The Inevitability to be Changed

“I was told that you could help me,” Bryon Diaz says desperately hoping for my approval. Bryon Diaz was an old man from Los Angeles who was put on a murder trial. He met with me because I can fix people’s lives and because I was his last hope. “Yes, that would be correct. I will help you.” I said.

I am Keanu. I am twenty-two and work to help those get their lives back on track. There have been a few cases that I have faced but I have solved them all. My business is becoming very popular as people are recognizing that I can fix many things in life. I am known to be the wisest young person and I believe that it may be true.

“I know that I may not have much time left in my life but I wanted to fix it.”

“You do not need to worry, Bryon. Everything can be fixed. The time to fix your humanity only takes less than a minute. But if it is a lifestyle that you would like to fix, it will take many weeks or months. What is your problem?”

“I’ve been accused of committing murder. If I am found guilty I will never complete my bucket list.”

“Do you have it with you?”

“Yes”, Bryon pulls out his bucket list. It is a little paper flip book that has some tears in it as he has had it for a long time and some things were already scribbled out. I read it,” You have only completed twenty out of nearly a hundred of your ideas,” I said as I felt that it is not a good sign for him. “And these are good. I continued to read his ideas out loud, ‘Arriving at an airport and leaving on a completely random flight’ or ‘Attending an overseas cooking school’. These are things that I would love to before I die”

“Yes, I have dreamed of doing those things ever since I was young and now I am afraid that I never will,” he says as he has nearly no hope for himself to be found innocent.

“I will help you if you really are innocent, Bryon”

“Thank you,” Bryon says as he has finally started to believe that there is a chance for him.

“But if you want me to help you, I need you to tell me everything you know.”

It is a Saturday and I wake up from my bed. I then get ready like I always do every day. I make my bed, take a shower, and eat breakfast. I still remember from the day before, all the terrible things that Bryon said happened at the crime scene. There was a shooting at the beach that he was at. He was attending a beach bonfire (one of his bucket list ideas) and a man was walking towards the group.

“Hey, Bryon,” the man said as he approached the bonfire.

“Thorben?” Bryon said nervously and surprisingly as the last time that he had seen Thorben, had been many years ago. Bryon said that he was crazy and that he never talked to him again. I am not sure what he did; Bryon did not say. Thorben pulled out a gun and had no hesitation to kill the people around Bryon. Bryon fell to the ground in fear. 

“Cover yourself in their blood,” Thorben said as he pointed the gun at Bryon.

“What?” 

“I said to cover yourself in their blood!” Thorben said as he raised his voice. Bryon then covered himself in blood as he had no choice. Thorben then pulled out another gun and threw the one he used to Bryon’s feet. 

“Pick it up,” Thorben said. 

“Why are you doing this?”

“Just pick up the gun!” Thorben raised his voice again. Bryon then picked up the gun and Thorben left on his boat. Bryon dropped the gun and fell to his knees. He never thought that he would witness something like this in his life. The police came a few minutes after Thorben left not even knowing that he was there. The police thought that Bryon had committed the murders and then brought him in although Bryon confessed that it was not him. Whenever I got into this business, I never thought that I would get a job that had murder involved.

Yesterday, Bryon told me that he knew nothing about where Thorben could have gone but he knew the exact time and place that it happened, which is fortunate. That gave me the opportunity to see what happened through the satellites. I started my day by going to the satellite station. 

“Hello, how may I help you?” the receptionist said

“I need to see footage from the satellites. I’m doing an investigation” I said as I showed her my badge and I.D.

“Oh, Mr. Reyes. Just go through that door and you will find our computers” she said as I had called in before I came. I walked through the door and there were about twenty of these computers lined up. Some people were looking through the footage of satellites. I went to an empty seat and turned the computer on. I selected the time that Bryon had told me and zoomed to the beach. It looks like he was telling the truth. There was a boat at the beach and it took off at the same time. I then looked at where it went. “Oh no,” I said to myself. It looks like the boat exploded only three minutes after it had left the beach. I was not sure why this happened. Many ideas went through my head. Some proved Bryon to be innocent and others did not.

After leaving the satellite station, I went to the police station to check the database for a man called “Thorben Price”. It showed that he attended an insane asylum over ten years ago but was cured of his illness. He is the same age as Bryon and is living in his own house with his wife.

I went to Thorben’s house to meet him. I knocked on the door. A woman answered the door.

“Hello, are you Thorben’s wife?”

“Yes, and you are?”

“I am detective Keanu Reyes of LAPD. I am investigating the murder of four people and your husband is a possible suspect.”

“What?” she says as she sits on her porch after shutting the front door. 

“Look, I just need evidence of where he was two days ago on Thursday around six o’clock. Do you know where he was?”

“I know he went fishing at that time but he would never lie to me or do something so evil as murder.”

“Ma’am, I assure you that if he is innocent, he will not be sent to jail. Now I just have a few more questions.”

“No. I won’t answer any more of these stupid questions. I know that he is innocent. Now go away.” she says as she starts to head for the door “Wait Ma’am, can I at least meet your husband?” I said but she shut the door without answering. I then thought of my next plan. 

I went to the neutral judge to ask for a warrant to search Thorben’s house. This is my last idea since the crime scene has already been searched for all physical evidence, I’ve checked the database, and I have asked my only lead of his whereabouts. I was able to obtain the warrant with all of the information that I have given the judge.

I am back at Thorben’s house again and I knock on his door. His wife opens it. 

“Why are you here?”

“I’ve come back with a warrant. Ma’am may I please see Thorben?”

“Thorben isn’t here.”

“Where is he?”

“I am not sure. After I came back in from talking to you yesterday, I noticed that he was gone. He hasn’t been back since.”

This is not good. He is a possible suspect and now he is nowhere to be found. “May I at least come in to look for evidence?”

“Yes, come in.”

I walk in and it looks like a normal neat house. “Do you know if he owned a gun like this one?” I said as I showed Mrs. Price a picture of the murder weapon. “Yes, he had one of those. He always carries it with him for safety,” she replied. This adds more to the evidence. 

“Do you know if he had two of them?”

“I am not sure, but he might have another. He is a man of precautions.”

This helps me out greatly and now I have everything that I need. I then look at my watch and look back to Mrs. Price, “I better be going. I have some other things that I need to do today, Thank you.” 

I went to check the airport databases for any tickets that were purchased by Thorben and found that he bought two tickets at the Los Angeles International Airport. I am confused about why he bought two tickets. I think he has already escaped because departure has already happened. I guess this one is out of my hands now because I only focus on national crimes. I sent everything that I knew to the international investigators.

A few days later they sent me a message that he never arrived at his destination. This was very odd. I went back to his house and knocked on his door. His wife opened the door but this time she looked as if something was wrong. 

“Has your husband come back yet?”

“He never left. He was outside watering the plants when he had a heart attack.”

“Is he alright?”

“He died before I found him.”

“I am sorry for your loss. We found that he bought two tickets to Italy last week. Do you know anything about this?”

“Italy?” she says. “That is the country that we wanted to visit before we died”

“So that explains why there were two”

“Yes, that was our most favorite country. I wish we could have seen it together.” she starts to tear up and grabs her tissues.

“Your husband sounded like a good man”

“He definitely was. We met when we were twenty-five and have been in love ever since. That is why I told you that he didn’t commit those crimes. It's because I have learned to trust him more than anyone in my life.”

“There will be better days, Mrs. Price.”

“Thank you, Mr. Reyes”

I went to go see Bryon again.

“I’m sorry Bryon. I couldn’t prove that you are innocent.”

“What? Did you find Thorben?”

“Yes, I found Thorben but he died of a heart attack before I got the chance to speak to him. There just wasn’t enough evidence.”

His face clouded over. “But there was so much that I wanted to do before I died. There must be something else you can do.”

“I’m sorry Bryon, I don’t believe there is anything else that I can do. I know this kind of work and I have done everything there is to do. With the suspect dead we can’t do any more investigation.”

Bryon realizes that he cannot be saved and asks, “May I hug you, Keanu?”

“Sure”

I unhooked his handcuffs from the table and embraced him with his arms underneath mine. He still had the handcuffs on so he could not give me a full hug. 

“You were one of the kindest men that I have ever known, Keanu. I hope we’ll see each other again in the afterlife.” 

He pulled away from me quickly and before I knew it, he had taken my gun and shot it. That’s the first time I have failed someone and the last time I would ever do so again.