O' Act, O' Evil

"Here you go."

The park ranger handed her a rough towel to wash off the dripping water off of her hair. She took it.

"Thanks."

Whether it be fortune or misfortune, Leah had found herself in the watchtower of the park warden after swimming ashore. She wasn't entirely sure what the ranger himself saw when she resurfaced from the water, but it couldn't have been that obvious for him to see her unless he was directly looking at where she was.

The watchtower itself was somewhat messy. There were papers sprawled over the desk, the pin board with a hole-ridden map attached with nails and another pin board reserved for flyers and notices. The bed was obviously not made, there was a stray mug with dried coffee stains in it and a radio used to communicate with other watchtowers in the park. The standard set for a park ranger.

Leah would call the place a man cave had she herself was not stuck in the body of a man as well.

The park ranger grabbed another seat across from her as she hung the towel over her neck. "So, what's your name?"

Ah, right, name. Leah couldn't just say that her name was 'Leah'. The Hero of Hope was a tall figure, over six feet tall with muscles all over. There was no way that the park ranger would believe even a quarter of the truth she speaks, so it was better to just make up a name.

"Lloyd. Lloyd Burkenwood." She said. The warden writes the name down in his notebook before looking up again.

"And what were you doing in the middle of the lake at night, Lloyd?"

"I… threw something into the lake, something that I didn't want anymore." She lied. "It was my, well, old wedding ring. I wasn't thinking clearly, so I ended up looking for it at the bottom of the lake."

"With a cape on and… whatever it is that you're wearing."

Leah briefly glanced downwards to her wet clothes. Most things from the king's wardrobe would make her standout in the urban world. The gambesons, the garbs and the capes. She somehow managed to settle with a simple tunic that was the closest to a t-shirt, a fine pair of pants and a dark cloak. She left her shoes behind.

"...I wasn't quite thinking straight in my search." She answered, deadpan.

There was a brief stare of judgement from the park ranger. "...I see. You know that you can get fined for littering, don't you?"

"Of course. I apologize." Leah feigned guilt by facing her head towards the floor. She assumed that the park ranger must've seen a lot of people leave behind rubbish paper bags or other things around the lake. It's not unheard of.

Although, she wasn't confident that her words were quite as believable as she would hope. The few moments he was scribbling at his notes felt too long, his hand was hesitating what to write. She wasn't really a good liar, before and after she was in this body.

"Did you… find it?" He paused, his pencil sitting tightly atop the lines of the page.

"No, no I didn't." She replied. Of course she didn't, it's a nonexistent ring she made up. The ring that she did have she left at the castle. Well, rings. She doesn't even know what happened to her actual wedding ring, or her original body either. Disintegrated? Hollowed out? Vegetated? God knows…

"Is your camp nearby?" The rather wary voice of the park ranger made Leah blinked twice, snapping her out of her brief moment of trance.

"Ah, my camp. It's…" She stops, a thought comes to mind. Is it really worth it to keep up the innocent act at this point? All of her answers were unrealistic and it was obvious that the man in front of her didn't believe a single word of what she said.

Leah leaned back on her chair. "No, actually, I don't. I don't have a tent nearby."

"Then, were you just wandering around the place?"

"No, I was just…." She sighed, folding her left leg over the other. "How long do you plan to keep this going?"

By the sudden shift in Leah's tone, the park ranger visibly stiffens. "W-what do you mean?"

"It's clear that you don't believe a single thing I said. So out with it, sir." Then, she leans forward, her eyes narrowing as if glaring. "How did you see me?"

"What--"

"How did you see me? Simple question."

The winds turn directions, flipping the tables the other way.

"Look now, I don't know what you--"

"And I don't know what you mean by 'alien guy from the lake' in your book here."

The ranger quickly peered down to his hand. It was bare save for the pen in his other hand. He heard a tear across from him. As he raised his head to look, the shreds of paper were already floating in the air like a bunch of feathers. Feathers belonging to a crow who was just looking at him.

"So." Leah sighed. "Third time, how did you see me?"

If the park ranger wasn't already showing signs of fear and wariness towards Leah, then he surely was now. Leah wasn't too keen on getting fined. Getting fined would mean being sent to the police and being sent to the police would risk her getting sacked into the system as a John Doe while being under arrest. This was just a necessary evil.

"...What the fuck are you?" All composure lost for the old park ranger, unsure of who or what was sitting across from him.

"I'm being generous, sir. Don't make me repeat myself a fourth time." A light threat to nudge him towards the right direction.

The park warden quietens for a moment. "...Any guy would see some ominous as hell lights from the waters at night, you know. You're not the epitome of subtlety, are you?"

But could still spat out a small line of banter. Granted, Leah wasn't holding a knife up to his throat and that wasn't even the plan in the first place. Preferably, this doesn't end in a violent way.

"Of course, of course." Leah nodded. "And what do you plan to do with this information? Call the authorities? Write a blog about it and post it on the internet? Would anyone even believe you, sir?"

Block out his options, put cracks in his answers, make him believe that he's trapped in a box with no way out other than the one you provide.

His head lowers again, the pen in his other hand on the verge of snapping. Denial, if they have defiance to interrogation then they'll go through denial. Commonly happens when you try to box them in.

"And what the hell are you gonna do, huh?"

"Ask for a spare map of the park and walk out of this place. That's it." She bluntly said. "Of course, with both of us alive when this ends."

A cornered dog will always try to bite. "You think I fucking believe that?!"

Because it's natural self-preservation instinct will kick in, to do anything to save its own skin.

"If you don't, then you'll end up being a mangled corpse somewhere for the bears to eat." She aired out a sigh from her lips. "The choice is yours, sir."

Any nice words you throw its way will not warrant anything. Don't put your hand out to a snarling hound, use a polearm to pacify it slowly.

The man takes a moment to evaluate. Eventually, his hand settles on his lap.

"...You're not some parasite that's gonna infect every single goddamn human, are you?"

"You watch too many movies, sir."

Leah watched the man stand up from his seat reluctantly, shuffling through the abundance of papers on his other desk and going through his drawers. Then, he turns around.

"I don't think I have a spare. Take the one off the wall next to you." He said.

But there's a difference between humans and animals.

Leah looks over to the massive map nailed to the pin board, age-old paper with folded crinkles all over them. Some of the lines and names have faded out but she can make up the name of the park. Northern Falls National Park.

Just as she placed her fingers around the edges of the paper where the nails were, she heard that brief charge. Three steps behind, about to lunge at her with something in hand likely but the standard of fast in this world was vastly different to the world she had just escaped back from.

Humans are the only one that will stab you behind even after being pacified.

In the blink of an eye, Leah seized the park ranger's wrist to the point of dislocation. The park ranger dropped the lamp as the bulb shattered beneath their feet. Leah only looked in pity as she watched the warden scream his bloody last.

"You did this to yourself."