A brown-haired young woman let out a groan as she pushes herself off the bed. Through blurry eyes, she sees that it is still dark. Squinting, she glances at her VEX watch that reads, “5:30 a.m.”

56 dizzily sits up as she tries to remember last night’s events. It was though she was hungover, however, she hadn’t drunk anything last night, had she? Trying to recall, caused her brain to pound even more as she wobbles to her feet and unsteadily moves forward. 56 almost falls on her face but manages to grasp the edge of her bed to keep her balance. With great care, she leans against the bed and wall, slowly making her way to the bathroom.

56 reaches over and flicks the bathroom switch on, causing her to almost be blinded. Shading her eyes with a hand, she closes the bathroom door behind her. She takes a deep breath and turns on the faucet and washes her face with cold water. Feeling better, 56 dries her face and tries to recall last night’s events. Broken pieces return like a broken projected film, of talking to someone, then of the computer lab and lastly of an elevator ride, but nothing more.

No matter, how hard 56 tries to remember, she can’t remember. The skin to the side of her neck feels irritated, reaching over she gently reaches over. She suddenly winces as her fingers touch a tender scarred cut. Frowning, 56 turns her head to the side and glances into the mirror. A small thin, red cut is across the side of her neck, horizontally.

56 furrows her brows at the cut. Glancing down at herself, her eyes spot two messages, one from her an employer and strangely, a recorded message icon on her VEX watch. 56 leans against the door and reads the first message, “The actions of last yesterday warrant that all actions to be taken are to be swift and soon.”

56 frowns at the message but moves onto the recorded message pushing play. A man’s deep voice says, “If you’re opening this, you must be awake. And if so, let me first give you a warning, that this is private.” The recording pauses for a second or two as if waiting. “I hope that for your sake you are somewhere by yourself. I’m sure that last night is a blur to you, which is fine by me. There are only a few details that you need to remember.

You crossed me. Therefore, an explosive device was implanted in your body. The good news is that it is virtually undetectable and can’t be rid of by common means or detonated without my permission. Wait, that is only good news for me and not for you. Well, here’s the good news, I won’t kill you, yet. But let’s move on to better news since I just want something in return. I want you to just give me a status update of your missions. I don’t even need the specific details, simply an update of the events that your employer is working on. Which brings us to the last point. Means of communication, you will merely record a message on your VEX watch and I will hear it. Should you fail to do so by the end of every week period until I feel that we are even, I shall take it as a refusal of my generous offer. And then, well, we both know how this will end.

The message abruptly ends as 56 gapes at the recorded message that erases itself. She opens the player and recorder again, but there are no messages or recording on file. Worried, 56 tears off her clothes down to her bare skin and checks every corner of her body, but finds no obvious new intrusions other than the cut on her neck. But other than the cut on her neck was too large to be an incision.

56 wraps a towel around her body and gathers her clothes. She swiftly dresses and heads out the door as her roommate sleepily groans. The elevator ride is rather slow as she rushes onto the grounds. She abruptly halts as she stares at the sign on the first floor that reads, “The computer lab is temporarily out of commission, but will be open by the end of next week.”

56 remembers the recorded message and the message from her employer all pointing to the unknown events of last night that she can’t remember. With even more haste, she hurries to the library in the early chill of the morning. The library is already open for those early birds as 56 is one of the few students to arrive and enter. She swiftly takes a seat next to a bookshelf and waits, having sent a let’s meet emoji on a dating website. She impatiently waits until a shadowy figure appears among the books and rustles to a stop next to the bookshelf behind her.

56 narrows her eyes and softly hisses, “Are you playing with games now, #32? Because I don’t normally mind and would be a willing player, but we are on a mission right now.”

#32 sighs, “I’m not playing games with you. I’m already playing with someone more fun than you.”

“Then you didn’t leave the message?” 56 cautiously asked.

“What message?”

“Never mind that. What happened last night?”

“A little bit of this and a little bit of that.”

“#32, for once in your life give me a straight answer that is not a riddle!” 56 angrily shrieked.

“Tch, no yelling the library,” #32 sternly reprimanded as 56 silently fumes. “But I will answer, your question, we had an encounter with an opposing party. During the exchange, you escaped. I don’t know anything more as I remained behind,” #32 truthfully replied.

56 scans her memory trying to remember but failing to do so. She cautiously asks, “Who were they?”

“Ah, that is a very good question, my sweet pea, but all I can say is that they are the most fun of players,” #32 commented out loud.

56 bites her lip as she knows she’s in trouble. She couldn’t count on anyone to protect her interest’s other than herself. And her current buyers/employers wouldn't hesitate to throw her away if she was a liability. But technically, if she did as she was told she wouldn’t be breaking with her buyer/employer’s contract. And if so, she would be in the clear with all parties.

Having made her mind up, 56 says, “Have you found out anything on your end?” Frowning, she turns around not hearing a reply. Not seeing a figure anymore, 56 curses and rises to her feet. She swiftly exits the library and heads back to the dorms for breakfast. Making sure to brush her hair down, 56 makes her way to the dorm.

Albert Cross waves to her, but 56 ignores him and makes her way to the dorm cafeteria. Albert Cross seems confused by her actions and does not pursue her. At the dorm cafeteria, 56’s roommate, a tall girl with freckles named Ruby waves to her. “Tanya, I saved us a seat,” Ruby shouted across the cafeteria.

56 hides the irritation and schools her features into a grateful smile. “Thanks, Ruby,” Tanya stuttered and made her way towards her friend. Taking a seat, soon the table is filled with various friends. Tanya cheerfully chatters with her friends until breakfast was served. Breakfast was always served and brought to the tables by waiters. With some relish, to her surprise, Tanya found herself rather hungry. And with great ferocity, Tanya dove into her breakfast to the surprise of her friends. Because Tanya is a sweet girl and this was a ferocious cutting machine.

Tanya having finished her meal and feeling much better, waves across the dining hall to Albert Cross. Albert Cross smiles at her but does not wave back. Tanya frowns as her friends all say, “It’s okay sweetheart. I’m sure he didn’t see you.” “But remember if you like him, he’s a bit out of your league.”

Tanya bites back a comment and smiles. “No, it’s alright, I just wanted to thank him, that’s all,” Tanya stated. Her friends nod knowingly and agree to help play matchmakers. Tanya shows off her dimples and sincerely thanks her allies with glee, her friends, and fellow classmates all rush to their respective classes as Tanya pulls out a schedule and beings to plan. One could only hope that fate or sheer coincidence would ensure their classes cross together and meet again. After all, fate couldn’t possibly be engineered, or could it?