The Ridiculous Lie

Sara stared at the woman in white. She stared at her for an uncomfortable amount of time, and Eve was beginning to feel nervous.

"Miss-Miss Sara?" Eve swallowed thickly, and slowly backed her chair away from her desk, "Are you alright?" Sara continued to stare at her with her unnerving eyes- they would have been beautiful if it were not for the sharp gleam they were showing.

"Oh, I am perfectly fine Miss Eve."

Sara leaned back in her chair with the grace of a cat that was preparing to strike, "After all, this is just a dream." She forced out a laugh, and Eve winced.

"Oh no Miss Sara, I am telling you the truth-"

"Of course you are 'telling me the truth', after all, this is a dream about me dying and you're the secretary angel sent to guide me to the afterlife."

"Um, I'm not a secretary-"

"If I were really dead, I would know it. I mean, the last thing I remember is going to sleep- so unless some pervert broke into my house and decided to kill me without waking me up, how the hell could I be dead? So obviously this is a dream."

On Eve's desk sat a thick file. The plastic was folded into place and tied shut with a stretchy white band. On top of this file, Sara's full name was typed in bold.

Eve reached for it subconsciously. As per usual, she had glanced through it due to her company's policy-it was meant to be her preparation for these types of confrontations. This was not the first time Eve had experienced a guest in denial, nor would it be the last. She was well prepared.

"Miss Sara, you were not killed."

Sara's smile relaxed, "See, I told you-"

"You died of natural causes. In your sleep." Eve's smile was kind, "Not many people have such a peaceful death. Usually people remember their last moments, and that makes my job much easier. However, in your case it is not surprising that you do not remember dying, because there is nothing to remember."

Eve waited patiently for Sara's reaction, but her sudden silence soon became oppressing. Sara stared at where Eve's hands were folded on the desk without showing any emotion on her face.

"I am an athlete. I run every morning, I eat healthy, I AM healthy! I don't even drink alcohol!" Sara's soft words quickly rose in volume. She jumped up from her chair with her hands balled into fists, and her expression was dark with anger, "How the hell did I die from 'natural causes'!? I am 23 years old!"

Sara was breathing heavily, and her eyes broadcasted her desire to murder Eve who had dared to come up with such a ridiculous lie. She couldn't help but repeat "I am only 23 years old." just to show the white-haired woman how senseless her words were.

Eve looked at her with pity in her eyes.

"Yes, you are an athlete. You play on your college soccer team, don't you?"

Sara's eyes narrowed, "... yes. I play foreword."

Eve nodded her head like she already knew her answer, "I heard that you are quite the striker, but tell me, how many times have you been hospitalized due to injuries sustained while playing? You've been playing since you were a child after all."

Sara let out a rude scoff and rolled her eyes, "So you are saying that playing soccer caused me to die? I've had two concussions and a few broken bones, which I got immediate treatment for by the way, but I have never had any lasting side effects."

Eve shook her head sadly, "Playing soccer was only one factor. Because despite your age you've had multiple instances of head trauma, which combined with a blood condition you inherited from your mother-"

Sara's eyes widened, "What?"

"-this caused you to develop a brain aneurysm. Last night this aneurysm ruptured, which caused bleeding in your brain. You died around 30 minutes after you fell asleep."

Sara's brown eyes were full of stunned disbelief, "… What?"

This ridiculous lie was getting more and more detailed and Sara found herself beginning to waver, in spite of how improbable Eve's words seemed. After all, she had not known of any sort of blood condition that she could inherit- but her mother had walked out on her and her sisters when she was a child, and Sara had never felt the need to know anything about her.

She wasn't allergic to any drugs and her hospital stays were always simple and straightforward, they never caught anything strange. When she had her last concussion 2 years ago, her CT scan showed nothing abnormal, so why…

Why was she starting to believe in this ridiculous lie?

"There should have been a sign or something, right?" Sara's voice was hoarse, "I mean, there must have been some sort of sign that something was wrong with me."

"Why didn't you go out your friends yesterday?"

Silent tears fell from Sara's eyes. She stared at Eve as if her words had physically slapped her. She crumbled into herself, and her arms crossed over her suddenly nauseous stomach.

"But it… it was just a headache."

Sara's breathing hitched and she reached up to cup her hand over her mouth as tears fell down her face, "Having a headache is completely normal! I've been so stressed over my final exams, and I have been drinking too much coffee and not sleeping enough, so of course I had a headache!"

Sara looked at Eve and silently begged her to agree with her. Sara pleaded with her eyes for Eve to tell her that this entire conversation had been nothing but a disgusting joke.

"Miss Sara." Eve looked at her with sympathy plain on her face, "You and I both know that it wasn't just a headache."

Sara's expression crumbled in despair, and she hid her face behind her hands as she cried. She cried because it wasn't fair, she cried because there was so much that she had left to do in her life. But mainly, she cried because she knew how devastating this was going to be for her family. For her father who had already buried too many people he loved. For her sisters who had never lost anyone in their lives, and for her husband, who had just come home from the war.

It really was not fair.