2015.04.16 - Cut Scene: An Unwanted Answer

Ben Reilly was sifting through files. Several pieces of papers and photos were pinned into a corkboard that had its own legs. Various pieces of yarn connected certain photos and papers. Unlike most information boards like this there was no top piece that connected everything. Center pieces were there and they seemed to be the most connected to everything that spanned outward.

"What's the missing piece," Ben Spencer Reed Reily muttered angrily. By now his place was in shambles. Empty manila folders, papers and pictures that held little to no relevance, pizza boxes, empty soda cans and other debris were strung out his floor. Wading through the apartment he practically acted like a pinball between a few different piles of paper. "Come on brain, work. You know you're missing something. You just need to kick in and see it!"

Time ticked by before he rose up from the debris. For five brief seconds he looked triumphant then every feature in his face fell. Suddenly he moved to the board and tossed it like a small cardboard box. Suddenly wood splintered and shattered. Some of the notes and photos scattered on the ground. Others were tethered to what remind of the board as it was on the ground. Each document and picture dangled from the tacks and fabrics they were connected to.

Sometimes the answer to a mystery wasn't one people liked to see. Ben Reilly was seeing the last five years of his life was a lie.