Chapter 23

Loye arrived at work and began his shift at the department store. As he worked, he couldn't help but think about Alex, the person whose body he was currently occupying. The trial that had caused this strange situation was still fresh in his mind, but he tried to focus on the task at hand.

As Loye restocked shelves, he noticed his co-worker, Mark, acting suspiciously. Mark seemed nervous and kept glancing around as if he was expecting someone to catch him doing something. Loye's attention was drawn to Mark behavior. He took notice of Mark specifically because he recognized him as resembling the blurred appearance standing over him as he fell unconscious the day before.

A bit of internal dialogue went through Loye's mind as he tried to process what he had just seen. "That must be the guy who hit me," he thought to himself. "But how can that be? He works here with me; he wouldn't do that."

Loye knew he had to confront Mark about what happened, but he wasn't sure how to go about it. As he approached Mark, he tried to keep his voice calm and non-confrontational. "Hey Mark," Loye said, "can we talk for a second?"

Mark's face immediately grew defensive. "What do you want to talk about?" he asked.

Loye took a deep breath and said, "I know it was you who hit me the other night. Why would you do that?"

Mark's face went from defensive to confused. "What are you talking about?" he asked. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Loye was getting frustrated with Mark's denials. "You know exactly what I'm talking about," he said. "You hit me on the head with a pipe. Why would you do that?"

Loye wasn't satisfied with that answer, but he knew he wasn't going to get any more information out of the co-worker. He decided to drop the matter for now and focus on his work. Since Mark continued to deny any wrongdoing, and Loye didn't know how to prove anything, he had to let it go for the time being, however, he decided he had to the get to bottom of the strange incident as it was the only potential clue on how to pass the trial so far.

The problem was, even with Alex's memories, Loye was completely sure of what happened the night before, after all he had fallen unconscious after being hit on the head. As such, he was only fishing for answers or reactions when he confronted Mark a moment ago. Loye had a knack for perceiving things that people and even nature was trying to hide. As he asked Mark the questions about the events of yesterday, he was quietly but thoroughly observing his reactions and other tell-tale signs. What he could perceive was that Mark was deeply afraid of something. Enough to hit a co-worker on the head after merely suspecting that he had overhead him.

With this in mind, Loye tried to put things together and came to the conclusion that Mark's fear and actions so far was definitely related to what he, Alex, overhead the evening before. Loye then decided that if that was indeed the case, what he needed to next was find out more the matter and make a judgement from there. His rationalization was that since the whole affair appeared to be quite dangerous, finding a resolution of some sort might help him pass the trial which was a test of courage and will-power after all.

As for why he was certain the matter had to do with the trial? It was because from what he had learnt in Alex's memories, this was simply the most exciting situation the owner of the body Loye was currently inhabiting had ever being in up till this point.

With those thought in mind, Loye started stalking Mark and observing his activities, eavesdropping on his conversations. Although, Loye secretly followed Mark around all day, he wasn't rewarded until later in the day when his shift was almost done.

Later that day, Loye overheard Mark talking on the phone in the break room. The man was speaking in hushed tones, and Loye couldn't make out everything he was saying. But he did catch a few words that sent a chill down his spine.

"I've got your deal ready for tonight," Mark said. "It's going to be a big payout, but we have to be careful."

Loye's mind raced as he tried to make sense of what he had just heard. What kind of deal was this co-worker involved in? And why did it sound so shady?