My mind wandered as my fingers typed meaningless letters. A S F G H J K L, I typed it again and again. Typing class is possibly one of the most boring classes in the modern world, but it doesn’t take much thought. I usually spend the whole period spacing out, I’ve had a lot on my mind lately, and this was the only place I didn’t feel watched, stalked, in danger, this is the only place he wasn’t after me.

Just a short week ago I felt like I was being followed and my instincts are never wrong. I always wondered why they spent all this time training us and then just let us go. I almost feel betrayed like we were created to be targets for others. I don’t know why he wanted to kill me or if he killed any of the others. I do know that I survived the first encounter with him and that I have been trained to overcome this. I will survive!

I had a plan. That is the first thing they taught us. They said if you have a plan, it will prevent you from panicking and furthermore save your life. I’d like to say I had a fake passport and that I was leaving the country to restart my life in France getting major bucks as an undercover cop. But they don’t usually give these kinds of opportunities to sixteen year olds; especially ones who haven’t even went on any real missions. Like that's my fault though, they left me after seven years of training. They just left me. Now somebody is after me. Is that a coincidence?

I had put a lot of thought into it all. Was it a test? Did he think I was someone else? Was I a target? It was best to assume that they were all true until I knew the truth. My plan was to leave at lunch; I would be long gone before they realized I was missing. Then I would stay at a different motel every night under a different name until I figured out who he was and why he wanted me dead. This is how it played out.


I left at lunch as planned. It was easy to sneak away with hundreds of teenagers too careless to even notice what they were doing and definitely weren’t going to notice what I was doing. I went through a window in the library, then I caught a bus and went to my motel. I used a cover up mirror to make sure that no one was following me. I didn’t recognize any faces so I figured I was off radar. When I got to the motel, I dyed my hair and took a shower. As I stepped out of the shower the first thing that caught my eye was the mirror. The words written in bright red lipstick still haunt me: “This isn’t a game and we won’t stop until you are dead.” At that moment I realized this wasn’t a mistake and I realized that the training wasn’t for nothing.

Time for a new plan; I was going to the person who has been following me. First I had to find him and that is never easy. Tricking people who are better than you is complicated. You have to be completely focused. The best way to trick him would be to make him underestimate me. I did this by making myself obvious. I did what no spy should ever do. I brought attention to myself. I got on a bus to my next motel and tripped, smack! I hit the ground and everyone looked at me, perfect! Then, as I walked down the aisle, I hit everyone on the way. Step one was complete. Next, I needed to be armed. It would be stupid to not have any form of defense. This was easy! They had trained us to knock people unconscious just by grabbing their elbow in a certain way. That cop never saw it coming!

Now that I was armed, I went to my next motel and again dyed my hair. This time I left the door open a crack. I took all my stuff with me, which wasn’t very much, and kept it with me in the shower, but made sure to put it where it would stay dry. Then I got dressed and prepared in the shower. When I stepped out there was another note: “You can’t run forever!” This time I was prepared though. The note hinted that he was going to confront me soon, but if I confronted him first, I would catch him off guard. Nothing beats the element of surprise!

I figured he planned on attacking me at the next motel. I maintained my schedule as always. I went to take a shower as I usually do, but I didn’t dye my hair. I just started the shower. Then I put on a hat and grabbed a newspaper. I sat on a bench right outside my room. I knew this would seem suspicious, so when a suspicious looking man walked by, I got on my cell and had a fake conversation in a fake voice. I guess it worked, because he kept going, and walked straight into my room like it was his. This was definitely my guy.
I knew I had to move fast. I knew that he wouldn’t hear me open the door, if he was in the bathroom with the shower going, but if I waited too long he would know it was a set up. I walked into the room forty five seconds after he walked in. I grabbed my gun; it was go time. I first checked the room in case he had figured me out, but that was obviously not the case. Now he was waiting in the bathroom for me to get out of the shower. I smirked. Then I barged into the bathroom: “Who are you?” I said loudly, but calmly.

As he turned around and smiled, I gasped! It was him! Scout, he was the one who had recruited me to school when I was nine. He taught me for seven years and now he was out to get me? “Nice to see you Mary!”, he smirked.
“Why have you been following me?”, trying to stay calm.
“You see Mary, all of those years of training would be useless if you couldn’t handle the real thing. It was a test, but the stakes were a little higher this time. It was life or death Mary! What would be the point of keeping you if you couldn’t pass the test. You were one of the three who passed! Aren’t you proud!”, he smiled sadistically.
“That's impossible!” I said, trying to control my shock. “There was twenty of us, why would you go through all that trouble just to get rid of us?”

He smiled: “Why would I keep everyone? There were too many! I can’t risk having secrets get out!”

I tried to hold back my contempt: “You are an awful man! I will never work for you!”

“Are you sure you want to go down this road Mary?” he said, like I was choosing the college I wanted to go to.
“I think it’s too late for me to decide that!” *bang*! He was dead, but my life just began!