Underneath The Hidden Stars

Chapter XXI

The whole month spent on Level 9 was rather uneventful. Mira had already managed a set routine and followed it religiously: she would go to work, stay there until 6pm, and then she would go to the cafe Prescott worked at and stay there until it got dark. She would then go home, eat something, take a shower, and go to sleep. She repeated the same routine for 3 full weeks and a few additional days. When it was her last week, she remembered the fact that some people from the organisation were supposed to come, but for some reason, not only did nothing happen, but she didn't notice anyone odd looking or familiar during her stay.

One day, which was her 3rd to last day of her internship, she went to the cafe as usual, but Prescott wasn't there. She asked Eliza, his co-worker, if she knew where he was, but she only said one thing and went on with her business.

"That self proclaimed barista didn't even notify anyone about the fact that he wouldn't come, honestly, I'm surprised the guy still has the job."

Mira sighed, and ordered the same thing as always, but couldn't help but feel worried. For some reason, she had an odd feeling in her gut, telling her she should look into it, but she just brushed it off as a stomach ache and went back home.

When she came back home, she decided she needed to air out the flat, so she opened the window slightly, closed the curtains over it and went to bed. While she was lying there, she could hear distant music, people chatting and a mixture of all kinds of sounds. She lay there awake for a good hour, just taking all those sounds in. After a while, she finally managed to fall asleep, putting all of the worries of the day behind her.

Mira was woken up by a loud sound coming from outside an hour later. At first she wasn't sure what exactly she had heard, and was just lying in bed silently, but when a shockwave move the entire building seconds later, she jumped out. She went to the window and looked out. The whole level was covered in a layer of dark smoke, and she knew she had no time to waste. She quickly put on the same clothes she wore the day before and left the apartment without even locking the door. She ran to the Safety Office to get intel on what exactly had happened, but it seemed like most of the officers were at a loss as well.

The whole station was in chaos. People were running around, left and right, hoping to find out something. Mira wanted to help people and go out there, but her supervisor was extremely against it, so she had no other choice but to sit around and wait for any answers.

After almost an hour, a young girl ran out of the camera room, and triumphantly lifted her fist in the air.

"We got him! He's on camera!" she then lowered her arm and continued with a sadder voice. "But it seems that he was a suicide bomber. The best we can do is try to recover his remains. What an idiot though, blowing up his own workplace..."

As the girl went back in, Mira's interest had peaked. She wanted to ask around, but was almost completely sure she'd get no information back. She knew it must've been related to the organisation, but she also knew she had no proof. She sat back down and started thinking about everyone she had seen on that last meeting. She worked through the whole list in her head, but she knew she hadn't seen anyone from there in Level 9, moreover working at one of the shops. She started biting her lip so hard, some blood came out. She absentmindedly licked it off and stood up. She went into full auto pilot mode and watched as her legs carried her to the head officer's office. To her luck, he was in there, and no one else was there.

"I- I just wanted to say... I might have some intel."

She went on explaining how the bomber must've been someone from Level 8 who had been working in Level 9 for at least a month, maybe more. She then told the officer of how all of the levels had 1 attack, while Level 8 has had 3.