What if pretending everything is fine is simply our way of staying in control?
Kaël had just left the station when an alarm rang out across the entire street. A short, sharp sound. Conversations stopped.
The advertising screens went dark one after another.
For three seconds, Biel went completely black.
Then Kaïssa Valdor appeared everywhere: on building façades, at transit stops, in shop windows, even on the screen of Kaël's insert.
Behind her, the fissure had disappeared beneath a long metal plate, as though it had never existed.
"The security operations are complete."
Her voice was calm.
"The recent disturbances have been brought under control. Biel can now resume its normal activities."
Around Kaël, people almost immediately started moving again. A woman continued her conversation. A child tugged at his father's sleeve. Two students burst out laughing.
The image vanished.
The ads returned: an energy drink, a household drone, a smiling student standing in front of the university.
The noise of the street picked up exactly where it had left off.
Kaël, however, remained still. His eyes stayed fixed on the spot where Kaïssa's face had just disappeared.
His insert vibrated.
Lila: Where are you?
He glanced at the time.
"Shit."
He started running.
Lila was waiting for him outside the studio's side entrance, arms crossed, one foot tapping rapidly against the ground.
"You're late."
Kaël barely slowed down.
"Four minutes."
"Six."
"You counted?"
"Yes."
Lila turned away without waiting for his answer and held her badge to the door.
The light stayed red.
She tried again.
Red.
"It's been acting up since this morning," Kaël said.
"It was working perfectly yesterday."
She shot him an irritated look before knocking on the glass. Eventually, a technician opened the door from the inside.
"The system was reset after the general alert," he explained.
Lila walked in without answering. Kaël followed her.
Something was off.
With Lila, everything was always in place: her hair, her gestures, her answers. Even her anger usually seemed organized.
Not today.
A strand of hair had escaped her hairstyle. She wasn't wearing her usual makeup, and she had on the same jacket as the day before. In her hand, her phone seemed trapped between her fingers.
"Did you watch the announcement?" Kaël asked.
"Everyone watched it."
"She says the fissure is secure."
"That's good."
"You think?"
Lila stopped in the hallway.
"You wanted them to leave it open?"
"No."
"Then yes, it's good."
She started walking again.
Kaël watched her move away.
"How long did you sleep?"
She didn't turn around.
"Long enough."
Probably almost not at all.
They crossed the main set. Technicians were adjusting the lights, and part of the Detective Trials set had already been rebuilt for the next episode.
A fake tunnel stood in the middle of the studio.
Kaël slowed down.
"What's that?"
An assistant looked up from his tablet.
"The new set."
Kaël studied the dark entrance, the damaged walls, the cables running along the floor.
"Looks like the old tunnels."
"That's the idea."
Lila stopped beside him.
"Why?"
The assistant shrugged.
"Management wants to capitalize on what's happening. People love being scared as long as they can watch it from their couch."
Kaël glanced at Lila.
She was staring at the tunnel. Her shoulders had gone rigid.
"What are we supposed to do?" she asked.
"A special episode. Explosions, gangs, sabotage… You'll get the script later."
"A script?"
"Yeah. Something simple. You go into the tunnel, find some clues, think someone's chasing you…"
He smiled.
"Lots of tension."
Lila didn't answer.
A makeup artist walked over to her.
"Come on, I need to touch up your complexion."
She raised a hand to put the loose strand of hair back in place.
Lila jerked backward.
The makeup artist froze.
"Sorry."
Several people nearby turned to look.
Lila stood motionless, as if startled by her own reaction. Then she tucked the strand behind her ear herself.
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay," the makeup artist replied.
But Lila had already looked away.
Kaël said nothing. He followed her to the dressing room.
"What's going on?"
"Nothing."
Lila dropped her bag onto the table a little too hard.
Kaël waited.
She looked away.
"My street is still closed because of the explosions."
"I thought the neighborhood was secure."
"That's what they say. But no one's allowed back in."
"Where are you sleeping?"
"In temporary housing."
Lila finally looked up at him. The exhaustion was there, impossible to hide this time.
"My building is fifty meters away."
Her voice had dropped.
"I can see it from the street. But I'm not allowed to cross."
A call sounded over the speakers.
"Lila, Kaël, rehearsal in five minutes."
The change was immediate.
"We're coming."
Her voice was steady again.
She grabbed her script and headed for the door.
The armor had snapped back into place.
Kaël remained alone in the dressing room. On the table, Lila's tablet was still displaying Kaïssa's official announcement.
The situation is under control.
He read the sentence again.
Then he looked at the door Lila had just disappeared through.
For the first time, he understood that control might not be what kept things from falling apart.
Sometimes, it only served to hide the cracks.
The rehearsals dragged on.
With every take, the lights simulated power outages. Low rumbles came through the speakers as thin columns of smoke filled the fake tunnel.
The director raised his arms.
"More fear!"
Lila remained still.
"You've just discovered a tunnel that's been forbidden for twenty years. I need to see it!"
They started again.
Same expression. Same voice.
The director sighed.
"Cut."
He walked over to Lila.
"You're acting like you're just reciting a script."
She lowered her eyes.
"Sorry."
"You're not in it today."
Lila simply nodded.
"Let's take a fifteen-minute break."
The crew scattered.
Lila left the set without a word.
Kaël watched her go. Normally, she would have discussed the take, asked to try again, or tried to figure out what wasn't working.
Not this time.
He hesitated to follow her. Then his gaze shifted toward the editing room.
Through the glass, a technician was working on footage from the previous episode.
"Can you show me the footage of the Fissure?"
The technician looked up.
"Why?"
"I want to look at something again."
After a moment's hesitation, he gave up his seat. The live footage rolled across the screen: the crowd, the drones, the Wall… then the Fissure.
Kaël slowed it down.
"There."
He went back and moved through the footage frame by frame.
The three silhouettes appeared.
He knew the first two. They had been created for Detective Trials.
But not the third.
He enlarged the image.
The shape was still there, slightly behind the other two.
"You still haven't found anything on that one?"
The technician shook his head.
"Nothing."
"No source file?"
"None."
A voice came from behind them.
"Wait."
Kaël turned around.
Lila's makeup artist had stopped in the doorway. She wasn't looking at Kaël.
She was staring at the screen.
"Go back."
Kaël did.
"A little more."
The third silhouette appeared again.
The makeup artist slowly stepped closer. Her expression had changed.
"I've seen one before."
Kaël turned toward her.
"Seen what?"
She hesitated.
"Something like that."
"Where?"
She was silent for a moment.
"I was little. In the woods, with my grandmother."
Kaël looked back at the screen.
"What was it?"
"I don't know."
She folded her arms.
"My grandmother called it a nature spirit."
"And you?"
The makeup artist kept staring at the silhouette.
"I only know what I saw."
She gestured toward the screen.
"It wasn't exactly the same. But it was very close."
Kaël turned fully toward her.
"Did you ever tell anyone?"
She gave a short, humorless laugh.
"In Biel?"
Kaël said nothing.
Her expression closed off.
"You know what happens to people who say they see things other people can't."
She lowered her voice.
"So I learned to keep quiet."
His phone vibrated.
Lila: Can you come?
He looked up. The message had been sent from the dressing rooms.
He found her sitting on the floor, her back against the wall. The script for the show lay beside her. She wasn't crying, at least not yet. She was simply staring into space.
Kaël sat down beside her without saying anything.
Eventually, Lila murmured,
"Do you know what I miss the most?"
He gently shook his head.
"At home… in the morning… I used to drink my coffee on the balcony."
She lowered her eyes.
"I never realized it had become my refuge."
Kaël remained silent. She continued.
"For the past two days… I've felt like other people even get to decide where I'm allowed to breathe."
The words hit him harder than he expected.
Without thinking, he placed his hand over hers.
Lila didn't pull away. Instead, her fingers gently closed around his.
Neither of them spoke.
Then she leaned toward him and rested her forehead against his shoulder.
She closed her eyes.
Kaël felt his heart speed up. He gently slipped an arm around her and let her lean against him.
A few seconds passed. Maybe a minute. Neither of them could have said.
Then Lila took a deep breath and straightened up, a little embarrassed.
"Thank you."
Kaël smiled.
"You know… I think you just did something incredibly brave."
She looked at him, surprised.
"What?"
"Stopped pretending everything was fine."
For the first time in front of Kaël, Lila had no answer.
In the distance, the director's voice echoed through the speakers.
"We're starting again in two minutes!"
Kaël stood up and held out his hand.
Lila took it. Together, they headed back toward the set.
Neither of them noticed the small security camera that had just turned in their direction.
The Guardian Angel: In the Tradition's view, human actions can call upon spirits, forces of nature. The spirits of life, also known as nature spirits or elemental spirits, are messengers of the Mother of the World. They act as a sacred consciousness through the four elements, within human beings as well as in nature.