Job Chosen
'What happened to dad? Where did he go?'
"..."
'He's sleeping in there? Why is he still sleeping? It's daytime silly, wake up!'
"..."
'He can't wake up? Yeah, right! Daddy is the best. He'll wake up no problem.'
…
'Daddy isn't waking up. Why isn't daddy waking up? Dad, you said you'll catch the bad guy in no time, right? Why are you sleeping right now? You almost had him!'
…
Tears dropped down the child's snow-white skin as she sobbed louder and louder.
The surrounding people in formal wear looked away as they hid their eyes from others, suffusing their cheeks with tears.
The great detective Terlon Mory has died.
In the hearts of the countless, this detective was a savior, a man who upheld justice in the most hopeless of times.
And now, he's died.
Everyone stood around the coffin that was being buried, silent. The loud cries of the child were barely suppressed by the sobbing mother.
This child was a 13-year-old daughter of the great detective. She similarly held justice, but on a smaller scale, trying to follow in the footsteps of her great father.
Terlon Mory supported his daughter to no end, wishing to see the beautiful face of joy on her daughter's face at every moment she committed a great deed.
Her daughter, likewise, enjoyed seeing the same face of joy when her father completed the mystery of a crime.
She awaited the day when she'd catch the "Headless Demon", the supposed man who had killed countless people, with some of the focus even being children.
All the crime scenes were disgusting enough if the very crime itself wasn't enough to shy away any possible viewers.
Today was the day her father was going to review the currently known information on the Headless Demon with her, but when he came home, he only came in pieces.
In separate boxes.
The girl's mother never told her what happened as the woman was too afraid. They only put themselves under the safety of the police officers that came under the great detective's wing.
The officers, too, came to the funeral and escorted the two out.
They swore under their breath to catch the Headless Demon as they brought the girl and mother to their black SUV.
At that moment, they found the little girl lying in the back of the car.
Supposing she was sleeping, the two bodyguards sighed with a hint of a depressive tone.
The little girl never woke up. She was strangely dead.
At the same time period of the little girl's "sleep", tens of thousands of children died worldwide.
Receiving the urgent news, the mother was first to check on the girl to find in despair that the girl stopped breathing.
On the same day as her husband's death, her daughter stopped breathing.
In desperation, she instantly told the other two to call for the police as she tried to perform the most basic of medical procedures.
Failing to see results, she grew impatient and just began smacking the lifeless corpse of the little girl, hoping for her to react to the stimuli.
The fear of seeing her tears stain her pure cheeks was the least of her worries.
The SUV stopped at some point as the bodyguards remained silent, watching the woman cry out to her heart's content.
The car under the illumination of a yellow lamp during what seemed to be the darkest of nights became surrounded by countless red and blue lights.
Sirens ringed through the ears of the three as they remained silent and unresponsive.
...
...
…
In stone-cold darkness, an abstract array of connected white lines lit up on the floor.
In an instant, a bright illusory cylinder of blue light appeared and disappeared.
After it disappeared, a group of teenagers of varying sizes, shapes, and conditions took its place.
They were all bunched up together like squished-up smores before pushing off each other in discomfort and confusion.
Once all of these kids were comfortable enough to take in their bearings and surroundings, they found, in dismay, that they were in a completely unknown environment.
The darkness along with the minimal moonlight seeping through the cracks in the walls terrified the kids.
Only moments after, every child had their own reaction.
Some cried. Some yelled in fear. Some screamed for help.
The others that kept their rationality, noticed they all had the same clothes, regardless of their gender.
The woman and men both had two articles of an extra extra extra large white tee that extended to beyond each of their knees along with white underwear.
Both were clean and of pretty great quality.
Then, as if by elimination, half of the remaining once again had their own reaction of crying, yelling, or screaming for help.
The others remained simply confused. A few with 8th-grade syndrome suspected they had some sort of importance placed on them for being here.
As most of the children recovered, they started to collectively form their own opinions and suspicions.
"Were we kidnapped?"
"Why do they need so many of us, though?"
"Wait, am I the only one who had that feeling before coming here? Like-"
"That feeling where our heart was being squeezed? Didn't I die? Didn't I have a heart attack? What's happening?"
"I was with my family a second ago. There's no way they could've taken me so easily."
A few voices echoed in the enormous environment that was similar to a parking lot, except several times larger than they are familiar with a normal parking lot being.
These few voices immediately stopped as they looked at each other, recognizing some of the voices.
"Jamie?!"
"Derrick!"
"Yo, Billy! That you?"
Almost as if it was rehearsed previously, groups were immediately formed as some people recognized each other.
Other extroverts who didn't recognize anyone formed groups on their own for some sort of emotional support in this unknown environment.
The others wished for similar things.
Problem is, with the sheer number of these kids which numbered almost a thousand, things didn't go so harmoniously.
Perhaps because the kid recognized the other to be someone he dislikes, because of the fear of the unknown, or just because the kid was simply deranged, one kid, slugged another at just the sight of him.
As if they were in a stereotypical bar, a brawl broke out between a couple of kids.
This small fight didn't discriminate between race or gender as it encompassed all.
The remaining 900 or so teenagers either stepped away or joined the random fight.
One group which contained a few boys and mostly girls led most of the others to explore the unknown yet large environment. Everyone in this group seemed to have some sort of bearing of excellence. Their aura told others that they were refined.
Of course, many others stayed away from this "main group" and simply explored on their own to satisfy their own curiosity as they had no particular reason to follow them.
The expansive surroundings seemed to lead on for at least a mile as little dots moved in the distance. These were the more perceptive of the bunch, which left in advance.
The concrete floor led on with numerous perpendicular columns that held up the roof with their immense strength.
The air was dusty and the "main group" seemed to mind this very much as they coughed in a reserved manner.
The air ventilation was clearly terrible as there were almost no openings in the far walls.
Back at the original area that they all came from some kids recovered late as they sat on the white array that seemed to be drawn with chalk.
They stood up with the help of others and the wall the array was closest to.
They got to know each other in this process with a connection formed from mutual misery. They were all almost equally hopeless as they wished to be sent back home.
Then, just like that, the great majority of the kids went off to explore where they were and how to escape.
Along the minority which remained was the daughter of the great detective.
She stood there in a stupor as she changed back and forth between the want to investigate the scenario she was in and pure depression.
She wanted to be like her father and break this great case before her to later brag to him. Yet, he was dead. Her father was gone. The great detective and the superhero in her world were gone.
Switching between these states, she wanted to cry into a shoulder, but nobody was around her.
Her maid Annie, her butler Irving, and any one of the people she cared for...
Nobody was there to support her. She reached her hand out frequently, hoping to somehow stumble across her mother, who would pat her head and tell her everything was fine.
She crawled on the ground with her blurry vision for a while before crying silently to herself, rolled up in a ball.
In her sensitive state, a hand reached out to tap her shoulder.
It was a person that seemed to be her age, 13 or 14. He had a sweet crescent smile that was too infectious. He seemed to be able to attract anyone's attention; someone who could be friends with everyone.
Was this kid watching her?
Realizing her previous actions were somewhat embarrassing, she immediately used her shirt to wipe her tears, clearing her vision,
In front of her, the kid reached out a hand, as a gesture that he wouldn't mind helping her stand up.
She cleared a throat and tried to keep a humble bearing as she nodded weakly. "Thank you."
She accepted the hand and stood up with the boy's help. While standing up, she kept pulling her shirt down as she tried appearing more refined to no avail.
The boy became somewhat awkward, realizing her intent, and shied away being somewhat embarrassed.
The girl giggled and stuck out her hand. "I'm Jean. What's your name?"
The boy looked straight at her face for a second before smiling. "I'm Ajax. Nice to meet you."
Ajax shook her hand before almost yelping in surprise. In front of him appeared some sort of blue screen.
Jean must've seen the same thing as she had a similar reaction, taking a step back while pulling her hand away.
Pulling her white shirt down once more, she looked to Ajax. "Um. Ajax, right? Do you know what this is?"
Before Ajax could respond, black words came out of the empty blue screen, hovering a centimeter in front of it.
It spelled out in a rapidly fading black:
[Select a Job]
Before anyone could even process or even look at the options, the previous letters became quickly replaced in a matter of milliseconds. The option was chosen for them without letting them have a chance.
[Job Chosen!]