TNYG
Chapter 2
The first day
In the end it's late and I have to get up early tomorrow. I leave the last box with books without tidying up and get into the room to sleep. But like many of my nights I sleep just a few hours and wake up from my nightmares, breathing hard. I still have a couple of hours before the alarm sounds but no longer makes sense to sleep again. I can hear as the city wakes up: traffic, car horns, steps of people as they walk, and even birds.
Light starts to go out the window. That's one of the reasons I chose this apartment. It is small: only has one bedroom with attached bathroom and a lounge with kitchen, in the same space. But it has two large windows overlooking a small park and is oriented so that the sun and light enters on it most of the day.
I get up and prepare my coffee while I take a shower, fresh water to take away the heat of this early morning. I put on my gray robe and start to dry my long hair with a towel. It is dark unlike Prim's almost platinum blonde.
I take my breakfast and I look at the subway map for directions to the office. I approach to the closet and pulled out a navy blue blazer and a white sleeveless chiffon shirt. I braid my hair still wet and grab a pair of shoes and a purse as I head out of my apartment to the subway. I hate it and I hate underground spaces in general, but in New York you can not move otherwise, at least if you want to be on time. Now is when I hope it is worthy to rent a sunny appartment close to a park to make up for the almost fifty minutes I have to be underground to get to work.
I arrive at the FBI offices in Manhattan and show my identity card to the agents in the security point at the entrance. They tell me I should go first to check in with the human resources manager of my unit and they will tell me how to proceed. The truth is that the building is huge, and I'm grateful to have come early so there is not many people around here right now or I would feel even more lost. I get to the lifts and I press the 25th floor, which is where the assistant Effie Trinket is waiting for me, according to what I have been said.
I'm lost in my thoughts, wondering: how it will feel to be part of a real unit, how I will be welcome by my colleagues, or if they will be another new agent like me. Suddenly the elevator stops while a beep sounds and I leap on the exit as soon as the doors open without looking at the front.
I stumble against a man in a gray suit who also is trying to get in a hurry on the elevator. With the crash, I let fall my handbag and the documents that I'm bringing to the assistant, I bend down to pick them up while I hear the man mutters behind me: "Sorry, it's an emergency".
When I gather my stuff I turn around and I look up to the man, frowning with an angry gaze, because he never stopped to help me. Just when the doors of the elevator are about to close, I see an incredible blue eyes staring at me.
I fail to distinguish the man's face although I recognise something slighty familiar and distant in his features. I straighten my clothes and start walking to the right, when I'm in front of the third door, I knock politely. A high-pitched voice tells me to come in. When I enter, a woman with a flashy pink suit, looks at me and says:
"Good morning, Special Agent Everdeen I guess?" I nod and she continues speaking "I am assistant Effie Trinket, I'm in your same unit. I handle the bureaucratic part of your work, so believe me when I tell you that I will be one of your best friends and allies here"
She winks at me and smiles. With that small gesture I feel like my body relaxes and the tension disappears from the room.
"You came early, great. Punctuality and manners are the things I value most in this job. Unfortunately" she says looking up at the ceiling "most of your teammates are not punctual... but to be honest I must say that it is not easy because this office is almost always a mess. Actually, there are not even eight o'clock in the morning and we already have an emergency alert and everyone running up and down the halls."
I nod again, clear my throat and open my mouth for the first time since I came into her office.
"Yes, I've realized. I think I've stumbled into someone that was in a hurry as he left the building"
"Uh well! I suppose you must cross with one of the components of your unit or someone from Behavioal Analysis Unit of Quantico who are here to help us with these cases of disappearances. Now please, let me see your official papers" I hand her the papers,and she reviews them carefully, after that she stamps them and signs on the documents. Finally she gives me a temporary badge.
"We'll finish the formalities later, but your entire unit is in a meeting now. So I'll take you first, to see Director Abernathy and he will introduce you to the members of your team and to attend your first meeting".
Great! I think, it's my first day and I'm already late, obviously I had no way of knowing that this would happen but anyway my day has not started too well.
Effie gets up from the chair and tells me to follow her. We walked between aisles where the doors seem all alike. If she leaves me here now by myself, I'm not sure if I could retrace my steps, and I was always first in my class in terms of orientation activities, but of course that was on outdoors exercises not in this labyrinth of white walls.
Finally, after what seems an eternity, we stop in front of an office. Effie knocks on the door and after a "come in" that I would qualify between sullen and very sullen, she opens the door and we enter the room.
The Director is a blond man with long and disheveled hair. He is not shaved and looks sleepy. Judging by his appearance and the blankets over the couch on my left, he has spent the night here. It is clear that I don't have to be Sherlock Holmes or a recent graduate agent of the FBI to come to that conclusion.
"Director Abernathy, May I introduce you the new member of the CARD team? Katniss Everdeen" After this brief presentation she passes him my file and turns to leave without closing the door.
After taking a look to the folder and its contents, Abernathy blurts out:
"Wow, you are another daughter of the great State of New York, aren't you? What was the reason to change your damn and quiet mountains by this big city? which probably is most cursed, under what we see here every day?"
"Well Sir, it is because of my sister, she works in a hospital here in New York as a second year intern"
"Well, it has become clear that it is not because you want to work with my Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team"
Before he ends speaking I interrupt him,
"No sir, of course I want to work in child abductions, what I meant was ..."
"Okay Agent Everdeen, I was only joking. But I'm not kidding when I say that I do not want you to interrupt me again" He stops talking. After a moment of silence, he lifts his eyebrow as to give me permission. And I answer embarrased "Yes Sir, you're right, sorry"
After my apology, Abernathy keeps going.
"From what I see in your file, you are a survivor. I hope that, for your sake, because to work here we need very special people. Now , let's go to meet your new team".
He gets up and starts walking with unsteady steps, until he bumps into the table, cursing his luck. Once he leaves the office, reaches to a big meeting room fill with screens and smartboards. There are approximately 8 people, confirming Effie's assumptions that is not just my unit but also the BAU involved. Clearly, the behavioral unit, one of the elite units of the Agency, does not work for some kidnapping case so it looks like my first case it is going to be a big one.
Here is chapter 2. Hope you like it.
As always rates, reviews and grammatical corrections are welcome. They will help to improve both, my English and the story.
thank you!
