Speaking of it, don’t some hero work as journalists? I mean, Spiderman and Superman worked for those roles. That said, Here I am, on a seat reading my resume to apply for this position. Not for that reason, but simply because it felt convenient.
“So, you nervous?”
I turned from the resume and noticed him. Down the hallway, there were several of us waiting just outside the room, just for this position. He, too, seemed to be aiming to do so. He seemed to be in his mid twenties, but carried a youthful anticipation. Uncertain of what to speak, I turned to the wall opposite me and they carved words out for me.
‘You might not want to know this person.’
These were words that only I could see since long ago, though I never knew why except what it meant. But the advice before me remained useless and I sighed.
“Obviously, I heard that the CEO would interview us turn by turn. How about you… err…”
“Name’s Andrew,” He pointed to the name tag near the breast pocket, then reached out his hand and continued, “Nice to meet you, Delia.”
I, in turn, shook his hand. He leaned in, hand covering mouth and whispered, “Come to speak of it, I think Mr Dantes has enough power to buy himself out of the law.”
“What do you mean?”
“Haven’t you heard of his four horsemen? The past employees have talked about them at one point. Truth, Law and Media… he’s got enough influential people to buy them to his side.”
“Uh... you’re joking aren’t you?”
“Up for you to believe,” he replied as he pointed me back to the entrance of the door, “seems like it’s your turn now. Good luck!”
I saw a man walk by the just opened door. I dawdled past him and into the room. In there, there was another man before the desk; Daniel Dantes, the company employed owner of Dantes Corporation. As I sat on my respective seats, it was somewhat clear to me that I was applying for a position of one of the largest companies controlling media.
“Delia, is it?” He says as he flicks through the resume pages, “Let’s start off simple; why would you want this position in the company?”
“I think, it’d be in my best interests to pursue-“
“Actually, let me rephrase that; why would we want to employ you?”
“I…” My mouth was left void of answers, though I stumbled to carry myself through. “I believe hiring me would be within your best interests, being that I have acquired a degree in media and communications and believe to have enough working experience to take on the role. That being said…”
He looked up from the resume.
“…I have heard some rumours about you prior to coming to this interview regarding about your ability to abuse the law. Should that be the case, then I am afraid I am ineligible for this role.”
“Heh…You’re quite interesting aren’t you? Being the first to decline a role that you are applying for” He smirked, “That being said, you forgot to consider some factors too, Delia.”
“huh?”
“One thing,” Daniel stated, “you’ve heard the four horseman BS from a guy called ‘Andrew’, right?”
“Yes…”
“Amongst that group, you’d call him the con-man. You hardly considered much of his statement and its reliability; that was your mistake. Though, you’ve piqued my interest, so you’re hired.”
Mixed in a blend of relief and doubt, I could only remain sitting.
“You’ve received you training from university?” He asked, “If that’s so, then I’ll expect to see from starting next week.”
***
“I’m Aiden Williams, from now on, I would be your director for a while, so that means any decisions on articles would be managed by me and you will follow through that. Understood?”
First day of the job, I was going to be assigned to a group, and the man before me was my leader. The leader was Aiden Williams, a media director, or according to Andrew, the man with the position to monitor what goes on the media from news to leakages
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In his office, I sat opposite him and briefly informed about the job. Aiden Williams remained there for a short while, then turned around to grab a sheet from a pile.
“This is the case that the group is currently working upon. You, too, will have to submit an article of your findings by the following week before starting the article. Understood?”
I picked up the sheet handed to me, ‘Serial assaults in the neighbourhood’. I peeked to the other sheets among the pile he took from, and realised mine was slightly different.
“I’ve got a friend working in the police department, here’s her card” Aiden passed me a business card, though it seemed almost fake, “She’ll probably help you on this case. Understood?”
“Yes…”
“With all that being said, I’ll just introduce you to him as well.”
He stood up, led me to a drive to a nearby police station. As I was about to sit, I saw on his seat laid a small book, ‘The Winter of Three Lies”. The pages were somewhat coarse, and carried several notations on them. On the side, was a name I have been long familiar since childhood.
He came in, entered the car too straight after checking the bunker. He placed that book behind the seat and looked up here, “Is there something wrong?”
“That book, you were the author for that, right?”
He started the engine, sighed and started driving. “It wasn’t that big of a success after it was published, but yes, I guess you could say that-”
“I… really liked your works as a kid.”
He turned around in irritation, presumable saw my face or something, “Anyways, let’s not get off-topic.”
It was a fairy tale-like story of a peasant given the opportunity to feed three lies in hopes to be with the prince. Similar to the Andersen’s style that intrigued the 12-year old me, it was his debut as an author. And besides me was Aiden Williams, former author, currently a Media director.
The 5-minutes it took us there; we became both silent. Though, once we have reached the destination of the office department, he broke it.
“Let’s go, our schedule’s quite tight as well.”
He guided me down the car park as we left, to an elevator that led us towards one of the upper floors. And with a ring we arrived at her office. Down at her desk, she remained typing on her computer and unbothered by our appearance.
“It’s been a while, Walker.”
“I don’t recall you having permission to call me that.” She typed a few more, then pressed harder on the ‘enter’. “Who might that person be?”
“She’s the journalist I’ve mentioned earlier.”
“Huh is that so, regarding the case I believe Investigator Lee might be available to assist her this time- Oh, speak of the devil.”
There was a knock from the door, and a man let himself into the office holding a pile of paper on one hand. “Commissioner Walker, here’s the reports from the kidnapping incident,” he ignored Aiden and I and passed it to her, “I believe it should be sufficient to be submitted to court.”
“Thanks for your hard work, I’ll take a final review before any decisions. That being said, you’ve came here at a nice timing,” she replied as she received the sheets and pointed to me, “She’s here to grab info for journalism, I’m assigning you to her to assist her for that. Dismissed.”
“Understood.” The Inspector Lee then turned to me and lead me away from Aiden. “Follow me,” he said, though he immediately stopped outside the door, alone with just the two of us.
“Anyways, congrats on landing on the job.”
“Thanks, but you’re still more amazing position though.”
“Totes, though you’re just getting started with being on the TV!”
“Hehe thanks Dave.”
He sighed of relief, uttered “We did promise at high school to become something to impress each other. You better not disappoint me on your first task… What are you doing? Let’s get the necessary information to get this over and done with.”
He reached for the desk and passed me two documents, one with a person’s face on top.
“These are the victims of this incident. Two women were attacked on separate dates with knife and were both found unconscious. Though that’d be enough to report, what do you would make of it?”
“What do you mean?”
“About the culprit.”
“Well, since the victims are female, the usual impression would be that the culprit would be male…”
“Textbook answer as always huh,” he passed another sheet of a sketch, “That’s what the profiler reached too. The culprit is most likely to be targeting skinny female targets because he either can overpower them easily or by preference only. Though, this is the composite sketch of his mask.”
On that sheet was a rough shaped face covered in patterns dyed in threatening black.
“Seems pretty Asian to me.”
“I guess so. Also, sorry to say this,” he continued and took the reports back, “but these shouldn’t be used for the report. Though, I believe that the information would already be sufficient for your article.”
“Yeah. But also, you sound like you wanted me to help you in-”
“That’s because I want you to help me in catching the culprit, not just report things,” he declared after stacking the documents elsewhere, Oi, catch.”
I barely caught it; a canned coffee.
“Your gift for landing that job. Good luck on that article.”
Behind him, I somehow saw words the television typed a message.
'Don’t let him go.’
***
“…That should be it regarding the case.”
“I guess, thanks for all the trouble.”
He left her office, given a slight relief to have completed two birds with one stone. Around the corner, he saw Inspector Lee and I conversing.
“You already flirting or what? Make sure you get at least an interview for the article.”
Aiden waved his implied farewell and walked past us to the elevator. Because it was close, he felt convenient to pay a visit to a store… a garden café in a nearby alley. He pushed the door and the usual bells jingled.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” The manager greeted him as if casual, “Want anything for today?”
“Just an espresso is enough, I don’t have much time.”
Because the lack of customers, Aiden managed to find himself a seat almost too easily. But at the same time, it allowed him to also succumbed to an immersing ease. The wait of 10 minutes led the coffee to the table and he gradually sipped it.
“Thanks, Mike.”
Aiden picked up the order from the table, then left the café amongst the alleyways to his car. Upon doing so though, he heard faint traces of a scream around the corner.
***
1:50pm.
'Don’t let him go.’
“You already flirting or what? Make sure you get at least an interview for the article.”
We heard Aiden smirked as he scolded us lightly, though he waved his farewell and disappeared from the elevator.
“Ah wait for me-“
“Uh, want a ride back?”
Tempted, I declined, “Thanks, but I should be fine though."
A brief while after I left the building, the streets that I have wandered around transformed into a labyrinth of an alleyway, almost trapping me endlessly here. I wandered around, slightly bothered yet curious. Why would I be sent such a message earlier?
Then, words appeared on a wall besides me; words only I could see.
‘On February 17th 2:04pm, an assault occurs.’
“Huh?”, I questioned myself, then turned around.
If I recalled correctly, the time around now should be-
And I see a knife thrusted towards me.