She'd never expected the interview to be conducted in such lavish surroundings.
It threw her a little, the mental image she had in her mind was a long way away from this...opulence.
It was more like her private health club she visited, than a secret meeting of insurgents - or whatever they were...
Sitting down on the deep luxurious chairs, she waited to be called in.
Sitting in silence for over forty minutes now, she wondered if they had forgotten all about her.
She knew they hadn't . Nothing was accidental. She knew that.
Lessons were over, it was time for reality. Make or break time.
She wasn't nervous, but she was anxious, which was unusual for her.
This was the 'the final application' part of the processes that she had started just under three weeks ago.
If she didn't pass this, the last two weeks of non stop talking, day after day , every single waking hour - would have all been for nothing.
No.
Not for nothing. She already had her own plans formulating, if this didn't work out. She wasn't going back, no matter what happened here today.
She thought back on the last two weeks, while she was waiting..
Becky had told her about the ' final application' interview on the very first day of her 'training'.
“It will be in two weeks time, give or take a day or two,” Becky had said to her, “We need to get you ready for it, hunni, it's all or nothing. Acceptance or rejection, ”
Amy said the fatal words, “Why, what do need to learn that will take two full weeks?,”
“Just the very basics,” Becky said, smiling impishly.
Being the owner of her own advertising company, Amy soon shuffled things around and she took the time off work.
No distractions.
“You better get used to it if you join us, you won't have nearly as much time for your business,” Becky said.
“It can run itself without me, pretty much, if need be, “ Amy said, “ I always made sure I did less and less hands on as it grew larger, so I could concentrate of other things so no problems in that department,”
It had been a grueling two weeks. Mentally, not physically.
Two weeks of shedding a lifetime of values, preconceptions, and lies about how the world works, was psychologically very draining.
Up until then Amy thought she was pretty worldly wise, but now when she looked back at the time before this, she was almost embarrassed by her own naivete.
After two or three days of 'eyeopeners', as Becky called them, she felt physically drained, even without any activity.
She felt like she was walking through thick mud, just going to the bathroom.
An avalanche of stark realities were hitting her squarely on the jaw, one after another, hour after hour, day after day... She needed some 'time out' from the onslaught on information, to gather her thoughts..
And so they switched gear every few hours.
They switched to weapons education..Tools of the trade, so to speak.
Less intense, but just as eye opening..
She underwent learning about psychological weapons techniques, emotional manipulation strategies, technological apparatus instruction, and how to gain leverage over the enemy.
And it was 'the enemy' she now started to see, as the days passed by.
Before this time in her life, there was always a gray, unformed 'awareness' of something.
In the background but always there. She could never grasp it, could never see it, before other things quickly got in the way.
Work, money and life's distractions allowed her to almost forget it was ever there. It was easy to ignore it, and it never intruded on her.
At least she never thought so until recently.
But not now.
She knew now.
Now she was aware of just how intrusive it was in her life, all the time.
It was frighteningly tangible now, and it was permanently in her vision.
It was crystal clear who 'they' were. And she was pissed about it.
More than pissed, she found herself becoming very angry. It was a cold anger came with the avalanche of information.
As she tried to fall asleep after a day of Becky and her 'truth attacks' (as she liked to call them), she found that peaceful sleep now eluded her.
Tossing and turning, going over the days lessons, learning at a faster and faster pace, she started to feel hate.
Hate for the enemy, yes - but no so much for them being who they were, but for them being responsible for the changes demanded within herself.
For the woman she had to become, because of them.
Begrudgingly acknowledging to herself, there was no denying it - there was also a part of her that thanked them for making her become the woman she had to be.
She felt alive for the first time, ever.
Until she had met Becky, she now realized, her life was only spent half awake.
“Very good,” Becky said, after one lesson, noticing the change in Amy as the days passed by, “You're a warrior, Amy, there's no mistakin' that, you just never knew it...”
A door opened with a click, bringing Amy thoughts back into the waiting room.
"Hi Beccy, do you want to come through,?" A woman said to her, smiling warmly at her.
Being called Beccy threw her for a split second, it was the first time anyone had ever called her that - except Becky of course.
Her Becky had gone forever, when this Beccy arrived.
Becky was now Charlie.
Amy had also melted away, when Beccy had arrived.
Standing up an walking towards the interview room, she wondered what they had in store for her.
She knew she would be tested, and it would be tough. This was no game anymore.
' Stay centered, and do your job Amy' Beccy said to herself as she took a deep breath, and walked through the half opened door...
why?