Underneath The Hidden Stars

Chapter XXVII

Surrounded by complete silence, Mira opened her eyes. She felt a painful sting in the back of her head, which made her squint a few times before she looked around. The room she was in was very poorly lit, with the only light in the corner of the room pointing at the floor, emitting as little light as possible. Mira took a quick glance in front of her and noticed a silhouette in front of her. When her eyes got used to the dark, she realized that there was, in fact, a man sitting in a chair in front of her, however, he looked unconscious. She stared at him for a few moments and memories started flowing back to her head, making her remember the whole situation.

"Dad?" she inquired quietly, but received no answer.

Assuming he's definitely unconscious, Mira looked at the situation she was in – her hands were tied up together and tied to the chair she was sitting on, making her escape more difficult, but her legs were free, which gave her at least some control of her body. She glanced around to see if there was anything sharp around her, but the results were futile - the room, aside from her, her father and the lamp in the corner, was completely empty. She pondered for a moment, before an idea popped into her head - the lightbulb that was screwed in the lamp was, obviously, made of glass, meaning if she were to break it, she could cut the ropes that held her captive with the shards. She glanced around once more, as if to make sure there was no other way to reach her goal and stood up with the whole chair. As soon as she started moving however, the door was kicked open and she was pushed to the floor. Mira managed to kick the lamp over in the process, but the lightbulb didn't break, making her whole idea useless.

After the door was opened, though, right through it walked a woman and a girl, and they certainly didn't need an introduction, as Mira recognized them in a split second. Terra was crouching behind her mother, as if terrified of what Mira would say, and, at the same time, trying not to get unnecessary punishment from her mother. Mira looked at her own mother with disgust.

"You,-"

"Me? What about me, honey?" she responded blatantly, with a careless sound in her voice.

"You, know damn well."

"Hmm, well, see, I don't I do. Care to elaborate?"

Mira felt her breathing get more heavy with each moment and took a moment to calm down. She took a deep breath and looked back at her mother.

"Thousands of innocent children died at your hands. You murdered them with your own two hands, and you- you even tried murdering your own daughter! Have you no shame?"

"Shame? Haven't heard of it. So?"

"So? Really? This is how you respond? I could make you go to the below, you wrench-"

"You could, sure. If you make it out alive, you probably will, but the odds are definitely not in your favor, sweetie. The best thing you can hope for right now is a quick death, but frankly, I'm not really in the mood for it. What if I... hmm... what would be best... tear your nails off one by one? Continuously rip your hair out?" she glanced at Terra and looked back. "Your eyes look like they're working pretty well. What if I changed that?" Renee pulled Terra in front of her and grabbed her by the hair. "Oh, I have an idea! What if instead of torturing you, I tortured Terra instead! You'd be able to watch her suffer, without being able to do anything about it!"

"You're a psychopath."

"Oh, am I? I don't know, I think I'm pretty normal." she said as she threw Terra on the ground beside her. "Oh, I have another idea. What if I-" she walked up to Mira's father and took a knife from behind her belt. "Cut his throat? Nah, that'd be boring. Hm, I'm not sure if I want to see blood right now, plus we haven't seen each other in a while... Want to chat?"

"What? Chat? Seriously?"

"Yeah! What's wrong with having a good old chat?"

"Nothing, I mean-"

"Great! I'll start. A lot of your friends died in the accidents I caused. How does it make you feel?"

"What? What do you mean a lot of my friends...?"

"Oh, you didn't know?"

"Didn't know what?"

"Never mind, you'll find out soon enough."

"Find out what?"

"Hm, let me rephrase the question then. A lot of innocent people died in the accidents I caused. How does it make you feel?"

Mira wanted to find out more about the thing she mentioned prior, but ended up reluctantly answering the question.

"It makes me angry. I don't think one person should play god and take lives without any reason."

"Oh, so if there was a reason, it'd be okay?"

"What? No, that's not what I-"

"Because there was a reason. I don't know how long your chit chat with Terra was, but my whole plan is to overthrow the king so that someone suitable for the role would take his place."

"And that's why you killed thousands of children? That makes no sense!"

"Oh, honey, of course it does, all you need to do is think outside of the box and you'll get it! If the vast majority of children get killed in accidents all around the tower, they'll be too terrified to let the current king's reign to continue!"

"You really think that a massacre is a good way to overthrow a king? Seriously? Whatever the hell happened to democracy? Why don't you just let everyone know the truth, I mean, you surely have the connections for that."

"But that would take too long! Who knows how many unjust rules he'd pass on till that happens! Plus, think of it this way – sure, a few kids died along the way, but the whole tower is paying attention to the current situation, and it's the most united it's been since it's been built!"

"Seriously? The children are dead, mom. You're not going to bring them back. You murdered them, you left families grieving for their lost child who only wanted to go to school and maybe get a chance to rise in the future. You stripped their futures away from them, you have no fucking right to do that. No one does."

"Don't forget who you're talking to. You are under my command, so stop running that annoying little tongue of yours. What I did was the best solution to the current situation, and if you don't get it now, you'll get it soon."

"No I won't-"

"Don't talk back to me." She said and glanced at the rest of the people in the room.

She looked at Emerson, who was still unconscious, and a mischievous smile showed up on her face. She pushed him, along with the chair he'd been sitting on, towards the wall and took a gun out of her pocket.

"Wait, what are you-" Mira whispered out, with her eyes wide open from shock.

"Oh, he's not needed. I already got everything I wanted to get out of him. Although he knew way less than I expected, it's still something, but now he's just a waste of space."

"What? No he's not, if anything, he's better of a person-"

Mira closed her eyes from the sudden sound. She fell back to the floor, with the heavy chair falling on top of her. The loud gunshot echoed through the room for a few seconds, leaving the room seem emptier and more quiet than it could ever be.

"What the... why in the world would you do that?"