GLITCH

CHAPTER NINE

    Cleaning up took longer than I intended. I just wanted to have the time to myself to think and come up with something. My brain was trying so hard to convince me that I made the wrong choice. It was hard to convince myself that a person with no formal training could do something in a situation where lives were at stake. I formed my fingers into the shape of a pistol as I tried to shoot an imaginary gun. It felt strange somehow, the reality of it all hadn't hit me. It was an adventure nonetheless, an adventure I never imagined existed.

     The water dripped down my skin as my eyes followed the rivulets, letting them take me to a world not of my own choosing. The droplets morphed into giants drops and seemed to swallow my very existence in its colourless depths. Who was I? What exactly was I? The name Mavery was mine but I had nothing else exactly. Even the name I hated rejected me. It was a phenomenon I couldn't understand. The basis of my existence was something alien to me, like I was uncomfortable in my own skin. The very bane of my existence was myself.

    "Mavery. Come out or I'll break the door. This is no time for frivolous things. You can have luxurious baths later." Evie's voice seemed to be coming from the other side of the door. I quickly dried myself when I checked the time. I was already ten minutes late.

    "Coming, don't break my door." I called out, wondering just what kept me in the bathroom for over an hour. The memories of what kept me in the shower were fading like a lost lost dream. I couldn't hold on to them anymore. As Xera said, a battle gear was placed on my bed. It wasn't black like I expected, more of a dull brown. I wondered if the people handpicked for the mission had a hierarchy too. Everything around me was all about hierarchical systems. I couldn't deal anymore.

   I shrugged my battle gear on, taking note of my rapid hair growth. Ever since I left the Black Sector, I changed. Not just in looks, I changed in my head. The voice of the Absolute Ruler had faded in the background and I wondered what everything I'd believed in from childhood represented. I quickly removed that memory from my head and rushed out the door. Thankfully, I was given a room to myself. En-suite. I had a bathroom attached to my room. They may have not understood how much that meant to me but I realized that Xera did. She must have planned everything. I was one of the few who stayed alone in a room. Even though I would have loved to stay with Maeve. She was that sort of person that exuded positivity from a realistic standard. It was hard to fault her.

   I nodded at Femi as I approached the hanger. Indeed, it was shocking. The mission was apparently embarked on in an aircraft. Femi turned towards me as I approached, nodding in response. There was no snarky remark from him, nothing that suggested he remembered what happened earlier. The hanger was a giant sized warehouse, with state of the art facilities. Different aircrafts stood side by side as though observing a salutation. They had wings of sharp edges and a mouth shaped like the pointed end of a nose. They were portable and I couldn't imagine riding in such.

    "There. Xera needs your input on something." Femi pointed at the farthest plane from where I stood, as soon as he saw the dumbfounded and confused expression on my face. His eyes were hard as he spoke, drained of emotions. I knew the death of a colleague would have been disastrous but the turnabout change in him was enough to even worry me.

    "I'll be going then. Thanks." I said and he grunted our a response I didn't hear. I was already running towards the direction he pointed. Xera stood as still as a statue, watching me approach. I had no idea how she rose in ranks and did all she did. She had an authority that a few months couldn't cover. It wasn't just the way she spoke, it was the way everyone around her reacted to her. With absolute respect. Even Evie deferred to her.

   "Good. You're here. I'll be piloting today. You can sit in rear and watch. Evie would be my copilot. With time, you should grow into it. Is that fine?" My best friend kept looking like someone else by the day. I couldn't even tell who she was anymore. The new Xera scared me. I wasn't against change or anything. I just couldn't understand. Who was Xera really?