Chapter 1

Here's chapter 1. I'm so sorry for the delay; I got sidetracked and busy with college. This chapter was actually a lot of fun to write; I was able to write the beginnings of Frafner's back story.

Frafner sipped on a cup of coffee while she read over Deveaux University’s newspaper, preparing for the day of classes ahead. The spring semester had indeed gotten off to quite a rocky start, but she shrugged it off and focused more on her anticipation for the new semester. After finishing a banana muffin, she then remembered the letter that Aru had set on the table earlier that morning, and searched through the pile of mail across from her to find it.

She held the white envelope in her hands, running her fingers over the plastic that covered her address. A strange nervousness came over her as she hesitated to pick up the letter opener sitting in a utensil cup in the middle of the table, and she took a deep breath to steady herself.

She shook her head and lightly laughed off her hesitation before opening the envelope and pulling out the enclosed letter. Gently unfolding the first page, her eyes met its content:

We’ve found the location of the embezzled funds.

You’ll find the details below.

$456,900.00 collected over 10 years

Stolen from Student Activities Account

Confirmed suspect: Dr. Alexander Davis,

Head Activities Coordinator, 2005 - 2015

People’s Bank of North Peak

Dr. Davis’s Account #: 9903943

Student Activities Account #: 5661209

Systems Passcode: 83329477

Transfer the amount in stolen funds plus interest of 5%

compounded for 10 years from Davis to the SAA. Attached is a

page with Davis’s address and hard proof of the embezzlement.

Slip it under his door as a notification of consequence if

he intends to pursue retaliation.   

Make us proud. You always do.

Frafner sighed and set the note down before leaning back to stare at the ceiling and quietly mutter to herself, “Why can’t it ever just be a burglar in need of a good a*s-kicking?”

Aru walked out while brushing her hair, and quickly replied to her disgruntled roommate, “They give you a hard job this time?”

Standing up to take her coffee mug to the sink, Frafner nodded with a dissatisfied expression, “Embezzlement. Turns out I gotta move the money back where it belongs and blackmail the son of a b***h who did it.”

The much shorter woman chuckled and took a seat at the table while she finished brushing, “Tell me, why do you do this again?”

Frafner smirked and took a seat across from Aru, “Eh, I know I complain a lot about the work. But these people know what’s right and what isn’t. The world is more screwed up than ever, and I want to be part of the few who make the right kind of difference,” she then appeared much more serious than before, “Like I’ve said a million times, the law is corrupt and can’t be trusted. Someone has to do the job right.”

Aru bit her lip and gazed down at the table. Frafner had become a very close friend to her during the three and a half years that they had been at Deveaux, and she did often worry for her friend’s safety since the discovery of her undercover vigilante life a year prior. Aru initially had mixed feelings about it, but had eventually come to accept and even support the idea when Frafner had returned unscathed so many times. Her concern was not eased very much, though, despite her roommate’s flawless track record.

She forced herself to smile and replied, “Just be careful, okay?”

Frafner quickly put her coat on and grabbed her purse and bookbag before giving Aru a reassuring smile, “Don’t worry. I’ve been part of this lifestyle for a long time; I know what I’m doing,” she pulled her phone out to view the time, “I gotta go, I don’t wanna be late for Economics on the first day! Wanna do lunch later?”

Aru gave a nod and a smile; she knew Frafner would be alright, “Yep, I’ll text you after calculus.”

Frafner quickly looked herself over in the mirror before putting her hair up in the normal ponytail that she usually wore, and quickly ran out the door when she saw the bus that would take her to campus pulling up at the stop down on the sidewalk. Even for a January day, it was rather frigid, and she welcomed the warmth that the interior of the bus brought. She took a deep breath and pondered the events that the day would entail, because it was going to be a long one indeed.

She had a general idea of what she wanted to do as far as the bank situation. As annoyed as she was with the complexity of the task, at the same time, she was happy that they assigned it to her. These kind of tasks were only assigned to the elite of the vigilantes, and knowing that she had become part of those select few gave her a feeling of accomplishment.

Frafner dissected the situation. It seemed like a rather straightforward mission on the outside, but that was just it. Her superiors did not screw around; there would surely be many trials for her that the novice vigilante would easily overlook. This was the People’s Bank of North Peak, and its security system was top-of-the-line. High-definition security cameras watched the entire premises like a hawk, and the video feed went straight to a computer with government-grade face-recognition software. There were enough motion sensors to survey the entire building, down to the very last corner. All of these barriers would have to be disabled before she even set foot in the foyer of the building. After that, she’d have to get into the computer system, complete the task, and then get to another computer far away from the bank to remotely erase record of the bank system activity for the time of the execution of the mission.

She rubbed her temples and sighed; this was already becoming confusing for her. While these were high-rank tasks, she preferred the missions where all she needed to do was deliver justice in the form of a swift kick to the face. She honestly did question herself every so often as to why she continued to do this, but she knew she had reasons. In fact, as she turned her head to look out of the window of the bus, she saw the North Peak International Terrorism Victims’ Memorial that had been completed a year ago now. It was a tribute to all innocent victims of terrorist attacks all around the globe, and every time an event took place, another plaque was added to the memorial’s wall. It was definitely a growing list, and a shocking number of plaques had been added in the past decade alone. Its records went as far back as the Pearl Harbor attacks, and while all were a reason for her to keep her vigilante lifestyle, there were a select few that really made an impact. These were the September 11, 2001 Al Qaeda attacks, the April 15, 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing, and, more recently, the March 12, 2018 Deveaux University Toxin Attack. That one was especially personal for her, and she closed her eyes as she recalled the events of that terrible day one more time.

Frafner was in the second semester of her sophomore year back then, and the day had begun just like any other Monday. She showered, dressed, ate breakfast, and headed out the door to get to her Introductory Accounting class. The streets of the campus were busy with students as they normally were, and her class went as it typically did. But, when she exited the building, that’s when the most shocking event that she had ever experienced happened. A large blast occurred from the side of a building across the street, and a gas that had been colored began filling the street. Panic ensued, and more blasts occurred at various locations around campus, each spewing more of the pungent-smelling, yellow gas. Everyone was running around in panic in every which way, and people quickly became ill from the gas. One of the blasts triggered a fire in the social sciences building, and after only an hour had passed since the first blast, the military had already been called in. Frafner was not herself harmed by the blasts or the gas, save for a slight feeling  of nausea. She had a friend, Samantha, who had not been so fortunate and had a foot blown off from one of the explosions. She had a prosthetic now, but that did not make Frafner any less angry about the situation. Classes were postponed for four weeks while the toxin was cleared and temporary repairs were made, and the students were unable to finish the semester until mid-June. Thirty seven students and eight faculty lost their lives that day, and the number injured was in the four hundreds. The people behind the attack were found, but the courts had ruled mental illness and sentenced the three of them to thirty-five years in prison after mental rehabilitation. Frafner attended the court session, and it was clearly visible that the three men were not at all mentally handicapped. The act of senseless violence combined with the absolute corruption that was displayed in the court system convinced her to join the vigilante lifestyle and deliver justice where justice was so clearly due.

She was shaken out of her recollection when she heard the automated announcement on the bus speaker system announce her stop, and she yawned before slinging her purse on her shoulder. Looking at the time on her phone, she found that she would actually be arriving to class early, and that gave her some relief. She always hated walking in when lectures had already begun, but some of the late-night vigilante work that she did caused her to oversleep, in her eyes, way too many times. Putting her backpack on, she quickly got off of the bus.

“Frafner!”

Frafner immediately recognized the voice. It was that voice. This was, by far, the last time that she wanted to hear it. It belonged to another student that she had known during her high school years, and that student’s name was Mark Allegro. And he had an immense crush on her. She took her phone out of her pocket and glanced at the time. It was 9:21, and her class, which was a block down the street, did not start until 9:45. She sighed and looked down to the ground before closing her eyes. As much as she did not want to talk to him right now, she would, because at the same time she did not want to come across as a b***h.

Frafner turned around with a forced smile and waved, “Hey, Mark.”

He quickly ran up to meet her, and gave her a delighted smile in return, “I haven’t seen you since Fall Finals Week. How are you doing?”

She clenched her toes in annoyance, but made herself continue the conversation, “I’m doing great, Mark. I have an economics class at 9:45 down the street. How about you?”

Mark adjusted his black snowcap a bit and eagerly replied, “Oh, I’m doing awesome! And you said Economics? That wouldn’t happen to be ECON 1273 would it?”

If Frafner’s eyes had gotten any wider, they might have literally rolled out of their sockets, and she thought to herself, Oh please no.

She hesitantly nodded, and took a few seconds to reply, “Yeah. Why, are you in it?”

Mark’s face lit up in excitement, and he quickly answered, “Yeah! Looks like we have a class together this semester!”

Frafner forced herself to keep her composure. It took every fiber of her being not to voice the true opinion running through her mind right now, No. Just no. If there is a God, He surely hates me, and I can only wonder what horrific sin I have committed to deserve such a punishment. Fate isn’t a cruel mistress. Fate is just a whacked-out moody b***h.

She did not know how the next words came out of her mouth, because there was no way she was saying them by her own free will, “I guess we do, that’s awesome!”

Mark nodded, “Guess I have someone to do homework with then! Hey, wanna go get a cup of coffee together to take to class?”

Maybe I’ll get hit by a runaway bus, she thought, and hesitantly replied, “Okay, sounds good, but we better make it quick.”

“Great!”

She followed him with a facial expression that could have been used to pictorially define the word “annoyance,” and wondered what other fresh hell awaited her that day.

Author's Note

Please R&R, I'd really like some feedback if possible!

Reviews

[Justin T.]

Coming along quite nicely. The only tip I can think of, try to work on character development a little bit more. Let us (the readers) see inside your characters' heads just a bit more.