In Plain Sight - Part 1

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Carrying a knife for protection, his footsteps echoed down the sidewalk near campus with the sound of light rain – but the echo from the memorial speakers were louder. It had been four days since the incident and Kevin couldn't bear to join the immeasurably large gathering on the SASU lawn. What had happened? The mass shooting wasn't his fault. It couldn't have been. After all, the SAPD concluded that the entire massacre was a diversion for someone to rob the Concord Bank on 18th street for a few million dollars – a discovery they made when the bank robber silly-stringed all but a few security cameras, most of which caught him in the act of singlehandedly compromising the building, yet none of the cameras managed to get a clear shot of his face. Another criminal that got away. But that wasn't the most pressing matter on Kevin's mind as he walked down the sidewalk.

On the SASU lawn, Robert stared at the hundreds of mourners from behind a podium – tears running down his cheeks as he tried in vain to hold them back. The crowd was guarded by armed volunteers who wouldn't hesitate to take out anyone who would dare disturb the sacred and sensitive service. Robert made eye contact with Cathy, Aaron and Sarah in the crowd before he continued his speech after a moment of silence, "the men, women and children who were murdered at Silent Night will remain in our hearts forever. No life deserves to end so soon and so abruptly. The victims of last week were not only the ones who were killed, but the families and loved ones who had their dreams shattered before their eyes. No human being deserves to lose a mother, a father, a brother or sister. No one deserves to lose their loved ones like they did that night. A son, a daughter, a –" He looked at the blood-stained fedora he held in his hands, "a friend."

Nathan distributed the spoils to his crew members. Of course, he kept most of it for himself. After all, it was easy to unload a magazine on a bunch of unarmed and unsuspecting no-names at a Christmas charity event, but the real heavy lifting was infiltrating a bank and taking what turned out to be $2.8 million. It could have been more, but time was working against him. With a million and a half for himself, he split the rest with his twelve other accomplices. Well, it was about to be eleven. He needed to have a talk with Gordon.

Robert placed the blood-stained fedora on his head and closed his eyes for a moment. He couldn't hold back the tears and neither could the crowd. After his composure returned, he continued, "We all lost someone we loved. We all lost someone who meant the world to us and we would all do anything to bring them back if that were possible. They may have been unfairly and unjustly ripped from our lives but they can never be ripped from our hearts. Our minds. Our memories. As long as we share stories, as long as we talk about them, as long as we keep them alive to us and to each other, they will always be with us. Always."

"Hey Gordon," Nathan approached him. "Going through that kill list at the school, I recall you mentioning you fired a shot at this girl here," he showed him a newspaper picture of a victim, "Kendra Priscilla. That was you, right? You took her out? First casualty of the night I think."

"Yeah that was me," Gordon said smugly. "Why?"

Nathan smiled and tilted his head, "Ms. Kendra happens to be a little trust fund rich treasure box of a girl that we could have used to siphon all kinds of money from her father who owns Priscilla International, some faggoty charity that raises money for some faggoty cause. She's worth millions, possibly even more than what I could have taken from Concord!" Quickly, he withdrew his pistol and aimed it at Gordon's face. His expression changed immediately. "You killed her, you essentially robbed me of what I could have had. For that, of course you can understand, there's a price tag." He pulled the trigger and the back of Gordon's face emploded and splattered on the wall behind him before his body dropped to the ground. The rest of Nathan's crew looked at him in disbelief at him killing one of his own. "See? That's what happens. When you rob me," he chuckled and pocketed his gun and went back to distributing the cash.

The silence broke. "You're a fucking psychopath," Carl said, "What the fuck is wrong with you, Nathan? You killed him for that! You found out about Kendra after the fact. How was he supposed to-"

Nathan withdrew his pistol and aimed it at Carl's forehead. "I'm sorry, Carl. It sounded like you were questioning my judgment." Carl shut his mouth immediately. "Were you questioning my judgment, Carl?" Carl shook his head in fear. Nathan couldn't fathom how someone could have just witnessed him killing an ally, yet still have the balls to confront him. He couldn't let that fly. "Yeah, I'd better be sure." He squinted, tilted his head and pulled his trigger.

With a blinding beam, the SASU Memorial Torch light turned on for the first time. Robert and the crowd of mourners stared in awe at the tower of light that stretched from the scene of the incident, all the way to the heavens. The light rain was illuminated as it refracted through the unrelenting beam of light. "Tonight, we remember everyone who lost their lives in the Silent Night Massacre. This torch will shine brightly every night and it can be seen for miles. Together, we will move forward. Our hearts may be broken but our spirit isn't," his voiced cracked but the crowd began to cheer. Mourners began to shine their phones into the sky as well. "We're going through some dark times. The crime is high, most of the killers got away but one thing is certain." He narrowed down to the podium. "We will not just roll over. We will not accept defeat to these heathens. We will not surrender to this hate. Together as a school, as a city and alongside every other community experiencing these kinds of atrocities – whether it's us or the police – we will persevere. Our loved ones will not have died in vain," he shouted with anger and passion in his voice as the crowd roared with him.

Kendra's death. She didn't deserve it. The only reason she went to Silent Night to begin with was because of Kevin. And Christopher – he knew him so close and personally since he enrolled. Christopher was in the group before Kevin came along. Not anymore. So much of him was convinced that he was responsible for the entire situation – Perhaps because the chain of events that started when he killed Joshua the year before. Then again, it was the media that blew it out of proportion and that could have caused the chain reaction. 

It was so much pressure and so much weight that Kevin could barely make out what Sarah was saying as he brought himself back to reality at Chronos Coffee the following day. A comfort meeting. She was just as distraught and tormented as he was. Everything was a blur. Sarah was talking – but what was she talking about? Oh right. Her criminal justice concentration and how she had an opportunity to 'job shadow' at the SAPD and in order for them to accept her, she had to prove herself. Her voice seemed to fade in and out of his attention but after he opened his eyes from being closed for however long they were closed, he heard, "and there's really only one at this point."

"Sorry, what?" Kevin said through the fog of his thoughts. "I got distracted. I'm sorry – can you run that by me again? One what?"

"To get into the job shadowing thing, we all need to impress them with some big report. Everyone else trying to get in is doing it on the recent shooting, some on the bank robbery but for me, I see only one real cause of all of this. In light of what happened, I know it's a long shot but if I can get in this way, it will all be worth it. If everything goes well, I will actually be able to make a difference. This job shadow is my window of opportunity and at this point, in my opinion, there's only one that can get me there," Sarah nodded as Kevin waited for the inevitable. "I'm going to focus all of my efforts on the case of Ian Avery."