Revenge of a Lifetime

I Already Told You

Today is the day I get released from the hospital. I was so excited to get out of that stuffy room and awful gown.
Ellie came and brought me a change of clothes and some shoes. When I was out I was supposed to go see Levail, so I prepared myself.
Rusty walked me down the hall to the interrogation room. I was happy to get a chance to let my rage out. When I walked in he was handcuffed to a table. He looked at me with a small smile.
"I'm glad you're out of the hospital." At that moment all of my rage came out. He wasn't glad I was out of the hospital, he put me there.
"No you're not, you're the one who put me there. You shot me with the intent to kill me. Luckily Rusty tracked my phone." I yelled .
"Look, I don't have time to listen to your story about how you didn't mean to shoot me or how your innocent, so just tell me what you want." He adjusted his position in his chair.
"Look, I only shot you to make my dad proud. But I was so confused as to who I was against. My father wrongly abused my mother, but I was on this mission  for ten years. I didn't know what to do so I panicked. But I just wanted to talk to you to get the full story."
"I told you the full story, your mother was innocent. She was only trying to make you guys happy." He seemed upset that I reconfirmed that.
"Your a highly trained agent Levail, maybe next time you'll realize that not everyone can tell the truth, even if he thought it was." I started to turn away, but he called my name.
"Wait, I want you to know that I really am glad your ok. I was so worried that I actually hurt you." I didn't even look back at him, I was so mad.
"Tell it to the judge." I walked out and slammed the door. All I wanted to do was have a nice relaxing day. But that just ruined it for me. I went to my room and hoped to get some cleaning done, but Ellie came over.
"Hey, how did it go?" I sighed.
"I almost went to prison for first degree murder. He said he was glad that I was ok. If he was really glad, he wouldn't have sent me there." She nodded.
"Yeah, he's just a liar. But what did he want?" I sat on my bed.
"Its a long story, but really he wanted the truth. His father was lying to him about his mother all these years."
"Oh, that makes sense. So on a brighter note, what do you want to do today?" She perked up and then sat in my desk chair.
"I dont know, maybe Rusty will let us out for a while. Now that I've spent more time out of this building, I want to explore a little."
"That sounds fun, and I'm sure he'll let us get some fresh air. The doctor said it would be good for you." She smiled, then texted Rusty. He was dealing with the investigation so he didn't have time for us to visit. He texted back and said it would be done, he didn't have time to work with us right now anyway. So, I grabbed my keys and we went to the mall.
It was lunch time so we went and ate before shopping.
"What are we shopping for again?" She shrugged.
"I don't know, it's just to distract you an have some fun."
"I could use the distraction, I keep playing everything back in my head." She put a hand on my shoulder.
"I know, so I wanted you to forget. Let's go shop for some new clothes. I think Levail had a hand in picking your last set of new clothes, so maybe you should get a fresh start." I couldn't have agreed more. We went to a store that was more my style and picked some stuff out. It was mostly neutral colors, but I liked that. Gray, black and white were my favorite colors. After picking a few things out, I paid and then we moved to another store. This cycle went on for the next few hours, that is until we got tired.
When we decided to leave, we hauled my bags to the car and went back to the housing center. Ellie helped me with my stuff and we got it all to my room.
After that, Ellie and I decided to go to dinner.
Honestly l, I didn't have many friends other than Ellie and, at one point, Levail. But when I walked in the cafeteria, everyone in my program crowded around me and started asking me questions.
"Woah, hold on just a second guys, sorry. How about we all get food, then we can talk?" They all agreed and then got their food.
I sat down with ellie, then everyone else followed. One girl started asking questions again and then everyone else followed.
"So, what happened? We all thought Levail was one of us." She asked bluntly. As as much as I hated talking about this, they did deserve to know. After all, they've worked with him as long as I have. 
"Look guys, to put it plainly, Levail was more loyal to his father than to us. He had an idea about what happened in his head, but didn't really know what actually happened in real life." Everyone seemed to understand, but they still had questions.
"Do you forgive him?" That question struck me the wrong way. I honestly had no idea if I did or not. He tried to kill me, but he didn't know any better.
"You know what? I forgive him in the sense that he was just confused, but it honestly really hurt that he nearly killed me. I though we were really goid friends, but when I found out we weren't all of my training went out rhe window and I was left vulnerable. I don't like how he used me and that's the part I don't think I can forgive yet." I sat there through a few more questions, then Ellie and I went to my room.
"Leah, why did you let them ask you so many personal questions. You're not ready to handle that yet." I sighed.
"I know, but Levail was there friend too and they deserved to know what really happened. Its not anything I could control." She nodded understandingly.
"I get it, but I think you need to talk to Levail again. You and I both know you need some closure, so please go talk to him." Her words surprised me, but I knew she was right.
"I know, I just dont want to see him again." She smiled.
"I know, but the sooner you do it, the better." I nodded.
"Yeah, I'm going to go and talk to him. Do you mind me leaving for a few?" She shook her head, so I grabbed my jacket and went back to the interrogation room.
"I need to see Levail please." I told the prison guard.
"Absolutely, just go ahead and sit down in there. I'll have him right out." I nodded and did as he asked. When Levail came out, he had a smile on his face as if he wad genuinely happy to see me.
"Leah, you came back." He said with excitement as he sat down across from me. The guard left us to talk.
"Not for reasons that you might think. I need to know, honestly, why you shot me? I know you weren't confused and I know you aren't one to do something like that without giving it serious thought." He smiled.
"I was hoping you would ask that. I knew my father wanted to kill you, but the only way I could think to protect you was by shooting you myself. If I shot you in the side, I knew you wouldn't die, just go through some pain. But I knew you could handle it. Then, even though it looked like I was attempting to kill you, I was actually saving you. My father works for the Russian government, but that doesn't mean he always tells the truth. When he took me to go after my mom, I didn't know we we're going to kill her, I though we were just going to find her. When he shot her my heart broke and I wanted him to pay. So all this time I thought of a plan to stop him once and for all." I was surprised at how much thought he put into that plan.
"So you really were glad that i was out of the hospital?" He nodded.
"Wait, how do I know your telling the truth? You could just be covering for yourself." He stood up and took something out of his pocket. He handed me a necklace that said my sister's name on it.
"I saw this on your table by the window after my father shot through it. I grabbed it, knowing you might not ever see it again after having to leave your house. I wanted to make sure you had it one day. You didn't deserve to have your sister taken from you, and I didn't realize I could have stopped it. So I want to let you know how truly sorry I am. And by the way, when Rusty came and  saved you from my father, I was the one who called him. I thought you should know that too." He handed me the necklace and I took it. I looked at it and remembered her wearing it every day. I missed it and thought I had lost it forever.
"Thank you, looking at factual evidence, I thought you were guilty. But knowing who you are deep down, I knew you wouldn't actually kill me." He smiled.
"I'm going to find a way to prove your innocent." He sighed.
"There isn't any way to prove it. Everything I did looked like absolute fact that I wanted you dead." I thought for a moment, the  realized someone who could help me.
"Wait, you have a tell when your lying. I didn't even think to look for it when you shot me, but you always tilt your head to the left when your not telling the truth. Its a very small tell, but if of its on security footage, Rusty will know. Plus, if your aim is correct, then he'll know you weren't trying to kill me." Levail smiled knowing I had a chance.
"Ok, I'm going to go get security tapes from that room and talk to Rusty, you dont mind sitting in the cell for a while longer do you?"
"Ive been here this long." I smiled, then left the room. I ran to evidence and asked for the tapes. I had to fill out paper work, but I got the tapes. When I had them, I ran to Rustys office and found him.
"Rusty, Levail is innocent." He looked at me like his eyes were going to pop right out of his head.
"No, he tried to kill you." I shook my head.
"No, he was protecting me. He knew the only way to protect me from his father was to shoot me himself. He's the one who called you and he shot me in the side on purpose. Look, in this tape it proves everything. He has a tell when he's lying and he does it on the tape. Plus, you can tell his aim is totally off For a blow to the head." I showed him the tape.
"Your right, he couldn't have killed you if he wanted to with that aim. Ok, we need to take this evidence to my boss and explain everything if we want Levail out of prison." I nodded. It was going to take some convincing, especially since I convinced everyone he was guilty in the first place. But I know he's innocent now and I'm going to prove it if it's the last thing I do.