"and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God," a man in uniform says firmly from his podium. He then pauses, waiting for the reply from the crowd standing before him.
"and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties
of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God," the crowd replies.
"Congratulations," the man says. "You are officially agents of the FBI. You will be given your post shortly. I wish you all the best of luck." The man leaves the podium, and the group before him breaks formation and turn to congratulate each other with wide smiles. One woman in the crowd, a blonde woman of average height, chases after the man in uniform.
"Director Heywood!" she yells after him, "May I have a word, please?"
Director Heywood turns to face her, annoyed but curious nonetheless. What can I do for you, miss-" he pauses and waits for her to give her name.
"Cade-, sorry, Agent Reed, sir. Agent Kirby Reed, " she says with a smile, offering him her hand to shake. He shakes it and asks again, "How may I help you, Agent Reed?"
"Well, I know that we'll be assigned posts soon, and typically, you assign us to a post near our hometown, correct?"
"Of course. I assume you'll request to stationed in California then? To be close to your hometown."
"Actually, sir, the opposite," Kirby says solemnly, "I want to be stationed as far away from that place as possible."
The Director looks at her curiosly. He then makes the connection, remembering her file. "Agent Reed was it? I remember now, you're the one who was involved in the 2011 Woodsboro murders a while back weren't you?"
Kirby nods her head, keeping eye contact at all times. "Yes sir, and I know that my post shouldn't be influenced by my past, or even my preference, but if I can just request to be allowed to move far away from there I would really really appreciate it." The Director looks at her for a while, contemplating, before sighing and saying, "I cannot promise you that your request will be met, but I can assure you that I will take your concerns into consideration.
Kirby grins gratefully, "Thank you so much, I promise I won't let you down wherever I go. You can count on me, " she blurts, throwing her hand up in salute for a second before remembering and bluntly adding "sir." The Director turns and walks away, leaving Kirby to cringe and give herself a light smack on the head at her inappropriately timed gesture.
Kirby then makes her way to her fellow new agents. She sneaks up behind one of them, a young brunette, and covers her eyes from behind, "Guess who?" she obnoxiously asks the woman pushes her off with a laugh.
"Enough Agent Reed. We're professionals now, start acting like it," she says with a sarcastic tone.
"I'm sorry Agent Keller, it won't happen again," Kirby retorts with a sarcastic salute.
"At ease," a male voice blurts from behind Kirby. She turns around to face her friend Gary, who had graduated a year previous and was the one who recommended her the job. "You know, I don't think I'll ever be able to take you seriously in uniform," he says with a chuckle, "it just looks like a costume from your days in Glee."
"Don't remind me," Kirby says, rolling her eyes. "And hey, shouldn't you be on assignment? What are you doing here?"
"Well I couldn't miss seeing my two favorite geeks finally finish at the academy now could I?"
"How sweet of you," the other friend, Yvonne, says mockingly, smirking at Kirby knowingly.
"Agent Reynolds, a word please," a voice loudly calls.
"Duty calls, I'll see you guys later," Gary waves as he trots off to meet with his superior.
Yvonne elbows Kirby in the ribs, "Awww, look at that. He didn't want to miss your graduation." She whispers with a giggle.
"Knock it off," Kirby answers. "He was here to support us both, nothing more."
Yvonne rolls her eyes at denial. "Whatever you say. You two would make a cute couple, that's all I'm saying," she says putting her hands up.
"It's not like that. And besides, I don't think I'm ready for anything like that just yet," Kirby responds, not making eye contact.
Seeing her friend's sad expression, Yvonne asks "Is this still about Charlie? That was ages ago, you need to move on from that already. Also you tried to kill you"
"I know that," Kirby answers with frustration, "and it's not that I still think about him. I just don't think I'm ready to trust anyone like that again. Not yet anyway.
"Well you should forget about it altogether. And besides that guy had sooo many red flags, I mean he wore flannel for crying out loud," she jokes, which is met with a small laugh and a nudge form Kirby.
"Okay, enough of that. If you'll excuse me, I need to go. My mother will probably want to hear from me. Buzz off," she says waving her friend away, who obliges and runs off to annoy some other former cadets.
Kirby steps outside and pulls out her phone, which rings in her hand. "Right on cue," she says to herself, answering it and bringing it up to her ear. "Hey mom, I was just about to call." She's met with silence. She checks the caller ID, and realizes that the number isn't in her contacts, nor does he recognize it. She brings it up her face once more "hello, who is this?" she asks with authority.
She's met, not by the voice of her mother, but a deeper, slightly distorted, and far more sinister voice. A voice that was all too familiar to her, a voice that still haunted her dreams late at night, a voice that she had hoped to never have to hear again.
"Hello Kirby, long time no see"
