Professor Robert Callaghan-much had been said about this bright-headed man. Whether it be positive or negative. He was often the subject of conversation-primarily lately. The man once known as a bright, shining light held at a high esteem was now seen by almost all of San Fransokyo as a vile, detestable, abhorrent cad. He had done some terrible things.
Yes. Things had a person of any inch of common sense would never forgive him for. Theft. Destruction. Attempted murder. Even actually leaving a boy with a beating heart to die in a building he set ablaze. Until his flesh was seared and his body crushed by a heavy column. But I-was not an average woman. I didn't have a lot of common sense, not at all.
But I didn't consider that a bad thing or a flaw. I have empathy. I believe that people all have even a mere twinkle of good in them-even criminals. Even so called monsters as he often was called. I believed everyone was worthy of sympathy. Especially the people who I felt needed it most, who had very few on their side supporting them. I don't mean the underdog either-I mean the people others saw as absolutely irredeemable.
Redemption is a funny word, often thrown around lumpishly without any real thought or depth behind it. I usually refrained entirely from using it. As silly as that sounded. However, I will delve deeper into that subject when it comes along. This isn't just my story after all-it's his as well. Yes, Robert. That Robert. We happened to both be redeemed through each other. But as for how? You'll have to keep reading.I'll start with what happened before it all.
My name is Shelby, and as you might have expected I'm in love with Professor Robert Callaghan.Ever since his prison sentence the man has floated through my mind in a loop. There was no escaping. Every night I slept restlessly through the night with his face flurrying through my head. His heavenly blue eyes. His strong jaw. The way the curl at the end of his hair effortlessly met his forehead. Not to mention that adorable nose of his. Every night was either spent sleepless or waking up in a cold-sweat. He was like a ghost that would never stop haunting me.
Yet I had never even met him. He was beautiful, especially for his age. He was in his 50s. Which being a woman of only 21, most would assume it was shameful to possess romantic feelings for a man much older than I, but I saw nothing wrong with it. As long as it was legal. However the beauty I saw was much deeper than on the surface. While striking for his age, he was a loving father. Dealing the grief over the apparent loss of his daughter, Abigail. She was fine now, so I heard, but I hadn't heard any updates concerning her. After being a test pilot for an experiment by Krei Tech gone wrong, she was sent to an alternate dimension and had been in hypersleep for over a year until she was finally saved. But now I'm just rambling. To get to the point, he wasn't always a 'monster'. He was a loving father who just happened to let his desire for revenge get the best of him. I understood that, which is why I wanted to reach out to him somehow.
Some might call it insane, but ever since this fever took over me I had been anonymously sending letters to San Fransokyo Prison. Expertly delivered to Robert himself by my new friend Officer Craig Gerson; he was a rotund and dry fellow but still well meaning with a heart as big as his nose. He delivered the letters to him every Friday, and sometimes even food baskets, here is the last one I sent to him.
Dear Rob, I'm still not entirely sure if I'm allowed to call you that. But I feel like I know you. Isn't that crazy? Even if right now it feels like you have lost all hope, I believe in you. With every inch of me I believe you can get through this. Keep your head up high! You'll never be a monster to me, I swear from the bottom of my heart. With all of my love, Anon(P.S. I hope you enjoyed the roast I sent you on Thanksgiving.)
I never knew if he received the letters or not, but I always kept my hopes high that fate would someday link our paths together. That wish was finally achieved on one faithful fall day and so this brings us to our story.
