The Good News

Just So You Know

The Good News

Ring… Ring… Ring…He waited, biting his lip nervously as he called for like the tenth time.”Mark Sid here, leave a message,” Mark’s voice answered through his voicemail. Damn, why wasn’t he answering his phone?

 

It was so unlike Mark to not answer his phone, and it was beyond him to ditch someone when he promised to be there. So James Brinston got worried, his best friend would never stand him up, especially if it was a very special day to him, because this day happen to be his twenty-fifth birthday and Mark Sid promised to be there, after he did something important first. He told him to wait at a bar where they would have a little drink for a celebration.

 

He never told him what he was going to do; he guessed that being a CSI made everyone secretive, even to your best friend. He looked at his watch again. It was already 9:00, Mark was an hour late, and they were supposed to meet up at 8:00.

 

Another five minutes… he thought to himself as he tapped his fingers nervously. He was worried that something might happened, but he knew Mark was tough and if there was something wrong, he would’ve called him ASAP.

 

Five minutes passed and still, no sign of Mark. He didn’t want to ruin Mark’s privacy, because he was a very confidential person, he was actually the only one he confides in. But… screw it; he needed to go to Mark’s apartment because he had a bad feeling about this and his instincts were kicking in.

 

He stormed out of the bar and walked quickly to his car, slamming the car door as he sat on the driver’s seat. He drove to Mark’s apartment, glancing nervously at his cell phone, half-expecting it to ring because of Mark’s call, but the problem was, it never did, which made him even more worried about the whole situation.

 

He arrived at the front door of his best friend’s apartment after thirty minutes. He was ready to knock but the slightly open door made him stop. Mark never leaves his front door open, he’s a very responsible guy and he enjoyed his privacy as much as he enjoyed his work.

 

Suddenly nervousness and concern filled his mind. He had a very bad feeling about this.

 

He pushed open the door further. The room was clean, but there was a sign of eeriness inside it, and there was no sign of Mark in the living room or the kitchen. He figured that he must be in his room. He must’ve dozed off and lost track of the time, he tried to convince his own mind.

 

He knocked on the closed bed room door, once, twice, thrice… but still, no one answered. He pushed it open and what he saw inside made him hope that this was just a dream. He felt numb, as if all the feelings inside him except the pain went out of him as his jaw dropped, he didn’t even heard his own scream.

 

Mark, his best friend, was lying spread-eagled in his bedroom floor, a huge blood pool forming under him, a single gun-shot wound was visible just on the middle of his stomach... – RING!

 

The ring from his cell phone woke him up as he shot up from his bed. He could feel cold sweat trickling down his face. He knew it was just a dream, because he always dreamt about it almost every night and it gave him this empty feeling inside every time he does.

 

His cell phone rang again, he sighed exasperatedly as he looked at the number. It was his boss, Anthony Anderson. He glanced at the clock at his bedside table, it was 10:30 in the morning, and today happened to be his day-off, so what could he possibly want now?

 

Reluctantly, because he still wanted to sleep and stay away from reality, he grabbed his phone and clicked it and held it to his ear.

 

“’Lo?” he said, his voice slightly hoarse and his words seemed to be in a slur.

 

“James, I need you to come to my office right now,” the low, raspy voice of his boss was heard from the speaker. “I’ve got some good news to tell the team.”

 

James nodded, knowing that Anthony wouldn’t see him nod anyway.

 

“James, are you still with me?” Anthony said sternly. James’ head shot up, which was slowly bowing down, his chin connecting to his chest from drowsiness.

 

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be there,” he said with another sleepy voice before ending the call. He sank back onto his bed, he didn’t want to go… but Anthony said it was “good news”. Well, actually, he only said it was good news, he never said that it was important news. So maybe he could ditch the meeting instead and just ask the other members of the team on what his boss wanted to tell them.

 

Yeah, he could do that. His eyes began to close when the responsible part of him began to talk in a small voice inside his head… Just go to the meeting, genius! You’ll get fired! He groaned as his responsible-self scolded him.

 

“Fine, whatever,” he said exasperatedly, talking to himself. He got up slowly and looked around the room, as if it something inside it would help him get up from bed. When he realized that nothing from the things inside his apartment would float towards him and help him out of his bed, he sleepily swung his legs to the side of the bed, wincing when the cold floor made contact with his feet.

 

He ran a hand through his hair as he walked to the bathroom to take a quick shower. Once inside, he deliberated himself in the mirror. His messy black hair was made even messier after he slept. His blue eyes were staring back at him in the mirror. His face was still pale and sweaty from the dream he had a while ago. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair again.

 

Thirty minutes later, he was driving down the road to the main office. He looked at his watch; it was already 11:10. Anthony never mentioned a time to be there right? So it’s completely alright for him to arrive at this kind of time, right?

 

He looked around the streets of New York City. It was already packed with people walking here and there. Commuters were rapidly walking in different directions across the street; cars were zooming across the road and the noise from all the people and cars were all mixed up, it was like listening to a very messed up radio station.

 

Ah, New York City, the city that never sleeps.

 

When he reached the department, he took his time parking his car and by the time he was finished it was almost twelve o’ clock already. He entered the building; he could feel curious stares at him as he walked through the halls, maybe it’s because they were used to see him enter the building with Mark Sid, laughing together, disturbing the lab techs with their workload.

 

But now, that kind of entrance seemed to be a part of an old feature of his life. He sighed loudly, loud enough for the people who was staring at him to hear, indicating that he could see or feel them staring.

 

When he got to Anthony’s office, he found it full of his co-workers, sitting around the enormous table, with his boss, Anthony Anderson, sitting in the top part of the table, looking sternly at him as he walked in. There was a long white folder in front of him; he wondered what was inside that folder.

 

Marian Hills, the department’s co-head, her wavy, dark red hair tied up in a ponytail was sitting nearest to Anthony. She was a hardworking single mother, he even considered her as his second mother since his mom died two years ago. Also, she was the only girl in the team.

 

Brian Frizz waved slightly at him. He was quite close with him, but not as close like he was with Mark, he hangs around with them sometimes when he’s not too busy with work, unlike him, Brian takes work seriously. Brian was sitting beside Bernard Woods; he was eight years older than me, a nice and a smart guy too. He was a Homicide Detective for the NYPD. Like Marian Hills, he was a hardworking, single parent.

 

And lastly, Charlie York, the oldest member of the team and the Medical Examiner was sitting beside Marian; his black hair was graying, as sign of old age.

 

“You’re late,” said Anthony sternly.

 

“Sorry,” he muttered, feeling a bit embarrassed. Anthony once said to him that his rule-breaking might always be the reason for him to lose his job. He took his seat and Anthony began to explain his “good news”, whatever it is. He just hoped it’s worth it.

 

“So, I got a call from the Dean of New York University a month ago, just after the end of term,” he started, the others nodded, wondering what was important in this statement.

 

“He recommended someone to me,” he paused, looking warily at James.

 

“Someone?” asked Marian, raising her eyebrows.

 

“Someone to replace Mark,” he said. I stiffened at the statement. What? Someone to replace Mark? He can’t possibly look for a replacement that easily and Mark was brilliant, it’d be hard for him to look for a replacement better than him.

 

“Why didn’t you tell us this sooner if you got the call a month ago?” Marian asked again, giving James a furtive look.

 

Anthony sighed at the question. “I figured that I should keep it confidential, just in case Alexxander backs out. Everyone knows how dangerous this job is,” he explained. “But it turns out that Alexx loves all things dangerous,” he said with a small smile in his face.

 

Great, he thought to himself. This new kid hasn’t even started and Anthony already has a soft spot for him. I don’t know what happened, but I just snapped at the thought of someone replacing Mark.

 

“What’s his full name anyway?” he asked exasperatedly. Anthony sighed again; it seems that he expected this kind of reaction from James.

 

“Her name is Alexxander Woods,” Anthony replied, emphasizing on the pronoun “her”.

 

What? “So you’re telling me that you’re replacing Mark with a girl and not just any girl, one who just graduated from college?” he asked incredulously.

 

Suddenly, Marian spoke up, saving Anthony and James an argument. “There’s another problem, other than that, Anthony! This girl’s only twenty years old! She just turned twenty this June! And don’t you think that she’s under-qualified? And you said it yourself, this job is dangerous, and you can’t expect a young woman to be safe in this!” she said, matching James’ incredulous tone as she read the girl’s résumé.

 

“What? She’s only twenty years old? How the hell did she graduate from college that early?” Brian blurted out, sounding amazed as he took the folder from Marian; the others looked amazed as well. This girl must’ve been extremely brilliant to be advanced like that! The rest started muttering their opinions and arguments. James remained through it all; his mouth was in a thin line, trying to hold his temper.

 

“Quiet down, all of you!” said Anthony, disgruntled, almost shouting, when the lot of them stopped talking, Anthony began to speak again.  “I know it’s dangerous, but she’s willing to do this, says she’s been dreaming for this job for years! And try reading her whole résumé, she might just be over qualified, from all the achievements that she has! Listen, I’ve seen this girl work, and I can tell that she’s more than qualified,”

 

“We know, we trust your judgment, but Anthony, don’t you think she’s too young for this kind of job?” said Bernard, worry for the girl’s safety evident in his voice.

 

“That’s why I trust you to protect her,” said Anthony, looking at each and everyone’s faces, staying a second longer on James’. The others nodded their agreement, still looking unconvinced. Everyone nodded, except for James. He couldn’t quite take in the fact that Mark was being replaced, it seems that the rest of the team wanted to forget him as soon as possible. That one thought made his temper rise and this wide, empty hole, like a lost piece of a puzzle, inside him grew larger and larger.

 

“Now, she’ll be coming in tomorrow, to have a tour on the lab and meet the rest of the team, I’d like you all to be here at one o’ clock sharp,” he stated in a business-like way. Everyone nodded, awaiting Anthony’s dismissal. When he finally dismissed them all, they stood up and left the room. Except for James, of course, he remained seated, holding his posture stiffly.

 

“James, I believe it’s your day off. Don’t you want to spend it more?” Anthony asked, though his tone suggested that he knew exactly what would be coming from James.

 

“I can’t believe that you’re doing this,” he said coldly. Anthony sighed and sat back down on his chair.

 

“James, I know your upset about Mark, but you can’t expect us to just leave his place empty,” said Anthony in a fatherly voice. He continued to elaborate more when James scoffed at his statement. “I know that it’s hard for you, you were closest to him, and his loss is hard for all of us, it’s a loss for all of us, but sometimes, change can be really good for us and needed by us.”

 

James was embarrassed and irritated at the same time, but mostly, he was irritated. If you look at the scene right now in general, you’d think that it was one where the father is explaining to the young child the wonders of afterlife, where Anthony was the father and James was the child.

 

He scoffed at the thought. “Fine, whatever, but I hope that this ‘change’” he said, standing up, making quotations in the air with his fingers at the word “change”, “would be worth it,” he said, and with that, he stalked off.

 

It was a rather rude gesture, but Anthony was used to how James acts when he’s upset. It was just how James is, he didn’t want to be taken care of, and he was independent, he did not want to be like some child who needs guidance in everything they do.

 

He slammed his black car door as he entered. He drove off to his apartment, feeling disoriented. It was hard, knowing that the others have already forgotten about Mark when he still hasn’t. He hated the fact that everyone seemed to have moved on but he just stayed in one place, because he couldn’t move on. He felt weak and he was hurting more inside that he was letting on to the others. He was never one to express his feelings verbally, for him, it was a sign of weakness.

 

He sighed as he drove a bit faster. Tomorrow will be a very, very long day.

 

 

Author's Note

I know, I know, it�s a boring one; it�s just filler, actually. And I want to remind you all that their relationship would start out as a hate-hate relationship, so don�t get too excited yet. Anyway, you�ll meet Alexx in the next chapter!
Oh! Almost forgot, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW please! I have to admit I was a bit disappointed when only one reviewed the prologue, so please review! :))
Sorry, if it's long, i'm just used to writing long chapters :)