Framing shapes perception. I’ll focus your brand’s intent.
Adina sat on the black marble headstone. She leaned her elbows on her knees and stared at the pile of red roses strewn on that mound of earth. They’d shrivelled and rotted. Clumps of mud were dangerously close to staining the white leather of her runners. An ominous wind whispered her secret as it rustled the leaves of those soaring maples that had assembled.
Dravan was gone, and she felt nothing.
Adina looked up, startled, as she watched a large crow fly overhead and into the distance, perhaps to escape the rain that had begun to fall again. It would have been a refreshing summer shower she might have welcomed — in another time. She never noticed the approaching footsteps until they were upon her.
“Enjoying the rain?” Detective McCloud’s voice boomed between the fat water droplets that pattered against the gravestones.
“Yes… I mean, no. I’m leaving for New Hampshire tomorrow to visit my sister. I was saying goodbye to him.”
Detective McCloud opened his umbrella and welcomed Adina with a quick wave of his wrist; she obliged and huddled under the canopy he’d provided. She was sheltered yet felt uncomfortable as he spoke.
“It’s such an absolute coincidence that Dravan fell off that cliff where he did. That trail you were jogging on has very few danger spots; he tumbled in the only prohibited area. It was marked and blocked off everywhere by warning signs. You guys didn’t see them as you ran?”
This question had become repetitive and now began to irritate Adina.
“He was ahead of me. I’ve told you already.”
“Yes, you have. What I can’t figure out is how an experienced runner like Dravan could have slipped from such an obviously dangerous path.”
“I warned him not to go, but he wouldn’t listen. He was stubborn.”
Detective McCloud paused, looked at Adina and slowly nodded. “Walk you back to your car?”
They walked. The detective spoke again.
“I’ll need your address in case anything else comes up.”
“Sure, but you could have called me. Why are you here?”
“That’s a very good question. The autopsy revealed something interesting. Dravan died from his fall, but he was also high as a kite. Did you see him take any pills that day, Rohypnol? Ecstasy perhaps?”
“I don’t know if he took drugs. He never told me, and I never noticed, and it’s too late to ask him, isn’t it?”
She reached her car, drew the keys out of her pocket, and impatiently waited for the detective’s reply while holding the door handle.
“That’s true. We might never know, will we?”
The gentle rain had become torrential. The skies had turned black.
Adina nodded, then hurriedly slipped into her seat, closed the door and listened to the roaring cacophony of water on metal. She watched as that detective slowly drove away, into the stygian downpour — hoping she’d never see him again.
Then she rested her forehead against the steering wheel, precisely as she’d done two weeks ago in her driveway.
The memory of those moments flashed in her head. Adina squeezed her eyes shut and recalled exactly what had happened after that…
A sharp rap of knuckles against glass had startled her. It was Dravan. He barked at her in his usual belligerent tone.
“Hey, Adina, the rain stopped. Are you going for a fucking run or not? Otherwise, I’m leaving without you.”
“Uhm… Yes, of course. I’ll get our water bottles from the fridge. Why don’t we try that park by the seashore? It’s got some impressive views to jog along,” Adina replied while stepping out of her car.
The first time Dravan had beaten her, Adina had tried to reason with him. When he struck her again, she looked for a place to hide. By the third, she promised herself she’d find a way to escape his venom. She had planned this day for months. Adina trembled as she walked into the house and towards the fridge. She reached for Dravan’s water bottle and placed his tainted cocktail firmly in his hands.
Adina had memorized the cliffside jogging route and knew freedom would finally be hers. She was absolutely certain of that.
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The Takeaway:
Framing shapes perception. Where you focus attention determines whatyour audience sees. Shift the camera, and the same story delivers an entirely different outcome.
I’ll focus that lens… and reveal your brand’s TRUE intent.
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