Post #6 - The Genie

Blasi sat in his bed late at midnight as he struggled to sleep. He kept thinking about his father and why he was so preoccupied with money. With his hacking skills, Blasi had an unlimited amount of money at his fingertips and not a cent seemed to satisfy the hole in his heart. He wanted friends, he wanted to get out, but most of all, he wanted his family back. Just then, he saw a bright green light out his window. “That was weird,” he thought, as the light brought back memories of when he used to watch that old genie cartoon with his father. “Genie,” he said to himself, “If you’re out there, I wish to have my family back.” He then chuckled to himself, a man of coding and algorithms wishing to a genie, and then fell asleep.

Light flooded through his windows as Blasi woke up with a new sense of energy. He didn’t know why he felt this way, but he could tell it was going to be a good day. He made himself breakfast and suddenly decided he was going to go out for a walk: something he never did. Luca took the long staircase down to the lobby and walked out of the large double doors into a beautiful day. He took the long walk to Yelsnag park and back, admiring each and every natural detail along the way. As he got back to his apartment, he was surprised to find his door was open. He cracked it open, and found Pierre Leclerc sitting in his living room. “Luca,” he said, “I have something you’ve been looking for.” Moments later, Blasi’s father stepped out in front of him.

Post #5 - The Rat

Anna Evita’s intro and Violet Cortez’s outro were mediocre in Luca Blasi’s opinion. However, Ryan Lochte’s speech hit Blasi like a truck. Despite how washed up he might be, the speech held aspects of personal significance to Luca. “Family is the most important thing in life,” said Ryan, “they’re the ones who help you through tough times, provide you with good times, and gave you the greatest gift of all: life.” He thought back to the days before his father had kicked him out. After his mom died, they were the only friends each other had and now that they were apart, neither of them had any. Ryan continued, “After my incident, I had tension with my family, and coming together and ending that tension was the most helpful thing for me in that low point of my life.” Luca heard this and then saw the rat run across the stage. “Sure my dad is a rat,” he thought, “but that’s nothing a little cheese and quality time can’t fix.” He then headed back to his apartment to begin the search for his father.

Ryan’s speech was so close to Luca’s apartment that he could still hear him talking when he got back. He knew Lochte had gotten a bit too into his speech and how now gone 30 minutes longer than proposed. He was sad as he wanted to hear coach K speak to remind him of the times where him and his father had watched the Duke games, but just like coach K, those times were gone. Luca knew him and his father would never be the same, but as he opened his laptop he missed the sense of adventure his father had given him. Sure he was hard on him, but he had pushed Luca outside of his comfort zone, away from the screen, and into the world. Luca then shut his laptop and went back out into the street.

Post #4 - The Aftermath

The storm had ravaged the city. One of Luca’s windows had cracked from the hail as he was cowering beneath his covers; he hated storms. When he heard it die down, he realized how bad it was from the sounds. He could hear car alarms blaring, babies crying, fires starting. He then heard another strange sound: a song. ““Call me Mr. Rattlebone. Holy Ghost who haunts your home. They don't know you like I know you. Call me Mr. Rattlebone,” the haunting tune went. Luca felt a shiver down his spine as he heard it. He opened his laptop and began to hack the traffic cameras to see what was happening on the streets, if the cameras were even still in tact. However, just before he broke the firewall, he had a change in thought. He had no idea was possessed him, maybe the creepy song, but he knew he had to go down to the street and help those who were in need.

The damage was worse than he imagined. Glass littered the street, cars were broken and on fire, and people were sitting around on the curbs looking more worn out than the buildings around them. Luca spotted a girl he recognized as he struggled to remember her name. “Hello, miss?” he said to her through the smoke and debris. “Are you ok?” he asked. “Yeah,” she replied, “that song though… I’ve heard it before… trouble is coming.” As she said this she got a terrified look on her face and ran off. “Odd,” Luca thought to himself. He then spotted a man cleaning was looked like blood of of his hands. He approached him and remembered him to be Master Gooway. “Master Gooway?” he said hesitantly as he approached him. “You here the song too, right?” he said. “Yeah…” “The change is coming, but for you, it already came,” said Oogway as he walked away as Anna had done. Luca took into account what he had said and then wondered if people would always be this weird when he left his apartment.

Post #3 - The Nightmare

     Wind, snow, and hail were the weather conditions that his dreams were comprised of. Most people would consider being bogged down by extreme weather as a burden. Luca however, saw this as an excuse to continue to hunker down; it was his element. As he shifted his glasses back onto his face once again, the glare from the email illuminated his face in the dark room. “Why should I help Leclerc?” he thought to himself. He knew perfectly of Leclerc's skills; he was a master at tracking down anyone and anything. This got him thinking and he was soon clacking on his keyboard with eagerness. “Leclerc, I will agree to help you on one condition:” the email read, “you help me find my father.” As he sent the email, he heard the sirens. He looked outside and couldn’t see 10 feet in front of him with all the sleet and condensation on his window. He ran back to his computer and with a few clicks he was into the city’s traffic cameras. People everywhere were running for their cars and shelter. The weather was scary, however, what scared Luca the most was imminent event of resorting down to the storm shelter with the other residents of the building. Storms: No problem. Social encounters with no wifi: nervous ticks.

     He recognized he had little time to help Leclerc. He the dove into everything about Mr. Evans he could find and he may have found a little too much. Evans was in deep financial trouble. The whole building knew he was a bit of a “penny pincher” but Luca was shocked at his record. Over $300,000 in debt, Evans was stuck. With debt like that, comes desperation, which Luca also encountered in his search. The man was a gambler who had been to the closest casino at least 35 times as far as Luca could tell. The joint was owned by a man named Big Dosh who had a reputation for enforcing payments to his casino. Luca had his prime suspect. As he flipped the tab to the building’s cameras, he saw the rest of the residents beginning to retreat downstairs. “This is it,” he thought as he felt a shudder through his spine. His nightmare had come true.

Post #2 - The Email

Blasi woke up to the sound of drunken arguing as he fumbled for his glasses. “The dog was talking I swear!” he heard when he opened his blinds to expose his minimalistic apartment. He was never a talker, however that was his motivation for making his pet Husky talk at 11 years old; he decided to go on a walk outside to pick some intoxicated minds. He put on his silk suit, combed his hair, and began the trek downstairs.

The group saw him as he approached them and became startled as men in suits were generally not the nicest to them if they happened to acknowledge them at all. “Hey I know you,” said coco as she slurred the words at him, “you’re that computery guy in 6E.” “Uh, ya that’s me,” Blasi replied as he tried to hide the feelings of confusion and excitement that someone knew who he was. “Why do you where that suit if you just sit inside all day?” Ollie interjected as he eyed Luca’s expensive silk. “Do you know who Deion Sanders is?” he replied. “Of course! One of the greatest NFL players of all time!” “Well, I’m no athlete, but he had a motto that I choose to agree with: ‘If you look good, you feel good. If you feel good, you play good. If you play good, they pay good.’”

“That’s a bit cocky coming from you,” said Coco as she cracked a grin. “Yes but as you can hear my speech is a bit flawed and I look like your typical geek so, I have to make up for it somewhere,” replied Blasi. “By the way,” he continued, “My dog could talk.” “SEEEEEE!” Ollie screamed. “But not in the way your thinking, I just taught my dog various simple phrases that he could then use to tell me what he wants.” “Oh,” Ollie said disappointedly, “This dog was speakin purebred English!” “Yes that is not possible,” Luca said. “I have work to do it was nice talking to you all,” he said. They all said their blurred goodbyes as Blasi returned to his apartment.

As Blasi returned, he opened his computer and saw a notification. He opened it and read the following:

“ Dear Mr. Blasi,

I need your help.

Pierre Leclerc”

Post #1 - The Party

     As Luca Blasi sat on his computer in his dark spacious loft, he heard the bumping music of Griffin Crimson’s party above his head. He always thought it was funny how Crimson always flaunted his wealth for the world to see like he was so special. Blasi had made more than him in his life, yet he never told anyone. However, the fact he never told anyone isn’t solely due to his humble nature; it was also may be his lack of friends. Being born with high functioning autism, it was always hard for him to get out and be social. Instead of making friends, the obsessive and ritualistic nature of Blasi’s illness fueled him to pursue another interest: coding. From a young age, his teacher saw him as a prodigy with a computer. By the age of 19, he had skipped college completely and had built the firewall for over 200 companies. Despite this success, Blasi became disinterested with the corporate life. He wanted more excitement, more danger. He became a hacker.

     The party continued, as Luca pushed his glasses back onto his face as his autistic tick once again slid them down onto the point of his nose. As he sat back in his silk suit, he heard his phone ring from across the room. He knew it was George as that was the only person in his life who he considered somewhat of a friend. “Luca,” said a somber sounding George, “Mr. Evans has just been found murdered in the parking deck.” Luca stopped for a moment as this was unexpected news; nothing interesting ever happened at Pointe Place is his world. He replied, “That’s horrible, thank you for telling me,” before hanging up; their interactions were always short as George knew he wasn’t keen socially. For some reason Blasi thought about his father as he heard of Mr. Evans’s death. “Would I care?” he thought to himself. As a wealthy Swiss banker, Luca’s father never had time to show his son any compassion or sympathy for that matter. After moving out, he vowed to help people like himself deal with people like his dad, and what better way to do that than to steal from the very intuition that stole his father away from him. With each stroke of the keyboard, Blasi grew one step closer to his final goal: hacking his father’s bank.