Gareth scanned over the Herald article as he waited for the library photocopier to free up. The headline read “THE HAND OF EIGHTEEN REVEALED AS GEO KILLS UNDERCOVER OFFICER”, with the subheading, “QCPD KEPT CHIEF, DEPUTY CHIEF, CAPTAIN MURDERS SECRET FOR DAYS”
It was a poorly written, one-sided take, he assessed, of the events that transpired the night before. The core of the article consisted of quotes from the acting police captain, ranting on about how the QCPD were poised to arrest the Hand of Eighteen cult, until Geo interfered, killing one of their officers in the process.
There was no real mention of what actually happened, the reporter mainly described the aftermath scene: the people that gathered around, the bodies taken away, and the commanding role taken by Captain Duval. Despite the headline, there was hardly any mention of Geo at all, but then the Herald used his name in headlines all the time to draw readers in. It was a rare day when Geo’s name didn’t grace the front page, an act Gareth thought to be shamelessly commercialistic.
As he waited for the woman in front of him to finish her copying, he wavered on whether or not the article was a worthwhile addition to his “Geo Folder”. He had been collecting newspaper snippets and magazine articles for the unnamed woman he had met almost a week earlier. He didn’t know if he would ever see her again, but he hoped, and it filled him with a happiness he could barely understand.
Gareth used his employee-issued copy card to duplicate the article. He had used the card a few dozen times already to pad the folder with almost any article he could find, having scoured through countess back issues of the various periodicals the library had acquired since Geo appeared. Yet, he had still not combed through them all.
As he returned the newspaper back to the baton rack, he noticed she was back... Her. He couldn’t greet her by name, and he couldn’t be sure, eight days later, that she would remembered him, but still he approached her.
“Hi,” he said gleefully, but with a worried brow. His mind raced: Please remember, please remember…
She looked up, a bit weary eyed, but a glimmer of friendly recognition in her eyes. “Oh, hey. Good morning. Gareth, right?”
All Gareth’s worries melted away when she said his name. “Yeah, yeah. Yeah!”
An awkward silence drew between them, Gareth searching for something to say while she politely smiled at him.
“Say,” she said, “thanks for the tip on the Quarterly. There’s great stuff in there. The article about the Showstopper incident was magnificent.”
Gareth searched his mind for the Showstopper incident, coming up with a vague recollection of a conflict involving Geo last November.
“Yeah?” He fished around his head for details to talk to her about. She continued on.
“Oh, yeah. It’s amazing how drastically Geo’s actions changed from the start to the end of the whole affair. It’s a decisive turning point. Just what I’ve been looking for.”
“Really?” Gareth began to feel like he wasn’t holding up his end of the conversation. He decided to sit down with… her. What is her name?
“When I came here to write this story, what I wanted to do was examine Geo’s relationship with this city. I was most interested in was how the citizens here just put up with him. You know, all the fighting, destruction, disruption, etcetera. I’ve been talking with people, well, all over the place since I’ve been here and it’s funny how nonchalant you all seem about it. I mean, I would have freaked out about this a long time ago.”
YOU ARE READING
Quarter City
FantasyThe citizens of Quarter City have come to rely upon the silent, stoic, and enigmatic Geo to come to their aide in times of trouble and maintain the peace. But the actions of this Enhanced being as of late have become erratic, extreme. He no longer...
