When I was a kid, I constantly lived in fear. Fear of desicles, fear of dark, fear of insects. But overtime, I stopped fearing everything, and I became, what people call... heartless.
If you fear something, you're too weak but if you become strong and stop fearing anything, you become heartless in the eyes of the world. That's just how the it is.
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"Don't, okay? Just don't jump." I told the girl.
"And what if I do?" She asked challenging us.
"Please listen to us." Alexis spoke, as we both, cautiously took a step forward in unison. "If you come with us and give us the information on Poison Tree, we will let you free." He strode forward, trying to approach her as she took another step back.
"Don't come near me!" She spoke. Her eyes betraying her voice.
"Don't cry, just listen to what the boy is saying." I intervened in their little conversation.
"You can't set me free, you can't give me what I want. There's only one way to settle this and that is killing myself." She lifted Alexis's ring that she had stole earlier. With a click on the top of it, a small knife revealed itself.
"It's poisonous!" Alexis shouted. "Don't touch it!"
"I know." The girl spoke as a small smirk tugged at her lips. With that she slit her own throat and with what consciousness she had left, she jumped off the edge off the roof.
"No!" Alexis ran forward, but stopped at the edge because after that, he was at a risk to fall himself.
"Well, at least we get the money." I say, walking towards him as he looks down at the girl's limp body on the ground.
"What?"
"You know what? It doesn't matter if she killed herself or not. She was supposed to die anyway because that's how we get the money, remember?"
"Is that it?" He asked, a hint of disgust and anger on his voice. "Does money mean everything to you?"
"What do you mean me? Money is everything. You can't live in this world without it. And it's a reality we can't deny." Money really is everything, right? I mean, that's what I was told growing up.
He scowled at me, as if what I had said was totally wrong, and left me there, standing on the roof as sun casted an orange hue in the sky. My first mission with this boy named 'Alexis' wasn't good at all, but I couldn't say anything because I was his subordinate, rank-wise.
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"Ms. Emery, please show Ms. Nazira around. She will be your new colleague from now on." The alliance chief instructed.
"Do I really have to, Sir? I mean, showing newbies around, wasn't that Alexis's job?" Showing rookies around was my least favorite job.
"He has gone on a mission, which is why he is not available right now. So, you will do it."
I took a deep breath, anger and frustration building up inside me. "Yes, Sir." That was all I could say. Of course I couldn't talk back to our chief.
I took the girl outside. Most likely she was a Muslim. She wore a black hijab, exposing not a single strand of her hair. She wore black uniform, which was our alliance's symbol. But, it was baggy, so as to not accentuate her body.
"So, where to first?" She asked, buzzing with excitement, like any of this was fun.
I sighed and led her to the cafeteria.
"This is the cafeteria. You can find any kind of food here and we have other Muslim employees here, so we also have food to their likings, which they call 'Halal'." I explained as we pushed through the glass door and entered the café. Suddenly, her excitement turned into confusion and she looked at me, expecting me to reply before she even asked the question.
"Uhhh....how do you know I am Muslim?" I looked at her, dumbfounded. Either this girl was unaware that she was the only one dressed like this or she was completely dumb.
How did you even get employed as a D.hunter? I bit back the urge to say that, because as much as I hated showing rookies around, I didn't want to be too rude.
"Your clothes" I explained. "You're the only one here who dresses like this."
"Ohhh!" She said and stretching the word longer than necessary, like she was unaware of the fact and it made me believe she actually was stupid.
She shifted her attention to the café and looked at it with awe. She literally kept gawking at the grandeur of it. But something caught her attention and she stopped.
"Really? Pastries?" I asked her, standing behind her, not interested the slightest bit.
"Are they halal?" She looked back at me. I could feel the others staring at us and if she wasn't, I surely was feeling second-hand embarrassment. But no like I could do anything.
I sighed.
"Yes, they're halal."
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🔸Tip: The DHO has four alliances in total;
• The Desicles Hunting Alliance
• The Tech Alliance
• The Media Alliance
• The Guarding Alliance
(You'll learn about each one of them in the upcoming chapters :D )