The Above || Completed

16 Grace

I winked at Aeron and his smile only grew. Our plan was going to work. But as Aeron looked down at the papers, I saw his eyebrows draw into a frown. What did he see? I had no time to find out though, because Robertson made a move to turn around and I had to duck back into my hiding place.

"So, this is what's going to happen, Aeron," Stadler said shortly after I'd hidden again. "We're going to lock you up in the tool shed for the night and find your girlfriend once we're finished with you."
Girlfriend? Could he think of anything more cliché?
"I hope you're not afraid of spiders. Tool shed's got plenty." I could just hear the evil grin in Robertson's voice. He felt triumphant.
Aeron then spoke in a solemn tone, "Why do you have photographs of us?"
Photographs? Was that what he'd seen on the papers? Why would they have had photos of all the Renewal candidates?
"What are you talking about?" Robertson enquired in return.
"The photographs on the floor. Why do you have them?" Aeron was starting to sound tense.
"The Renewal candidates, Rob," Stadler said, probably smirking.
Roberson snorted. "Oh, don't worry, Aeron. They're for security purposes."
"You're lying," Aeron snarled.
"So what if he is?" Stadler taunted. "You're too far below us to know the truth."

I heard Aeron struggling to stand up but he was surely tied to the chair and the next thing I heard was the chair toppling over and Aeron groaning in frustration. Stadler and Robertson broke out into a huge guffaw. Once that died down, all I could hear was Aeron's heavy, angry breathing. I ached to go and help him.
"All right, let's lock him up, Stadler," Robertson said.
There was a series of shifting sounds where Aeron attempted to fight back in between but the guards always managed to keep him under control. I heard the door open and the lights flickered off.
There was silence after Aeron shouted, "The photos! Mad-"
The rest came muffled. They must've gagged him. Good thing, too.

My breathing came rapidly. I was going to have to get Aeron out of that tool shed somehow. But first, I had to remain here and investigate those photographs. Finally, I stepped out of the shadows and took the torch in my hands again. I pointed the beam of light toward the five faces staring up at me from the floor. Erica's eyes met mine first, with a fake smile plastered about her lips. One by one, I picked up the papers scattered on the floor and placed them in a pile once more. I left the five photographs splayed out on the table. Nothing was stapled or stuck to the photographs. All our names were simply written on the back. I still had this tumultuous anxiety twisting my insides. They didn't just need these for security purposes. Not anymore at least.

I started looking through the documents I'd stacked up again. All I needed was one page with one of our names on. With enough luck, I suddenly came across a page that read CONFIDENTIAL. Now, of course I took a look, because nobody in a situation like this would ever choose not to. Anything that reads CONFIDENTIAL is just begging to be read. The paper was stapled together with five other pages. This was not a coincidence. I turned the page over and gazed upon Aeron's full name.
Aeron Cornelius Phoenix
"Cornelius?" I giggled.
Aeron was going to suffer now. I planned to tease him ruthlessly.
I shook my head and read into his details such as his age, gender, physical description, etc. I was bound to come across something unusual, and so I did. Right at the bottom of the page, there were details about his unusual habits and strange characteristics. Below that was a section that said STATUS: Normal.
What did they mean by normal? The details they'd mentioned above were details only a stalker could obtain. Meaning the council had him followed. But why?

I frowned as I paged through the rest of our files. The same type of information followed in my files, Erica's and Zachariah's. Admittedly, I felt extremely exposed. When I looked at Grace's, however, the status bar was blank. She was still being investigated.

^^^

!!Author's Note!!

The picture above is meant to be a depiction of Grace. Our lovely Bookworm!!

I'll try push for another update soon.

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