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Chapter Text

  Trudging along the cold, icy sidewalk, eyes distracted by all the lights of the night, feeling around in her pocket, Kath rubbed her thumb over the worn grooves on the side of a quarter.  Her skin felt rubbery and raw, which wasn’t helped by the wind chill. She pulled her scarf higher onto her neck and counted the grooves on the quarter with her nail, which clicked every time it found a new notch to rest on.  One… Two… Three… Four… What number was she on again? She couldn’t remember. Again, One, two, three… Dammit! One! Two! Three- “ACK!” Her foot slipped out from under her as a particularly strong gust of wind pushed her backwards, but in the nick of time she grabbed onto the push handle to the convenience store she was passing by.  Her quarter clicked on the bar, held between it and her bare hand. Her heart pounding, she slowly got pulled into the store by the automated door and pathetically flopped onto the wet tiles of the grimy 7/11. It was warm. The feeling seeped into her bones like water into a sponge. She pulled herself up on the door, getting her footing correct before letting it close behind her.

  Kath stared at her worn shoes for a second, then at the wall, then at her shoes again.  She watched them move, one in front of the other, and drifted aimlessly through the isles, enjoying the warmth.

  In the back was the non perishable stuff.  Canned food, candy, the likes. She shoved some into her bag, her heart started to pound again.  Would I get caught this time if I just took a little more than usual ?  The wrappers rustled slightly as she packed her purse with the junk food she needed.

  “Are you trying to shoplift ramen noodles, katherine  Pulitzer?”

  Not even the chills outside could have made her blood run this cold.

  “N-no, what? Um, I-”

  “Wooow!  You hear that sound?  That sound of your future becoming darker?  The sound of you hitting rock bottom? Splash!”

  “Just a poor reporter for the New York Sun who writes things no one will read.”

  The voices sang together, “You’re pathetic, katherine  Pulitzer!”

  “Shut up, voices, shut up!”

  They silenced.  She held her head up, looking at the clerk who wasn’t even paid enough to care about her.  Kath ran her fingers through her hair, the wetness transfering to her fingers making her cringe but being enough to ground her.  Get the food, pay for something small like gum, then leave.

  “You really are pathetic.”

  “It doesn’t have to be like this, Kathy!”

  “You could afford things like chicken-”

  “And goat cheeses-”

  “And your dreams!” They all sang again.

  “Tell us about your dreams, katherine .”

  Her mouth felt dry as she looked at the no ones around her.  The thin air, yelling at her, around her, around this store, around this city, around her life.  She licked her lips. “My… my dream is to be able to eat three meals a day.”

  “Think bigger!”

  “We already know the answer, katherine  Pulitzer!”

  “We just need you to say it!”

  “We can help so hard…” 

  They all spoke together, their voices melding into a din.  “We don’t want to fetter you to this small, small life!  We are your friendly voices, friendly until the day we die and the day you die, too!  We like you! We just want to help! You will have to listen to us closely right now, okay?

  “Do as we say.

  “Now, what do you want?”

  “... What I want… What I really, really want, what I want to be, what I want to do… What I want to do is be a journalist,” She said to herself.  “A real journalist.  I want to interview people, know their secrets, rise to fame, get recognition for my work… Make The World mine.  Make my father proud of me. I want to make my father proud of me!

  “But… I’ll… I’ll never be able to do that.  I’m too stressed, I’m too broken to do that…”

  “katherine .  Who could blame you katherine ?”

  “Stressed out?  It’s all over for you?”

  “Listen, make US proud of you.  Take a deep breath-”

  “Smile, take a deeper breath and-”

  “Do as we say!”

  “How badly do you want to be a journalist, katherine  Pulitzer?”

  “How badly do you want to taste success?”

  “How badly do you want to make The World Journal yours?”

  Their din returned.  “We call to you, katherine !  Your father’s hypnotic voice calls to you, katherine !  Sensitive like a woman’s, curious like a cat’s, dripping with the undeniable ooze of a sexually confident Bar Mitzvah boy!”

  “Stop it, stop it, stop it!” She cried weakly, “Leave me alone!”

  “katherine , if I’m-”

  “We’re-”

  “Honest with your poor little pale face-”

  “Failure doesn’t suit you in the slightest!”

  “And look at how embarrassing you are, ramen in your bag and under your coat!”

  “We’ll make you famous if you do as we say!”

  “I don’t want to be famous anymore!”

  “Do as we say.”

  “Go away, please!” She said weakly.

  “We don’t offer people something like this every day!”

  “I don’t care!”  Hot tears began to run down her face.

  “Please, holy hell, put the ramen back!  Leave the store right now or you’re a failure!” The Din washed over her like waves and waves of cold water, pulling her under, pulling her deeper under their spell, making her too overwhelmed to even breathe.  “Move us to the foreground and you’ll get everything you’ve ever wanted and MORE.  Give us control, let us give you hope and let us make you feel more whole than you ever have in your life!  You’ll have your dreams and dream bigger!”

  The Din quieted to a single voice.  A whisper among the wind outside.

  “We can help you make your father love you again.”

  She shuddered.  “My father…”

  “Yes, katherine  Pulitzer. Your father.”

  She pulled the ramen out of of her bag, feeling the stay bits shift in her hand under the plastic.  Taking a deep breath, hesitating for a fraction of a twinkling of an eye, she put the ramen back on the shelf.  Every last package of cheap, sugary food she had shoved onto her person with the intent of stealing.

  “What do I have to do?”

Chapter Text

  katherine  worked her time away at her computer, fingers pressing the keys of her cream white keyboard quickly.  She had a deadline. Her keys clicked satisfyingly with every stroke and she smiled at the thought of the noise.  Yeah, it might be an office job, but it was her office job, and she wouldn’t trade it for the world.  Not the newspaper; she already had that- The actual world.  It was her dream to-

  “Knock knock, Kathy!  Sorry to bother but-” Hannah leaned on the wall of her co worker's decorated cubicle, sibbing idly at her iced coffee- “do you know anything about a murder a couple of years back?”

  “Which one, Hannah?  We live in New York, people get killed every day,” Kath said dryly, shifting in her chair to look at her.

  “Ten years ago, some random park, big man said you would know what I’m talking about?  And that I should ask you about it?

  “Erm- No, I don’t know what he’s talking about.”

  “Oh…. Well, I guess I could go ask him about it but…” Hannah got real close to Kath and said hushedly, “He’s in one of his moods, you’d know them, he’s your father, so can you-”

  A growl rattled low behind Hannah and she nervously looked behind her.

  “Oh, hi, Boss,” Hannah stammered.  “Didn’t see ya there-”

  “Now, Josephina, what did I say about growling at my employees?” Pulitzer baby talked to his poodle, who barked at Hannah.  He scooped up his dog and put his finger on her nose. “Bad puppy!”

  “Hi, Dad…”

  “katherine , I am your Boss, please, act professionally.”

  She internally rolled her eyes.

  “Anyway, I’ve been up for 30 hours thinking and thinking and thinking... and it hasn’t been for nothing!  I’ve been thinking and thinking about all these stories that The World hasn’t told yet. Hasn’t really sold to the masses.  Not those soft, mushy tales tales of kittens rescued from apartment fires and the homeless being fed, I’m talking real, invigorating stuff here.  You know that we already run things other than papers, those ‘cast-pods’ all the kids are talking about these days, and that’s what I wanted to talk about that with you, Kathy.” Don’t call me that. “Hannah, you can stick around even though I don’t like you.  Anyways, katherine , you’ve shown some pretty valuable skills during the time I’ve had you in the office, and I’m a really big, unbiased fan of what you’ve written so far.  So I’m going to propose to you my idea I got while feeding little Josephina here white rhino meat last night- Did I mention I have to feed her a new kind of meat every week or she dies?  Me, I’ve got hay fever, Josephina is allergic to tiazac, we’ve all got our shit- Anyway, she was making a big ol’ mess of that rhino and that made me think- We should do a podcast about murder!  And then, I remembered your murder, Kath, the one you wrote about in those old New York Sun articles, the ones that made me want to hire you!”

  “W-wait a second, what articles?” Hannah asked.  “The Sun?”

  “Tell her, katherine , it’s your story, after all.”

  “Oh, I’m not even sure if I remember all of-”

  “Sure you do, how could you even forget?  How could anyone?”

  “C’mon, Kathy, tell me!” Hannah egged.

  “I’ll try…”