Spy School: Zoe or Erica?

Just Plain Torture

Look at the name of this chapter for an accurate summary of my life at this current moment.

The "payment" that Trixie demanded, of course, was that I was prohibited from using my phone while hiding out in the secret room within the underground bunker.

No Instagram. No YouTube. No texting. No games. 

HOW WAS I GOING TO SURVIVE!?!?

Okay, I was exaggerating on the torture part a little. I didn't live on my phone, unbeknownst to all the haters. I could keep my blood running perfectly well by doing some push-ups, meditating, or something else.

But I didn't do those. Reasons: first of all, the room that I was stuck in had a sofa, a refrigerator stocked with food, a fireplace (once again, I assumed, for lighting fuses), and a TV that could broadcast a variety of cable networks. Why do push-ups when you can watch CNN, a guy in white hair talking about Joe Biden's leads in multiple states, and some weird commercials?

I know right, aren't I just amusing to hear droning on and on about my life?

POV SWITCH: Agent Ben Ripley

My first question when I arrived into this place: why put it right next to a beach?

First of all, metal detectors had an extremely high chance of stumbling upon this place. And most likely, they were either going to die a painful death, or die an even more painful death than the one before.

Second of all, any beachgoer could easily just accidentally apply an extra-hard step in the water on this certain spot, and they would start slowly sinking into the sand, no idea of what was happening whatsoever. I was genuinely surprised when I didn't see any dead bodies in the first room after Erica explained to me how the keypad was a trap.

There was another trap after that- and I have to say, I almost fell for it. After I was about to enter the room, Erica grabbed my body and spun me around, pushing me onto the floor away from the trapped room. She calmly explained that if I theoretically took one more step further, my body would've been sprung into the clouds, giving me an especially good view seconds before I became a stain onto the beachside.

When we finally arrived into the homey living room, I was more of relieved than interested in exploring the place. The only surprise: Trixie Hale was there.

She greeted me with a hug, which just emphasized and showed the difference of just how different the Hale sisters were. Erica was the least touchy-feely person I had ever met, unless she was drugged under something. Trixie, on the other hand, looked like she wanted to embrace everything in sight.

Jayden wasn't in the living room. He also wasn't in his room either. Trixie insisted that he had gone out for a shopping trip, but I highly doubted this.

Erica narrowed her eyes, searching every room thoroughly and scanning through them one at a time. Her eyes were like lasers- piercing into everything in sight, not missing even a minuscule piece of dust on the countertop.

It wasn't long before she spotted a millimeter of the wall that stuck out with an edge. After some quick inspection, she knocked on the space of the room, and a hollow tone rang through the air.

Erica's eyes narrowed thinner than the space between the door and it's hinges. A malicious smile spread across her face, and she slowly started unlocking the hidden room. I could hear some heavy breathing echoing through the tiny space at the wall, which was probably Jayden's.

 My wits took over, and I quickly backed out of the place, barely reaching out of the hallway before I heard an unmistakable scream that I assumed came from Jayden.

Trixie turned the corner the second I exited the room, and after hearing an ear-splitting scream echo through her eardrums, she stopped in mid-stride, eyes widening in fear. She panicked, quickly grabbing my arm and pulling both of us out of there before things could out of hand.

"Before you say anything, I don't want to know," she said between huffed breaths. I closed my open mouth and politely sat down on the sofa.

"What have I done?" I heard her mutter under her breath as she went over to the wall, grabbing a single-shot handgun and handing it to me.

"You might need to use this in the near future," she said, placing it and two extra bullets in my palm. Clearly, she didn't know about the fact that I couldn't even hit a wall two feet away from me.

I resisted the urge to shove the things back into her arms, but, reluctantly, I took the handgun and bullets and slipped them into my pocket. Even though I wasn't the type of person to kill people, the gun would still look threatening in certain situations.

Jayden's screams reached to the point that they got loud enough for me to hear. And we were a few hundred feet away- not to mention there were also two walls between us and them.

I cringed at this sound, and so did Trixie. Collapsing on the couch, she buried her hands in her face. I swear I heard a sniffle come from her.

"This isn't your fault- why are you crying?" I said gently, sitting down next to her.

"I'm well aware- but I hate it when people get hurt. Especially when I can hear the screams of pain."

This struck me as rather odd. A Hale, hating it when people hurt? How would she manage to do her trademark job of maiming then?

Jayden's scream pierced through the multiple walls and arrived at my ears again. At this point, Trixie started full-on sobbing. I didn't mind- the scene was particularly interesting- except for the fact that Trixie had decided sobbing into my shoulder was the best decision.

I tried not to move too much as her tears rolled down my shirt, and as I thought about this, a feeling struck through my brain.

 Something in my mind told me that Trixie had a crush on Jayden. 

It wasn't just the crying, the overly-made touchy personality that was aimed onto him, or the care, it was the fact that Trixie actually minded Jayden's pain. She felt it herself. She experienced it like it was hers.

 This kind of connection never happened unless feelings were introduced. 

I decided to shove the thought away. It wasn't proven correct yet anyways.

A new girl strode into the room- brunette, good-looking, and carrying a tray of water. After she saw Trixie sobbing onto my shoulder and me shifting uncomfortably, she walked over and set the water down as quickly as she could, only muttering a small "hi" and walking away before I could say anything back.

I immediately assumed the girl was Kylie. Erica had mentioned her- Trixie's best friend and partner in spying. After Trixie had found about her secret career, she and Kylie had decided to take the underground bunker for themselves.

After what it felt like years, Jayden's last scream echoed through the bunker. Trixie wiped her face on my shoulder one last time, stood up, muttered a "sorry about that" to me, and walked away.

Something tells me living in this place wasn't so cracked up as it was supposed to be.