7

I got on the bus when I got to the station and made myself present at the office.

I was hoping I wouldn't see Jordon because he was always chatty plus I didn't want to go and cover the story he wanted me to but luck wasn't on my side that afternoon.

"Anderson!" He called when he entered the newsroom almost running to where I was.

I didn't bother to put my bag on my desk because I could tell from his pronunciation of my surname that he wasn't in a good mood today.

I timidly smiled murmuring a good afternoon but he interrupted by snapping his fingers twice.

"No time for formalities. Pick up your notes and pen, the crew is waiting for you in the van." I nodded with my lips thinned.

"And don't forget your tag." He yelled waiting for me to follow him.

I picked up everything and groaned silently. "I love your hair by the way." He complimented making me smile, I muttered a thanks as we approached the van.

I spotted Gerald; the head of the technical crew who waved and I reciprocated while listening to Jordon.

"There's a crime scene, said to have happened adjacent the mayor's office, I need you to go in there and report everything to us live on coverage for the mid news." I nodded and took my seat in the van.

"Oh I forgot to tell you, Nat won't be making it for the evening news so you'll have to anchor." I smiled and nodded again before closing the door.

It took us almost an hour to get there and due to huge traffic, we had an hour and half to get everything prepared and set for the show.

Gerald manhandled the two cameras as I looked for suitable place for us to set up. I showed the police my tag and he made me go through and damn! Things were nasty.

I waved at Gerald signaling him to bring in the cameras and set up where I told him to.

I left him to go and speak to the policemen who gave me the information I required.

I spotted the mayor but was surrounded by other media crew and made my way to the detective on the case who was seriously assessing everything her eyes could see.

Before I could show her my tag she beat me to it.

"From ZBN?" I muttered a yes and she nodded clenching her jaws.

" Good, I can trust you. I'm going to give you every information we have so far, well not everything because we're still trying to figure out what went on here but from what we have gathered so far, we know that.." I started jotting down everything she was saying not forgetting to record.

It was really important and I knew Jordon would definitely ask for it so I did the needful and took some shots of the things she made available for the news.

I thanked her after getting her name and her position before moving to the mayor who looked distraught with his hands running through his messy hair.

I approached him and showed him my card and he gave me a half smile.

"Let's go somewhere quiet." I followed him as he entered his car to answer some few questions I had for him.

I could see he was scared because this has never happened to him even in his first tenure.

He run his fingers through his hair again and asked of my name.

"I'm Keturah." I smiled sadly and he hummed.

"My kids want to be like you when they grow up, it's a good job but I'm mostly scared for them." He beamed when he started talking about his kids.

At least he smiled and I totally agreed with what he was saying, being a journalist was very risky.

"How old are they sir?" I asked stopping the recorder, "seven and five respectively".

"Then I'm sure they'll change their minds pretty soon. I wanted to work in the bank at their age but look at me now?" He laughed at my response and nodded, "maybe you're right".

We ended the conversation and I went back to Gerald who had everything ready.

I checked my time to see we had roughly twenty minutes left. I went back to the van to neatly dress my hair again, wore my earphones and tested the microphone to see if it was working. I revised the notes I had taken and waited for Jordon's call.

He did within some few minutes and I started reporting everything we had covered so far.

There were some few questions from the studio but I answered them taking my time to elaborate since this was a catchy story and obviously people were watching.

Within thirty minutes we were done. We moved everything to the van again thanking Gerald and our driver of course when we saw the media house in sight.

My phone vibrated in my hands and I smiled at my mom's text.

"You did well, when are you coming home?" I texted back to let her know I'd be anchoring the evening news but she didn't reply.

I knew she wouldn't, she wasn't really used to these technological gadgets and I knew she'd watch me on tele this evening.

When I got down from the van, Jordon was in good mood. He embraced me saying "You did perfect, I can't believe you're a still in school." He complimented me over and over again as I smiled.

I loved reporting and anchoring, especially anchoring but sometimes I was just too lazy to go out there and cover a story.

I walked into the newsroom to see my colleagues all up and clapping. I smiled sheepishly trying to understand why they were clapping.

I've been reporting in this house since forever but never received a standing ovation.

"You don't get it do you?" Jordon asked and I slowly shook my head.

"Out of all the reports we were monitoring from other media houses, ours was solid and authentic as compared to theirs." He answered and I instantly remembered what Officer Cadbury said, 'Good I trust you.'

I now get it. We had different stories from the other media houses. I smiled and clasping my hands.

This was good. Real good for the company. Our viewership would rise again beating our previous record.

I grinned and shook the hands of my colleagues as I got ready for the evening news.

I made a bee line to the washroom and sighed contently, I did my business and went back to the newsroom. I picked up my phone hoping to see a message from Darien but no, so far nothing.

I sighed and went to the producer for the evening news.

He wanted to brief me way before time about how today's programme was going to be.

We spent some few minutes and then I walked to Jordon's office. I sat down and waited for him as he was on a phone with someone.

"It's good you came in here, I need you to write a short script on the crime scene you covered this afternoon but from a different angle." I scrunched my brows looking at him.

"You know we can't read out some dead news. I want you to use the recordings you have, bring out something different and original. We need people to be intrigued by the story at least for a while."

I nodded and left for the newsroom ready to transcribe something down.