Silent Fog

Chapter 10 - Flash

Yes, guys! We're back! :D

After leaving the room where she had met Daniel, Clara returned to the bedroom to leave her bow and went downstairs for coffee. Along the way to the cafeteria and even there, several people conveyed condolences to her. At first, she did not understand the reason, but then, everything was clear: for all purposes, she was from Cell 2!

After finishing her meal, she headed for the auditorium where the children were. She needed a place to organize her own thoughts about what had happened that morning. She was not sure what those flashes were, and when she reached the auditorium, she saw Nana there too.

Nana, seated in a chair of the first row, was reading to the group while the children were scattered on the floor listening to the story. Clara approached and sat down in a vacant chair next to the old lady paying attention too. When Nana finished the reading, the children protested a little but went out to play on the stage, leaving them alone.

"Narizinho's trick," Nana showed the book to Clara. "They love it."

"I didn't know you guys used to read."

"Fighter's don't do such a thing because they don't have time for it in most cases. But we always try to teach children to read and write. My husband taught me to read after we got married."

"Mirela told me you and Daniel are not from here."

"No. We arrived a few years ago." Nana replied as her gaze rested somewhere maybe remembering her husband and where they had lived. "But I think we've been through harder times now. No one expected that attack on Cell 2." Nana continued, changing the conversation's topic and making Clara swallow the question she had been ready to ask. "The council leaders are very concerned, especially with that suspicion of someone infiltrating... They always carefully control who enters and leaves the Cells..."

"Do you really think someone on the inside helped the government troops?"

"How else could they have annihilated Cell 2 as they did?" Nana asked, looking at her worriedly. "And this brings us a problem."

"What problem, Nana?"

"You, my dear" the old lady laid down a hand in Clara's arm. "We know that you aren't Mirela's cousin and didn't come from Cell 2. I think no one will dig around, but if they find out you didn't arrive with the groceries team and that Daniel has brought you in secret with memory loss..." she paused, sighing.

"Nana, do you think I can be a spy?"

That idea had never crossed her mind, but her abilities were so different from the other combatants... But why had not they sent her away? Why did they insist on the lie and kept her in the Cell?

"I don't know, my dear. I sincerely hope not, but this is an answer that only you have." Nana pointed her index finger on the girl's temple. "There, in your mind... Only you can tell us where you've been..."

'No, it cannot be!' shouted an inner voice. It made little sense... or did it? 'Would I have been attacked only as a decoy? But how did they know Daniel would bring me into the Cell? Anyone could have found me, not specifically him. They could have taken me to one village... And how to explain my lack of memory?' More questions added to the ones that still inhabited her mind.

"I wish I could, Nana... But I can't remember anything and... even if I was some kind of spy, how could I be useful if I remember nothing, not even the supposed mission?" Clara argued, exposing part of her thoughts and purposely omitting the flashes she'd had that morning.