The Sword of the Earth

I woke up, by falling out my bed. I had fallen out of many things lately, trees and planes. My training hadn’t been easy. Now they are going to try and find me a mission, and straight away. What would have been a year’s worth of training MI5 crammed it all into a week. Every night I went to bed late and tired, only to awake early in the morning for a hundred kilometre hike. But those days were behind me now. I could do whatever I wanted until they could find me a mission, and that wouldn’t happen very easily, missions don’t appear very often.
I stood up and sleepily walked into the bathroom. I had a quick cold shower. I love showers. I love the feeling of water washing over my body. It just makes me feel like I am part of the water. When I am having a shower I sing with joy, it’s like all my worries and the unkindness of the world wash away.

After my shower I felt more aware and awake. I walked into the kitchen and made myself some toast. I wish I had some parents. Being only 12 and living alone wasn’t great. I couldn’t live with an orphanage because I moved around frequently, and I know it is illegal, but then when you have MI5 has protection over you it doesn’t really matter. I have proved myself mature enough to live alone, but I still hate it. Without any family and having the whole day to you in a big empty apartment isn’t what I expected to get out of life only a year ago, when both of my parents were still living.

At the beginning of the year my mum died of cancer. We expected her death, and then only months later my Dad died in a plane crash while he was returning from Tokyo, he was there for a business trip. A few weeks later I was informed by MI5 on his real job, being a spy. He was what the world depended on, and more or less who I depended on. I had been closer to my Dad than my Mum, and was able to tell him anything I wanted to get off my chest...
I was told that I was meant to follow his footsteps... if I wanted to. I felt like I had to keep part of my dad alive. Doing his job, well then maybe that would keep him alive, in me.
The phone rang. I decided not to pick it up. But it continued on ringing. The person who was calling knew I was here all day. I answered the phone,
“Hello?” I said in my most business voice.
“Mia, meet me down at the Rouge cafe at 11:00 am. I would love to have lunch. We found one.” A woman’s clear voice answered. She hung up.

‘We found one’ it didn’t take a miracle for me to understand. I had a mission. In about 2 hours I would find out what it is. Only then did the smell of burnt toast reach my nose. I quickly ran to the toaster. Burnt toast. Oh well... I can skip breakfast and have a sort of brunch when I get my next mission. I told myself. Now for sure I would be hungry.
At 1 minute to eleven I had arrived at cafe Rouge. A woman with long dark brown hair was waiting for me at table 13. I approached her carefully. I had never met her before,
“Hello I am Mrs Holly to you, and you are?” she started.
“Mia, just Mia.” I replied, seating myself at the table. I picked up a menu as she had already done.
“I offer my condolences to you about your parents.”
“How do you know, and why does everyone know so much about me?”
“Well, you are world famous in all spy groups now; it should be expected of you.”
“It is also expected that I complete your mission, whether I like it or not.”
“Yes, but you can always quit... Go into an orphanage, lose the payment we are making you plus... letting down your father.”
“Don’t you go speaking of him like you knew him, and what he wanted...?” I said, standing up.
“But I did, I knew him well. Take a seat darling. I knew him before you were born. From the moment you were though he would never stop going on about you...”
“I’m leaving can I just have the file please?” I asked, finally impatient. This random person acted like she knew all about me and my history when she didn’t know a thing. Ms Holly handed me the file.
“Come to headquarters tomorrow and we will tell you what might happen and maybe have some handy equipment for you...” she called after me as I stormed out the cafe. People assume they know everything, when they obviously don’t.

I opened the file while I was sat at my dining table. I was terribly hungry. I had, had no breakfast and I missed out on Cafe Rouge brunch so I would have to make myself something quick easy and simple. I started to put together a salad from some random things I found in my fridge that looked edible. I sat down with a cup of tea and a plate of salad. The files details were spread around me.

There was a map saying where I was to go and what the places were called. They didn’t have the nicest of names. Also I figured that they had sent around fifty spies on this mission and none had survived. I gulped. What if I made it fifty-one?

I was dressed in casual clothes and headed to the School of Stairs. It was a university and people really did get taught there. But in the basement was a fully different world to the above. There were two guards positioned at the lift that took people downstairs. I flashed them a pass I had in my trouser pocket, they let me through. It was about a two minute journey in the lift to get to the fourth floor, which was the last floor.
I was greeted by the woman I had met in the Cafe.
“It’s nice to meet you again,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Yes, what a pleasure,” the woman answered half-heartedly.
We both knew we didn’t and wouldn’t get on and left it like that. We walked silently through the twisted corridors. We both knew the way around here. She left me outside Sandie and Sam’s office. No goodbyes were said. I knocked on the door twice.
“Enter” said I young man’s voice. I opened the door and pushed it silently shut behind me.