Hacker Academy

Family

The world has turned completely white. The corner of my eyes is blinded by a fluorescent layer of light that my eyes cannot adjust to. Then, a bright piercing ray shines directly into my eyes, and I use my hand to shield whatever is coming towards me. It's a person, encompassed in a heavenly aura, but wearing a black uniform. They approach me, and I see that it's Cyber. I want to move, run, but I'm glued to the seat that I'm sitting in. I'm helpless as Cyber kneels down on one knee and puts a firm hand on the back of my seat. His eyes are soft, but only one thing springs to mind. Traitor.

"Ada," he breathes.

I turn away.

A soft chuckle escapes from his lips, and he gently turns my chin in his direction. "Ada." A frown settles across his face. "What do you live for?" 

"I know what you live for, you traitor. You only care about money and you'll do anything for more. You used me, played me, just to be Miss Tag's pet and do her dirty work-"

"Ada," this time his voice has a slight edge to it. "What do you live for?"

I shut my mouth, but as soon as I do so, my mouth is snapped open to speak, an instinctive urge, or else bile threatens to surface.

"I-I-"

I frantically look to Cyber, but he only prods me with an innocent smile.

"I-I live for-"

I wake up. Sweat beats run down the side of my face as I find myself in an old rusty subway train in New York. My eyes blink in disbelief. I've landed back to New York. Home. A thousand questions rack in my head. How long have I been unconscious? What is Miss Tag doing now? Where are mother and sister?

The train slowly pulls into Racter station. I find that the ropes that Miss Tag tied me with have loosened, and I quickly untie myself and run out of the station. I instantly slam with a sturdy businessman who glares at me but moves along nonetheless. It's New York, after all. It occurs to me that I have no idea where mother and sister are now. But a tug in my heart tells me that they've stayed exactly where they've always been, waiting for me.

I look all around the city, where the sky is blue and the clouds are in sight. Everyone looks the same, going through their day-to-day routine. It seems like only I feel dramatically shaken by the turn of events in my life. Hacking to earn a living in another world. Meeting diverse people with dark pasts. Trying to figure out how to stop a crazy lady from destroying a city. I shake my head. It doesn't get more bizarre than that.

Out of breath, I look at the old faded building that I once called home. The paint has long been scratched off by time and weather. It's turned into a murky beige that feels sick. I don't know if mother and sister are still in here. Would they still be here? Haunted by the dark memories of father leaving a dissolved and broken home? Time seemed to move so quickly in HackCity. Am I too late?

A moving truck brakes right beside me, just in time. It barely touches the loose ends of my sneakers. I close my eyes. I teleported today. Did I have to almost get run over too?

"Ey!" I hear the door to the truck open and slam. A pudgy disgruntled man in a white crew shirt covered in grease and smudges saunters over to me with raised hands.

"Try not to get killed, ey! I trying to make a living!"

He waggles his finger at me. But as he approaches, I realize he's a head shorter than me, which he seems to realize at the same time as I do.

"Bug off."

At my command, he quickly moves towards the building. He pulls open the door and shouts.