35 PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER

At fourteen years old I was a normal student. I was like any other person in my class who was depressed and did not know what exactly they wanted to do with their life. I was planning on cruising my way in life since I had never liked having dreams or aspirations. They were all meaningless considering that the majority of those dreams would change and I was too uninterested to work on goals. Instead, I did whatever came my way and I would spend a great deal of time at home doing random freelance gigs so that I could get a challenge here and there. Other than that I would be on forums and channels talking to people about what they have been working on and what weird ideas they had come up with. It was peaceful and I never wanted anything else in my life.

That did slowly change when I went to high school and since I was in Paradise City by the time you reach high school everyone in the class had all these crazy hopes and dreams. The majority of the class were already enrolling to participate in focus groups, beta testing, and even taking huge internships that were hard for other college students in regions outside Paradise to get. It was that year that they introduced a software and robotics club which were two separate clubs but they would always be interacting with each other so it was the same group. Even though I registered for the software club to interact more with people who built apps and learn how they would approach certain situations I was slowly thrown into robotics and that when my interest in creating products that utilize programming to make work easier. It was the use of robots and machine learning that helped develop some of the interests that later formed me as a person in society.

Coincidentally it was doing these activities that brought Miranda and me closer together than before. Even before when we were good friends our relationship never went taunting each other and her being aggressive. I was even shocked that she joined the robotics club which was something she enjoyed going and of course she was amazing at it. She was a genius and we would watch her brain think about how she would design some of the robots and making sketches and suggestions.it was a fascinating sight and I was impressed with all she did. I would believe that my admiration for her skill set and brilliance made me overlook all the times she would make fun of me and we started building a different bond.

Once we got together we would spend hours talking about all the things we could do in the future. All the things we could make and come up with.How we could build so many companies and ideas and projects.How some of our ideas could improve the economy in terms of health, transportation providing services creating jobs that never existed but would be great for people like us. It was pure bliss and I loved being around her and it was a feeling that I always wanted to have. She made me a dreamer. She made me believe that we were smart enough to do anything and everything would work out.

"You know we can become billionaires and build a hotel on the moon and have the first-ever space cafe. We can even have a mansion there and watch the earth."She said to me as she held her arm out to the starry night sky.

I would look at her with her eyes which would sparkle as bright as the night sky and smile. that was the feeling I would have most of the time we would think of crazy possibilities.

I knew that it was a great thing to be a dreamer and have dreams and hopes. I had things to work towards and it was not just me moping around. The issue was believing that we were smart enough to do anything we pleased just because we were smart. We never knew that the would-be unfair and it would hit you with a broom whenever you stepped out of line.

We made the mistake of trying to go through The Executive's files to see what could unearth for the project that we were stumped on. That was when we knew that the world would not allow us to be dreamers and it was not for us. That was the year that I had lost everything I thought was important to me. That was the year my dreams were shattered into a million pieces and I was pushed into the dark without hope.

Then as I stood on the X-floor looking at two people who were broken by those events. I began to wonder who else was broken by that event. Who else knew about what transpired five years ago and why was it so heavily linked to the year that things changed in our close friend group.

The only thing that made sense is that it had to be someone close to us who was affected by Miranda's sudden death. Who was affected by my disappearance and taking my route in life? We failed to see the outside perspective of ourselves and we had to think about anyone else who might have been greatly influenced by our past lives.

"Well obviously I don't know what happened in high school but we can look into that club that Cyrus and I were in," Miranda said pacing in the room.

"How do you know about the club?"Glenn asked.

"I have been doing my research whenever I have free time to see if I can remember anything. From the records, I obtained I had good grades obviously, and I would have so much time in the robotics club.``She said still pacing.

I could imagine how hard it was for Miranda to piece together the gap that was in her life but I never knew she went to the extent to look at old school records to see who she was. It was impressive to say the very least but it was a bit concerning. I knew she could be obsessive if she chose to do so.

"Okay, there was that gap in my life and there is another five-year gap when Cyrus went out of his way to start his company. It was always weird to me since my intel told me you were despised by The Executive and still went out of your way to do the last thing a normal--

Miranda focus we can roast Cyrus for his bad decisions later."Glenn said poking fun at me.

"Okay sorry anyway back on topic my main point is, what happened during those years other than yourself?"Miranda asked

They both looked at me waiting for an answer and to be honest I was only focused on finding a way to look out for Miranda whichever way I could. Other than that it was mainly dark and lonely. It was like I was in my void in the world. Glenn would try sometimes to get me out of the dark mood but I would slowly get back. I never thought about anything else or anyone around me.

"Well…" I said, scratching my head.

"Yeah, Cy was in his world so I don't think he can answer that question," Glenn said.

"And you, the best friend ever who you know, was close to us who could have the ability to be a super hacker," Miranda asked, looking at Glenn.

"You see I had something called life and since you and Cyrus were always working on something new I did my things. I was never in your little club so I can't say for sure."

"The one time you don't have the answers," Miranda said under her breath but clearly at a volume that Glenn could hear and get offended by.

I could see that they wanted to start a whole childish argument that would go nowhere as usual.

"Before you two start your ego wars let's see if we could find some clues to who it might be."

I said going to sit down on my chair with my brain moving faster than usual.

Trying to remember people was harder than I could imagine. In my years of high school was ages ago even if it was half a decade ago it felt like a whole different time. Remembering people outside Miranda was hard. It was as if I had erased the other people and filed them as important in my folder.

"DC pull up reports of Paradise high school and give me all the names and details of everyone who was in the robotics and software club," I said, hoping to find any useful information.

"Do you want everything on them?"DC asked

"How much information can you get?"Miranda asked.

"The simple one's identification and every certificate they own, their financial situations, location, and records, but if you want more I can get their messages, all the calls they have ever made and anytime they spoke near a device."

"Huh," Miranda said suspiciously.

"Cy. You always had this much power in your hands?"Glenn asked shocked.

"Yeah, it's not like it was important to me."

"I am so glad you didn't decide to take the villain story arc in your life," he said relieved.

I looked at both of them with weird expressions on their faces as if they could see me, Cyrus Mayday as a villain or anti-hero. I turned back and ignored their concerned comments.

"Okay, the best one is their current occupations and if possible their device usage."

"Will do," DC said.

In a few seconds, a list of everyone who was in the club was shown on the screen. There were names of people I recognized and their faces looked familiar.

"Drew, wasn't that the guy who peed her pants for one week straight in school because she was too shy to ask for a hall pass in like the third grade?"Miranda asked looking at the people on the screen.

"You dated him a few years later. he peed when you kissed him in front of the class" Glenn said smirking at her.

She punched him on the arm knowing that he was purposely lying to her. I laughed at just the thought of it and went back to the list.

"Back to serious business, it seems like every one of these fifteen people enrolled in courses that were either technology or business based and some of them are still studying. Others went on to working before they finished and the rest became drug developers."I said looking at the list.

"That's so depressing," Glenn said ironically.

"In short nothing here is extraordinary unless we go search for them and see what they have been up to since school," I said.

"We can always listen to some of the recordings that--"

"Trust me, Miranda, you don't want to listen to what people do and say in their own private time," I said, warding off the entire idea.

"Okay." she said looking at me suspiciously," Then we can always meet with them individually or we host them at an event or something."She suggested.

We looked through the list, and we knew that would be the only viable option we had. It was also the fastest way. I wish we could have obtained that information long before the tournament but we knew it was a step in the right direction.

"Let me handle this one guy's social gatherings are something I know the best plus I see some of these guys on campus by the weekend you will have your mini-reunion," Glenn said smiling.

"Are you going to do something which is over the top and unnecessary for your entertainment?"I asked, looking at him with a blank expression.

"Of course I will."He said, smirking.