Crowd: A Dystopian Social Network Thriller (Final Draft)

Believe in me who believes in you

Rain ignored her worries. "I totally understand, Taylor. When I was a teenager, I drew all kinds of messed up drawings. I obviously lacked the emotional intelligence to realize how that affected my family, even my friends."

"Okay."

"Frustrations can eat their way through your body, manifesting in ugly creations. But you're still so young, Taylor, the whole world is ready for you."

He leaned into his chair and stopped clutching his arms. His jaw loosened up, even producing a full smile. Rain's heart sang a little.

"To fulfill your desire to draw, just stay longer at school. Find a group that does VR paintings outside class. Tell them the thoughts about your drawings. Open up. Once they trust you, no one will freak out."

She paused for the next thought. "Also think about your fellow students when producing your next artwork and ask yourself—is what I'm doing helping or hurting my community?"

"I will."

His voice rang low, but at least it lacked the desperate touch from the beginning. After all, Taylor was young. He had so much time left to become a better human being.

Rain stood up and blessed the young man with a smile. "We'll visit you and check. If you have any questions, ping my profile. I mean it."

"Thank you."

Rain offered her hand, but Taylor regarded it like an alien artifact. She quickly retracted and motioned her hand into a wave. So elegantly, it looked as if she had planned it from the get-go.

"I believe you."

Taylor nodded.

Rain and Sasha maneuvered through the tables and returned to the corridors.

Sasha grinned. "For a sec, I thought you were his big sister."

"Believe it or not, but I was a loner myself. I totally understand how he feels, being different from everyone else. But glooming and drawing dark imagery is not the answer. As soon as Taylor learns some social competence, his life will change."

And hopefully his ranking, too.

Back in the hallway, professor Ashley Piper intercepted them again.

Like a stalker, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

"How did it go?"

"Quite well," Rain said, her eyes targeting the doors.

"Did Taylor mention me by any chance?"

Rain turned around. "Why would he?"

"I'm just wondering. He's in my class and...well, never mind."

He stuttered. Sweat pearls collected on his forehead. Something about him was off. Rain wrote a memo and attached it to the Taylor case.

"Don't worry, Prof," Sasha said. "Rain built instant rapport and sealed the deal."

Whatever that meant.

Even the prof looked bewildered. "Oh, I see. Well, good day to you."

Sasha sent him a quick salute. Back outside, students on the campus walked toward them. "Are you two officers?"

"We're special advisors."

"Nice. Mind if I do a selfie with you?"

Rain tilted her head and tried to gauge his emotion. "It's not going to improve your ranking."

The young man expressed an awkward smile, as if he couldn't tell whether she was serious. "That's cool. I just wanna take a freeze."

"Go ahead."

The guy stood on the ground like a package waiting to get delivered.

Sasha turned his glance away from him.

"Was I supposed to cheer for a photo?" Rain asked.

"Your call. We're not required to do photoshoots. Besides, the guy really did look like he wanted to score brownie points."

Rain pondered his statement. Maybe Crowd should send out a memo that being nice to official employees is not going to improve their score.

The two slid inside the cruiser where the AC worked overtime. A fresh mint breeze touched Rain's face as she stretched her arms. "That was soo much fun. I could do this all day."

Sasha observed her from his driver seat. No smile, no frown, just a blank face.

Rain swallowed. "Anything wrong?"

"We picked an easy case to get you started. This is a safe district with high earners and mostly college students."

"I understand."

"Some of our cases will take us into more dangerous zones. And some clients won't be as friendly as Taylor." His voice sounded grave now. "We might even have to enter the no-go areas and deal with citizens you wouldn't want to cross streets with."

"I'll do what's asked of me."

Sasha's grimace was impossible to pinpoint.

He manually pulled the cruiser out of parking lot and returned to the streets. Rain glanced out her side windows. Students, commuters, and profs strolled along the boardwalk like a spring breeze. Sometimes, it was hard to believe how one could slip into depression when the surrounding was as welcoming and beautiful as the campus. But darkness had the nasty tendency of striking anytime, anywhere.

Rain knew all too well.