“H-hey Sofia…”
I immediately moved between Sofia and Officer Gartner. I thought I had just gotten rid of her! Why was she here less than twenty-four hours after I was supposedly allowed to return home? Her expression was dark with deep bags under her eyes. Her hair was a total mess, likely from wearing the motorcycle helmet she had before. Her eyes were now focused on me and the police officer. Regardless of infohazards present, if she were to kill a police officer in my apartment it would be bad.
I quickly moved between the two causing both to relax. Sofia’s hand was reaching behind her while Officer Gartner had hers on a taser mounted on her waist. I put my hands up and tried to show a smile. Officer Gartner seemed surprised before lowering her hands away from her belt. I don’t blame her immediate caution. I had just explained to her that I was receiving death threats and all of a sudden a dangerous looking person walked into my apartment unannounced. Frankly, if I were carrying the rifle at that very moment, I might have used it.
Sofia did not back down. She eyed the policewoman and I. She didn’t seem confused. She seemed like a tiger crouching in the jungle, aware it was caught and ready to pounce if someone acted aggressively. I needed to immediately deescalate the situation. I didn’t want Sofia to think I called the police on her because of last night. Realistically we knew that was pointless. Still, Sofia wouldn’t take kindly to such an act of aggression. She was probably already taking it as an insult. I quickly crafted a story to explain to the Officer that Sofia wasn’t going to be a problem.
“Officer Gartner, this my friend Sofia. She’s a friend and has been helping me on the… Sofia Bercowisz case.”
I cringed internally. It didn’t matter that she would never piece together that this Sofia looked eerily similar to the young Sofia’s picture up on my corkboard. It was a stupid line and if I heard it I’d facepalm. Sofia seemed to think the same way and put down her guard. She then started to chuckle. It wasn’t a creepy or sadistic laugh luckily and was a genuine comedic laugh. This relaxed everyone in the room. Sofia walked over to the Officer and looked at her badge before speaking.
“Tell me… Samantha. What did Alan do to get the West Virginia State Police to search his lonely ass? Suspicious google searches?”
The officer laughed at Sofia’s comment as she walked past her and towards the corkboard. She stood in front of it and read it as the policewoman explained.
“Someone thought Alan was suspicious when he bought a Mini-14 this morning. I decided to check up while I was in the area.”
This caught Sofia’s attention as she quickly looked over to the police officer wide-eyed and then over to me. I don’t think the officer noticed it, but the aura behind those eyes was both confusion as well as wrath. I felt a shiver go down my spine. Maybe it wasn’t too late to shoot her. Sofia looked back towards the officer before speaking towards me.
“Is that so? Tell me Officer, Alan keeps saying I look like this girl. Do you see the resemblance?”
Sofia grabbed the photo of her younger self from the corkboard and held it up to her face. The girl in the picture was taking her school pictures for her sophomore year of high school. Her dark raven hair was split into a middle part that framed a sweet, if not a little haunting, smile. She wore a conservative brown dress which gave the impression of a church-girl. The Sofia of today had that same smile, but any illusion of its sweetness was gone. Her hair was shorter reaching only to her shoulders with bangs covering her forehead in unkempt and messy fashion. Piercing dotted her entire face; lips, tongue, nose, nose bridge, eyebrow, crows feet. Despite this, you could see the resemblance. The facial structure was the same and the eyes held the same colors despite the different emotions. Officer Gartner looked towards me and raised an eyebrow accusingly before chuckling to herself.
“He must be blind. I don’t see the resemblance. Other than a shared name”
Her eyes weren’t accusing me of a crime. Simply accusing me of hurting Sofia's feelings by comparing her to the horrible Sofia Bercowisz. The policewoman saw what she needed and didn’t need to stay around any longer. When she closed the door behind her, it felt as if all the air in the room left with her. I turned around expecting the same glare by Sofia. Instead I saw her fist.
I didn’t have time to process. I blinked at the suddenly approaching object and the next moment my feet were hanging off the ground and I wasn’t able to breathe. My eyes opened and I saw Sofia holding me by my neck in the air. She was livid with clenched teeth and wide eyed glare. She spoke with a terrifying deliberate tone which made sure I couldn’t miss a syllable as I desperately tried to resist her clutch and find air.
“Alice! Tell me what I missed before he passes out.”
I heard my phone ring on the kitchen counter a few feet away before quickly answering itself and turning onto speaker mode.
“I-It’s not his fault! She s-showed up without warning and he let her in! He d-didn’t say anything!”
I desperately clawed at her hand to let go. Her knuckles wouldn’t even budge. This was the first time in my life where I felt genuinely in danger. Her grip was so strong, I worried she would snap my neck or crush my windpipe before I choked to death.
“And buying a rifle?”
“H-he wanted protection in case R-Roxane or V-Victoria came back!”
She dropped me to the floor. My body landed hard and I sprawled out on the floor gasping for air on my back. She looked down at me and clicked her tongue disapprovingly. She walked away and sat herself down on my couch as I struggled to sit up. After a moment I finally managed to speak.
“Why are you here, Sofia?”