MMEP Part 5 - Dawn of a New Era

"Good choice, Clara," she smiled.

---

Getting to her feet, Bandit walked over to the other side of the room, pulling a red leather-bound book off the shelf. "I think it's time you found out about everything." She walked back over to the couch, sitting cross legged next to Clara, opening the book. Flipping through it, she muttered under her breath occasionally, "No, not this... she knows this already..."

After some time, Bandit stopped, turning the small tome to show the other girl, "Here. Read this. You can read the whole thing if you want, but this chapter is the most relevant to you," she gestured around the room, "This is your room, by the way, so feel free to explore, although this is really all there is to see. The door on the right is the bathroom, if you feel like washing up." With that, she got up, placed the book on an arm of the couch and left, leaving Clara to her own devices.

After a few moments of reluctance, the redhead reached over and picked up the book, flicking her eyes to the chapter name, "THE SPENCERS." Anticipation flooded her veins as she slowly looked to the first sentence. This held the supposed truth about her parents. About her. Hesitantly, Clara began to read, her heart sinking more and more into a pool of dread the more she read.

Minutes later, she was staring at the blank page below the last sentence. "And so, the fate of humanity was doomed by the two's reckless actions." The two. Her parents. Her parents were the reason why the world was in ruins, why a war happened, why millions of lives were lost. Clara felt shocked, betrayed, even, at how much had been hid from her for her entire life. Sure, Bandit had told her about this weeks ago, but seeing it all on paper, complete with details, made it so much worse.

Setting the book down, she shakily got to her feet, looking around at the room to distract herself. It was fairly well furnished, a single bed in the far right corner, the couch she had just stood up from, the bookshelf, a bedside table with a desk lamp, and a door to the right of the sofa, the way to the bathroom, as Bandit had told her. The room was windowless, most likely underground, and the only way out seemed to be the door she had been unceremoniously dragged through a few minutes prior.

Stretching her arms, Clara walked over to the bed. She would have to wash up at somepoint, but that could wait. Slumping onto the mattress, unbothered about the blanket, she closed her eyes. Soon enough, sleep wrapped its comforting arms around her, lulling her into an abyss of blissful, dreamless slumber for the first time in what felt like years.