I was planning on posting all of the story ideas before I went to college, but that didn’t work out. So here’s the third of the five main stories I made in high school. This is one of my favorites. I feel like it’s on a different level compared to Crossroads and Next Day.
Summary: June Finley is 23 years old and has a job at a newspaper company. However, he is also one of the leaders of an underground information network called the Black Alley. There is a small group within it under June’s section that is basically a group of friends that June wants to look out for since they’re young. A new employee is hired at the newspaper company who is put under June’s wing, and a new member is added to the small group under June’s section; both of them want to know more about June. The story gradually unveils what June is doing and his motives for doing it.
Story so far:
Thomas is a new employee at a newspaper company called The Gazette Report, and the Chief (aka the boss of the company) partners him with June since they are similar in age. At lunch time, Thomas talks about the Black Alley. To the public, the Black Alley is a rumor of an underground organization that uses various methods to gather information although its existence is doubted.
Eli is a new member of the Black Alley, and Mia shows him the ropes. They skip school for a day to interview the company Diatech Inc (tentative name) rumored to be making corrupt deals. They claim they’re from the newspaper club. Eventually Mia resorts to plan B and goes downstairs to interview someone else. She finds a woman named Rebecca who is happy to meet up later. She is an accountant and mentions her first mentor was Sarah Finley. Mia gives June Rebecca’s information.
June also meets a woman who asks about his progress in his research. June says that Daniel is not suspicious. The woman will look into the connection between Sarah and Diatech while June looks into Rebecca. She warns him not to let the other leaders of the Black Alley become suspicious of him.
Eli meets the twins Leon and Leah who are also part of the Black Alley under June’s section. They also meet up with June and they eat cake to celebrate Eli as a new member. There is another member who could not show up. The next day Mia takes Eli to meet the member-Carol. Carol is an actress/singer who performs in musicals. Michael also enters the room and is introduced as June and Carol’s childhood friends although he is not part of the Black Alley. Michael holds a bit of a grudge towards June, and Eli and Mia are determined to find out why.
Thomas had repeatedly asked June if he wanted to hang out after work. June felt guilty for always declining, so he decided to accept for once. Thomas is really happy and gets drunk, so June takes a cab to bring Thomas back to his apartment. June can’t find Thomas’s keys, but Thomas’s neighbor appears; it is the Chief who has a spare key to Thomas’s place. The Chief had helped Thomas move into the city; Thomas kept losing his keys so he made the Chief a copy. The Chief talked to June that it’d be nice if June opened up to Thomas since all the other employees are much older in age.
The next day, June meets up with the other leaders of the Black Alley. They summarize their dealings starting with the client that involved more than one district and thus more than one leader. Basically, Diatech Inc is testing the abilities of the Black Alley and looking to see if they could possibly use the Black Alley. Diatech Inc doesn’t yet know that the Black Alley caught on and so Chris (one of the leaders) suggested they use it to their advantage. Daniel (another leader) said that the Black Alley can only provide people with information; they cannot use it.
Backstory:
Sarah Finley met Daniel Xu in high school. In college, she studied to become an accountant.
Chris quit working at a company that was corrupt. Chris decided to become a whistleblower and leak information to the press about his company. However, the news company Chris sent the information to was working with the corrupt company. Chris was threatened, and the company made his life difficult. He met Sarah who talked about the incident with Rebecca. One of Chris’ superiors became the head of Diatech; Rebecca decided to work for Diatech to know more about the head, so that Chris’ efforts wouldn’t go to waste.
When Sarah was 30, she quit her job as an accountant to pursue being a children’s book illustrator. Two years later, she helped found the Black Alley.
When June was 10 and Sarah was 37, June ran away from home. He met Sarah when he tried to hide in an alley for a night. Sarah offered June to stay in her apartment for the night and food to eat. June went with her although he was suspicious. By the morning, June had warmed up to Sarah and accepted her proposal of staying with her since he refused to go home. June hadn’t told Sarah his name, so Sarah gave him the name “June” after the current month.
Sarah asked Shirley for help in adopting June. Shirley was in charge of an orphanage, and Shirley made fake papers that said that June came from her orphanage. Daniel was still a close friend of Sarah’s, so she asked him to help her take care of June. Daniel helped June with his homework and even taught him Mandarin since June showed interest in learning different languages.
Sarah invited Michael to come over since he was close to June’s age. Michael had met Sarah when he ran away from home; unlike June, Michael returned to his family. Since then, Michael visited Sarah. Michael became an older brother figure to June.
June and Michael met Carol a few years later. June had gotten into a fight, and he and Michael returned home with injuries. June wanted to learn how to fight properly and looked for someone to teach him. He heard of an upperclassman who was great at boxing. He went to Carol to ask her to teach him. They became friends, and Carol became an older sister figure to June.
When June was 18, Sarah died in a car accident. He found her will and something seemed a bit odd. In her will, Sarah said that she passed on the title of one of the leaders of the Black Alley to June. Sarah had never mentioned that she wanted June to succeed her; instead, Sarah encouraged June to attend college. One of the members under Sarah’s section talked to June and gave him the idea that Sarah’s death wasn’t an accident. June gave up going to college to get a job at a newspaper company and succeed Sarah. He uses his position to have access to information that might lead him to knowing the truth behind Sarah’s death.
Additional plot info:
June knows that there is information he cannot get with his position as one of the leaders of the Black Alley. He becomes aware that the Chief has access to some of that information. June cherishes the atmosphere at the newspaper company, and it provides him a sense of safety and security. Although he is reluctant, he reveals to the Chief that he is one of the leaders of the Black Alley. June proposes that they can trade information. This leads June to reveal his identity to the rest of the newspaper company.
At the same time, Anju and Chris want to know June’s opinion on the Black Alley’s policy on not doing anything with the information themselves. With the information June receives from the Chief, June thinks that Chris and Anju are the ones responsible for Sarah’s death; however, June ends up in the hospital, and Chris and Anju accuse June for wanting to change the Black Alley, which is actually their intention.
June is not in a clear state of mind and escapes the hospital the moment he wakes up. He goes to his apartment to make sure his research on finding the truth behind Sarah’s death was safe. He was stopped by Michael. When June wakes up again, he is in Thomas’ apartment. June fights with Michael and comes to realize his own weakness and how it affects those around him. June accepts that Sarah’s death was just an accident, but he is adamant on stopping Chris and Anju from changing the Black Alley from its original purpose even if he can sympathize with them. June complains about Michael to Thomas. June tells Thomas and the Chief about what he had been doing with the Black Alley.
Since June has calmed down and is no longer delusional about Sarah’s death, he goes to Daniel. Daniel tells June that they would have a discussion/trial about Chris and Anju’s claim that June wants to change the Black Alley. June only asks Daniel to keep the trial fair, and Daniel sees that June seems to be better when it concerns Sarah.
June’s research doesn’t go to waste, and he uses it to support his claims. He says that he doesn’t care if he loses his status as one of the leaders of the Black Alley as long as Chris and Anju do not get away with what they plan. He accuses Chris and Anju of wanting to change the Black Alley and that they even wanted June to help them. Eventually Anju reveals that they had changed Sarah’s will to say that June would succeed Sarah. This was so they could have another person support their plan. Anju reveals this because she felt guilty for taking advantage of June when he was still mourning over Sarah’s death. However, they are not responsible for Sarah’s death since it was just a car accident. Chris and Anju are exiled out of the Black Alley. Chris wanted to get revenge and tried to get June to get hit by a car; Anju saves June and gets hit instead (not sure yet if she survives or not).
Characters:
June Finley
Age: 23 years old
Ethnicity: Half-Colombian and half-caucasian
He is one of the leaders of the Black Alley and works at a newspaper company called The Gazette Report.
Carol Lambert
Age: 26 years old
Ethnicity: German
She is a member of the Black Alley under June’s section. She is June’s childhood friend and older sister figure.
Michael Ferrin
Age: 24 years old
Ethnicity: Italian
He helps work at his parents’ hospital while studying to become a doctor. He is June’s childhood friend and older brother figure.
Mia Faulkner
Age: 17 years old
Ethnicity: Half-Filipino and half-English
She is a member of the Black Alley under June’s section.
Eli Harrison
Age: 17 years old
Ethnicity: Caucasian
He is a member of the Black Alley under June’s section.
Leon Cisneros
Age: 15 years old
Ethnicity: Brazilian
He is a member of the Black Alley under June’s section. He is Leah’s older twin.
Leah Cisneros
Age: 15 years old
Ethnicity: Brazilian
She is a member of the Black Alley under June’s section. She is Leon’s younger twin.
Thomas Williams
Age: 22 years old
Ethnicity: Caucasian
He works at The Gazette Report and becomes a close friend to June.
Steven West (aka Chief)
Age: 37 years old
Ethnicity: African American
He is the head of The Gazette Report.
Sarah Finley
Age: 50 years old (if was still alive)
Ethnicity: Scottish
She is one of the founders of the Black Alley and is June’s foster mother. She worked as an accountant before becoming a children’s book illustrator.
Daniel Xu
Age: 50 years old
Ethnicity: Chinese
He is one of the founders of the Black Alley. He is close friends with Sarah and helped raise June. He works as a lawyer.
Shirley Reynolds
Age: 48 years old
Ethnicity: Irish
She is one of the founders of the Black Alley. She is an owner of an orphanage.
Iris Jalloh
Age: 40 years old
Ethnicity: African American
She is one of the founders of the Black Alley.
Ron Shepard
Age: 44 years old
Ethnicity: Scottish
He is one of the founders of the Black Alley and works as a librarian.
Anju Malla
Age: 30 years old
Ethnicity: Indian
She is one of the leaders of the Black Alley.
Chris Coleman
Age: 46 years old
Ethnicity: Irish
He is one of the founders of the Black Alley.
Minah Cho
Age: 24 years old
Ethnicity: Korean
She is Carol’s personal assistant and eventual girlfriend.
Rebecca Rice
Age: 44 years old
Ethnicity: German
She used to work with Sarah when Sarah was an accountant. Now she works at Diatech to learn about its corrupt history.
Originally the story didn't have Sarah as a main figure. She still died but the story was not focused on her death. Instead, it was about June being one of the leaders of the Black Alley and how he wanted to use the information from the Black Alley for his personal goals. Basically, his intentions are the same as Chris and Anju's intentions in the current version of the story. In the end of the first version of the story, June is killed. Fortunately in the current version, June gets a happy ending.
