TAAADAAA~!

Welcome to the FOURTH chapter of "The Exaggeration of the Truth"! Huzzah! Isn't this great? :P

So, this chapter isn't really "bad". Nothing really naughty. But still, I'll peg a good ol' PG-13 on it. Everybody smiles for that.

So, since this the first chapter, it would be wise to read the ones before, no? ;D

I hope you enjoy this long... delayed chapter. :)

I saw her.
I really saw her.

There she was walking around the hallway with her creamy white arm. Loitering and wasting her time. Skipping class probably.

But I saw her.

Lilith is so weird to me sometimes. Sometimes I see her. Sometimes I don?t. It?s all up to her.

And when she doesn?t want to see me, she really doesn?t want to see me.

She?s kinda? Sassy.

I mean? She?s not the kind of person to explain in words. She has this weird mysterious air about her. You can never put a finger her or her thoughts. She was bitingly mean, horrifically sarcastic, and cold and not the kind of girl to date. More kinda like the girl you fuck and leave.

?Wham bam thank you ma?am.?

Ya know?

But, I dunno. Something about her. Something about the way her voice flows in that high shrewy way. Something about her that makes me want her more than just a lay. I want her for me. I want to pick her up, and swallow her whole. Melt her body into mine, and keep her safe from the world. To have her blood mix with mine; veins, and capillaries fusing, and un-fusing.
Bones welding together.

To be always mine.

Half past nine. Second period is almost over. I wonder if I?ll bump into her in the hallway, while she?s sitting on the floor eating a sandwich because she?s hungry. Maybe it?ll be tuna fish on rye with lettuce, and a side of kettle potato chips. She only likes fresh organic food.

Oh and fast food too.

She?s quite the excellent cook.

But? I don?t think she?ll want to see me. She hasn?t spoken to me since the beginning of summer.

I remember the day, I walked over to her house, two blocks away in the ninety-seven degree Jersey weather. My jeans felt heavy, and my armpits were slick with sweat. I know I must of smelt funny, since during the summer, I just forget to shower.
I felt the swish of blood trickling down the steep drops of the veins, then snaking over the curves and into my toes, making them increasingly?throbby.

I felt a rush of blood and the feeling of vertigo all at the same time. My heart felt like a wad of peanut butter. Hard and sticky, this lump taking over my chest.
I jogged up to the door to ring the bell, and started to rock on my toes to my heels. I remember looking down right before she opened the door and thinking ?Aw fuck. I didn?t even put on my good sneakers.?

I hating feeling poor next to her.

I felt my soul rise out of my body. ?Lilith!? I felt a goofy smile on my face. I KNOW I had my terrible goofy smile on. I must of looked ugly to her.
?Hmm?? She looked at my eyes for a spilt second and they darted over my right shoulder.
?I came here walking? To see you. I wanna hang out with you. Do you want to go? somewhere?? I kept asking her on dates, but ?something? always came up. This time I was determined. Money in my wallet, and heart on my hands, I was going to ask her out damnit.

?I guess they?re gone.? her voice seemed to be coming from a different planet. Shit, she didn?t even seem all there at the door.
?Lilith? are you okay??
Her eyes closed, and she cupped her beautiful pale plum lips with her flowerly fingers and shouted: ?Stupid six graders and their ding dong ditch shit. I?LL FUGGIN? KILL YOU IF YOU RING MY DOOR BELL AGAIN!!?

The door slammed on my face.


What the hell?

I then stood at that door, never sitting or moving, hoping that my heroic want for her would shine through, and she would open the door for me, and take me in.

I?ve always wanted to kiss her. To feel her sweet little tangerine lips.
Her skin must be buttery smooth. Aw man?. To feel that? As lame as this is, and really as corny and cliche, I?d be the one melting.

But? She never came to the door. I really almost cried that day. Honest to God. Well, I don?t really believe in God, so does that make it reall-
I?m babbling.

But I looked down at my sneakers. Dumb sneakers. It?s your fault that I didn?t get into that door. She looked at them and thought ?Oh look at this poor kid who can?t buy sneakers.? It?s your fault. If you weren?t torn and tattered, then maybe I would have had a chance. But I didn?t get in. And I blamed it on my frayed sneakers. The laces were browning with use, and I didn?t even have a bow on the top. I laced them inside so I could just slip them on. Stupid Converses. The material is so flimsy. You walk near a jagged bush, a thread snags, and the whole thing unravels apart like a scroll. All you?re left with is the rubbery part, and your naked toes.

I turned around to walk back home.

It was already dusk. How long was I even there for?!

Creeeeek

The hair on the back of my neck stood on edge. Lilith? Lilith? Is that you?! I was burning up, and broke into another sweat just as I turned around to find?

Angela.

Oh sweet fudge, how that sucked.

?I saw that you?ve been standing at that door for a while?? Her voice was soft and her eyes were turned downwards. She looked innocently flirtatious.
?Yeah??
?I know you?ve been here for the past two hours but-?
TWO HOURS?!
Shit, I?m the most romantic man- or the most pathetic.

?-I kept asking Lilith if I should open the door, and she played stupid and said she saw no one.?
My heart drooped.
?D-do you know why she?s acting that way?.?? I stammered out.
?She just? gets into these mood swings. You know.? she closed her eyes in, I guess, embarrassment.
Her fingers lay gently on the door knob. Her unpainted nails blended in with her fingers. They were the nails of a quite girl, maybe a virgin, but definitely a sensitive one. Her whole face was plain, while Lilith still had some of that powder on her face.

Little button nose she had.

?Oh? Okay? I guess I?ll? get going??
?Wait! She told me to give you this.?

I moved closer to the door while she ran away from it. When she arrived she had a little blue blanket with pink polka dots on it.
?What is it??
?I dunno. I?ll look at it later I guess. She said not to open it here.?
?Thanks Angela? You?re kind??
?Mmm! Think nothing of it.? Her pretty little teeth shone from her lips. I hope some guy never screws her over.

Just around the block, I was so eager that I opened the blue blanket to find a tuna fish sandwhich. I took a bite into it? Mmm? To only find paper?

I pulled it out of my mouth, and it was covered in the thick mayo?d tuna mess.

It read: ?I don?t like you. But I don?t hate you either.
Take this for being such a trooper with me.

Lilith.?
AH! She loves me!
Maybe not. BUT SHE CARES!

Ughh. I couldn?t take it anymore. Biology is such? crap. Really. Only the second week of school, and already we?re learning. I need sun. I need sand and ocean.

I?m achingly tired already. My bones hurt with the stress of getting up at six on the dot every morning. I turned my head over to the side to view my classmate. She seemed intent and was already writing notes.
The window behind her, made her brown hair look all shiny and clean.

Lilith?s hair was always a slopping mess.

GRR!
There I was! Thinking about her again! I pounded my fist lightly on my desk to let out my frustration.

She doesn?t like you man. Just leave it.


Yeah. That?s what I?ll do. I won?t think about her. I won?t care. That?s it. Goodbye Lilith. This is for good.

The bell in our school is pretty stupid. It?s not even a ?bell? it?s more like this long beep that signals the end the class. I think they removed all of the bells because of rusting or something. I mean, this school pretty old. Almost fifty years old or something, according to the ?Freshman Year Information?, A.K.A ?FYI?.
That was done on purpose by the school.

Yeah. That lame.

I didn?t even take out a pencil because I thought what?s the need? That girl seems pretty smart- maybe I?ll copy off of her?
Whatever, think about it later.

I shuffled out of the door, slinging my backbag on. I was a lazy walker and never bothered to take my feet off of the dirty ass linoleum. Doesn?t matter. These are the same crappola sneakers anyhow.

I kept walking through the halls, sometimes peeking at my map, since I already forgot where my ?Intro to Business? class is.

But then? a lump was on the floor.

LILITH!

Stop. Don?t look at her. Don?t walk to her.

But my feet were magnets and zipped over to her. My shuffle turned into a scuffle, and an almost half step as I walked briskly over to see Lilith and her crazy friends on the ground eating chips, and her eating? a Turkey sandwhich? How weird.

Before I could even regrester that I was really even walking consciously to her, I was already by her side. Her emo buddy gave me a strange look. Her shimmering green eyes looked up at me.

?So Lilith? Can we talk??

She handed her sandwich over to friend, and looked at me dead in the eye, never saying a word. She picked herself up, and her eyes narrowed.

What is your job one might ask? Why, how could I explain such a job? I handle the dead. I press my scalpel inside of what ever body part needs dissecting and slide my latex glove in smoothly. I am not a mortician and certainly not a grave robber, I am an Medical Examiner. What is that you question? Why, I am the older crippled man on CSI, or the deep dark tanned woman with cherry colored lips.

That is their job. But this one is mine, and it is quite different then what television portrays.

My job is not easy to explain, not only because of all of the jargon, but also, the misconceptions people have of my job as a Medical Examiner.

But? It?s not that straightforward. There are many layers to such a job.

This is not what one may think. Oh no, no, no. Before I may even start to dissect the body, I must go under the remaining fingernails, and try to collect DNA. Pluck out any body hairs that may have no been singed if this is a burn victim, and saliva if still excisable. I put all of my findings in individually marked plastic bags, and into one big manila envelope which I tell Miranda to address and ship out on it?s expedition to the forensics lab. There they identify the body to continue on the case.

I choose to never learn their names. I feel as if once you name the dead, they aren?t really gone. They hang behind you, on your shoulders carrying the cool spirts of wind I feel around my family cemetery. They are there, alive and throbbing on the crisp cold gurney. My body trembles at the idea of a ghost. And no, not the scared trepidation. I feel the eerie air floating, and I want to delve deeper into the history of the ghost.

This may be the cause of my unpopularity.

After collecting the DNA I must slice open the dead with whatever tools necessary. If I must, get through I bone, I use the medieval Bone Saw, and specialized scissors to cut through the veins. I always have my Diener help me. She?s a sweet rosy faced girl, who doesn?t deal with the autopsies as much as she does with suturing them back up, and making them ?look pretty? as she says with her wavering smile.

I?ve always wondered why Miranda decided that she wanted to be a nurse to gruesome deaths, and not a surgical nurse. She always seems scared, and sick with the chemical smells.

My job makes me proud. Very few people can say they operate on the deceased. There is this very tiny pinch of arrogance when I say what I do to other adults or people in my age group. The most excellent part and the most abhorrent part of it is the day variation. I do not work on a daily schedule as most adults do with their ?nine-to-five? jobs. You see, I may not have to go to work for two weeks, but then have to leave on short notice to the morgue and examine the most gruesome death I?ve seen in months. Which its pros and cons. I have a vacation for two solid weeks. Staying at home, relaxing and taking care of my family and the house, are that of my favorite pastimes. It?s difficult to leave my father and baby brother alone. I am the ?mother? figure in the house, so it broke my heart when I had to leave during Alexander?s ninth birthday party last year.

His tear stained cheeks as he begged ?Oh Cassie-moo! At least until the candles! Please wait?!!? as he clung onto my clothes.
?Alexander, I cannot.?
?Oh?. Cassie-moo? please? my b-birthday?? It took my father, and one of the guest?s mother to pry him off.
I do on the other hand get paid exceptionally well, and make around 400,000 dollars a year.
But money to me is nothing.

?M-Miranda?? My voice cracked. I haven?t spoken to her in two and a half hours. I proceeded to rub my eyes under my glasses. They bobbed on my face.
?Yeah Cass?? Peh. I dislike such a nickname.
?We have to suture the cadaver up.?
?I?m still cleaning the `wheezer freezer?.? She enjoys rhyming words together. She thought of this wonderfully ?clever? nickname for the body freezer since sometimes the dead? pass gas.