I was standing in a desert, very dry that it chapped my lips and dried the water from my eyes. I could see a figure coming closer to me. Dad, is that you? He's wearing the same suit that my father mostly used to wear so it must be him. He nears me, until the meter of sand that was present between us disappeared, and he hands me a icy cold jug of water. I could clearly make out the sound of the clinking of ice cubes in it as I drank from it savagely spilling water all over my clothes that were neatly aligned with sand particles all over their stitches.
When I was done draining the cup of any drop that might have been there, I looked up attentively at my dad's eyes. They had their famous rich brown color in their pupil, but there were also thick red zigzagged lines dispersing from the lens that made his face look ten years older with weariness.
"Save him." my dad whispered through clenched teeth while looking deeply into my eyes as if conveying the message by his powerful glare.
"Who?" I answered like the lost child that I am, but then after I blinked repeatedly for protection from the eye-thirsty sand, I couldn't see him anymore. I couldn't see anything anymore. The desert, the jug with the pearly water in it and my dear father vanished.
The view was melanized until it adopted a duskiness that captured and blinded my eyes. An enormous black hole was mercilessly swallowing the world around me and I could do nothing about it but watch and ponder over the possible meanings that my dad's words could've had. Save him? Who?
The darkness feigned as I cracked my eyes open to the sound of a man's ear-piercing vociferation. It echoed through time-beaten speakers and played a random beat on my eardrums that made my head shake horrendously like I was having a mild seizure. I couldn't make out what he was saying but it indeed wasn't pleasant for my ear.
I sat upright and studied the white room I was put in; its color was blinding. I was extensively worried about where I was and my reflex action was trying to get out of that impeccable unblemished bed, but my arm was attached to an IV that was feverishly helping the flow of a red liquid into my veins.
I tried to unplug it, being the nerd who reads about medicine for fun that I am, but an alarm sounded off and a nurse came rushing in.
"What have you done?" she asked like I just shot her in the heart.
"Right back at you Mrs. Galiena," I noticed the badge on her chest. When I saw her reaction to my reply I continued with my calm monotony.
"Why did you...?"
"These are vitamins not whatever your mind is telling you," she interrupted arrogantly.
"Well then why are you giving...."
"Your training is today; you either prove yourself or you are expelled from the programme and you need these vitamins to keep you standing because you are a beginner," she interrupted haughtily once again. Why does she regard herself like someone who has a tremendous amount of power over me?
"Am I still in...?"
"Yes, the CIA undergraduate programme because of your father. You have been given this privilege; first, because of your father's hardworking and magnificent character and second, because the inspector generals thought that your test results were worthy enough to be considered," she sneered like she didn't agree with their decision.
She removed all the tubes that were inflating me with liquids and motioned for me to follow her into a dressing room. She handed me a fairly tight dress suit and explained to me where the training hall was while pushing me towards it. I have never met such a vulgar nurse before, that is, if she was a nurse in the first place.
Two indescribably tall doors met me and opened when I stepped closer. The doors roared as they opened and shook the ground which caused all the trainers who were already in the hall to glare at me. Oh my, they were all standing in groups except for me. I have to find someone who might be willing enough to let me join their group, I said to myself as I started walking down the long wide hall, which was more like a royal ballroom in height and width. I reached almost the end of the hall before finding any partners and my mind started making up excuses for leaving the hall until I spotted Skylar and Adam at the archery station; can this day get any more bizarre?
As I headed towards them, a coach called me by the color of my shirt angrily.
"Yes coach?," I tried to look as innocent as I sounded.
"We're working in couples and not triples," he said harshly,"come, I have a lonely girl here that you could team up with. Jade!"
Jade? Oh snap!
"Let's go to an easy station to plan what we should do in the following two hours." She didn't give me the chance to agree or disagree but just pulled me towards the back door.
"The trampoline station is outside," she said answering my questioning looks.
"Oh."
We reached the trampoline station and took the smallest trampoline they had, but to me it wasn't at all small. In fact, three more of me could simultaneously jump together on it. I wanted to ask her why she, Skylar and Adam where here, when she interrupted me with a rather shocking question.
"My brother has been talking about you for three days now, but if you even think about taking an action I will have you put under me instead of this trampoline," she hissed angrily.
"I don't know what you are talking about," I pronounced each word clearly to make sure that she comprehended me.
"Quit playing around Angie," she glared into my eyes.
"Who the hell is Angie? You can clearly see that I am not her," I tried to sound innocent but my reaction was rather mocking.
"Oh my bad. Hey do you want to come to my sixteenth birthday party in two days?" She exclaimed as if nothing has happened. This girl is extensively random.
"Umm...," is all I could think of saying because of how paradoxical this situation was.
"Okay then, I'll see you there. Get your little cute friends with you," she spoke and sounded more like barbie, than barbie sounded like herself.
I walked into the building again and went to the station that had all kinds of bodybuilding machines anyone can ever think of. Although Jade was unfortunately my partner, on some stations, it is allowed for us to train as individuals. I wanted to test my limits so I carried a six pound dumbbell and prepared myself to lift that piece of metal over thirty times. Before I even started my workout, I heard a laugh, that was so deep like it was directly flowing out of the person's heart, behind me.
"Six pounds?" He asked sarcastically and played a very joyful rock soundtrack with his ever-changing laugh, "watch this," Skylar boasted.
He went to the dumbbells stand, looked at each weight intently and then lifted twenty pounds. He started counting harmonically to show me how easy it was for him to carry more than double the weight that I was carrying.
"Okay we get it nut head, stop showing off," I said while pulling the arm, that was enclosing the dumbbell, harshly downwards. I pulled it down completely and he didn't lift his attacked arm again, but with the other, he pushed me to the wall.
"Meet me on the roof at 11:30," he said with his face not giving any expression away. He walked away but I couldn't change my position and I stood there trying to understand this out-of-context side talk. I spotted a camera facing me and realization spanked me hard across the face.
Only the sound of the bell, that marked the end of out session, made me move from my position against the wall.
"Tag along Alison," Jade said while speeding up ahead of me, and when I caught up with her, she continued, "Skylar told me your name."
The fact that they're very open with each other made me severely wonder what Skylar wanted to talk to me about. I wanted to ask him uncountable questions myself.
I headed upstairs to explore my CIA room and I have to admit that I was rather disappointed. It was a typical hotel room, but it was way more plain and felt more dead. In my closet, I had some clothes that clearly portray that a sixty-year-old man went shopping for me and thought that these might be some things a girl may wear.
I put on the baggy jeans and a sweatshirt that says 'The Beatles' and headed to the roof. It was already 11:28 and I was going to be late when I saw that the stairs to the roof were adjacent to my tiny apartment.
I climbed up the antique, thin stairs by trying to make the least sound possible, but that was kind of impossible. I reached the rusted door that separated me from Skylar and pushed it open.
Skylar was standing straight and tall, with a gun aimed at my forehead.
"We need to talk, Alison."