The Pole Star

It was a bright Friday morning. The sunlight flooded in through the windows and the butterflies lazily meandered around the sweet scented flowers.

Wanda woke up with a bright cheerful smile and got ready for work. As she stared into the mirror, gazing at her looks, she felt that that day was going to be her lucky day.

Wanda was a young 27 year old. A brunette with brown eyes, her short wavy hair complemented her tall and thin figure. She was a software engineer and loved her job. She never whined, and was happy and content with her life.

Wanda bustled around the kitchen drizzling the hot delicious pancakes with maple syrup. After relishing her breakfast, she got dressed in a navy blue skirt with a crisp white blouse. She hopped into her white SUV and drove to her office, listening to the latest English songs blasting from the speakers of her car.

On reaching office, she was informed that she had been promoted to the head of her department. She was thrilled by the news and spent her whole day humming upbeat melodies.

As she reached home, the clock struck 7 and she went to the kitchen to make her favourite dinner. She enjoyed her meal and curled up in bed, reading her favourite book. The minutes ticked away, and before she knew it, the clock struck 11. She put aside her book, and promptly fell asleep.

She woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of two faint voices. She could make out the hazy figures of ‘4:27 am’ on her bedside clock.

She walked down the steps and heard voices arguing in the living room. She stopped at the last step as the floor creaked.

“I won’t be a part of this anymore,” said a choked voice.

“But you gave your word and had the marking engraved on your shoulder. You said you would do anything to make this world a better place. This is when you need to sacrifice what you love and prove yourself worthy” said another voice in a harsh tone.

She stood as still as she could, waiting for the two men to start speaking again, but it was all silent.

She stealthily made her way towards the voices and tried to peek in.

All she could see were two men in black cloaks and a star on their upper arm when the shadows seem to whisper “this is what they want”, and with a bullet through her heart, she rolled over, dead, and the crime scene empty.

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Till five years ago, her parents had been working for a secret organisation called the Blue Stone. They worked hard to protect the world from a threat, the Pole Star. Pole Star was trying to take over the entire world by igniting the sparks of revolution, literally. They wanted to rule the people; around a thirty of them against the whole world, and yet, they had a chance of winning.

Two months ago, Pole Star had attacked San Diego and Blue Stone came to the rescue by extinguishing the flames ignited by the Pole Star.

The next attack happened in Houston a month ago. The city was engulfed in flames, and all Blue Stone members rushed to the scene to help. Wanda’s mom killed the Pole Star’s leader. The city was left covered in ashes once the fire was extinguished. The Blue Stone gathered more members and became popular.

During an incident at Manhattan, the Pole Star wanted to burn down the entire city and spread the flames. The fire stood taller than ever and even with all hands on deck, the Blue Stone could not control it.

The people living in the suburbs came to their aid. The Blue Stone tried to warn them about the dangers, but they argued that they were the ones who lived there and it was their responsibility to protect their city rather than to go and hide for safety.

They worked hard to extinguish the flames however there were a few casualties, including Wanda’s mother.

She tried to control the flames and advanced slowly, but the flames stood too tall and she was swallowed by them.

Wanda’s dad was heartbroken and worked twice as hard to extinguish the flames.

After the flames left only ash behind, he sat there for hours, hugging his wife’s charred body, thinking of his daughter at home.

The government blamed Blue Stone for the damage and held them guilty. Blinded by anger and grief, Wanda’s father left the Blue Stone and joined the Pole Star out of spite.

Two officials from the Blue Stone informed Wanda that both her parents had died as they could not bear to tell her the truth.

This came as a big shock to Wanda and she took time to recover. She lived with her aunt for two years after which she shifted back to her house to lead an independent life, oblivious to the fact she was on Pole Star’s hit list.

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The Pole Star had no idea what had become of Wanda. They wanted to take revenge on her, for her mother had killed their leader. This was also a time for her father to prove himself worthy.

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And now that a father had killed his own daughter, the Pole Star could cross out her name from the list of targets and welcome Wanda’s father to their crew.