"I'm Green_Six. I did a Masters in Astrophysics. Also born in an outpost," another man then called out, introducing himself. He punctuated his two short sentences with a tired sigh, before returning back to the state he was in prior. Not once did he open his eyes throughout the statement he gave, looking the most exhausted and weary out of all of them, and Gretel could not blame him in the slightest. He looked about as tired as she felt with heavy, black bags hanging the bottom of his eyes, the skin there visibly swollen and looking as if it had been barely hanging on to his skull for a long, long time. Gretel had to have sympathy for him, as she watched him lightly sway as if he was about to fall onto his face on the floor at any second now. "My name is Yellow_Two. I studied medicine," another lady introduced herself as. She had the most fake and plastic smile plastered over her

"Belinda, computing," the final woman at the end of the line introduced herself as, her voice small and taciturn, as she kept her arms crossed over her body, as if giving herself a hug, shivering and shaking as she stood there curled inwards with her head bowed down and face hidden in the shadows of her hair. Gretel immediately wanted to take her into her arms and give her a hug, reassure her that everything was going to be alright, and reminded her distinctly of the children of the soldiers who were forced to attend the funerals of their deceased parents. They had often just wanted to curl up somewhere quiet with their loved ones and bawl out all their emotions, but were forced to keep their faces black to not disrupt any of the state ceremonial proceedings, and if they wanted to cry, if their faces scrunched up bright red, then they would be paraded around as symbols to show off exactly what the Sýnnefan Empire had done and why it n

When she had finally finished tracing over the top of the diagrams and more lightly marking out the mottled and burnt areas of the sheet to make clear which areas were the result of her own extrapolation, a hand suddenly lightly poked her shoulder, causing her freeze. Somewhere within Gretel, the instinct to turn around with her fists raised to retaliate against the shock to her system rose up out of a pit, but at the same time, the image of the spy, begging for his life, flashed through her mind, the scene playing out in front of her, forcing her body to stop to a juddering halt in fear of retaliation. So she did nothing. "Sorry for surprising you," a voice called out, apologetic in tone and whispering to be heard over the deafening and ringing silence of the room. She recognised it immediately and turned around to face Green_One, who was leaning over with a slightly sheepish and worried look.

Lila clenched her fists anxiously in her lap, outside sitting in the waiting room next to a small, painted radiator and a water fountain.There was a train station only two streets away where she knew was a coffee where she could buy hot chocolate for herself to warm up the freezing blizzard that was raging inside of her.Her hands were shaking, and she forced her fingers to relax, laying her hands over her knees. Taking several deep breaths, Lila made sure to focus on the mechanical motions of it, doing her best to clear her mind as best as she could.It only worked for a short time and, within less than half a minute, Lila jumped out of her rickety plastic chair and began pacing the room.Her right arm was beginning to ache again, so she brought up her left arm to begin massaging it from the shoulder downwards.To distract herself, she poured herself a cheap, Styrofoam cup of water, and willingly shivered and suffered as she downed the whole drin

Lila was working the next day, when the social worker came to visit.The lady was dressed in a prim suit with a satchel by her side, entirely put together and professional looking. She wore a little badge, pinned to her blazer, that held the town council logo and took her time choosing the frosted cupcake that she would like with the expresso that she was ordering.It set Lila on edge, but the police did as well, and she knew that she ought to get over her fear of authority some day.“Kai’ll be here in a few minutes. Traffic’s worse today,” Lila gave as an unprompted explanation.The woman nodded, and sat back in a booth towards the back of the café in the corner opposite the door, handily hidden from Lila and to anyone who was going to walk into the café.Kai turned up within a minute, panting and slightly red faced. His first words to Lila were,” Are they here yet?”Lila pointed him towards