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"This is Ms Shepard. The best paramedic in our department." Cynthia spoke up, introducing me to a a beautiful brunette woman. Like any other staff, she was wearing a long white coat over her clothes which somehow went along with the white interior of this huge building.

"Hello." She spoke up, smiling at me warmly.

This place was huge. The entire department was huge. Surprisingly, this was just one of the many headquarters out there. I never knew Dad worked amongst these people.

Yet he never told me.

"We rarely get visitors here." The brunette woman –Ms Shepard– spoke up. She seemed sweet apart from all the other staff I had managed to spot here. The others hadn't even given me a second glance as Cynthia had walked me through the various hallways.

Cynthia nodded in response. "This is Grace Collins, Jamie."

Ms Shepard's eyes flew over towards me almost abruptly, as if what Cynthia had just said surprised her. Soon enough, her genuinely sweet look transformed into something a little...less sweet and welcoming.

I wouldn't say I wasn't surprised.

"Oh. Ms Collins." Her dark brown eyes trailed across my face. "It's so...nice to finally meet you."

I forced a smile on my face, even if she was acting quite weird in my opinion.

"They all worked with your father, Grace." Cynthia spoke up with a sympathetic smile. "His death brought a huge impact on all of us."

I looked back at Jamie, who had turned back towards her paperwork, not looking at me anymore. Just like those other people.

"Come on. I'll show you the laboratory."

This whole place was straight out from a science fiction movie. Not that I loved science fiction movies. White walls. White doors. White floor. Every single furniture was made out of glass, giving it all a sophisticated yet a little...weird look.

Too much white wasn't my thing.

I followed Cynthia towards a long empty hallway, her heels clicking against the polished white floor. I looked around me, once again a little surprised to find no wall clocks or even windows. Which was quite strange since I hadn't even spotted any windows along the highly guarded reception area.

I didn't even know what time it was right now.

Walking a few more steps, I looked up at the tall glass doors. Before Cynthia could've pressed on the small button to open them, a voice spoke up,

"Cynthia."

We both turned around abruptly. I blinked and looked at the man in front of us, almost of my father's age. He had short cropped dark brown hair, slight hint of a stubble across his face. And not surprisingly, he was dressed in the same white lab coat like the others.

However, his eyes crinkled up at the edges when he looked at me. "You must be...Grace."

My eyes widened a little at that.

"Jonathan, I was about to take Ms Collins to the laboratory." Cynthia spoke up in a somewhat annoyed voice.

I glanced at her, then back at him. I didn't understand why she was being crappy all of a sudden.

"You look like your father." He spoke up, ignoring Cynthia as a ghost of a smile appeared on his lips. A sad smile. My heart lurched a little at that, not sure if I was even supposed to say anything.

Ever since Cynthia had brought me here, introducing me to almost all of the staff, I hadn't said anything. This place did remind me of Dad. Clean, tidy, everyone busy with their work.

Neat freak. That's what Mom sometimes addressed Dad as. And we all used to laugh at that; Mom, Dad, Jack and I.

Unlike Jamie, Jonathan didn't seem spooked out when he looked at me. I remained still at my spot when he came closer, stopping few steps away from me. Then he looked over at Cynthia. "What is she doing here?"

I looked over at Cynthia as well, to see what she'd say.

She inhaled deeply and turned around, her long auburn hair swaying along her back as she pressed the green button beside the wide glass doors. Slowly, the doors opened. I glanced behind me and looked at the incredibly huge laboratory. With so many machines and tall glass shelves.

No wonder Dad loved this.

When I turned back around, I was a little surprised to see Cynthia whispering something over in Jonathan's ear. His expression seemed strained, but he still smiled at me when she pulled away.

"I'll see you later then, Grace." His eyes still showed the strange sadness, making me want to say something to him. But I didn't know what. He stepped back before slightly shaking his head and then walking away.

I looked over at Cynthia as she walked inside the glass doors.

"Who was he?"

"Ah, Jonathan? He was a close friend of your dad's. They went on missions together. Really close friends, yes." She didn't look at me when she said that.

"Does he know why my parent's got killed?" I asked her as she stopped in front of the marble counter. My eyes trailed away from her face as I registered various different chemicals placed inside the glass shelves.

There was this something about them which intrigued me, wanting to open one of the shelves and take a closer look at the colorful chemicals. But then again, I didn't think Cynthia would've appreciated it.

I saw her opening one of the shelves before her fingers hovered over the lined up glass bottles. She slowly, almost cautiously, pulled out a bottle filled with a colorless liquid.

"We are here to investigate that, hun." She smiled at me. "To find out who killed your parents. To save your sweet little brother–Jack."

I nodded, looking down at the bottle in her hands.

Her finger hovered over the glass cap over it. My eyes lingered over the small letters printed at the front of the bottle.

Trichloromethane.

My gut tugged again. Almost immediately, I snapped my head in her direction, narrowing my eyes at her. "I never said anything about my brother."

She looked over at me, a small smile appearing on her lips. "Oh, didn't you?"

I frowned, taking a step back away from her. The tugging feeling in my gut seemed to increase, telling me how leaving this place was actually the best option right now.

Cynthia, however, leaned over towards the side of the marble counter and picked up a face mask. I frowned at her as she pulled it over her nose.

"What the hell are you doing?" I scrunched up my nose at her, at her weird actions.

She glanced at me one more time before gingerly opening the lid of the glass bottle. "Don't want to pass out, hun." Her voice sounded a little muffled from behind the mask. But I heard it all right.

I didn't get the time to actually register anything. Not until the powerful sweet fumes started spreading everywhere. Involuntarily, I felt myself inhaling them.

I took another step back, stumbling towards the glass doors.

She was crazy.

"Need to...go."

However, before I could've reached the glass doors, my knees buckled themselves. The strong fumes started clouding up in my head. I tried looking around but everything started getting fuzzy.

For some reason, I felt lightheaded. Like my head was drifting off somewhere else, somewhere peaceful and quiet.

And then I passed out.

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Xoxo,

Crystal 🌿