Rookie PI Chronicles - Take #1

As a private investigator trainee, North Carolina's requirements ask rookies to meet certain standards in order to become fully licensed. A total of 3000 hours is required, and based on experience and education you may be granted anywhere from several hundred hours up to a couple thousand. The picture above is not far from what my get-away vehicle looks like, plus, it is my own vehicle.

My story begins with my first surveillance. Getting into position to surveil my Subject, another unidentified party who I wasn't watching, flashed their lights onto my camera - which reflected. The way this party positioned their vehicle and headlights lit me up despite my incognito disguise. I stayed still for a few minutes until they began driving towards me. Next thing I knew, it was time to RUN!

The one thing that burned me was the speeding away, peeling out. There was about 250-500 feet from the surveillance area where I was crouched down. I didn't have much time, knowing they were in hot pursuit and I had to put distance between us to hide my vehicle. I got into my car as quick as I could, sped out of there, trying to go the speed limit, making quick turns to lose them.

Just as I turned to hide behind a group of buildings, I waited for about five minutes, my heart racing. Looking in my rear view mirror, there they were. They pulled up in the driveway.

"They got me." It was a nauseous, sinking feeling in my gut. My identity had been compromised - I found out later that they had the color, make, model and license plate of my vehicle. Later, I heard, they saw I was a young, white, female. And now, this person is looking for me wanting to know what I saw.

Busted.

Burned.

Fear has a way of changing how you see things. More importantly, it changes the way you think and make decisions. In dire circumstances, or when there is chaos and uncertainty, I see how my behavior reflects/mirrors the situation I am in. For better or worse, grow through the challenges as best you can until you can reach homeostasis.

(This is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, business or places, events or incidents are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.)