“Agents everywhere! There are only ten of us, how are we going to make it through this one? No pull yourself together, they are counting on you, they need you to survive.” This is what was running thru my mind the day I died. First let me fill you in, my name is well, I died so I guess I could tell you my full name, but still I better not. My name is Arabell but call me Bella. I am a pretty normal kid but when my parents died I was brought to the academy. The academy is the best place on earth to myself and the other…teens. We grew up here, learned here and fought here. Well, back to me dieing and all. It all started that night in December I think. I was doing a regular walk around the perimeter, just in case when I noticed the notorious small blue lights moving very fast towards us. Running back to report what I saw I met James in the road. “ What’s the hurry Bella?” the way he says my name, it just rolls off his tough and can make me result in a giggling mush. But not tonight I had the lives of others at stake. “James not now! I have seen the NSSA on the other side of the fence just beyond the perimeter. We don’t have much time!!” Searching my face James let go of me and began running to his squadron to wake everyone up and brief them. I did the same.My elite group of girl secret agents is the best in the world. They are quiet and fast, and are the best with weapons. Waking them is hard though since they come up swinging, so I just turned the sprinklers on in the rooms it is soooo, much easier. Running through the rooms I filled them in and had them up and running in less than a minute. You change fast if your life is on the line. Rushing to the armory they selected the best weapons the government can buy then fastened on the gear that had, on countless occasions, saved my life. Coming into the main hall the whole academy was briefed on who would stay and who would go. Most wanted to go, but the nurses and doctors from the academy always wanted to stay. They sent us out to go get our fallen in the field and bring them back to be helped. But they never felt the fear and adrenaline running thru you when you have to navigate thru enemy lines to a fallen agent. “ Teams one, two, three, and four follow James as your leader. Team one check around the cars and the perimeter to get anyone standing guard. I have consulted James and he knows how to do it. Two thru four, follow regular defense procedures, starting from the west wall over.” I called over the crowd of young agents, all of them in middle school grade sixth to eighth. James and I were in eighth grade and graduated top of our class in all requirements including false procedure making us the leaders of the groups. “ Remember, shoot to stun or knock out not to kill. These are the NSSA boys and we know why they are here and whom they work for. Also watch out for their top agents because they are the deadliest. Kill only if you have to between life and death and be careful we want everyone back today.” Walking down the ramp I watched the teams one thru four follow James out before I turned to my own team. “Ok, we are going to watch out for our fellow agents and if one is in trouble, we have to stun from behind and bring our agent back to the academy. Also if we see anyone who has fallen do the same thing.” I beckoned to the door and all the girls filed out as quiet as they had come in. I sat there and waited for James to come. When James walked into the room he ran over upon seeing me and sat down in the chair adjoining mine. Holding my hand he and I talked until we heard the alarms go off. I jumped up and ran to the door. James trailing me still holding my hand. “ I love you Bella, I will see you later.” James had implied the will so much it stuck in my head. “ James, I love you too. Be careful.” James smiled his Hollywood smile and left the room. Running to get my gear and my weapons I thought about James and about in a year I would make the decision on whether or not I would stay at the academy or if I would return to civilian life with all its small dangers. What I didn’t know was the NSSA would be stronger than time and they would win; they ended my life before I could make that decision. Running thru the fence that surrounds the base, I catch sight of a small laser beam coming from behind me. Spinning around, I see we have all been led into a trap. Soon the other ten agents in my team are encircled by fifty some NSSA. Knowing I have a few green horns in my team I know we can’t all take down five each. Turning I do the only thing I can; I give myself up. After being taken captive I was brought to a well-lighted area that was about the size of a football field. Surrounded by agents I scoff at them. Do they think I could possibly get away without sacrificing my team back on base? Or are they stupid enough to think I would try it? Finally we come to rest in a small office with dark colored walls. Knowing what is about to happen I prepare myself as I am roughly shoved into a chair my hands bound behind me. Sitting in front of me on top of a desk is an older man about the age of thirty-nine if my memory serves me correctly. He starts talking but I not paying much attention I stare at him and think of James instead. My attention is snapped back to the man when he reaches out to slap me. I bring my unbound legs up and hit him full force in the torso before his hand reaches my face. With a grunt he lands hitting the desk. The agents behind me grab me before I can kick him again. Snarling as viciously as you can after having all the air knocked out of your lungs he yells “Why wasn’t her feet tied? Hmm…? Captain who brought her in? Yes, well make sure he gets his due payment for sloppiness.” Turning back to me he spits in my face and smacks me hard. I narrow my gaze and put out, as many hate vibes as I can before all light fades into darkness as my body shuts down and I black out. When I wake up several hours later I find myself lying in the same room chained to the floor. Unable to move I struggle to get my fear under control. Suddenly the lights flip on and I look up into the face of the man from my first interrogation. As he starts talking again I submerge myself in memories of the past. Its summer and James and I are sitting on the porch of the mess hall. The warm air is comforting as I snuggle into James big arms. Looking down at me he grants me his Hollywood smile and tells me he loves me. I feel my eyes go big and say the same with a small blush spreading up my cheeks and heating my face. Now the memory is of the day I came to the academy. The red oak trees obscuring the fence and lining the drive. I can still picture the look of the gray buildings and how cold they looked to me at first glance. The whole area looked dead, but then I noticed the buildings, the sky and even the grass were teeming with life. I wandered through the hall and that’s when I met Silvie. Silvie was full of vivor and just loved being alive. Her blond hair and blue eyes completely betrayed her dark features. Silvie died a year later in a NSSA raid. A spy’s life is hard and dangerous, you can be killed by friendly fire, or in a raid, like Silvie, you can be tortured and then killed when you don’t give anything up. All in all I like my work especially because we all die sometime, for us, it’s sooner rather than later. My mind switches back to the task at hand and it suddenly hits me. I’m going to die. As I process this information, I think about James, Silvie, my team and life itself. I don’t of dwelling on that fact and on all the missed chances I wont ever get. One life is a small thing compared to the whole world, but what is the price of a life? One single life is more important than anything else. Life is precious and short, but in the end it’s the person and how they affected the world instead of how they died or acted at one time. When you take a life you take everything, the life that was taken might have been the one to cure cancer or find a way to stop global warming. The sad thing is we’ll never know because their gone, never to come back. If a person can be judged by the one thing they did that was horrible, when they did lots of good in the end or before, then who is the one that should have that life? The taker or the taken? As I looked up into the barrel of the gun I knew I had impacted someone’s life and that was as amazing feat of its own. I was at peace with who I was and what I became, dying then didn’t matter as much as what I had used my life for. I believe that dying is just another way of rebirth. When we die we make room for someone else to enjoy the wonderful life we have been granted.