We stopped in front of headquarters. Melissa paused, holding a key card. “You will have fifteen minutes. Take only your items, and nothing else.” Both Nico and I nodded. Melissa swiped the card and opened the door to headquarters. No one moved. I looked back and forth between Nico and Melissa. “Is anyone gonna’...” I asked, gesturing to the door. Before I gave them a chance to reply, I walked inside. All the lights were off, but the Main was partially lit from the open door. Nico and Melissa followed me in, and the door closed, leaving us in complete darkness. I fumbled for the light switch, but it didn’t work. “Uh, guys?” I asked hesitantly. There was no answer. I swallowed the lump in my throat while grabbing the small flashlight attached to my backpack with shaky hands. Turning it on, the thin beam of light allowed me to see where I was walking. I headed to my bunkroom. Might as well look in there, see if there’s anything I want to take with me.
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The lights in that room didn’t work either. “Are any of the lights working for you?” I called, hoping that Nico or Melissa would answer. Neither of them did. I put down my backpack and climbed up to my bed, not bothering to take off my shoes. Sitting on my bed, I turned off the flashlight, letting myself relax in the darkness. I could still see quite a bit, even without the light. I guess my eyes were adjusting to the darkness. “Hi, Elias,” a voice said. I sat up quickly. “Who’s there?” I asked, reaching for the flashlight. I couldn’t find it. Maybe it fell. “Who’s there?” I asked again. “When I first got you onto this team, I never thought that it would come to this. I always thought that it would be smooth sailing once we got the team together. You were just the last piece of the puzzle. Everything was ready, but then everything got messed up. The first fight for Salef, that was the turning point. If that hadn’t happened, we would already be out, but you wouldn’t be. I knew what was going to happen if I went after you. I needed it to happen. None of this was an accident. It was perfectly planned, so that everything could fall into place when I wanted it to. And now, we just need to wait. We need to wait for them to instigate, and then it will be almost over. If Operation Resurrection works, even just the first few parts, we’ve already won. We’re going to win, Elias. You and me. We’re going to win.” The lights flicked on, and I scanned the room. No one was there. “Who are you? Where are you?” I asked. I impulsively let my hand go to my pocket, where I’d stored a pocket knife. I stepped onto the ladder, looking over my shoulder. I didn’t trust this person to not attack me.
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“I’m right here.” I looked through the rungs on the ladder, onto Morri’s bed. The person was sitting on the bed, legs crossed. I nearly fell down the last few rungs. “Hi, Elias,” she said again. All thoughts of fear left my mind. I practically dove onto the bed, wrapping my arms around her. “I missed you, Mariah,” I said quietly. “I missed you, too. I’ve been waiting here for you since Melissa got the call that you were heading back,” she replied, just as quiet. “How are you?” I asked. “Are you doing okay? Have you been recovering alright?” She laughed at my flood of questions. “I’ve been alright. Everything’s been pretty good. I’ve been meeting regularly with some doctors, and have been regaining all of the… normal things people are supposed to be able to do but I haven’t really been able to. I walked here by myself, which is a really good thing. This is the first time in a while that Melissa and Ana have let me out of their sight.” I smiled at that. At least Ana had been keeping an eye on her. “I’m so glad to hear it, Mariah. But, what are you doing here? I’m not on Gold Team anymore, I need to get going,” I asked. Mariah stood, slowly walking through the room. “I wanted to come see you. I’m sure Melissa will give us a few extra minutes. The whole fifteen minute thing is more of a suggestion than a rule,” she said, picking up a book.
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“You don’t have anything to pack up,” she pointed out, tossing me the book. I struggled to catch it, caught off guard. “Thanks for reminding me. I know,” I replied, putting the book down. “I meant, you have a couple minutes before Melissa takes you to the memory chamber, so I was thinking we could go do, I don’t know, something before then.” My eyes widened in confusion. “Memory chamber? What is that, what’s it going to do to me?” I asked, visibly anxious. “Did Melissa not tell you about it?” I shook my head. “Oh. Then, it’s not my place,” Mariah responded, silently telling me that the conversation about it was over. But, I wasn’t ready for it to be over. “What is a memory chamber?” I asked again. “Mariah, please. I need answers about this. Please.” She looked around nervously. “Why can’t you tell me? Is it because of Melissa?” Her silence was an answer enough. “Of course, it is,” I said with a sigh. “Callie and Athimi tried to tell me about her. They said that she was a terrible leader, and that they were scared of the consequences of saying something even remotely negative about her. They are scared of her, Mariah. Do you know what she’s done to them? Melissa, she is not fit to be a leader. If you’re scared of her too, we could get rid of her. Then, maybe this could all work better. Morri is a great leader, I’m sure she would love to take on Melissa’s responsibilities.” I’d gotten so far off track from what I’d meant to be saying. “Please tell me. I can handle Melissa. If you’re scared of her, too, then we could…” My voice trailed off.
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“I am not scared of Melissa, Elias,” Mariah said. “She will tell you, when the time is right. And I advise you to be careful with what you say. I may be your sister, but you are inside T.R.I.B.A.U.M base. You cannot talk down to the leaders and expect no backlash. I will talk to Melissa about her… methods, but you must know that I might need to tell her that Callie and Athimi were the ones who first said it. I can’t promise that they will not be reprimanded.” I nodded solemnly. I shouldn’t have said anything. Now Callie and Athimi would get in trouble. “You’ve got a few minutes left, Elias. Decide what you want to do with them,” Mariah said, putting on a smile for me. I could tell she was trying to hide the mini-argument we’d just had. This is supposed to be a happy thing. Just be happy, I told myself. I matched her smile. “Well, I haven’t had a ton of time to learn anything cool that I would want to show you. I also don’t have anything to pack up. So, um, I think I’m just going to go out to the Main now,” I said quietly, looking down. I started to walk out of the room. Mariah watched me go.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU9Adut09hO
