There is a huge virtual screen in the centre of the headquarters building that broadcasts news all day.

Right now, it shows members of the Faithful being discovered and arrested.

In the very first place, at the front of the entire huge crowd, Miranda sits on the ground and cries as she watches her parents being taken away by officers of the Central.

We all stand behind her, but no one dares to speak, because no one has ever experienced anything quite like this before. We are all afraid of saying something wrong and making it worse.

The profound melancholy silence that fills the building is broken by Cherry's shrill voice, saying, "Bloody Cultists. Good riddance."

Everyone present there gapes at her, and right in front of our eyes, Miranda SNAPS.

She lunges at Cherry, smacking her against the floor and climbs on top of her.

For a moment everyone is frozen in place, and then we all rush to try and break the fight.

From a distance, you would think that Miranda had gone crazy on poor Cherry, but as you inched closer, you saw and heard Cherry taunting Miranda with some of the cruelest below the belt insults you have probably heard.

Miranda grabs Cherry's collar in both her hands, and pounds her head on the floor, just as LC and I manage to reach her through the crowd.

I try to untangle her hands from Cherry with all my strength, but she keeps tightening her grip, and LC finally manages to clutch her by her waist and pulls her away, and surrounding her, we manage to get her away, kicking and screaming, from the excited crowd.

LC sets her down only when we reach the dorm, and we try to calm her down, but she just screams and cries.

Astha says to her that it will be alright, and she turns on her.

"NO!! It is not going to be just fine. You don't understand, you will never get it!! I left my family and my life to get here. I had never even used an advanced computer before. And coming here and hearing you all talk about hacking systems for fun and pretending to be one of you to hide my truth- I can't do this anymore! "

" Well you don't have to. " Astha says. You can be you and still be here. You are just new, but you are not less. No way."

"It's true. Our first day here YOU were the one who made me feel included, who made me feel like maybe, just maybe, I could do this. You have guts, Miranda. And you have wits. You do belong here." I continue.

"And you have beauty and sensitivity which you handle like a queen." LC says, smiling.

Miranda still looks at us with defiance, but atleast she begins to breathe normally and stops crying. We wait in silence, avoiding looking at her as she slowly crawls under the covers and falls into an exhausted sleep, and then we all go to the skywatching building.

As we are walking back to our living quarters, we spot Cherry coming towards us.

My first instinct is to tackle her to the ground and slap her across her face, but just as I start to move forward, Jay grabs my arm and jerks me back.

Exactly at the same moment, however, she notices us too, and marches towards us with an annoying expression on her stupid face.

Mike sees her walking towards us, and for a moment I think he is going to come and stop her, but then to my surprise he turns and sprints in the opposite direction.

Now that my impulse to hit her has cooled down, I spot Astha, who has snapped off a branch from a nearby tree and is pointing its jagged end at Cherry.

Just as Cherry reaches us and opens her mouth to talk, we see Mike coming back with Bella, and before Cherry can get a word out, Bella has clamped her mouth shut with her hand and is dragging her away from us.

We all turn to Mike, confused, but he just jerks his head at us and says, "Thank me later" in the cockiest voice possible, and then he literally saunters away.

Back in the headquarters, the news shows that as much as 4 out of the 30 Faithful cultists caught are Abstruse, which is a staggering percentage.

We all sleep uneasy that night.

I wake up to the sound of screams. My heart sinks when I recognise the voice to be Miranda's.

We all rush outside to see what is happening, and we see Miranda captured and dragged away by two muscular men in white coats, and are informed that she is being taken into custody under suspicion of being involved with the Faithful.

Miranda is unrelenting to the constraints, however, and manages to kick free.

But before we can open our mouths to cheer, we watch in horror as one of the men pulls out his tranquilizer gun and shoots her square in the neck.

And just for a moment, her eyes meet mine before she collapses.

Two hours later, her bed is stripped clean by the staff as we try to process the fact that she may never return. And given the fact that DNA tests are the first tests to be run on suspects, we might as well bid her goodbye in our heart.

After we all passionately discuss the unfairness of our society and cry over Miranda, I step into the dorm and make my way to her bed to see if the staff accidentally left something behind which I could keep as a memory.

What I find instead is a nightmare.

Slipped inside a crack in the wooden frame of the bed is a chip, with the letter "N" written on it.

I insert it into my computer and press play.

Inside it is the data of every activity of the Faithful since the last 20 years, with pictorial, written and even some video proof.

I almost decide to destroy it for Miranda's sake, but then I scroll down and find a message written by her.

"Dear Nebula (it says),
The following data has been painstakingly collected by me ever since I was a child. The only way to escape death by the Central if you are a part of the Faithful is to plead guilty, with some ver extensive and juicy proof.

I have been collecting this since I knew from a very young age that my family was sloppy in covering their tracks and that someday, they are going to get caught.

And though I love my family, dear Nebula, I love my life way more. I am hungry for freedom, and I have worked for it. You will be the one who steps forward to finally free me.

Now you may ask, why you, specifically?

Well, here is the thing-

One, you are probably the only one who will manage to find this chip and

Two- the data inside this will help divert the attention of the Central from Abstruse trials and searches.

Now don't ask me how I know that this will be beneficial for you. I have trained myself to know things since I was a child, so I know certain things about you as well.

And don't worry, I won't tell even if I die, because you have been an incredible friend.

So, Nebula, I ask you to free me forever. As a human and as a friend.

Yours Faithfully,
Miranda.

I stare at the screen for some time, trying to absorb everything I had just read, and then I make up my mind.

I delete the message Miranda had left for me and then clutching the chip in my fingers, I type the emergency code to the Central Security Services, which connect whatever personal device you are using directly to the authorities.

As a male operator answers my call, I take a deep breath and launch into the story.

And I really wish that in that moment as I dialled that call, I had had the slightest idea of the implications this was going to have on my life.