The Connection

I was just another average Tuesday for Tristan, same old, nothing was out of the ordinary. He was heading towards his local cafe after class as usual. The sky was a bit cloudy, it seemed like he was in the midst of summer and fall, days were getting shorter and colder, the cold breeze was growing the later the day gets, so Tristan decided to stop quickly and but on a jacket from his backpack and his hood on. 

Tristan was walking on the sidewalk, headphones in listening to some R&B, now off his school campus and getting near the cafe, but noticed police cars and sirens speeding past him, much more than expected, it must be something serious. Distracted by the police cars, he bumped into another person by accident, causing them to drop their books. The books scattered around the sideway all in front of the diner, the owner scolding them for the mess, not caring.  Tristan immediately apologizing to the person he bumped into and the owner of the business, then helping them gather their things, they then meet face to face, Tristan realizing that it was a girl from his school, Claire. They both quickly pick up the books from the street  

Claire was apart of Tristan’s Law class, they weren’t friends outside of school but have talked before in class. Recently, they had a class project and presentation, where they had to choose one national US event in the last 100 years and present it to the class. Tristan decided to do the project by himself, which was quite odd since everyone else in the class was able to pick small groups to do the project together. Tristan chose the D.B Cooper HIjacking as his topic, a man who hijacked a commercial airline, demanded money, and once he was given the money, jumped out of the plane to never be seen again. While, Claire and her group chose the story of Richard Jewell, who found a pipe bomb during the 1996 Summer Olympics, help evacuate people, praised as a hero until the FBI labeled him as the prime suspect of the bombing. One case about the disappearance of a suspect criminal, and the other about a wrongfully accused person.         

He apologizes again for his mistake, while she insists that it was purely an accident. After picking up the books, he asks her to come to the cafe with him so that he can buy her something to compensate for his mistake. Claire agrees and both of them walk together to the cafe, briefly sharing with each other. When they arrive at the cafe, they step in line, Tristan already knowing what to get orders and then lets Claire look over and decide what she would like. Quickly greeting his cafe cashier and workers, before notices most of the people looking at a TV, a news broadcast is on the television about an explosion that occurred at the national bank in his city. It must’ve been way so many police cars were speeding past him earlier, Tristan thought to himself. Everyone in the cafe was fixated onto the breaking news, with millions of the bank’s reserve stolen and millions more from property damage. The newscast then displays the only surveillance video they have, which exposes one of the heist member’s face, who looks nearly identical to Tristan. Tristen turns around to tell Claire about the news, who was looking at the menu. Tristan doesn’t realize the resemblance until he sees the face of the suspect on the TV and his face’s reflection line up next to each other on the glass display of the cafe. 

The shock of his realization makes him freeze at first, making Claire confused. Filled with panic, he rushes out of the cafe, Clarie worried and confused follows after him, trying to follow and chase him down. Tristan covering his face runs, trying to be discrete, Claire continues to follow him, struggling to catch up to him, They run and run until Tristan makes it to his house, running into his garage. Clarie sneaking behind him sees him entire his garage, manages to trigger the sensor of the garage before it is able to close completely. Tristan still in a panic, is shocked by Claire being at there, grabs her arm and pulls her in before closing the garage again. He nervously asks why she followed him, with her explain the situation from her point of view, how he suddenly just rushed out of the cafe and ran away without saying a single word.