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ngela had fallen asleep right there on that couch. She woke up to find David sitting next to her and looking at her admiringly. She rubbed her eyes, got up, and smiled back at David. Then, she yawned and stretched. "Hey there, how long have you been here?" Angela asked as she leaned in to kiss David on the cheek.
"Only a little while. Your hair, it’s ethereal. It shines when you sleep. Do you know that? And your face, it radiates light," David said.
"That's very sweet of you. But I hope you are not planning to leave me again. Because the last time you said something so meaningful, you left me in the middle of nowhere," Angela remarked.
"Ha ha, no, I was just admiring and complimenting. I'm in awe of your beauty and your personality," David defended.
"Aww. Thank you. So, did you have time to think about the plan? Are you in? Is it where you want it to be?" Angela asked meekly.
"You know, I'm still uncertain. In fact, I'll never be fully certain. Because this involves all the people I genuinely care about. But you know what, it's better than nothing. You will still be far away from me, just so you know, just like our previous plan.
But at least this time around, we can sleep peacefully knowing the fact that the two of us are still together, if not practically. And the plan isn’t all that bad. It's actually pretty good. But I have a few additions of my own," David said.
Angela didn't know how to respond. She wanted to cry and laugh and jump and hug David all at once. David was leaping forward towards the plan. David had somewhat accepted the plan. This was the first step, a baby step, but a step at least. This meant they could still be together. The weight lifted off Angela's chest, so she breathed a sigh of relief and then responded, "First of all, I can't believe that you are actually giving me a chance. And second of all, yes, by all means, add to it what you want," Angela shrieked.
"Calm down. Easy there. There's still some work to be done. But after that's in place, we are good to go. First, you don't get to where Alveris is without cutting some people off and taking shortcuts. I'm sure Alveris has done the same. In fact, I have seen him argue and fall out with many people right in front of me. He would get most of them killed, but you can't get everyone killed. Some of them were put in prison to rot," David explained.
"Hmm, so what are you trying to suggest here?" Angela asked, kind of lost.
"Well, I'm saying that we need to connect with Alveris' enemies. The worst of his enemies. And contact them for help. They might give us valuable clues or some tips or insider details. Moreover, they will have a motive to take him down. So, why won't they help us?" David suggested.
"Woah, that's amazing. You know what; I'm not entirely sure of asking criminals to take down one criminal, but still, I could see this working. It could be invaluable. David, I'm impressed, not going to lie," Angela smirked and concluded.
David laughed and then remarked, "You know, I'm just that smart."
And then they both laughed. They ordered in Chinese take-out and spent the rest of the night watching sappy rom-coms and editing the phases Angela had jotted down earlier.
When Angela woke up the next morning, she was filled with zeal and zest, unlike the morning before that, where clouds of uncertainty and ambiguity floated over her head, making her question everything from herself to her relationship with David.
Her relationship with David brought her peace and calm and made her grounded, strangely, while her relationship with herself had become distorted over the years. She started to think about her early years as a lawyer. She often questioned why she got into the profession and would often realize it was exactly this reason; to help those who feel like they can't be helped.
She remembered the first time she ever thought of coming into the field of justice and righteousness. She was ten. In middle school, Angela was not as strong as Angela now. She was shy and timid.
Always the one to step back, always the one to stay quiet and mind her business. But you know, that's exactly the thing; sometimes when you are more quiet than usual, people mistake it for being timid and weak. They don't think for even a second that you have it in you to strike back. But little do they know, you have a whole universe raging inside of you.
Ten-year-old Angela was often bullied by her peers. "Where are your wings, Angela?" "Did you lose your wings, Angela?" or "Go fly, Angela. Fly far from here. You don't belong here." "She was probably naughty in heaven and that’s why God sent her here." In hindsight, these comments were not as terrible.
But what came with these comments were snide laughter, teasing, lunging, pushing, and throwing things at Angela, etc. And all of this was done by one girl, namely, Patricia Bernard. She was taller and heavier than your common ten-year-old. Almost ten times heavier than your common ten-year-old.
Everyone feared her, for her mass could cripple anyone. And when you fear something or someone, you are more likely to follow it and do whatever it says, then fight back. And so, everyone feared her. Naturally, a bully came with a set of stooges, too. Hannah and Cathy. The two of them would follow Patricia around as if they were her shadow.
They would go around making kids fall to the ground, stealing their lunch money, pushing them over, toppling their canteens, and more. No one had the guts to tell on them, let alone stop then. The fear of being mercilessly tormented for the rest of the year would make everyone succumb to the pressure of being bullied.
On one fine day, a new girl joined their 5th grade class. Her name was Julie. Julie and Angela became instant friends. Angela, for the first time in a long time, felt as if school was just a place to come to where you read, eat. and leave. It's where you make friends, too. Julie had also shifted into Angela's neighborhood, so it was welcomed when she joined the school.
The new girl came off as fresh meat to Patricia and her two goons. At recess, Patricia made her way to Julie...they first tied her shoelaces together while she was standing in line, but by the grace of some miracle, Julie didn't fall. She, in fact, realized what was wrong with her laces and fixed them.
Patricia felt as if she had been fooled by Julie and became furious. So, she simply approached Julie and started to eat from her tray. She chewed loudly while looking dead straight at both Julie and Angela. Julie and Angela were uncomfortable by her presence but remained quiet to avoid any trouble.
When Patricia realized her actions had no impact, she took the milk carton from Julie's tray and spilled it over her head. She then proceeded to spit out the entire chewed apple on top of Julie’s head. Julie dissolved into a puddle of tears and started to tremble uncontrollably. Patricia and her goons laughed and ran off.
Julie kept crying until a teacher got hold of her. She came over and took Julie to the principal's office while Angela simply went to her class. Angela was fuming, too, this time around. Patricia had bullied her only friend in school.
How could she do that? Angela had come up with a thousand and one ways to kill Patricia in her head. Blend her in a blender or stick her to a notice board with a thumb tack. But at every single thought, she would apologize for herself because, as per her mom's teachings, such thoughts were visions of the devil.
So, Angela tried to suppress her anger and got on with the class while there lay an empty seat next to her. Julie’s crying didn’t stop, and soon enough, her parents were called in. Julie burst into another round of tears in front of them and blurted out the entire incident. The principal caught notice of the situation, and both Angela and Patricia were called into the office.
Angela was called to testify while Patricia was there for obvious reasons. While the two girls waited in the sitting area, Patricia signaled to Angela that she would slit her throat if she didn't keep quiet.
Angela sunk back into her chair and started to squirm. She feared the consequences. What would Patricia do? Would she actually kill her, or maybe her parents? So, when Angela was called inside the office, she stood there and said nothing.
The principal repeatedly asked to narrate her side of the story, but she stood as still as a statue. But then, she caught a look at how helpless and upset Julie looked. That was enough to tip Angela over the edge. "Yes, Patricia did it,” were the first few words. And then, a few more words were said, and then Angela spoke more than she ever had, telling the principal how Patricia had bullied every single child.
Rest assured, Patricia was never seen around campus. And Julie was eternally thankful to Angela. That's when Angela decided that she wanted to do good things and help other people, not fear the consequences of going against someone. She felt like the president of a country does these things, and so that's what she set out to do originally until she was finishing high school, and realized that actually, her motives aligned more with that of being a lawyer.
Angela was pretty much doing the same thing now. Not fearing the goon, not fearing the consequences, just focused on justice being served. Every other stepping stone was harder than the one before, and this would be harder, too.
When she fought the case of Jennie Warlow from her time at Stanford, things had gotten astronomical. Jennie had been physically abused by a faculty member. A very praised and respected faculty member. So, no one believed her story, and the entire faculty banded against her.
She was called to the office in the late hours to discuss her profiling report that she had written in a makeshift law journal that was happening at Stanford at that time. The profiling report had some errors appear, and Jenny was asked to stay back and discuss them. It sounds harmless, doesn't it? Little did Jenny know what was about to happen.
In the guise of mentoring, she was made to feel uncomfortable and abused. For a long time, she kept it to herself. She stopped showing up to the class of Professor Warren. And then stopped showing up to school altogether. Her roommate intervened and got to the bottom of the story. She reported it to the harassment and misconduct committee on campus, and no notice was taken. That's when Angela spoke up and banded with Jenny. They both stood the chance of getting expelled.
That's exactly when they were able to organize support for their cause, rally together like-minded individuals, and connect with other students and alumni to share their mutual experiences. Sooner than later, more female students came forward with their stories, and a pattern was recognized. The faculty member was not only blacklisted but also his license was taken away.
Moreover, female protection laws were put into place, which was a big feat. Soon, other Ivy Leagues followed suit. And many workplaces, too. It allowed for more students to stand up against misconduct and not give in to the fear of what will happen and who would believe them.
Angela always praised herself for being courageous. And so did her mom. Five years back, when she was fighting against Charles Buffet, who was a member of the Democratic Party and had extensive influence, Angela knew things wouldn't be easy. Buffet was charged with murder in first degree of one of his assistants because the assistant had been late one day.
The situation was shoved under the carpet and never spoken of again. The wife of the assistant and his two toddlers paid a visit to Angela shortly after. She was being offered blood money, which is typically offered to people when a slave is purchased or a war criminal needs to be set free, and often in cases of murder, too.
But she refused to sit quietly against the injustice. No amount of money is enough to make some people shut up, sit quietly, and not mention what tragedy they have been through.
No amount of money could bring back her husband or the father of the two kids, who were left to fend for themselves so early. She had no plan, no direction, and she didn't know what she should've done, but she knew she wanted justice. And therefore, Angela, being known to handle such critical cases, was approached.
Angela started to prepare for war, but she had no idea what was coming. She was greeted by notices of threats every morning. This one time, she was robbed in broad daylight, and all the stuff she had been saving up on Buffet and his many crimes was stolen from her. Lucky for her, she always kept a second copy.
Then another time, her whole office was raided. That was the only time Sandra had come close to calling it quits with Angela. Everyone felt unsafe and scared for their lives. If tomorrow someone came in and shot them point-blank, they could lose their lives. The landlord of the building also gave her an unforeseen eviction notice. She knew who was behind this, so she kept taking it all with a grain of salt.
But Angela knew she had to be smart about it. She paid her mom a visit, who told her how often political figures also have political enemies. And in this particular case, Buffet could lose the entire election if the news got out. That's when Angela arranged for a public trial in court and convinced Tammy, the wife of the assistant, to do an interview.
This would get the news out and allow the public to sympathize with her. This would mean that Buffet could stop raiding their houses and terrorizing them because everything was out in the open. That incident had given Angela the idea of accusing David out in the open at the present time.
As expected, when the news got out, the public changed opinions. But unexpectedly, the abuse and terror attacks only increased. And Angela started to fear for her life. She started to hide out at her mom's place because her own apartment wasn't safe. But soon enough, there were profanities written on their front door. Gas canisters with tear gas were thrown towards their house, and water connections were cut.
However, if one thing goes wrong, the other must go right. The owner of the Walt building on 73rd street was a sworn hater of Buffet and offered a haven to Tammy and to Angela. Angela was able to move out of her mom's house and set up her working quarters there. Soon enough, other political leaders funded her to find the concrete evidence against Buffet and take him down. She even started to get anonymous tips from them and insider information.
And with all this support, Angela was able to create an airtight case to put Buffet in jail. The sentence was reduced from 30 years to 18 years because Buffet exercised his connections as well, but nevertheless, he served time for what he did.
As Angela recalled these particular cases, she knew it was time to call her old political connections from those days. But she also had to work on making sure she could trust them with the story.
