Chapter 12.5

My backache so much, well what do you expect after hours and hours of sitting in this horrendous chair, the cushion did not provide any sort of comfort to my back. The last click of the keyboard made me let out a long sigh of relief, I slumped back at my seat.

Shuddering

My eyes felt like it was on fire and have this burning sensation around them, causing tears to constantly fall, definitely the strain from looking at the screen for too long and rubbing them didn’t soothe anything.

It has been weeks since my dispute with Zero and since then he hasn’t talked to me or more like; he has been ignoring my whole existence ever since, like when he sees me walking in his direction. He will then take another path away from me.

To be honest, I don’t know what to feel about all of this.

Ok I may have gone too far at my statement but why should I feel guilty, he was clearly toying with my emotions, and once I let my guard down.

The mere thought made me grit my teeth in annoyance.

He’ll be like the rest.

Biting my pale lip did no good in calming my nerves down. To make matters worse, my brain decided that it was perfect to flash images of that certain person.

That said person was the reason I’m here in the first place,

I could feel my form shook from anger. It has been months since he left but why am I still not over him, the question has been bugging me for a long time

And till now I have no idea how to answer it.

Taking deep and long breathes helped my body calm down.

'I’m going to find him someday and when I do there’ll be hell to pay' the thought made me chuckle and somehow got this giggly feeling in my chest

The mood then soured when I saw the stacks of folders, these past days I have succumbed to my work and only left this room when I go eat or sleep.

I have been helping the infiltration division in their raids being the Intel and all, Dylan would lead and Rachel as his second in command would follow behind.

I’m pretty sure Rachel has this hatred for me

Like every time I would talk to her she would give me the cold shoulder and leave in a haste, whatever happened between her and Zero must scarred her.

Grabbing the binders of all the finished cases, approved and verified. I seek out the archives room, on the third week I learned that the door next to mine was Miya. We still haven’t met but according to Dylan she’s the archives librarian and has been here the longest, also he said that she was strict with all the people before me, well except for one. My late predecessor. Who Dylan quoted ‘the black sheep’ was the most loved by Miya and when he died she became even grumpier

“If the old hag was hard to deal with before, now she’s even worse.” He said in a not-so-happy tone “so if I were you it’s best not to get on her bad side, heck... it is best if you don’t meet her at all.”

At that time I could only facepalm at his dramatic self like the old lady can’t be that bad, right?

Occupied with my thoughts, I haven’t even realized that I already arrived at my destination. With a swipe of my ID, the door opened with a loud beep. As I entered the lights flickered on revealing a room with rows upon rows of bookshelves.

There was no one around making the silence a little bit creepy, like visiting a graveyard in the middle of the night and you get this eerie feeling that someone was watching you. Stalking in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to grab you and drag you to the pits of hell.

I shivered at the thought.

Dylan once told me that people usually don’t like this job since it’s too quiet and boring and they would only last a few days before requesting to move to another department

‘the silence made them mad’ he stated in air quotes.

Oh, how wrong he was. This has been the most peaceful job I have ever gotten and that’s coming from a girl who has seen enough in her lifetime

Placing all the binders in their respective place took me longer than I expected, usually, it only takes me a few minutes. Mostly 10 to 20. Looking at my watch it’s already half an hour, well staying here a bit longer isn’t that bad anyway. Only Miya and I have access to this room, a specific rule and an important one.

This room has all the required information to bring down the organization in one night.

As for me,

I don’t really know where that kind of information is located, only Miya.

Besides, I’m too lazy to look or ask anyway.

I arrive at the last shelf, only to take a step back from the dust. Judging from the dust it has accumulated over the years, this part of the archives has to be the oldest one. Putting the binder in an empty spot in between 2 binders was a bad decision, the sudden force made dust scatter everywhere. Making me back away, sneezing. Round after round of sneezing took over me, my vision blurred. Tears were already building up in my eyes and it was at that moment I tripped, grabbing the shelf behind me to regain my balance, backfired.

It broke

I twitched as the last binder fell, joining the growing pile above me.

“I just have the best of luck.”

The resentment in my tone was clearly visible making me chuckle, before letting out all the curse words in my vocabulary after a few more unnecessary words. I sat up with a wince, looking at my present predicament. The shelf itself was broken in half with no way of repairing it. My brain was swirling with possibilities on how could I get away from this but each one was worse than the other, after a few minutes I gave up. Stacking the binders at the side, wishing that no one would notice and make a big fuss about it.

As I finished with the last one, I noticed a glint from the corner of my eye. It was small but if you look close enough it’s there, it was a small silver button roughly 2 inches big. Being the curious little thing that I am, I pressed it.

The whole shelf shook and parted, revealing a secret room behind it. The room or more like a tunnel was dark, the light was not that present much just a dull one which gave me this haunted house vibe towards it. I should have turned away and forgotten all about the room but there was this feeling drawing me in like it was calling me for something. I went inside, my heart was beating so hard like it was going to explode from my chest. A lot of red flags were already present as I ventured forward but I pushed them aside just to appease my curiosity.

At the end of the tunnel, I came across an old room. It was clear that it was abandoned for a long time. The room was almost bare except for the small dresser, on top of it was a white ceramic urn. The wall above it was scattered with framed old news articles. It took me a few minutes to read the article since it was in German.

“Fotche estate burned to the ground.” I read out loud while moving to the next one

“Daughters of the Fotche family still not found.”

I had to squint my eyes at the last one since it was burned at the side, the article was dated 5 years after the first two incidents

“Fotche case closed.”

There was no more article besides that but below it was a small family photo. I tried to reach for it but stopped when someone grabbed my shoulder, shrieking at the cold sensation that it brought with it. It was like death was here to take me to the other side, when I turn around my face suddenly went pale. Standing behind me was not death, oh how I wish it to be death but sadly no for the one standing there was the one and only;

Miya.

The look on her face had enough disdain to kill a puppy, I internally gulp. Scared of making a misstep that could kill me, the weight on my shoulder seemed heavier than it should is.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

Her tone of authority made me flinch, she probably saw it for she took away her hand from my shoulder.

“Midnight right?”

I nodded, avoiding eye contact as much as possible

“This area is off-limits, you should leave immediately.”

She stated with a softer tone this time, surprised at the sudden statement I looked at her. For an old lady, she looked nothing on how I expected her to be. Her face was free of wrinkles and still have that clear and smooth skin, her glasses hang loosely on top of her small nose behind them were a pair of stunning brown chestnut eyes. She cleared her throat making me snap out from my thoughts. I was busy admiring her features I haven’t realize that we were already back at the archives room.

“You will not speak nor mention to anyone what you saw in there if you do. Then I’ll just leave it to your imagination.”

The subtle threat made me swat her hand away from my shoulder, the astonishment on her face was not easy to miss. I didn’t care who she was or what power she holds against me, no one threatens me and gets away with it and for what, a room with newspaper articles.

Why was she so protective over an almost empty room?

“Don’t give me that look missy, fine do as you please then but don’t come running to me when the boss decides to skin you alive.”

She waves her hand, emphasizing her point to me with a knowing look on her face.

I could only bit back a retort, in a way she was right. I’m already a dead girl walking with a prize over my head and sad to say this was the only place I could hide at the moment without the feeling of looming death.

“Also the boss is looking for you, she said to report to her office immediately.”

The information made me look at her in utter confusion, was there any unfinished mission, I haven’t reported yet? I was wracking my brain if I have missed anything but it came out blank. Miya could apparently see the confusion in my face since she ushered me to the exit.

She instantly went into her own office, leaving me alone in the hallway. I let out a sigh before starting my journey

‘The control room is surprisingly empty today, it’s usually crowded.’

I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn’t notice a loud meow until something furry passed by my leg, the mere thing made me shriek and I got to admit I kinda jump a little. Once I saw it was only the cat, I let out a sigh of relief while also calming my beating heart.

The cat stood below me and from the glare, it was giving me, it was still mad.