AN: sorry everyone. i know i promised i'd get on with it and over with. but,, well.. it was the worst week ever. and today i finaly had the 3 tests that had been nagging me so i finally completed chapter 8. i'm giving it the finishing touches and doing background info on chicago... becuase i haven't done any of my fanfiction homework so far.. so..

i'll see you in a bit. enjoy!


Chapter 7:

I woke up for my 1st day at wok with a groan. I wasn't going to be late, I was very, very early. I had to thank my couch and curtain-less windows for it, though. I went to the kitchen and got everything ready to have a small breakfast. I would be nervous today about being a first timer at the office, and I didn't want to be nauseous when the nerves kick in.

I took a long shower giving myself a prep speech. On the good side I would be busy enough with my job and learning how things work here to worry too much about him. On the other side I would be the newbie and that brought attention. Unless they had new people coming and going all the time, which wasn't he case. Once you got hired for the Tribune you couldn't leave because of the many benefits it gave you, but the hours were hard.

I dressed in one of my newest business attire that I know my mom would approve of, and Carrie would call me a frigid librarian. She was that sincere and straight forward.

I left one hour before I promised to be there. It would take me about thirty minutes to get there by taxi, but I didn't want to abuse of their generosity on my first day at work.

It took me fourty five minutes to get there by public transportation, and when I saw a teen with an PSP in his hands I cursed twice. First because I left all my video games and xBox at John's place, and second because today the i-net company stuff would be arriving and I wouldn't be there to check on everthing. I made a WRITTEN note to call Wilma and ask her to stop by. I couldn't trust my mental notes anymore seeing what happened with buying new curtains. When I finally did get thw they would be pitch black. No amount of sunlight was to ever wake me up from my peace. I would also need an alarm clock, so I added it at the end.

I got to the office with time to spare and asked directions at the front desk. The girl was wearing something similar to my outfit and I thanked secretly the lady that helped me pick out the clothes. She was very, very patient, seeing how Carrie and I laughed at everything and nothing. If my dad had seen me he would have checked me to see if I was sober. Sometimes I laugh too much, and it usually happens when I shouldn't or when I'm nervous. I was really nervous while shopping, I had yet to go back home and face another few hours of John's lies and little remarks until I had to leave.

I knocked on the door and 2 minutes later a man with a very tired appearance waved me forward while yelling at the phone. The office was a mess, there was noise from computers printing, and people typing as fast as they could. I saw that it was half empty and overheard the guy that opened the foor talking about flights being delayed. Had half of the team been sent away and not made it in time for the edition?

I guess they needed more help that I was told on the phone last night. I just stood there and looked around taking in what would be my second home for the next few years, or maybe more, depending on how my dream of becoming a teacher went.

"Sorry about that," the guy said to me. I saw that he had hung up the phone and smied shyly at him.

"That's ok, I see now why the rush. Where do you need me?" I asked ready to get on task or brainstorm some ideas.

I looked me up and down for a moment and then seemed to remember I had asked a question.

"Um, I think we need to have a meeting with everyone for five minutes. I have some info to give them and it'd be a good time for everyone to take a small break. We've been here for a few hours now."

I immediately felt bad.

"Why wasn't I called in for before? Oh, sorry, I'm sure it wasn't up to you." I blushed and looked down. I needed to calm down, it was just a small problem, things like this happen all the time. The newspaper wasn't to stop functioning because of this.

"there wasn't much to do. Our reporters were delayed in their flight and they wont let them access internet in their computers to send us the info from the airport. So, we're short for the section."

I realized I was asking questions away and I hadn't introduced myself yet.

I'm Bella by the way. It's my first day working here."

"Oh, I know. They called from the front desk. I'm Tyler, you talked to me last night."

"Oh, yeah. Nice to meet you, again." I shook his hands and he motioned me forward into the office closing the door behind me. The phone rung again and he groaned talking into it while leading me to a small sitting area.

5 minutes later the noise calmed down a bit. Maybe I was just getting used to it, but then I saw more and more people walking towards were I was. By the time Tyler came back there were about 15 people there and I stood up, not wanting to have to look up tp see everyone.

"Everyone, this is Bella, she'll be working with us from now on." Tyler spoke up, "we don't have time right now to give you all of our names Bella, but you'll learn them soon enough. There is a contact address list in all computers and they are programmed with our names and last names. It's better to email each other in the office than scream from one side to the other."

I waved shyly and looked back at Tyler, who was running his hands from his hair. His eyes were jumpy and he looked like he had drank one too many cups of coffee. I didn't want to say anything for fear of being rude, but he was taing this worse than everyone else. He was literally freaking out and he hadn't said anything about the real problems.

"So, what've got so far?" he asked looking at everyone and no one at the same time.

A short girl spoke up. She had short curly brown hair and was dressed rather well. "there is so much I can write about fashion and events in one issua, I don't want to go into advertising brands. There are no events happening that we could talk about and no one important has been seen anything worth writing on a paper." She said shooing her head.

"I know, Jessica. Believe me, I don't want a three pages essay on fasion. We have other targets than spoiled teenagers."

"I talked to Ang on the phone to help me come up with some advice, but this isn't Dr. Phil or Freud, people get tired of reading our advice for those who's lives suck." A guy with acne said.

"This is the living section," I spoke up when the pause seemed frustrating. "are there no stories of people that have been saved from unusual situations? We could interview them and ask about how it has changed the way they live. Maybe someone that got something else out of it. Happy endings always attract public." I said more enthusiastically now. Once I gained confidence I could have really good ideas.

Everyone gaped at me with their mouths open. I started to blush and looked down, maybe they had already added it to the issue in question and I was the only ignorant of their desperate situation.

"It's not a bad idea, but we can give it a shot. Why don't you take it Bella? It's a bit late, but maybe you can get something no mater how small it is; even if it's just a preview of something to expand in another issue. We need as much help as we can get." He clapped his hands and set everyone back to work.

I went into the archives and started going through files and files of lucky survivors of accidents.

I stumbled into a last name that seemed familiar: 'Masen'. Where had I hear it before? Was it some celebrity? I really needed to get a TV fast, the world of the media moved pretty fast. Maybe this person was already famous in just 3 days and in my angry daze I hadn't even heard about them. I opened the file to find out more about them.

The file was a bout a kid who survived an accident but was in front of the sight of his bleeding to death parents for a couple of hours before the police and ambulance got to him. The car had skidded across the highway and collided against the barrier. Years later he became very successful in the stock market and had related a program to help with the hospital bills of kids that were in similar situations. If it was needed he would also help in the search for foster homes that would take them in until they were adopted by a family that would fit them. He personally would check on them often and pay for their education. There wasn't a lot of background information. And when I tried searching through the website of the program it said nothing about the man named Masen. The highest positions were held by people with the last names Cullen or Hale. However nothing was said about the men that had started it all. Not even in the article, it skipped right from when he was saved to when he started the organization, and then it focused on the works of the charity and it said nothing else about the real person behind it. I thought it would be a good idea to solve the mystery. I'm sure people just skimmed over the article and maybe thanked god that people like that existed to take care of those less fortunate, but it didn't say anything about the life of that person. He must have suffered a great deal in order to make his life's goal to stop kids from going through the same.

A good start to the story would be starting with a recently person that suffered of an accident. I felt bad about searching through those files, like I was taking advantage of someone else's pain to bring forward the newspaper. But in truth I just wanted to give the deserved recognition to the man behind all of it.

I saw a very recent file about a girl left behind in the hospital after her mother had given birth to her. I wondered what kind of person would do that to her own daughter, and then thought that maybe the girl would be better off with an adopted family that loved her instead of someone that would regret her existence.

I made my way to Tyler's office, just to see him laying his head on his desk, his forhead resting against his forarms. I thought that maybe I should come back later, but I didn't have a lot of time to start with the investigation and I needed his approval to go with someone else to the hospital. I cleared my throat he he snapped his ead up like he was got caught by his boss or something. He let out a small sigh and I started telling him my plans. He agreed with me to make it a continued article and started making calls to the hospital asking about the possibilities of talking to the girl's doctors and trying to convince them that this article would attract the attention of the public and of any interested future parents. He was clear saying that we weren't going to judge the mother, just follow her story as it developed and make sure she was fine. The hospital director put us on hold while he spoke to a few doctors. A few minutes later he came back and gave us a few conditions. We had to make sure that she wouldn't tur into some kind of celebrity for it would only bring trouble into the areas. If we were asked to leave the premises we should do so immediately, and we could only ask questions that the doctors agreed to answer. We agreed immediately taking as much as they would give. Perhaps once they saw we didn't have bad intentions they would let us in easier.

I quickly grabbed my purse, Dictaphone and pad. I would try to get done as much as possible while I was there. Tyler asked if I wanted someone to come with me, but I said I could handle it, if anything I would call and ask for reinforcements. If the people there only saw a reporter the may open up easier. Maybe there was a reason there wasn't much printed about the man behind the program and I was sure some of the nurses there had seen him in one of his rounds. I could ask a few questions about the topic without sounding like I was after that story. I wasn't really after it, but I was intrigued. Was he just trying to avoid the attention, just like I did? Had he been marked in the accident and didn't want to show his face?

I had a million and one questions and I wrote them down in my way to the hospital. This time I took a taxi. I didn't have enough time to use public transportation and I was really exited about the story.