elemer would spend a large amount of their meeting wondering how he got dressed in the morning, or if he simply never took it off and it had some kind of inbuilt shower.

It was more of a romantic notion than for practical use, despite its state-of-the-art technology - a knight in shining armour to defend the city’s morals, to be there, ready to protect, but who would hopefully never be of any proper use other than fighting litter.

But the suits came in handy now; and the guardians who were not too disturbed by the horrible events were overjoyed at the ample amount of professional opportunities to exercise their many functions, bouncing all over the metropolis in a number of superhuman manners. It was before dawn, but the city was awake, bustling with the news of a murdered man. Gossip was of no interest, but something of relevance would be relayed to every resident in little time; the people there were connected and sympathetic, and things naturally worked out in such ways without any need for media.

Sanel was a humble man of non-Terracochian origin. Always pleasantries and apologies with this type of person; some might use the word ‘ordinary’ or ‘square’ or, possibly, ‘not too bright’. You could have him locked in your basement and chained to the wall and he would give you an embarrassed smile and an awkward ‘Er, so sorry, but...’ every time he needed to use the bathroom. His wavy hair was black and thick as bristles, and his skin had a dark, olive sheen to it. And he was almost always smiling. Gold-rimmed, circular glasses rested on his very large nose, which was shaped perfectly so that they would not properly sit atop it for more than twenty seconds.

He adjusted them now. To him, the fuzzy silhouette of the short, wire-framed man standing on the other side of the frosted glass was unmistakable. He always had trouble with the door, and Sanel would never attempt to assist him, because he knew that if he did the luxurious glass would, without fail, slide open a moment before he pressed the button.

‘Eleemaar,’ he said cheerfully in his funny accent. ‘Two guardians are out looking for you right now.’

‘Oh. Yeah? Ha ha,’ said Elemer. ‘I’m guessing you’ll be happy then? Making your job easier and all, I mean.’

Sanel pressed the gold-rimmed glasses back up to his bridge, and smiled wider. ‘Hmm. Easier,’ he said uncertainly.

Elemer was slowly shuffling forward, keeping his legs straight and pivoting his whole body with each step, with his hands in his pockets. Sanel thought he looked strange with pockets.

‘So... Um...’ Elemer said awkwardly as he sat on the opposite sofa. ‘I just wanted to explain...’ He had not yet made eye contact.

Sanel leaned forward. ‘Yes?’ he said carefully, so as not to frighten the little ragged man. He’d dealt with him on several occasions, and he always got the feeling that at any moment he might suddenly flee like a startled rodent and be gone forever. And he was looking extra frightened today, as though he’d looked in a mirror.

‘The clothes?’ prompted Sanel, looking him up and down.

Elemer looked down at his new outfit and touched the clothes admiringly. ‘Uh,’ he said.

‘Those clothes belong to a dead man,’ Sanel said softly.

‘Ohh,’ Elemer said guiltily. ‘Yes.’

‘You wanna tell me what happened?’

Elemer stared at him, shaking his head slightly, with fear in his eyes. ‘I saw his shadow,’ he said, ‘when he fired.’

Sanel was startled. ‘You were there? Uhh,’ he said, reaching for a tablet. ‘When?’ He was watching Elemer intently, hunched over the device, his finger on the screen, waiting, like a journalist’s pen to their notebook.

‘Fourteen minutes before the two men and the girl,’ said Elemer, looking down again.

‘You're quite sure?’ asked Sanel.

Elemer did not answer.

‘And, er, what kind of gun was it?’

‘Rifle, sir,’ Elemer said into his lap.

Sanel took some notes. Even if he did suspect Elemer of anything serious, he could not detain him. It was not acceptable, nor was it ever thought that it would be necessary. And anyway, this funny little man whose gaze wouldn’t come to rest for longer than a second surely wasn't the murdering type. He had presented himself without any summons, it was not guilty behaviour.

‘Can you maybe think of anything else that might be useful to us?’

Elemer met this with a blank, critter-like stare.

‘You’ll understand we’ve never had anything quite like this before,’ said Sanel. ‘In complete honesty,’ he raised his hands in a sort of helpless, pathetic shrug, ‘I’m at somewhat of a loss here.’

A few times Elemer made what seemed to be the early motions of speech, but there was no sound, and after awhile he just sat there.

Finally, Sanel smiled. ‘Thank you for your help, my friend,’ he said. ‘But I do have to ask you, did you break the ceiling tile, Eleemaar?’

Elemer shuffled nervously. His mouth opened and closed a few times before he said, ‘A...’

‘Eleemaarrr,’ Sanel said in a tone that was condescending though still kind, ‘don’t lie to me now.’

‘Yes,’ whispered Elemer.

‘Well, then--’ Sanel hesitated, and went over in his mind the beginning of numerous things that might be proper for him to say.

Elemer desperately wanted to stand. Only the soft hum of electronics buzzed loudly in his ears but the forever unspoken words hung in the air, the awkward tension of them forcing him to rock in his seat, sweating, clawing his knees every now and then.

‘Don’t do it again.’

Elemer stood abruptly, like a wound spring. ‘Of course not, never,’ he said, already making for the exit as fast as he dared. ‘Never, sir.’ He briefly tried to close the door behind him, failing once or twice, and then hurried off, leaving it open. ‘Never, never.’

Sanel sat back in the armour that really didn’t suit him at all, and sighed. It had all begun to go downhill, rolling uncontrollably. The first killing, and now it would spread like plague. Crisp, night air blew in through the open doorway and coldly caressed him, reaching through his metal shell. It was all-pervading, couldn’t be stopped now. The city had got its taste of blood, and the people would be swayed by its Evil. He had seen it happen as a child, and now he felt he would see It again.

It has begun, he thought, too afraid to speak.

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