“The Geometry of Fate: The Liar’s Compass”

Chapter 1. The Lilac Bench

The sharp, sweet scent of lilacs hung in the air, a fragrant contradiction to the sour taste of injustice still in Demetra’s mouth. It was April of 1951 at St. Sebastian’s Boarding School, and the confrontation in Mrs. Meyer’s office had just concluded, leaving her simmering with a volatile mix of indignation and triumph.

The summons itself had been delivered with a silent, grim-faced prefect, a slip of paper that felt like a warrant. En route, Demetra’s boots had echoed a defiant rhythm on the polished oak floors. She had been fiercely tempted to throw open the office door without knocking—a small, satisfying act of rebellion she knew would infuriate her least favorite teacher. She had pictured the way Mrs. Meyer’s many chins would quiver with affront. But she had suppressed the impulse, not out of respect, but out of strategic cunning. It was better to walk in appearing, at least superficially, compliant.

“Take a seat,” Mrs. Meyer had ordered, her voice a damp cloth on stone. The teacher was ensconced behind a vast, oppressive desk, her figure casting a substantial shadow. As Demetra entered, those small, keen eyes had fixed upon her with a look of profound suspicion, as if the girl were not just a student but an agent of some treasonous plot, and Mrs. Meyer was about to take a slow, special pleasure in exposing her.

The silence had been thick, broken only by the deliberate rustle of paper. Then Mrs. Meyer began to read aloud, her tone dripping with theatrical disdain. “‘Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Idiot is not without its faults. The characters, as interesting as they are, are too fantastical and unbelievable...’” She finished the sentence and placed the essay back on her desk with a finality that was meant to be damning. “Does this phrase look familiar, Miss Demetra?”

“Yes,” Demetra answered, her voice level, her gaze unflinching. There was no point in denial. The words were hers. “I wrote it.”

“Lucas Sheffield also wrote something remarkably similar,” Mrs. Meyer continued, her accusation hanging in the air like a bad smell. Lucas Sheffield… Hearing his name, Demetra felt a slight, involuntary shrug lift her shoulders. He was a friendly acquaintance, a year ahead, whose notes were often circulated among the less diligent students.

“So?” she answered, allowing the nonchalant shrug to fill the word.

“So you copied from him.”

“No, I didn’t.” The denial was swift, clean.

“You just happened to write a virtually identical critique to a student one year your senior? A rather sophisticated critique, I might add.” Mrs. Meyer leaned forward, a smug certainty tightening her lips. “I’m sure you’re smart enough to come up with those arguments yourself, Miss Demetra.”

That was the spark. The condescension, the assumption of stupidity layered over the assumption of dishonesty. It burned away her caution.

“Anchoring bias,” Demetra muttered, the psychological term slipping out like a blade.

“What did you say?”

She looked directly at her then. “Anchoring bias. And confirmation bias.” She spoke louder now, her voice gaining strength and clarity. “Lucas is my friend. You found his work, saw it was similar to mine, and anchored to the idea that I must have copied. You already have a poor opinion of my academic abilities, so this just confirmed it. If you had looked a bit further,” she pressed on, a daring edge to her tone, “you’d see my essay actually has more in common with Bina Roy’s than with Lucas’s. I would know, because I studied both. Besides, those arguments are commonplace among Dostoevsky’s critics. Any serious—”

“That’s enough,” Mrs. Meyer interrupted, her face flushed. The flow of logic, the confident invocation of biases had unsettled her script. “I will… check Bina’s work as well. You may go for now.”

Demetra had stood, her spine straight, and walked out without another word. The moment the heavy door clicked shut behind her, the hot rush of anger fully crested. How dare that woman question her intelligence? The gall of it! Sure, she had borrowed from Lucas’s structure, but that was purely from a lack of interest in the assignment, not from any mental deficiency. It was a tactical shortcut, not a necessity. And Bina, she knew for a fact, had copied entire paragraphs from Walt Peterson. Mrs. Meyer’s ignorance of that little chain of literary theft had been the perfect leverage. “I was smart enough to fool you,” she whispered to the empty corridor, the taste of triumph, though pyrrhic, finally overtaking the anger.

Her mind, a whirlwind of vindication and lingering irritation, was still churning when she stepped into the quadrangle. The April sun was weak but welcome. And there he was—a balm to the whole ugly episode. Mr. Riemann, her favorite teacher, was sitting on a wrought-iron bench nestled between two grand, blooming lilac trees. The sight of his slightly overweight, comfortable figure, a book open but forgotten on his lap, immediately eased the tightness in her chest.

She approached, the ghost of her smirk returning. “Sometimes, we have to hurt people we love to help them,” she announced gleefully, quoting the line they both knew so well.

He looked up, his eyes crinkling at the corners behind his spectacles. “Because in our twisted world, people respond faster to pain, and constant love makes the heart grow bored,” he completed, his voice a warm rumble. He marked his page and closed the book. “I see you finished The Count of Monte Cristo. That was impressively fast. What did you sacrifice to gain such time?”

“My homework,” she answered, plopping down unceremoniously next to him, the iron of the bench cool through her wool skirt.

“Is that why you were summoned to Mrs. Meyer’s office?” he asked, his tone knowing.

She nodded, kicking at a pebble with the toe of her boot. “The scene of the crime.”

“And what was your sentence?”