Day 1

8/17/21

By Julia Baker

It was Day 1 of Daniel's first mission. The United Republic needed him to report at the train station, 7am sharp. Which meant that Daniel should have gotten a good sleep to be refreshed and awake for his mission. As usual, that meant his night was actually spent tossing and turning in his bed, wondering what would happen the next day. Daniel rolled over to look at his alarm clock. He felt for the snooze button and gently pushed it for the numbers to glow. The green light temporarily blinded his eyes after staring blankly into the dark for so long. Quickly, his blue eyes adjusted to the bright green numbers. Two o’clock in the morning. Daniel groaned, rolled back over and pulled the sheets up to his chin. He had already set out his assigned clothing on his office desk, which consisted of a plain white T-shirt, a blue army jacket which was secretly bulletproof and a pair of light washed jeans. He had everything ready to go, down to the white socks in his grey running shoes. His satchel was also packed with a smartphone, wallet full of cash, some basic toiletries, an extra change of clothes, dehydrated food, a water bottle and a 2” knife. Daniel was reluctant to take the knife, thinking it might give himself away as a potential threat to the Insurgents but the United Republic insisted on having it to protect himself. Not that he couldn't protect himself without it.

There was a lot riding on this mission. Not just proving to his superiors that he was a valuable agent, or even bringing down the biggest group of rebels since the beginning of the United Republic, though that was important too. This mission would give Daniel a shot at redeeming himself. In his eyes, he had failed his father for the past four years. After the accident, Daniel realized he had two options: either continue his life, alone, parentless and purposeless, or volunteer to train as a UR agent and make a difference in the world. If he made it, he would conduct missions against evil people to ensure that no other 13 year old would lose what he had lost, and fail as he had to protect his father. Daniel had come a long way since then. The last four years of grueling training taught him to not let his fear control him. From now on, he would always run toward it, which was exactly why he was chosen for this mission.

His mission was to track down the location of the Insurgents, a group of rebels that had been a thorn in the side of the UR for years. The Insurgents answered to one person and one person only: Grey. Daniel scowled in the dark at the thought of him. No one knew his true identity, what he looked like or if he was even a he. The reason why they called him Grey was because he alway wore a grey cloak that covered his face with a grey hood. He was absolutely untraceable. If there ever was a raid on a government facility, he seemed to disappear into thin air just as the authorities would arrive, escaping with either food, clothing, medical supplies or valuable information, leaving no evidence behind. Grey was also known as a very skilled assassin. UR officials were either murdered in broad daylight, or silently killed with no clue as to how. No matter where Grey went, he left absolute terror in his wake. Daniel knew that terror all too well. Grey was also known for destroying government buildings, but Daniel was interested in only one: when Grey put a bomb in his father’s office tower that vaporized the entire skyscraper and everyone in it. At first, all 13 year old Daniel felt was in complete shock. Dad was gone, he thought. How could he be gone? He was just with me, I had just hugged him goodbye when he dropped me off at school. It just didn't make sense, none of it did. According to news stories, there had been an Insurgent sighting near dad’s work building at the time. Why hadn't he stopped him from going to work somehow? Daniel's shock mixed with grief, then it slowly evolved into terror, then into absolute rage. His rage is what fueled him to enlist in the UR military, to go through years of painful training, helped him to move up the ranks and to finally lead up to decimating those heartless, murdering, power hungry Insurgents. Daniel would particularly enjoy watching Grey grovel at his feet, seeing his precious little gang of thieves crumple under all the consequences that finally caught up to them. Daniel smiled to himself at the image. This mission was Daniel's chance to make his fantasy come true.

Daniel ran a hand through his light brown hair and tried to shake off his anticipation and nervousness in an attempt to get back to sleep but with little luck. Adrenaline was rushing through his veins against his will. He was like a child trying to go to sleep on Christmas Eve to make present time come quickly but find it extremely difficult with all the joy and excitement rushing up and down their tiny bodies.

“It's no use.” Daniel sighed.

He sat up on his soft mattress, threw the sheets off his body and reached for his lamp. The fluorescent light immediately cut through the darkness and lit up the entire one room apartment. The apartment was assigned to him after his fathers death because Daniel didn't have any relatives to stay with. Because his mother died in childbirth, his father was all the family he had left. Though he was a minor at the time, the UR declared him capable of living on his own, especially now that the UR would be caring for him with his military benefits. At 13, Daniel was already going to college, had a job and an apartment all to himself. At first glance, others would say,

"What a successful and accomplished young man! He has a very bright future ahead of him!"

Yeah, very bright. So bright, his future didn't seem to need parents to guide him, Daniel thought bitterly. Successful? Yes. Accomplished? Yes. Lonely? Absolutely. He would give anything to have his dad back. Even his said “bright” future. The apartment was very small compared to the family housing units. It consisted of a kitchen with a total of six cabinets, a microwave and a mini fridge. Kitchens nowadays were usually not equipped with a stove, now that the UR manufactured ready made meals. No cooking, no hassle. There was also a small bathroom, an office area/corner of the apartment where his clothing and satchel now lay. All there was to his living room was a pull out couch and a nightstand where his alarm clock and lamp stood. As Daniel sat at the edge of his bed, he tried to think of anything he might've forgotten. He stood up, walked over to his office desk and searched through his satchel. By the look of it, he had packed everything. Almost. A thought struck him and he hurriedly pulled open the desk drawer. There was his sketchbook and a couple of no. 2 pencils with perfectly sharpened tips. Daniel gently, almost sacredly, took the book out of the drawer and began flipping through the pages. This one sketchbook contained years of his mother’s artwork, including sketches of his father, flowers, landscapes, woodland creatures, clear blue oceans and a skys full of stars. Daniel sketched his own work in addition to his mother’s after his father gave him the book for his 12th birthday. He also liked to draw natural scenery but recently he had begun creating sketches of cityscapes and portraits of Grey. Seeing that no one knew what Grey actually looked like, he made several appearances. One with a very sly dimeanor with black hair, thick beard and dark mischievous eyes, others with white blond hair, proud pointed face and cold blue eyes. It took every fiber in Daniel’s being not to draw one with horns and pitchfork, but despite the portraits depicting his intense hatred for the Insurgent Leader, this book contained everything he knew about his mother. As if it was housing a part of her spirit. Daniel decided to place it in his satchel along with his pencils. He sighed again, hoping now that he had not forgotten to take his sketchbook, he might be able to get some sleep. He walked back over to his pull out couch and layed back down. Daniel had not realized that maybe not packing his sketchbook was keeping him awake, which might have been some sort of internal worry that he had forgotten it. Now that his mind was finally at ease, he slipped into a dreamless sleep. Daniel did not realize however, that when it came time for his alarm clock to shine its brilliant green light and jarr him out of his sleep with its shrill sound, it would alert him of the mission that would change the course of his life forever. And most certainly not in a way that he would expect.