SSHS 74 The safe house was filled with hushed conversations, sobbing and crying and a very confused Freya who just woke up from her slumber, complaining of the wounds she had and where they came from, and she even complained even more as the pain killers were slowly subsiding, escaping her system and resetting her pain receptors into feeling again. “Argh! It hurts so much, can I have another pain killer? Just stop this stinging pain already.” Freya voiced out her complaint again as she tried to plead to the doctor and to the other spies to administer another pain killer to her, as she was irritated and hurting from the stinging and pain that the wounds made her feel. However, her request was denied, again. “I’m sorry but we cannot administer another painkiller for you, Freya. That pain you are feeling right now is in the normal range and is vital for us to know if your wounds were infected or clean and would heal properly.” The doctor who tended to her replied, as she cleaned up and
SSHS 75 In the midst of the sobs and silent cries of the four people inside the safe house, the rest could only look with sympathy in their faces, Freya looked at the two 1st years as if she could feel their pain, as if she had experienced the whole ‘hiding your emotions’ thing. Agent Z and Agent U on the other hand, were looking relieved as they observed the two young spies, having been in their shoes not so long ago, it is in their relief that their juniors were able to express their emotions when given a chance, “At least they never went through what we did, not really being able to express our emotions when we were their age.” Agent Z said in a hushed voice to Agent U who nodded in agreement. They were away from Freya as of the moment, in the excuse of getting some drinks for all of them, giving them the chance to talk about matters that Freya must not hear nor know. The senior spies: Agent O and Agent 10, were silently watching in the distance and comfort that the dining
SSHS 76 At first, it was just darkness, total darkness to the point feeling as if you are not existing at all, like being a ball of atom floating around and about into the void— not seeing anything, not hearing anything, not being able to smell anything, not being about to taste anything, and not touching anything at all. As if existing in the astral plane with nothing to do, nothing to feel. At some point, it became too much that the only thing left to be is to become insane, and with that, Yulia tried to scream, but no voice came out of her mouth, if she has a mouth, that is. Yulia finally realised that she is not where she was supposed to be— finally gaining consciousness. Panicked, Yulia started to get so stressed and all uncomfortable as she tried to make out some sensations, something to feel, something to ground her to the ground and to expel the thought of, ‘I am not dead yet, no, not dead yet.’ over and over again as she tried her best to try and regain something that woul
SSHS 77 “I'm so sorry, my baby girl. I’m so sorry that you have to experience those things, those horrors. I’m really sorry.” Yvett sobbed and cried as she embraced her dearest daughter who was still unresponsive despite being conscious. The moment that Yulia woke up from her slumber, she immediately asked questions to fill in the gaps of her confusion, to make sense of things and to understand why and how she was in a safe house rather than a hospital. She was trying to make sense of things despite the confusion she was experiencing at the moment she opened her eyes. And yet, it got worse. The voices started to speak, the voices spoke all in unison and yet nothing can be made out of their words as they talk so differently, all speaking of different words at the same time and it made things more complicated for her to comprehend. It was a tornado of words, all circling around, all whispering and all scrambled up and is making Yulia’s brain so drained and confused and spinning in a
SSHS 78 Yvett and Azrael were both frozen in their place as one of the doctors asked them, “What should you have told her sooner?” The doctor pressed on the longer the Don Brook couple stayed silent as they did not know how to respond to this sudden interrogation, and regretting the slip of their tongue for the sake of comforting each other. “Sir Azrael, please, tell us what it is. It could have an effect or could be the cause of the condition of Yulia right now.” The doctor begged the patriarch of the Don Breook family to speak, she even begged the matriarch but none of the Don Brook couple wanted to speak. “Please, it is for the sake of your daughter.” the doctor pleaded for the last time, trying her best to persuade the Don Brook couple to speak up. But still, they stayed silent. This time, Hestia and Albert interrupted the conversation, trying their luck and cards to persuade the two to speak and give clearance to what they had said. “Sir Azrael, Madam Yvett, we need to know abo
SSHS 79As Hestia was just sent standing beside Azrael, the man still refused to say anything even though Hestia already had a grasp of what could have transpired when Yulia was still in the care of the dawn book family and has Dr. Miller as their psychiatrist. Azrael was left trembling sitting down in the waiting room of the hospital while his jaw was pending behind him clenching her fist as she tried her best to stay calm and to not hurt the parent of the person she has to protect. However, the patriarch of the Don Brook family was not that long as his conscience eated him inside out and it was too much uncomfortable to just stay silent and so he decided to open his mouth.With trembling lips and trembling hands he turned his head to face Hestia, whom Yulia was very fond of. “If you really must know and if you really must inform the doctors about this it is better that we discuss this matter in a private room or in a private area because I will not be able to say those things out lo
SSHS 80 Before Hestia left the door to completely close, she heard a sound coming from the patriarch of the Don Brook family. She was not sure whether it is a sound of a father crying for the regret that he was feeling, for he put his daughter and his whole family to a hell hole that they are sure to get out of, but never forget. Even though she wants to confirm her suspicions, she did not dare. Her primary concern was Yulia and nothing else. She was still far too disgusted to that kind of human that she left him there and never looked back; she began walking to the side of the hospital where Yulia might be located right now. Her strides were long and fast, and all the people that could see her walking like that immediately went to the side as if to give her the space of the path to walk through. She even passed by Albert and Yvett who met at the cafeteria for something to quench their thirst. “Hey, Hestia. Where are you going?” Albert wavered a hand while the other held his coffee
SSHS 81 Inside the head of Albert as he jogged through the halls of the hospital, trying to find where Hestia could have gone. It is true of the matriarch of the Don Brook family, that Hestia’s expression was far from what he had been used to. ‘Well, she does not really show her emotions in the first place. And her emotions only leak through her voice. It was to the point that we thought her face was something made out of metal or plastic, that is why her face was so stoic. Still, it is better to confirm.’ Albert continued to ponder on that thought of his, as he continued to jog through the halls of the hospital, realising that most of all the people that he passes by were all sticking to the wall; and if there were groups of people, they are mostly crumpled in a huddle, whispering to each other. “What do you think that was about?” One of the nurses whispered to his companion as they both stayed to the side of the hospital corridor. Albert tried to eavesdrop a little, wanting to k
SSHS 247After the Thanksgiving dinner that night and that mission, the two rookie undercover spies went on with their days. They went on being the ‘normal’ third years that they are and continued being the third years that they are. No more missions were given to them after the mission about the Montague couple and they do not know if the headquarters of the ISO where sympathising with their shock or if there is really no more mission for them to do. But either way, they are glad that they were able to finish the mission in such a short time and also experience being students as they are.They went on and experienced things as if they were normal people and not some spies who were trained at the very young age. Not some undercover people who are in there for the sake of completing their mis
SSHS 246After the game it was already time for dinner, Damian and Excami won because none of them were able to find out what kind of thing they had and they were all tagged out of the game. It was fun for the most part but what everyone waited for was the thanksgiving dinner and it was satisfying. They enjoyed every bite and they waited for the dessert because it was the star of the dinner the dessert.Then after eating, they lounged a little longer by the dinner table and talked about all the other things, like the fun times that they had in school, the love story between the Montague couple how they met how they fell in love and then almost talked about how they conceived the children but thankfully damien and Excami stopped them before it happened. The Montague siblings almost asked about the families of Hestia and Albertand what kind of stori
SSHS 245Sometime later, it is already the Month Of October and things have been going smoothly both for the Montague siblings and for the two rookie undercover spies and for the Montague couple. for the course of the month of october, Hestia and Albert had been invited for dinners and lunches by either Damian or Excami and would always result for a dinner together with their parents and with that the bond between all of them had grow and become stronger and they were more close with each other than ever before.But there is something that the two rookie undercover spies can not pinpoint at all. because most of the past missions they have been assigned to, they are always making the opportunity to get close to the target; they are always making the opportunity to do something, to create a movement, a pattern, a path for their mission t
Sshs 244The next day, Hestia and Albert walked side by side to their classroom. Apparently, the whole school knew of the incident yesterday: Mrs. . Montague pulled them out for the whole day and never came back until the wee hours of the night. Some people tried to block them and ask a ton of questions about what happened yesterday; questions like: what happened? Where did you go? What did she say? Was she generous? Was she kind? Was she loving and sweet and like a saint when she visited back at the beach house? What did you talk about with her? Such a ton of questions were asked to them and yet they remained silent about it. No comment, no answers, just complete silence as they went through
SHS 243 They ate in silence, up until dessert. No one spoke a word and it stayed that way until they were brought into the library. No one spoke as each of them were encouraged to pick a book in the vast collection of books inside the library. As they sat into the chairs available at the library, only then did the conversation start at the pretence of wanting to know what book they found. “How about you, Hestia? Albert? What book did you pick?” Hestia and Albert then lifted up the books that they picked. Mrs. Montague cooed at the books in their hands and proceeded to analyse them. “Wow! You live up to your personality. Unlike someone else.” Mrs. Montague threw in the shade as she briefly looked at her children who were silently reading with their father on the other side of the library. It was not quite far, but it seemed that the Montague siblings were so immersed in what they were reading that they did not notice the shade that was thrown at them by their
SSHS 242 As the three of them sat in silence without any of them taking a bite of their food, they tried to process the information that was at their table. The Montague siblings have been showing two different personalities and all between being inside the school and at school. If at school, they were glorified as students who are the top role models; a fun and energetic one and a gentle ruler, both were on ground and knew how to touch some grass. At home, they are the arrogant siblings who think they are better than anyone and will not even go down to their current level. It was as if they know the a person with the same name and yet still different by how they act.&nb
SSHS 241 A new school year started right before their eyes. Without any mission to worry about, time passed by the two rookie undercover spies and with barely any notice, they were in their third years. There were a lot of things that happened but they were used to it and it passed by them like a flash of the camera and after that, it was already in the middle of the month of September. The voting for the new Student Council began and the whole school was bussing with noises and the representative of the running Student Council President was shouting and getting people to vote for their candidates. “Please vote for…” one student shouted. “No, please vote for…” another student shouted. It was the start of the shouting battle between the two parties running for the Student Council President position. It created so much commotion that Damian had to step up and break the commotion apart. “Enough with this! This is so immature of you! Can’t you go and make your da
SSHS 240 As the surroundings dimmed into darkness, the light sensors in the gymnasium began to light up. Freya’s eyes adjusted from the dark and into the light that the sensor lights brought up. She shielded her eyes with her hands from the sudden light and that was Albert’s cue to remove himself from the sight of the Senior Cheerleader and go behind her. This is not to catch her off guard--- oh she was already caught off guard by the time she mentioned the Pandora’s Box--- but it was his way to not let Freya do anything anymore that will put herself into more danger. It is better if she just surrenders to them in a plain and simple manner.&
SSHS 239 “By the way, how were the Montague siblings? I have not heard from them after that incident with Arthur.” Albert asked. The two rookie undercover spies were roaming around the campus, taking a leisure walk as they passed by some of the students who were headed for their extra curricular activities. The two of them do indeed have some activities too but it was all done. Hestia is done with her paper works and scheduling for the Student Council and Albert was also done with his portfolio for the Photography Club with the theme of ‘After Christmas’. There was a moment of silence to the part of Hestia before she answered the inquiry of her spy partner. “They have been normal, acting as they always have as far as I am concerned. Although Excami now has her guard up always and was weary of everything and everyone, she is as cheerful as ever. Well, it is Damian who changed. He became more strict and protective of his sister, and he also became colder.” Hest