Colby

I was kind of scared to meet him at first.

I had only just started working at the Los Angeles FBI office, and from the first day on I had heard stories about him. He was five years younger than his brother but they graduated the same day, he could multiply 4 digit numbers in his head when he was three, he could read encrypted codes like it was a novel, he only had to look at a pile of data and he could develop an algorithm that could solve the crime in a moment. He was one of the greatest mathematicians in the world.

In other words, a nerd.

Just like the kids I had terrorized and bullied in high school.

Those weren't things I was keen to remember, and I'm certainly not proud of it. For years I had been able to ignore it, fighting a war in Afghanistan had been a major distraction. I took that time to change some things in myself, for the better. But now I was reminded of it. The prototype of the people I did horrible things to at high school would be coming through the door in a few moments.

I wondered if he would recognize me.

Of course we hadn't met before, but maybe he could recognize the bully in me, the bully I had tried so hard to banish out of me. I may not be the same person I was, but that horrible person I once was would probably be something I would have to carry with me all my life. My only hope was that nobody else could see it. But if there was one person who might be able to recognize that part of me, it would be the man about to walk in.

With clammy hands I awaited his arrival, trying to keep my attention to my work.

After a few minutes I could hear David and Don greet someone walking in. I looked up, and there he was.

A man with dark brown long curly hair, and although I knew that he was a tenured professor he could easily have passed for a student, wearing a red t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Don pointed at me, probably introducing me to Charlie.

He immediately walked over to my desk and extended his hand to me, introducing himself.

'Hi, I'm Charlie. Nice to meet you.'

He looked me right in the eye, and it took me a few moments to realize that there was nothing but genuine interest in there. Inwardly I sighed of relief, and I knew that I had nothing to worry about.