“Galen, your report on the Destructors Incident?” Albert Coleman, the Secretary of Defense, asked Galen.

This was first meeting between Galen and the National Security Council, plus the Joint Chiefs, since the explosion of the crystal three days ago... but this wasn’t the first meeting between himself and the Council about Bug, whom this meeting was no doubt going to be about.

“Gentleman… ladies, the incident has been successfully covered up. As far as the media knows, the Destructors were attempting to construct a bomb when it went off. So far, the witnesses have cooperated with us in exchange for leniency for the charges to ensure that this story remains the official story.”

Coleman didn’t look impressed. “And the unofficial story?”

“According to all witnesses, once they brought the crystal into the room, it started to spark before destabilizing and, in their words, ‘cracking’ before finally exploding. I’ve sent the fragments recovered from the blast zone and had testing done on them as quickly as possible. But so far, the cause of the explosion is not known,” Galen replied.

Another member of the council leaned forward, asking, “Were there any deaths?”

Galen looked down at his notes, “Originally, two were missing. Paige Laris, whose house was destroyed, and Greg Weissberg, grandson of Frank Weissberg, an employee at Providence Meadows. A search team found Paige four miles alway, alone, with Greg still missing. When we questioned her, she stated that they were separated during the initial blast and she could not find him afterwards. We can safely assume that Greg was killed in the explosion, but we are not ruling out the possibility that he survived. Since then, the unit in Harrisonburg has discovered that there is a third member of the Destructors who is missing that needs to be found.”

Coleman raised an eyebrow. “And who may that be?”

Galen flipped on the projector to show a picture of the missing gang member. “His name is Edward Watt, known to his friends as Eddie. Apparently, he was ordered to pick up the girl from the ground. When he made contact, they had what witnesses could only describe as a vision. Whether or not it was a vision has yet to be 100% confirmed, but it’s the best thing we have so far, given that afterwards, he freaked, claiming that girl, Bug as she likes to be called, is not what they thought. I think Eddie is our best bet to know what exactly happened in that vision, or finding out exactly what they saw.”

“And the reason why you can’t get the details of this ‘vision’ from the girl is?” Coleman mocked.

Galen ignored Coleman’s mocking attitude. “Because I already know that if I ask her directly, she’ll freeze up. Also, because of your orders, Coleman, Bug does not trust Nancy enough to speak about it.”

“I highly doubt it was because of MY orders that this girl has trust issues,” Coleman said, denying Galen’s claims.

“Oh, really,” Galen said, “Let’s review, shall we. The moment she shows up, you immediately take a disliking to her, even before meeting her. Once Nancy claimed guardianship over the girl, you immediately gave unfair orders, one of them being to keep the girl from receiving any sort of training for her abilities. Now, I admit, I have been working against that by implying what could happen if she doesn’t receive training; unfortunately, though, it didn’t take.”

Coleman did not look pleased. “Galen, we can contain this superhuman, but only if she receives no training. This measure has worked every time in the past.

“Except for Jared.” Looking right into Coleman’s eyes, but addressing the council, he continued: “I don’t think you have all forgotten about Jared. Remember how we used the testing system to mark him as a level 0, which removes any possibility of training. But whatever happened, for whatever reason, Jared’s previously unknown abilities emerged and did a significant amount of damage, creating the Ability Paradox. What happened with Jared is happening again, only with Bug this time.”

“He does have a point,” someone said.

“How can we be sure?” someone else added.

Everybody looked towards Coleman, who shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “In my defense, it’s impossible to determine when an Ability Paradox would be the cause, but point acknowledged.”

Galen actually didn’t know why Coleman reacted the way he did; it was possible that he was paranoid or jealous. Regardless, his actions with this incident made no sense. In fact, nothing made sense with Coleman. Galen could have chalked it up to the fact that war might have weakened the government so much that this was all they were capable of. However, somehow he knew that wasn’t the case.

“Galen…” a voice of authority silenced everybody in the room, “What is your theory about this girl?”

“Madam President, it appears that we are clueless as to what she is. I do not know the means by which she ended up on that farm, how she got those injuries, or the nature of her memory loss or her powers. Her value as a weapon is quickly disappearing under the light of these mysteries.”

“I asked for a theory, Director,” President Kadi requested.

“Madam, I don’t have one.” He wasn’t about to explain to the president what he theorized about Bug. In all his years, he had always seemed to know when there was more going on than people saw, but the last thing anybody needed was the government running around on what could be a wild goose chase.

“A guess then.”

Galen sighed. “My best guess is that Bug could possibly be a survivor of the Icarus Project.”

“But it was reported that the commission responsible for the Project killed all the test subjects,” Coleman pointed out.

Galen shrugged. “It was never confirmed. There were a few bodies missing; it could be possible that one or two survived, and given Bug’s condition and her immunity to the effects of the crystal, it could be theorized that Bug is one of those survivors, as the records that were recovered did show that the Commission was attempting to create such a superhuman. However, even that is still a guess. Many things do not add up, which is why I’m advising caution. We can keep the girl contained by leaving her with Nancy’s family. She can be supervised in this controlled environment and give us the chance to study her and confirm whether or not she is in fact a survivor of Icarus or perhaps something else, something new.”

Coleman gripped his pencil and said, “Galen, why? Why the hell are you resisting this?” Standing up in anger, he exclaimed: “Do you not even remember the odds that we are facing right now? Do you even remember how many superhumans are even left in the world? Just this morning, we got word from France that Abelin Ancel died, lowering the total amount of level 4s worldwide to five, not counting Bug. GALEN, we are running out of time! Soon, there won’t be any superhumans left in the world.”

Galen knew the odds, but he also knew that the reason for continuing the war was pointless. What started it was no longer important. They were fighting just to fight. “What I’m saying to this council is what I believe: I no longer see the reason nor the point to keep fighting.”

There were gasps in the room, even from the President, “Why do you say that, Director?” Kadi asked.

Galen sighed, “When the war began, after the Battle of New York, we told ourselves it was to fight against the Army of the Sword, to make the world safer. Then, after Lhasa, we and our allies told ourselves that the fight became a fight to avenge all those lost in the Massacre. That became our mission. But after the Army of the Sword came Elias, and our drive to avenge cost us all but one member of Providence.” Galen clicked his tongue, holding back the emotions of remembering all the friends and family he had lost, “Over the years, nothing but fighting. What has it gained us? A billion lives lost, all because we are telling ourselves that we are fighting to avenge the superhumans lost and preserve what remains. Now, we stand here, debating about a girl who everybody believes will aid in the fight to preserve what I think just wants to die.” Right after saying that, Galen immediately regretted it.

The looks everybody gave him probably would have killed him, except, strangely, for one member. If Galen recalled correctly, his name was Terence Carver, former director of military training for the Agency, now the Director of the CIA. His face said one thing, but his eyes said another, almost like he agreed with Galen. But both of them were outnumbered when it came to this, so Galen launched into an explanation before anybody had a chance to recover. “Look, we are saying that we are trying to preserve the superhumans by winning the war, but their numbers have been severely depleted since the war started, meaning we are doing the opposite of what we set out to do in 2003.”

Coleman gritted his teeth. “I can’t believe you, Galen. Yes, things have been counterproductive, but it wasn’t our fault that so many superhumans have died. What’s important is that we preserve the future for everybody.”

Galen had to laugh at that. Yes, it was disrespectful, but he had to, “Oh, Coleman, are we forgetting the most important fact? Is everybody on this council forgetting what has been happening? We say we are fighting for to protect the future of the superhumans, but there haven’t been any superhumans born since 2003, specifically after the Fall of Lhasa. Doctors have tried for years to figure out why, but absolutely no progress has been made. Unless a miracle happens, it doesn’t matter what the fuck we do, the superhumans will permanently join the ranks of the Forgotten.”

Everybody on the council was overcome by that simple fact. They all knew that the future was grim, but many on the council refused to accept it. They weren’t giving up with the doctors on restoring the superhumans, but Galen had already accepted that they were fighting on borrowed time and that there really was no point. However, the main reason why he didn’t want the government taking the girl away from the family that was beginning to accept her was he was tired of seeing the war separate families. If the superhumans were to become extinct, it was natural to let them spend as much time as possible with those who loved them. Bug saving Lacey had begun a thaw of the relationship between the girl and Nancy’s family.

Essentially, all the problems emerge because of people’s unwillingness to let go off the past. Galen was also aware of the superstition and mystery that surrounded the girl, including what was the relationship between the girl, the Falling Star, and the Rome Shard, but all of that, while it made the mystery of the century, did not restore hope that Galen had lost.

By now, the Council had calmed down. “Galen, this meeting has gone around in circles. I understand everything, but I really don’t care,” Coleman vented. “Even with the superhumans dying, this girl’s power may hold the key to overcoming the infertility that is preventing the birth of superhumans.

“Galen, I understand your point, but we need this girl. We are running out of time,” President Kadi added. “Once Nancy is dead, you will send Gare and Dhruv to retrieve her, as well as Colonial Wulfe’s Navy SEAL unit. That is more than enough firepower to handle the situation. At the same time, you are to use every available resource in the valley to find Eddie. It seems his reaction to whatever vision he had with the girl seems to indicate he has a good idea of who or what she is.”

Galen wanted to protest. He seriously did, but he finally admitted defeat. What was the point though? Was there ever any point to begin with?

-----------

I felt myself floating through air. But at the same time, it wasn’t air. It was something… oh shit. My eyes snapped opened to darkness. Oh not again! Not the Dark Place. This would be the fourth time coming back here, and I really didn’t feel like dealing with the mud creatures today. I was actually enjoying a good night's rest.

Suddenly, the darkness burned away and I found myself falling face first into… grass? Looking up, I realized, yes, I had landed in grass. Wet grass, in a forest. Sitting up, I looked around. It wasn’t the dark place for sure, but I’m not sure where I was other than a deep forest. I suddenly realized that all I had one was a shirt, my shorts, and my underwear, which I was using as sleepwear and wasn’t exactly the best clothing for winter. Bracing for the shivers and the piercing cold, it took a moment for me to notice that the trees still had leaves on them, and despite it being somewhat dark and drippy, as if it had just rained, the air felt warm.

Is this what summer feels like? It was disheartening, because I didn’t remember what summer felt like. But I could focus on that later; right now, I needed to figure where the hell I was. Standing up, I looked around, trying to get an idea of where I was. When I couldn’t, I started walking for a bit. Where else was I going to go? I walked and walked, and walked a bit more, until I took a wrong step and slipped in the mud.

“Ouch…” I started to say before realizing what was in in front me. A statue. An old, crumbling statue. Strange that it would be out in this forest, in the middle of nowhere. However, the statue’s face did look similar to something that I had seen before, which was saying a lot, given that I didn’t know much about anything. Resolved, I needed a better look. I got up, and climbed up the statue to get a better look at its face.

“Let’s see who you are,” I quietly muttered as I scraped away the vines that had grown over it. To my dismay, the face was worn down, leaving me unable to make out who it was. I had gotten nowhere with this, until I looked over and noticed another statue. Then another, and another. All total, four. Looking at the placement of these statues, I finally remembered. These statues, crumbling, and breaking apart, sat in a circle. The same way the statues stood in my vision when I touched the crystal. However, I only counted four here, while there was one more in the vision. In the center.

I followed the paths of the statues to the center of the circle. There stood a bush a tall bush. “I wonder…” I muttered as I formed an idea. I reached to pull the branches way and the moment my hand made touched the bush, it immediately burned away, revealing the fifth statue, the one I recognized immediately. It was a statue of a female, just like the one in my vision. Eddie had called her Judith. The one that spoke to me. I don’t know long I stood there, but I realize there was a stark difference between the statue of Judith and the others. The other four were crumbling, while Judith’s statue was in perfect condition. Not a crack anywhere. Despite the forest being in a state of dusk, the statue glowed in radiance. I reached out to touch it, to feel its radiance, and once I did, the same voice from the vision spoke, once again saying, “You are the last, our inheritor.”

Suddenly and without warning, I was blown from the front the statue, through the forest and right smack onto… the floor of my room. What’s more, I landed on my face again! Why did I always land on my face? Could I land on my feet for once, or maybe even not fall out of bed? I looked up at the clock, surprised to read that it was 10:30 a.m. The old lady usually woke me up between 6 and 7 a.m. But for the past few days, namely, since we got home from the hospital after the fight with the Destructors, the old lady had been letting me sleep in. Very strange.

Sighing, knowing so little about the dream and about the old lady, I started to get up when I glanced down at my foot. It was covered by something. I took a closer look at it and I immediately realized what it was. It was dirt. My feet were covered with a little of dirt, as if I had been walking in mud. I felt my heart drop, and I was overcome with worry. Was I having a vision, dream, or something else?

I quickly got up and headed to the bathroom. After splashing some water on my face, I looked in the mirror, seeing the same face that had stared back at me for the last few weeks. It was getting easier everyday to look at my face and accept who I was, but now, with this vision or dream or whatever, I wasn’t sure about myself anymore. And speaking of the vision, what did Judith mean by saying I was the last? The last of what? And a better question, who the hell was Judith?

Finding no answers in the mirror, I quickly freshened up, washed the mud off my feet, and then joined the old lady and Lacey. “Morning, Bug,” the old lady greeted me with a cup of orange juice.

“Morning,” I replied, taking a seat at the table with my cup. I looked over at Lacey. Other than the bandages on her ankle, she had improved greatly since the hospital, “You are looking a lot better, Lacey.” Lacey looked at me, smiled, then looked back down at the book she was reading. Sigh. Lacey had barely spoken in the time she’d spent here, which was three days, and it was all remarks to the old lady. Lacey hadn’t spoken a word to me. I was sure that she hated me for what happened back at that house, the trap, and what happened to her best friend. When I brought this up to the old lady, she reassured me that Lacey didn’t hate me, she just didn’t know what to say to me. Despite that, I still felt that Lacey held some resentment towards me.

“Dr. Silas cleared her. She’s going home today,” the old lady interrupted my thought process.

“Congratulations, Lacey!’ I said gleefully. Lacey looked up at me, but didn’t say anything. Again, the idea that she resented me came roaring back up.

The old lady handed me a plate of toast, “So Bug, what was that thump I heard in your room?” she questioned.

I froze for a brief second, but the old lady noticed it. “Um, well, I fell out of bed again,” I admitted.

The old lady picked up her cup and leaned back against the counter, her face mixed with curiosity and concern. “Do you know why?”

This was the moment. Did I tell her about the dream itself, or make some shit up? Pros and cons… okay, I didn’t know any pros and cons of my decision quite yet. However, I remembered what she had told me back at the hospital and the kindness that she showed me. I guess the best decision was to tell her. What possibly could wrong? Quickly taking a sip of my orange juice, I said: “Well, I’m not completely sure why I keep ending up on the floor, but I had a dream.”

The old lady perked up and smiled. “A dream? Well, that’s great. What was the dream about?”

I quickly glanced over to Lacey, who had just donned glasses and resumed her book. She wasn’t paying that much attention. “Um,” I started, distracted. Too late to stop now. “Well, I was in forest somewhere. I don’t know where the forest was, all I know is it was warm and I think it was summer.” I briefly stopped to take a slip of my juice. “So, anyways, I was walking down some path until came across some statues.”

The old lady raised an eyebrow. “Statues?”

I nodded, “I counted five. The four that made a circle were crumbling and old, but the fifth one, the one in the middle, it was like it was brand new. It even spoke to me.”

The old lady stood up, a bit surprised. “The statue spoke? What did it say?”

This was tricky. This wasn’t the first time that I was told that I was the last of something, and that I was some sort of ‘inheritor’, whatever that meant, so it clearly meant something. But did I want to reveal that to the old lady and Lacey? “It said…” Giving it a brief pause, I decided to tell her about the last of something, but leave out the inheritor part. “It said that I was the last.”

The old lady’s face briefly flashed with worry. “The last of what?”

I was sooo surprised that she asked me that. “She never told me. It was just ‘you are the last’ and that was it.” I still withheld the inheritor part.

“She? Who’s she? Did you recognize the statue?” Nancy questioned. Oh fuck. I slipped.

I quickly tried to think of some bullshit to tell her. “Uh, well, yeah, the statue looked like a female, so naturally I guessed that it showed a girl.” Best bullshitted answer I could think of.

The old lady nearly choked on whatever she was drinking. “Oh, Bug, sometimes you are an excellent liar. Other times, not so much.” She couldn’t help smiling. “Come on Bug, I can see it in your eyes.”

I looked down at my feet, rubbing my head in frustration. “Fine. It was Judith, whoever that may be.” Immediately after I said her name, I heard the old lady’s cup shatter on the floor. I looked at Nancy, who was trembling with terror and shock.

“Ju-Ju-Judith?” she whimpered.

I looked over at Lacey, who was just as shocked as the old lady. “Uh, yeah? The statue was Judith. Um, who is Judith?” I asked, now very concerned about my visions due to the reaction of both the old lady and Lacey.

The old lady shook off the shock. “Uh, no one, Bug. Judith…Judith is no one. Just someone your mind made up.” The old lady barely managed to say those words. It was clearly obvious that Judith was someone very important, but what I didn’t know was why the old lady, after having such a reaction, would suddenly attempt to just shrug it off.

“Ma’am, who is Judith?” I questioned.

But the old lady simply shook her head, as if trying to shake away the events that just happened. “Just finish your breakfast,” she replied as she and Lacey left the room, leaving me completely unsettled by what just happened.

---------

Later that night, after the old lady left to do something with her family, I sat on the couch alone in the house, looking through the books the old lady had. In my time here, I had read every one of them, but the first time around, none of them mentioned Judith. In fact, no one in any of the books had the name Judith. They had all but that name. Still, I had to check. I needed to know what this all meant.

But, just my luck, despite checking every history book the old lady had, there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. That did raise the question, though -- I knew that despite what the old lady told me, Judith was significant. Whether to the world, or history, or something, she held significance to a point that even mentioning her name was enough to freak the crap out of the old lady. But at the same time, I had the thought that maybe Judith was in fact evil. History would have looked down on her with such a glare. However, if Judith was like someone like the guy Hitler detailed in one of these books, then wouldn’t a history book talk a great deal about her? This did raise the question, if in fact, regardless of which side of history Judith was on, why didn’t the old lady have any books that even mentioned her?

All this questioning was starting to give me a headache, so I decided to get some air. The old lady had a very small porch in the front of the house, and after the whole event with the tracker when my restriction to the house was lifted, I’d spent a good deal of my time sitting on the porch, doing whatever suited me at that moment. Reading, writing, staring out at the mountains trying to remember anything of my past life, really, anything. It was dark and cold, but the night sky was clear. Sitting down on the porch, I stared out, not really looking for anything in particular. I just had so many thoughts about everything they were starting to overload my brain.

I rubbed my head in frustration. My memory, my abilities, Lacey, the old lady, the Destructors, my visions, those guys that screamed they were coming to get me… just, “AHHHH!” I screamed. I didn’t care if there the neighbors heard me. I was overwhelmed and I was just done. “What does this all mean?” I screamed again, this time at the night sky, as if something up there could hear me. “Anything. Just, something. I need something, a sign, a memory, ANYTHING!” I yelled at the stars. But stars never answered. I leaned back against the door, brought my knees up to my chest and started sobbing.

I stayed like that for some time, at least until something rubbed up against my legs to make itself known. I looked up, rubbing the tears from my eyes, and found that a stray cat had wandered up onto the porch. “Hey there.” My voice choked with tears. The cat responded by wandering up to my hand and rubbing it with its face. “Well, aren’t you a sweetie.” I reached over and rubbed its head. Strange that a cat would just walk right up to me at night and let me pet it, but hey, it was good fortune. I had another friend. “So, where do you come from?” I asked the cat.

The cat meowed in response.

“Oh, well, that’s cool. I don’t where I came from. I wish I did, but I don’t. Maybe there is a part of me that doesn’t want to know.” I looked at my arms where my injuries that I woke up with were beginning to completely fade. “Obviously I wasn’t at a good place before all this, but I still want to know. I mean, the vision I had at that house showed me a tiny bit of whoever held me, and clearly, they want me back. Why? Was I an experiment that got loose? Was I nothing? I just don’t know.” I vented my feelings to the cat, who just listened as I scratched its neck. “Maybe what that part of me is saying is right. Maybe I don’t want to know.”

I sighed, feeling a bit overwhelmed at this. I wasn’t sure the old lady could even begin to help me solve this puzzle. However, rubbing this cat made me feel a bit better about everything, “Hmm. You came from the woods, so I’m going to call you Woodsy. Yes, Woodsy the cat.”

The cat looked at me like I was insane, as if cats could give you looks. It stood up, stretched, rubbed its head on my hand, and then wandered towards the road, on its way to something else. I never even got the chance to see if it was a boy or girl. Oh, well. It was nice petting a cat for the first time since I woke up. Getting up to head back inside, I heard a car screech and what could be imagined as a death scream. From… from… “WOODSY!” I whipped around in time to see a car zipping away, and in the moonlight, a cat lying on the road. I immediately took off, running across the old lady’s front yard as quickly as I could.

On the road, I found Woodsy, dead, having been hit by the car. I furiously glanced down the road, seeing the car that did this horrible thing disappear. I turned my attention back to Woodsy, who was lying on road. Dead. Woodsy, the cat that befriended me on a moment’s notice, was dead. If only I hadn’t gone outside, the cat wouldn’t had wandered up to me, and if it hadn’t wandered up to me, then it wouldn’t have been in the position to cross the road when it did. It would’ve lived.

I cradled the cat, holding it, wishing that this hadn’t happened. I wanted to change what had occurred, to save the cat, but I couldn’t. Despite my powers, saving a cat was not among them. Rubbing the cat, I suddenly felt something shock my hand. I jerked it away in pain, looking for the source of the shock, but finding nothing. A moment later, Woodsy jumped out of my hands, looked back me for a brief moment, then took off, disappearing into the darkness of night.

I sat there, confounded by what had just occurred. I’d thought for sure that the cat was dead. Getting hit by that car should’ve killed it, but the cat just got up and ran off. Maybe it was just stunned? Yeah, it was just stunned. Getting up, I slowly made my way back to the house, debating on whether or not it was stunned. I either woke Woodsy by shocking it, which would explain why I shocked myself, or something else. But what could I have done other than that? Maybe it did die, and I brought… no, that couldn’t have happened. That definitely couldn’t have happened. But could it? I knew I was powerful, and different, but to be powerful enough to bring even simple creatures back to life? That seemed way to much for even me. But then again, I completely resisted the crystal and its effects. I pressed my hand up against my head, feeling so frustrated yet again. Either I shocked it out of shock, I resurrected it, or maybe.... “Healed it. Yes, perfect. I either shocked it or I healed it.” Healing seemed like something I could do, given how much power people believed that I had.

Just as I reached the porch, I heard the old lady pull up into the driveway. I do recall her wanting to talk to me about something when she got back, so I hurried inside and slipped into a kitchen chair just as she stumbled into the door. Literally. The old lady looked awful, her eyes half dead, her skin white. I’d never seen her this bad, even with her coughing. It took a few minutes for her to catch her breath before pouring herself a glass of water and sitting down in a chair beside me. “Bug, there is something I have to tell you,” she finally said.

“Oh?”

The old lady opened her mouth to speak, but she was overcome with another bout of coughing. It was obvious that she was sick, but what was she sick with? “Very soon,” she finally said, “I’m going away. And, well, I need to tell you something before I leave. It’s about how you ended up in my care.”

I thought back to that day. Worst day of what little my life was. “Yeah, what about it?”

“Remember when the cop that talked to you used an ability to handcuff you to the table, and then I used an ability to remove those cuffs?” she asked.

“Yes?” I answered. I remembered every detail of that day and I recall the old lady snapping her fingers, making the handcuff disappear. Why would she bring this up?

The old lady was overcome with a coughing fit yet again before continuing. “Well, actually, it wasn’t me. It was the cop who did it.”

I was confused at this. “So, the thing you wanted to tell me…” I stopped, because I began to realize what this implied. If the old lady snapped her fingers to remove the cuff, but the cop did it, that meant it was planned. Come to think it about, that cop acting the way he did, then the old lady coming in and acting all nice and sweet. This means that they did one thing. “You manipulated me?” The look on the old lady’s face answered the question immediately, but I needed her to say it. “Did you manipulate me into trusting you?” I demanded.

She didn’t answer, just looked down with sadness in her eyes. But I felt not sadness, but rage beginning to creep in. “DID YOU!?” I demanded once more. But the old lady said nothing. I needed answers, so I decided to get them myself. I immediately pressed my hand on her face, and a with a little bit of effort, overrode her mental defenses. What I saw was everything. The treatment at the hospital, the countless tests, the way the police treated me, everything, was because of the old lady! I released my grip, “How could you do this to me? HOW COULD YOU TRICK ME LIKE THIS?” I screamed, holding nothing back.

The old lady looked up at me, rubbing her head, in pain because of my actions. “I had to,” she sobbed. “It was the way to keep you from them.”

“Who are them?” I inquired, now very curious about the reason why she put me through such an ordeal.

But the old lady turned away from me, unable to look me in the eye. “Bug, there is so much about this world that you don’t know. People aren’t what they seem. People that seem like they are your enemy are actually trying to help you and there are those who despite what they say are lying and are trying to use you for something bigger.”

“Isn’t that what the Agency wants? Oh wait, it does, because it’s supposed to protect people like me,” I sadistically countered.

“Bug, I was trying to protect you from the Agency. The Agency isn’t what it seems, okay. It isn't all good. There are dark forces at work in this world, even within the Agency. Even if Galen was on your side all along, there are those within it that seeks to use you in ways that are horrible. I had no choice!”

Fuck that. “Yeah, you had a choice. You could've chosen a different way to tell me. A better way, a way that I wouldn’t be so scared about everything. Do you know what’s it like to wake up with nothing? Do you know what it’s like for the world to make NO sense to you? You made it much more worse for me, and what, all because you had some stupid plan to keep me safe from who knows. There were better plans, there were better ideas. You could’ve just told me, you… ahh.” I shrieked, punching the wall. My fist went right through it and the house shook like a train. I glared at the old lady, but instead of continuing, I grabbed my jacket and walked right past her heading for the door.

“Bug, please,” she called out at me, but I didn’t response. I walked right out that door and I didn’t look back.