April 2, 2016
13:04 local time,
Bow Wow Way Collegiate Institute,
Cuyahoga Castles, Sovereignty of Ohio, United Commonwealth of
Sovereign States (UCSS)
Carl Ratzinger shifted in his seat as his best friend, Bow Wow’s multi-sport star and Cuyahoga Crooks Baseball Academy prospect Pratley Casmire, sat down next to him. Though Carl was just one of the athletic department’s water boys, “Prat and Rat” were practically inseparable, having been best friends since the first grade.
In the same auditorium sat another pair of best friends, Evie
Sicario and Rayna Embers. Carl had his eye on Evie, but he could never drum up
the courage to approach Evie, let alone speak to her. Pratley, who often
boasted to Carl about his own “conquests” kept telling Carl to “take a chance”
but Carl always has excuses.
For her part, Evie was always nice to Carl and sometimes,
she found him endearing. Evie, though, did so because that was her style- she
just preferred being nice and cordial with everyone, Outwardly, Evie projected
the spirit of being the innocent, approachable, “everywoman”, an image she was
proud to project.
Inwardly, Evie was fascinated by sex and romance, something
she only brought up with Rayna. That’s because Rayna first enamoured Evie on
Evie’s first day of work when she told Evie about the romance Rayna was having
with a man Rayna only described as “Greg”. Rayna would often boast about Greg
and Evie would often indulge her with questions at their shared workplace at
the Bow Wow Resort, the Bow Wow Corners’ tourist attraction where a beach resort
meets a dog park.
“So,” said Evie as she sat with Rayna, “will I ever get to
meet Greg?”
Rayna demurred, as she always did.
“One day,” she said, “when the time is right, you will. I
promise.”
“Good,” said Evie, who was already starting to fantasize a
scene out of a romance novel in her head. “Because I want someone who can handle
me like Greg handles you.”
Rayna snorted and then smiled.
“Oh,” she said with a playful grin, “Greg does handle
me very well.”
The conversation was brought to an abrupt halt when the
dean, Richard Head, alerted the gathered auditorium that the feature
presentation was about to begin.
Today, the renowned criminologist Daniel Apollo was set to
deliver a speech to the auditorium, doing so to promote his memoir, The Diary
of a Crime Hunter. The speech was open to the public and the Collegiate
made a lot of money selling tickets for the event, though Bow Wow students got
in for free. Many of them took the tickets just to get out of class, though
Evie was not one of them.
Apollo spoke softly but with conviction, immediately
grabbing the audience’s attention with his decisive but smooth tenor, one that
soothes and reassures. He spoke with the aura of a man who stared directly in
the face of the purest evil known to humanity and didn’t flinch, with his
unflappable temperament a big part of his legend.
Evie was particularly interested, as she always had a fascination
with true crime. She owned several editions of Apollo’s other work, the Compendium
of Serial Killers and Other Notable Criminals and sometimes dreamed of
becoming a “profiler” like Apollo one day. It was one of many interests that
she had, and she hoped today might give her future self some clarity.
Apollo spoke for over an hour, enrapturing the audience with
accessible and digestible tales of his time fighting crime. Evie was intrigued
by his stories, many of which added details and insights that Evie herself
never realized before.
As he closed his speech, one part resonated with Evie more
than the others:
“It is imperative that we treat crime like a virus. Once
it infects a society and is left unchecked, it grows beyond containment.
History shows us that sustained criminality erodes trust, stability, and
ultimately the society itself.”
Evie nodded when she heard the statement. Not only did it
feel right, Evie felt it could- and should- drive policy one day.
After Apollo ended his speech, he was greeted with thunderous
applause. He then stuck around, as he was selling his memoir and providing
autographs for anyone that wanted one.
Evie stood up, carrying one of her copies of the Compendium,
but froze before she could walk any further. Rayna, ever the fearless one, took
Evie by the hand and practically dragged her towards Apollo.
“Excuse me, Mr. Apollo,” said Rayna as Evie stood beside
her, lowering her head and hiding her very blushed face. “My friend, Evie, here
would like a copy of your memoir but she’s been fangirling so much that she’s
afraid to ask, so I am.”
“Oh,” said Apollo. “Well, tell Evie she need not be afraid…‘fangirling’
is not a crime after all.”
Evie’s heart raced and she tried very hard not to babble,
but she still couldn’t stop her words from exploding out of her mouth. Apollo
had no idea what she said, but he found her awkwardness endearing and let out a
warm laugh.
Apollo then outstretched his hand to introduce himself. Evie
still babbled and said she wanted a hug and a picture, and Apollo complied,
which eventually soothed her nerves just enough to finally speak in coherent
sentences.
“You’re like,” said Evie, readjusting her glasses and fixing
her flaming curly red ponytail, “one of my heroes, Daniel. I sometimes think of
the day that I could do your job. I’d say I’d love to work with you in the
field, but I feel that time may be passing.”
Apollo chuckled warmly.
“I am getting on in my years, yes,” said Apollo, “but I
still have a lot of energy. I’d at least like it to be a reality.”
Apollo then passed Evie his business card.
“Crime fighting could always use more dedicated, hard-working
people like you,” said Apollo. “If you ever need anything, please don’t
hesitate to call.”
Evie acknowledged Apollo before picking up a copy of his
memoir and getting that and her Compendium signed before she left the auditorium
and walked down the hallway alongside Rayna, still feeling like she was walking
on air.
“Can you believe that, Rayna?” said Evie, her
excitable voice a bit louder than it needed to be. “I met Daniel Apollo. I still
can’t believe it happened.”
Rayna then pinched Evie’s shoulder which elicited a loud “OW!”
from Evie.
“At least you know you’re not dreaming,” Rayna said with a
smirk.
They continued until they got to Evie’s locker, where she put
away the Apollo books and gathered her things for her next class.
“So,” said Rayna, “does this mean you’ve finally settled on
criminology as a career?”
Evie sighed, letting out an exasperated huff.
“I don’t know,” said Evie. “I keep going back and forth on it.
I love all those true crime stories and crime fascinates me, but I also know
that investigating crimes takes a lot out of you. Daniel says that a lot and I
don’t know if I have the stomach to see what he sees.”
“Well,” said Rayna with a smile, “you could always be a
traffic cop. No dead bodies there.”
Evie gave Rayna a look and then playfully tapped her
shoulder.
“Traffic cop,” said Evie. “Pfft…come on, do you think I’m
going to go into criminology just to become a traffic cop?”
“Just saying it’s an option,” said Rayna with a smile.
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