The Conspiracy Theory of June 17

14.

Amelia blinks furiously as lights brighter than the sun are shone on her face.

"Amelia Nguyen, do you admit in working with the CSS at any point in your life?"

"No!" She yells, eager to get the interrogation over with.

"You don't associate yourself with any of these people –

"No," she tried to yell as hard as she could, but she could only create a small croak that shoved it's way out of her throat. Her soul was being taken away slowly.

"Amelia," This time, the voice sounded soothing, angelic, almost...like...

"Amelia, dear, you must save yourself. Don't make the same mistake I did. People don't always pay you back when you do good things, and it'll pain you to watch them in the afterlife."

Hot tears ran down Amelia's face and trailed down onto her collarbone.

"I don't..." she whispers, "...I don't know them."

Her heavy eyelids start to droop. The last thing Amelia hears is the sound of a female voice, screaming, begging her to stop.

She's always wanted to join her mother in the afterlife.

***

I felt a bit better after we had changed into our 'fighter clothes'. It made me feel like our team was a little more...how do I put this...legit. You know, not just 7 teens and one English teacher in pyjamas.

Yes, Mrs Renee worked her magic again to transform our clothes into an all-black ensemble – black shirt, black jeans and black shoes. We also had a black jacket with a distinctive logo at the back – a green embroidery of two Cs intersecting. You could say we were in complete 'conspiracy club' uniform.

As we walked downstairs and started walking through a long corridor, each person behind the other with almost synchronised steps, I got that same feeling that I had when we first got on the train, on our way to the airport. That excited, my-childhood-dreams-are-becoming-a-reality kind of feeling. That feeling I've been longing ever since the conspiracy started.

"Ok, so one might say I know my way around this joint quite well," Mrs Renee explains as she's walking in front of us, her voice bouncing off the steel walls. "Before I started the CSS, I was part of their club. There was only one club back then, though. That's before the 'schism' happened."

Literally everyone, including me, cast our minds back to when it was explained to us what the 'conspiracy' actually was. I remember it was that day after English, that 'meeting', where Mrs Renee first explained it to Jessie, Jada and I. I wonder who explained it to the other members. Was it also Mrs Renee?

"So, everyone just follow me, and I think we'll be right."

We nod and murmur in agreement.

Soon enough we come to the end of the corridor, as Mrs Renee stops and takes out a key from her pocket.

"Is this it?" Damon asks, peering over my shoulder to look at the front.

Mrs Renee stops and looks back. "Really, Damon?" She smiles and shakes her head gently. "No, of course this isn't it. We have the most foolproof form of security to make sure no one not part of the team gets in. Remember the motto..."

"...always a secret, never a secret." Damon finishes for her. Drew looks at Damon and nods, while the three of us (Jessie, Jada and I) exchange glances of confusion and mild amusement.

Hang on a second...

"Mrs Renee!" I practically shout as a sudden realisation hits me. Mrs Renee's body jumps and she immediately turns around.