AND IF YOU FALL, HOLD MY HAND
Name š” Ibrahim Salim Raza
Date of Birth š” February 03, 1983 [35]
Identity š” Nonbinary & He/Him/They/Them
Orientation š” Pansexual
Hometown š” Washington D.C.Ā
Has Been in St. Clair š” 2 Years [As of 2019]
Currently Living š” Del Luna
Occupation š” Ancient History Professor at Arcadia College
OOH BABY, ITāS A LONG WAY DOWN
1. GOOD AFTERNOON, FIRST OFF I JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT THIS IS SIMPLY PROCEDURE. YOU ARENāT IN TROUBLE. WE JUST HAVE SOME QUESTIONS TO ASK, IS THAT ALRIGHT? AND BEFORE WE GET STARTED, HAS ANYONE OFFERED YOU SOMETHING TO DRINK YET? A WATER, COFFEE, OR PERHAPS A CUP OF TEA?
āNo, no, Iām fine,ā Ibrahim answered, scooting in his seat. He didnāt want to be a bother and ask for any tea, even if it was offered to him. He was certainly uncomfortable in the seat though and was hoping this entire thing would be over soon enough. He hated situations like this and any type of interviewing, and he could only hope that he didnāt like nervous right then.
2. OKAY THEN, COULD YOU PLEASE STATE YOUR NAME FOR THE RECORD? IS THAT YOUR BIRTH NAME? ANY ALIASES WE SHOULD BE AWARE OF?
He cleared his throat and nodded his head. āUrm, yes, Ibrahim Salim Raza is my birth name,ā he answered. He was used to people asking him to spell it, but they didnāt say anything else to him. āNo other names. Just Ibrahim.ā He really wanted this entire situation to be over so he could get back to his home and get to the pile of essays that were piling up on his desk.
3. NOW THEN, LETāS TALK ABOUT YOUR CHILDHOOD BRIEFLY. WHAT WAS GROWING UP LIKE FOR YOU?
Ibrahim wasnāt sure why this was relevant to anything, so he shrugged his shoulders. āI guess it was like any other normal childhood?ā he answered. āBorn and raised in Washington, D.C. and spent my time as I guess anyone else. I guess one different thing was I was always very into education and always doing my homework and studying. I didnāt do much else outsides of that.ā He wasnāt sure how else to answer the question. He didnāt have a super exciting childhood in the city and spent most of his time at home with his family or in a nearby local park with his few friends. There wasnāt exactly anything to tell.
4. AND WHAT ABOUT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR FAMILY? WERE YOU CLOSE WITH YOUR PARENTS, OR GUARDIANS? ANY SIBLINGS?
āI donāt⦠Okayā¦,ā he said, trying to figure out what to even say. He felt extremely uncomfortable and wasnāt sure why he was needing to answer any of these questions. āI may take you up on that offer for a cup of tea,ā he finally said. He waited the few minutes for the deputy to return with the cup, and he took a sip from it. It wasnāt the best tea ever, but at least it was something to sip on. āMy family is still close. My parents still live in D.C. and I have a twin sister living in Portland, Oregon. I donāt see them that often, but I still talk to them at least once a week. My mom and I talk daily though as I know how important that is for her.ā
5. WHAT WAS YOUR HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE LIKE? DID YOU ENJOY IT? DID YOU HAVE A LOT OF FRIENDS, OR WERE YOU MORE OF A LONER? SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN, MAYBE?
Ibrahim chuckled at this question. High school? God, he hated high school. āWell, it was certainly an experience,ā he answered. āI was mostly focused on classes and homework and extracurricular. I had a few close friends, but that was about it. I was too busy focusing on my grades and what I needed to do for college. Thereās not much else to say about it though.ā He shrugged his shoulders. āIt was pretty uneventful.ā
6. SO, DID YOU GO TO COLLEGE? IF SO, WHAT FOR AND IF NOT, WHY? WHAT WAS YOUR POST-HIGH SCHOOL LIFE LIKE?
"Seeing as how Iāve got my doctorate, Iād say I definitely went to college,ā he said, trying to get comfortable and make little sarcastic comments once in a while. He took a sip from his tea as he tried to think of what to say next. āI graduated with my bachelorās in four years summa cum laude, then I got my PhD in ancient history, mostly studying and writing about Mesopotamia.ā He scooted in his seat a bit. āPost high school was way better than high school though. No longer getting bullied for loving academia? Fantastic.ā
7. DO YOU HAVE A REPUTATION AROUND TOWN? HOW WOULD YOU SAY OTHERS PERCEIVE YOU?
"Iāve barely been here long enough for a reputation,ā he answered. āI think maybe people recognize me as a professor? If they even know thatās what I do. I live outside of Rosemont to avoid students and I prefer the commute each day, so I guess the people in Del Luna just know me as the guy who lives there.ā He shrugged his shoulders. āI mostly keep to myself around here. Not much of a reputation or anything there.ā
8. CAN YOU HELP ME UNDERSTAND YOUR PERSONALITY? WHAT ARE YOU LIKE, BOTH ON THE SURFACE AND DEEP DOWN? WHAT ABOUT IN PUBLIC VERSUS IN PRIVATE?
"Well thatās hardly relevant to anything,ā he said with a roll of his eyes. The last thing Ibrahim wanted was to try and explain himself. He didnāt recall coming by here for job interview type questions. āI donāt know. How would you describe me?ā He shook his head. āI guess ambitious, focused ⦠um ⦠independent. I donāt know. Itās difficult to explain yourself, you know? Iām not sure how people do that. Itās easier for me to explain the past and how it relates to the present than it is to talk about myself.ā
9. LEADING OFF OF THAT, WHAT WOULD YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR GREATEST STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES?
"Wow, is this a job interview?ā Ibrahim asked. āDidnāt realize that.ā He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. āStrengths? My focus and intelligence, I guess. Iām an excellent writer and analyst which is the only reason I have this job at Arcadia. As for weaknesses, I guess ā¦ā His voice trailed off as he tried to think of something. He didnāt want to downright say he was socially inept in a lot of situations and that moments like this were extremely uncomfortable and stressful. āMaybe not wanting to .. do things? No, not that. Um⦠not knowing how to answer questions like this without making myself sound like a fool.ā
10. A BIT HEAVIER, I KNOW, BUT I HAVE TO ASK IF ANYTHING HAS HAPPENED TO YOU PERSONALLY IN YOUR LIFE THAT DRASTICALLY CHANGED YOU AS A PERSON?
"I donāt believe so?ā Ibrahim answered, trying to think of something. āMy parents are both alive and I was never very close to my grandparents. Iāve never really experienced anything that has really changed me.ā He shrugged his shoulders. āSorry. Thereās not really an answer to that question.ā Ā
11. AND OF COURSE, I HAVE TO ASK, WERE YOU IN TOWN BETWEEN ā96 AND ā99 WHEN THE ORIGINAL DROWNINGS OCCURRED? DID YOU HAPPEN TO KNOW ANY OF THE ORIGINAL SEVEN VICTIMS? WHAT WAS YOUR LIFE LIKE DURING THOSE TRAGIC YEARS? WHAT WAS THE AFTERMATH?
Ibrahim immediately shook his head in response. āNo, I wasnāt in the area,ā he answered. āI was in high school in D.C. I wasnāt remotely close to this part of Louisiana. I was like ⦠twelve years old when the murders started happening.ā He wasnāt sure what else to say. He hadnāt ever heard of the murders before moving to the area, and heād only learned of them after looking through the local archives. Heād been horrified as he read the information, but that was the extent of his knowledge for what happened.
12. THAT SAID, DID YOU KNOW EITHER DARYLL BORDELON OR GEORGIANA MEARS PERSONALLY? IF SO, WHAT WAS YOUR RELATIONSHIP TO THEM? HOW MUCH HAVE THEIR DEATHS AFFECTED YOU?
Ibrahim shrugged his shoulders. āI honestly didnāt know either of them. Iād heard of Georgiana but canāt recall that I knew who Daryll was before ⦠now.ā He wished he knew something about either one of them, but he knew absolutely nothing. He wasnāt exactly the type of person that would go around socializing with others and usually he kept to himself. He was realizing while sitting there speaking to the deputy that that probably made him seem suspicious. It was weird that he wasnāt very involved in the community, and maybe he should try to change that.
13. LASTLY, WHERE WERE YOU ON THE NIGHTS OF MARCH 9TH AND JULY 23RD AND IS THERE ANYONE THAT CAN CORROBORATE YOUR WHEREABOUTS?
āWell, I can tell you that July 23rd I wasnāt in the area at all,ā he answered. āI was at a conference in New Orleans. I was with a lot of other historians from across the country and a few of us were ⦠well, we were bar hopping around the French Quarter.ā He honestly didnāt remember much of that night except it was one of the few times in the past couple years that heād done anything like that. Maybe it was the like-minded individuals that convinced Ibrahim to go out for drinks as it was much more comfortable than being around people who werenāt academic like him.Ā
āAs for March 9th, Iām not sure. That was a while back ago. What day was that?ā The deputy told him it was a Saturday and he nodded his head. āI was definitely at home. Probably grading papers as usual.ā He actually knew exactly where heād been that night. He was at home, but he wasnāt alone. He wasnāt about to say who he was with as it wasnāt very appropriate. At the time, heād been having an affair with a very wealthy, well-known married person from Rosemont and he was not about to talk about that here.
TO THE BOTTOM OF THE RIVER
For about half of 2019, he was having an affair with a wealthy, married socialite from Rosemont. Neither told anyone and he especially wanted to keep it quiet. They called it off back with Ibrahim decided it was getting too much and that he didnāt want to be part of something like that anymore, even if he sometimes thinks about it. Heās been trying to go on dates with other people, but sometimes heāll get a late night drunk text from them and try to convince himself to ignore it.