The time is 2:56 am. On a ripped piece of card that peeks out of scattered papers, there is almost illegible handwriting. Letters are squeezed together and angular, and some of the ballpoint ink is smeared, leaving a blue hue on the previously cream paper. It reads:
To: Mr. Victor Hansen
From: A concerned friend
Dear Victor Hansen,
I have thought about this for a long time—before I decided to seek you out. Maybe for too long? You, after all, are a respected figure in the journalism industry, one that is known for your superb writing, focusing on only the most ‘headline-worthy’ topics. I think this is a story worth recalling to you. I’ve always wanted to be a journalist, you see. It’s been a few years, but it would help put one of your most ‘interesting’ cases to rest, and all I ask in return is the ability to ask you—the best of the best, I’ve been told some— questions.
If you still don’t understand what ‘case’ I am referring to, it is the one involving the sudden death, or some might even say disappearance, of Miss Young. I am sure you know, it was covered heavily with controversy. Some might even say it was— well, it doesn’t matter. Would you like to compare notes with me, Victor?
I hope to hear from you very soon,
A very concerned friend.
______
The time is now 6:11 pm. On a solitary bench lies a clean, tightly sealed envelope. The sender seemed to know that, somehow, the recipient would find their message—if one could call it that.
‘I told you to leave me alone, Julia. I can’t help you. I don’t understand why you .’, it said, and Julia looked to the sky. Sunlight beamed down, but as harsh as it was, with the light breeze following through and carrying the leaves, it was a beautiful day.
It’s a shame, then, that today marks one year.
______
“This is Victor Hansen, and I am here to cover—”
“You’re here to pass this class,” Lis cuts him off before he can finish the rest of his story. Julia leans back to watch Lis and Victor’s—frankly absurd—’banter’. Lis’s almost cruel words carry, and it’s clear that Victor is filled to the brim with a low simmering rage.
Despite the way he acts, and the demeanour of being someone ‘calm’ and ‘collected’, Julia knows Victor is completely a slave to his emotions. She hopes that Lis can understand that as well.
“Please pay attention in class,” the professor’s voice calls out, pleading for order. Lis and Victor stop and look to the front, but they still glare at each other from the corners of their eyes.
“As I was saying, a story’s news-worthiness is based on many things. What people want most, at the end of the day, is something emotional. Something they can connect to.” Normally, Professor Kennedy would drone on and on about nothing in particular but today she seemed… different. She had such conviction behind her words.
“People want to read what is true, of course, but many things can be true. There’s a reason why some stories people can completely ignore and others where people can’t get enough. Everyone wants a sensation, a thrilling unsolved mystery. I can promise you that.”
Lis, usually jittery even on the most calming of days, stood still. Julia has never seen her so… enticed. Her curiosity was a bright thing, one that makes her hyperfixate on the possibilities.
Victor, on the other hand? He had the seriousness a reporter needs to get through the tough stories, and the drive to do what it takes to reach, what he called, ‘the final goal’. Even though he was looking directly at the professor, despite saying on multiple occasions that she had absolutely no idea about how to write a half decent article, he was mesmerised.
Julia would remember this as the moment where the idea was first planted in his head, as Kennedy talked about a story’s impact or proximity—she should have known.
________
The following audiotape was taken from the office of one Mr Victor. M. Hansen—somehow Julia’s theft hasn’t been reported yet, even though he knows it was her.
For some reason, despite the many successful stories that Reporter Hansen has commented on, many critics have claimed that this was the one that led to his rise to stardom.
The camera quality is reminiscent of a small news broadcast. The audio, predictably, sounds tin-like.
“Five weeks ago, here at this very university, a student in the communication facility died.” he had said, before latching onto more tightly to his mic. His eyes shone with unshed tears and a gleam in his eyes.
It wouldn’t be until her third rewatch that she finally manages to reduce the look into two emotions: guilt, and the intoxicating sense of opportunity.
“On the evening of her death, people have reported hearing briefly a distant woman’s cries for help. Others have claimed that this is nothing more than an accident or maybe even a suicide.” His voice has a fine shake to it. Something that won’t have been noticed by anyone until their 7th watch through.
“However,” he looked around, almost paranoid, “in her pocket contained the symbol of the most notorious mafia in the Greater City Area.”
Julia thinks it’s funny how the littlest of things snowball into something impossibly large, impossibly immense. It’s also funny how so many things seem obvious in hindsight. She should have seen it coming. She didn’t think he was capable of such a thing—that he would take a life to progress his ‘career’. Ha! How stupid she was.
How many other lives has he ruined, she thinks. Just how many have become stepping stones in his path to greatness.
______
On Victor’s desk lay another letter. Only time will tell if he’ll ever send it.
Julia,
I promise you it wasn’t meant to be like this. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I didn’t kill her. I swear my life on it! She slipped off the edge! I didn’t plant that symbol on her either! I didn’t do ANYTHING AT ALL YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE ME.
Julia,
Lis was dealing with those mobsters. She was transporting– she wasn’t the saint you believed her to be. I told this story because it is true.
I’m sorry for your loss. I’m sorry. Maybe one day you’ll forgive me.
Kindest Regards,
Victor
(He didn’t mention how he stood there as Lis was dangling off the edge and how he did nothing to stop it. He didn’t mention how he didn’t report the incident until the body was discovered the next morning.)
Writer – Areeba Zabrina
Editor – Emma Li
Artist – Marianna Wang
–September 2024–
