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LAURA
'Dr. Kafka! Is it positively true that the brain-eating killer has struck once again?'
'Has Venom embarked on a fatal spree to evoke a sense of terror in the city?'
The San Francisco City Hall was dense with reporters and cameramen, crashing into one another to get a precise view of the most important speech of the week. Everyone in the city knew that this would make the front page cover of every known press corp since Venom's wrongdoings were the talk of the night. After the mysterious case closing on Keith Malik's eternal disappearance, Venom's terror bout had set the city off into despair.
'It is confirmed that Venom is the nefarious criminal. He is under some delusion of being a hero and the matter is being looked into.'
The midnight zephyr blew into the crowds in vain and hoping the night sky would open up to let the downpour. Our hot bodies scrunched together in a small space making all of us agitated, most of them sticking out recorders and microphones to get clearer flags and shoving while doing so. In my hands was the same pen and pad, which I used to scribble down so I could input in the late night meeting after. My boss, Paul stood close beside me, his hand providing my balance at the small of my back. I felt a little uneasy under his touch but dismissed it as loser's talk.
'I got a few newbies out front to get the full recording,' Barnum leaned down to say into my ear, his voice louder than usual. 'We've to get this on air by dawn.'
I nodded ungainly, not letting my focus deter. This meeting was the only thing that was restricting the maddening thoughts of the incidents that occurred not too long ago.
There was an impending terror on the citizens on the streets, some families holding their children close on the pavements as they strolled by and the evening time snack-vendors moving towards the sounds of the population to avoid any sort of misunderstandings. Not many realized this but I did. People knew that Venom was bound to turn against them but neither thought this could be a conflict.
