Mira spent a few weeks carefully doing everything her mother and chief told her to do. She followed each instruction meticulously, trying to prove her worth. She deleted file after file, although what she didn't tell was that she would back up the files first, so they'd be deleted, but still safe in her flash drive that she kept with her at all times. She'd become even better friends with Melissa, but she kept feeling bad about the whole situation. Sure, the people weren't doing any good, but she was just pretending to be one of them, and somehow she did it so well, she'd have trouble falling asleep at night. Mira felt bad for lying this much, but knew she had to keep it up, just so she could end the whole group once and for all.
What surprised her the most though, was the fact that her mother didn't recognize her at all. How fucked up must've been her mother's brain, for her to not recognize her own child? However, that did help Mira infiltrate better. If she was immediately outed, nothing would've gone so well, and she would've definitely never reached the position she was at at that point. As she replaced Gerald, she knew that she had to be better than him in order to not be 'replaced'. The more information she receive, the more she found out about the way the whole organisation worked. That being, if someone rats the group out, or stops being useful, they immediately get taken care of - meaning they get a single bullet into the back of their head. Considering the amount of people who had connections with the company going missing, Mira assumed they were 'taken care of' and their bodies were probably somewhere outside the tower.
One day, which was supposed to be her off day from work and she planned to go suck up to the higher ups in the organisation, Mira woke up and got ready. She had a quick snack, that being a quick sandwich, and left the house. Without even thinking, she went straight to the library and entered the vent. She crawled through it almost absent-mindedly and sat down in one of the chairs in the room, for absolutely no reason at all.
She sat there for around 10 minutes before a loud ring echoed throughout the stone hallways. Mira then stood up and went through one of the doors, which lead to a narrow hallway. She walked through it, and entered a room. In it, stood a large table, at which at least 30 people could sit. At the end of said table, sat Renee, Mira's mother, and waited for other people to come in. Mira sat down on one of the chairs that were the closest to the door, trying to avoid her mother's gaze.
"Elaina. First like usual, I see." Renee said with a fake smile.
"I just don't like being late." Mira quietly responded and kept staring at her own hands under the table.
As other people started coming in, Mira felt less awkward, especially when Melissa sat down next to her. She relaxed a little bit, but still stayed on guard. When the room was completely full, with around 20 people that were late standing around as there were no seats left, Renee stood up from her armchair and the room went completely silent.
"Nice to see all of you here, especially considering it's a day off for most of you and you could've chosen to sleep in." a quiet wave of stressful giggles echoed throughout the room.
"Not like we had a choice..." someone whispered and received a glare from Renee.
"Now, as some of you already know, for our next task, we're going to aim a little higher - both figuratively and literally: the 9th Level."
Audible gasps went through the room, and quiet chatter followed.
"How are you planning to even get any of us up there, chief?"
"Yeah it's impossible! As soon as any of us exited on Level 9, we'd either be deported down or shot on the spot!"
Renee smiled mischievously and sat down.
"There are two types of people that can get to a higher level with minor consequences, or no consequences at all. And I'm damn sure we've got both of these kinds of people in our organisation."
As she kept smiling, everyone tensed up. No one wanted to go up there, as they knew the chance of getting killed as an outsider is way higher than that of being a local, and people who work there are no excuse. It was much safer going to a lower level, where if anything happened, you could just pretend you didn't know the rules were so strict on the lower levels as you had the proverbial high ground. However, if you're from a lower level and you go up, you're being watched 24/7. As a lot less people live there, and everyone knows everyone - an outsider can't do anything without being seen.
"The people that will work on this case will be notified personally from their work personnel, so please go to work as usual so you'd get the information. I'll meet the selected people tomorrow evening and explain in more detail what will have to be done there, so wait for that too." she stood up from her armchair. "That's all for today, you may leave."
While people pushed through each other to get out of the room, dreading to be the last one, Mira accidentally made eye contact with Renee, who smiled at her eerily before Mira looked away and left the building.
The next morning, she woke up in a puddle of her own sweat. Her bedsheets were completely soaked, and Mira was breathing heavily. After going to the kitchen, she poured herself a glass of water and sat down on the side of her sofa. Her breathing finally slowed down, but the thoughts about what might happen on that day didn't leave her head. She kept overthinking it, with her brain wondering whether she'll get picked or not. After sitting there for around 30 minutes, she decided to take a shower in order to calm herself down.
After getting ready and doing her full on morning routine, Mira finally left for work. When she got there, she sat down in front of her computer and started adding more names to a list. To her surprise, the vast majority of people who are a part of the group actually used their real names when introducing themselves, which made compiling a list extremely easy. It took her around half an hour to compile all the names she remembered and had not added to the list yet. After that, she sat back with a smile. She saved the file, put it on her flash drive and immediately deleted the version she had on her computer, just in case. Mira cleaned out the data and hit her flashdrive in a hidden bottom in one of her desk drawers. She then stood up from the table and went to the kitchen for a coffee and some sweets, which she felt like she deserved.
She took a croissant she had left for herself from the fridge and took a big bite. Although it was cold and far from fresh, it was still delicious. After pouring some coffee down after the food, she started heading back to her desk, but was interrupted by a loud monotone voice coming from the intercom.
"Mira Fader, would you please make your way to the head officer's office."
She felt her hands shake a little and placed her croissant back on the plate. She took another sip of coffee from her bright yellow mug and left the kitchen while thinking of worst case scenarios. The main one she had at that point was that someone found out of her connection with the terrorist organisation and now wanted some clarification or to even put her in a cell. Shivering, she went up a few flights of stairs and stopped in front of the head officer's office door. In a moment, she fixed up her hair, tidied up her clothes and took a deep breath. She extended her arm towards the door and bent the handle down.
Mira entered the room which felt rather eerie and was met a couple of people. One of them, which was the head officer, sat in his chair and looked extremely happy, while the other one, a man Mira had never seen before, sat in one of the chairs that stood in front of the desk. Once the head officer noticed her, he gestured towards the empty chair, indicating that she should sit in it immediately. Without stalling, Mira hurried to the chair and sat down.
"Mira, this is John Walter, John, this is Mira Fader." they both exchanged nods. "Mira's one of our newest detectives, and one of the best additions to the safety office force in a few years." he said, not avoiding to sugar coat it. "John Walter, whose name might be familiar to you Mira, is from Level 9, and he's the head officer there." he smiled. "You might be wondering why we invited you here, Mira, and well, it's rather simple." he turned to John.
"Ah, yes, well." John cleared out his throat. "Didn't think I'd need to talk." he glared. "We have an offer for you. Nothing to difficult, and you can always decline if you want to, but this might be a one time deal, so take it into consideration before completely declining. We heard you're talented at looking for clues and making connections, so we want you, Mira Fader, to go up a level for an entire month, and intern for us. How's that for a deal?"
YOU ARE READING
Underneath The Hidden Stars
Mystery / Thriller"WORK HARD, LIVE WELL, AND YOU WILL RISE!" After a nuclear war, the people that survived gather to a giant tower. With multiple levels in it that correspond with the wealthiness of its inhabitants, teenagers must try hard in order to get a chance to...
