Alon H.

It’s a hot spring day, and in between the birds chirping outside of the New Glabe Gazette office comes a click-click! and a frustrated voice ringing through.

‘It’s the rule of thirds, like this,’ Alon exclaims, tapping at zyr camera, ‘not the rule of whatever-fraction-you-decide-is-fun-that-day! Get it together.’ Ze stares back expectantly at Mordecai, the newly-hired photographer intern, who trembles in response. Ze rubs zyr eyes. ‘Look, just—go take a break. We’ll reconvene after half an hour.’ Mordecai gulps, nods, and runs into the office—probably to take shelter with the other photography intern, Julien, who’s being introduced to the Gazette’s file management system by Marty. Alon sighs; while Julien seems to be doing well, Mordecai might need more training than ze’d originally expected.

Ze spends a moment in the silence and sunshine. Then ze heads back in to get some coffee.

Alon’s taking zyr first sip of coffee in the break room when ze notices Azalea. ‘Hi Alon,’ she greets brightly. Ze nods at her briefly in acknowledgement, before ze gulps down his entire cup. Azalea winces. ‘Long day?’ Alon’s throat is burning and ze grabs a napkin to wipe zyr lips before responding. ‘You could say that.’

They exchange pleasantries and stories of their respective departments, Azalea with her latest layout for the paper, and Alon with zyr new interns. ‘How is Politics doing, by the way?’ Azalea asks as Alon refills zyr coffee cup.

‘A bit rocky at the moment,’ ze admits. ‘I was hoping for Julien to accompany me once election season comes up, but she’s pretty set on working with Environment.’ Alon sips zyr coffee, letting the bitterness linger. ‘She’s really into lemur conservation. I wouldn’t usually complain much, but since Esme and Laurentius left, Politics is much smaller. I know Sienna’s doing her best to recruit more writers, but it’s just been a lot.’

Azalea frowns. ‘I’m sorry to hear that.’ Alon waves it away. ‘Don’t be. Comes with the job.’

‘Are we expecting any big headlines from you?’

Alon purses zyr lips, thinking about the article ze’s been writing on Henry Montague Montgomery. Alon’s last investigation into the Owner had given zem a lead into something that could finally expose zyr father, and ze’s slowly building a long expose that will make sure it’ll get it done once and for all. At the very least, it will be justice for zyr mom—and for every person who’s suffered from his policy changes.

Ze smiles. ‘Soon.’

As soon as Alon heads back outside to meet with Mordecai, zyr phone vibrates with a notification. Victor Anderson has started a new livestream. Alon’s not quite convinced about Victor’s whole ‘ghost’ thing, but ze has a feeling there’s a story somewhere begging to be told. Ze reads the title of the livestream: 👻👻 GHOSTS CONFIRMED IN PARLIAMENT. ANTI-PUZZLE BIAS CONTINUES 🚫🧩🚫🧩.

Well, Alon thinks to zemself as ze pockets zyr phone, the spring sun once again hitting zyr face as ze approaches a nervous Mordecai. I suppose there’s a grain of truth to every story. We just have to find it.

– written by Miz