Garrison Vance's Message

After school, Cathy walked through the heavy front door of the cramped apartment as it clicked shut behind her, locking out the noise of the street. The air inside smelled faintly of antiseptic, boiled yams, and the clean linen of the hospital bed parked near the sitting room window.

Her father was resting quietly, his chest rising and falling in a slow, steady rhythm beneath a light quilt. Her mother was standing by the small gas cooker in the kitchenette, stirring a pot of pepper soup with a wooden spoon. She turned as Cathy walked in, her tired eyes softening as she took in the stiff posture and the heavy canvas bag slung over her shoulder.

"Welcome back, my treasure," her mother said, wiping her hands on a small hand towel. "How was school today?"

"Long," Cathy murmured, keeping her voice low so as not to disturb the bed. "Just... long."

Her mother didn't press. She knew the look. It was the exact same look Cathy wore every single afternoon—the tight jaw, the guarded eyes, the invisible armor she had to strap on just to walk through the gates of Elite Academy.

"Go wash up and settle down," her mother said gently. "Dinner will be ready soon."

Cathy nodded, slipping past the narrow hallway into her small bedroom. It barely fit a single iron-frame bed, a wooden desk piled high with tech magazines, and a clothes rack. She dropped her backpack onto the floor, kicked off her scuffed loafers, and sat down at the desk.

Her fingers reached out almost automatically, flipping open the lid of her beat-up silver laptop. The internal fan whirred to life, and the screen illuminated her face with a sharp, cool blue. She bypassed the standard desktop interface, opened her secure encrypted communication client, and typed in her private passkey.

A notification icon flashed red in the corner of her encrypted inbox.

New secure transmission.

Sender: Garrison Vance

Priority: High

Whenever she sighted that name, her heart always skipped a beat and her breath caught in her throat—carrying the exact same last name as Alex, her chief tormentor at Elite Academy, a constant, sharp reminder of the world she navigated every day.

Garrison Vance.

Her boss. The man who owned Garrison Industries and the very empire she protected behind a screen.

Her heart hammered harder as she clicked open the message. The encrypted text unspooled across her screen:

Mirage,

I am writing this tonight simply to tell you that you are a massive blessing to this empire. Ever since you took over our infrastructure defense four months ago and made the security of Garrison Industries your absolute priority, everything has changed.

I still shudder when I remember the absolute nightmare we were living through before I stumbled across your profile. Our previous cybersecurity firm was bleeding us dry—we lost a staggering, unmentionable amount of capital to stealth breaches and sloppy architecture before I took a blind leap of faith and hired you. It was the best gamble I ever made.

For four solid months now, my entire empire has run smoother than clockwork. Not a single cent missing, not a single packet compromised, and our board sleeps soundly for the first time in years. You are a genius, plain and simple.

I would consider it a genuine honor to meet you in person someday, whenever your schedule permits. Name your terms, and my team will arrange it.

Thank you.

I'm truly impressed,

Garrison Vance

Cathy stared at the glowing text, a rush of heat surging behind her eyes.

Four months of paying her father's hospital bills. Alex spent his days strutting around Elite Academy like he owned the universe, flashing that exact same famous last name and treating everyone around him like garbage, completely oblivious to the fact that his own family’s entire empire—every luxury car, every penthouse, every trust fund he took for granted—was kept afloat entirely by the girl he loved to bully.

She wasn't a charity case. She was the architect holding Garrison Vance's kingdom together.

A wild, breathless laugh escaped her lips, sharp and sudden in the quiet room. All the exhaustion, all the humiliation from the cafeteria, all the suffocating weight of the day vanished instantly, burned away by a sudden, electric wave of vindication.

She stood up from her desk so fast her chair scraped loudly against the floorboards. She grabbed the laptop, clutching it against her chest like a shield, and practically floated out of her room into the sitting room.

"Mama," she said, her voice trembling with an energy she hadn't felt in months.

Her mother turned quickly from the stove, alarm flashing in her eyes at the sudden movement. "Cathy? What is it? What happened?"

"Look," Cathy whispered, holding out the screen so the blue light illuminated her mother's face. "Read this. Right here."

Her mother adjusted her reading glasses, squinting down at the encrypted terminal. Her eyes scanned the lines—Garrison Vance... blessing to this empire... lost a huge amount of money... four months on smooth running... meet you in person.

As the words registered, her mother’s breath hitched. She looked up from the screen, her eyes wide with shock, staring at her daughter as if she had never seen her before. "Your boss?"

"Yeah, Mama," Cathy said, a brilliant, fierce smile breaking across her face. "He just wrote this to me. He says his entire empire hasn't missed a single beat since I took over."

Her mother stood frozen for a second, the wooden spoon still clutched in her hand, before a massive, tearful smile cracked across her face. She dropped the spoon onto the counter, rushed forward, and pulled Cathy into a fierce, suffocating embrace, burying her face in her daughter's shoulder.

"Oh, my God," her mother sobbed softly, wrapping her arms around her tighter. "My brilliant girl. Look at you. Look at what you are doing. While they sit out there looking down on you, you are holding giants in the palm of your hand."

"They don't know, Mama," Cathy murmured, resting her chin on her mother's shoulder, feeling the last heavy knot in her chest finally break loose.

Her mother pulled back, holding her by both shoulders, her eyes shining with unshed tears of pride. She reached up and cupped Cathy's cheek, her thumb gently brushing away a stray tear of sheer relief.

"Let them talk all the rubbish they want in those school hallways. A lion doesn't lose sleep over the barking of dogs. You keep building your future. You keep rising so high they won't even be able to see you when they look up."

Cathy looked down at the laptop screen still glowing in her hand. The message from Garrison Vance was still there—a quiet proof of her own power. Elite Academy didn't feel quite so heavy anymore. The bullies were just noisy children playing in the sand, while she was busy rewriting the rules of the game.

She typed out her reply, her fingers moving with absolute, unshakeable confidence:

Thank you, Mr. Garrison. I appreciate the words. The system is secure, and we will keep it that way.

— Mirage

She hit send, closed the lid with a soft click, and smiled into the quiet dark of the room.