“Dad?” I squeaked. Brian popped his head back in the doorway. “Oh, yes. Thank you Mitchell,” he said with heavy sarcasm. To me he said, “The...colleague I mentioned? It’s my ex-wife.” And he was gone. I looked at Mitchell, who was now sitting in a chair with his legs draped over the arms. “My dad’s a dick,” he said. I went back to my desk and reached in my side drawer. I didn’t find any cigarettes in there because I had quit 5 years before, but I fumbled with the drawer when I got stressed.. The old newspaper mantra of, 'If it bleeds it leads, ' was just as true for television news and Carlos loved it. He could imagine all the men and women watching the news feed with a voyeuristic ecstasy; just hoping to see someone being killed. This was what Carlos thirsted for, lived for, and needed in the worst way. Television and the news broadcast were his strongest allies in spreading the excitement and thrill of death and destruction. They all protested how evil the actions were and even. Knowing that no matter what is thrown at them, the New Yorkers will continue to hurry after fleeting lives that just slip through their fingers. Comforting it may have been, yet it was also unsettling. To walk through the crowds, too aware that I didn’t belong. Once you take a life you are never the same they say. Well that’s a lie. Everyone else is different. I picked up a plain black bag, unremarkable enough to be forgotten, cheap enough to be replaced. It’s a hassel waiting for baggage off. My parents wouldn’t let me stay home on my own, not for two weeks. My mom was afraid I’d run out of clean clothes to wear or food to eat. Seriously, who doesn’t know how to do a load of laundry? Besides, it’s summer, I’ll be wearing shorts every day. If they get dirty, I’ll just jump in the pool. No, no. This was because they didn’t want poor Zane partying in the house for two weeks or bringing home all those girls who love him so much and getting one of them pregnant. That’s what mom was.