Thirst (22 page)

“In the quiet of the night let our candle always burn, let us never lose the lessons we have learned.”

—FREDDIE MERCURY, LET US CLING TOGETHER

CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT

BACK TO SCHOOL

The days were becoming impossibly shorter. With only a couple of weeks before the winter solstice, the sun hardly made an appearance over the tall surrounding mountainscape at all.

Connor had spent the night in the hospital, sleeping in a cheap plastic chair across the hall from his mother’s room. His neck was stiff and his back was sore. Between the discomfort of his “sleeping arrangement” and the tragic events from the previous night, Connor had not gotten much sleep whatsoever.

The news of Wade Fenner’s passing had not hit the town yet, but a phone call with the University confirmed that there was indeed still class that night.

Connor did not ask any questions. He just packed up his schoolwork and, when eight o’clock came around, he took off for class, unsure of who would be teaching.

Ring! Ring!

He was not more than five minutes from the hospital when his phone began to ring.

“Hello?”

“Mr. Knight?” a female voice said on the other end.

“This is Connor Knight.”

“Hi Connor, this is Ava—from the hospital.”

“Hi Ava,” Connor replied.

“I think I just missed you. We’re going to transfer your mom into the long term care ward.’

“Is everything okay?” Connor asked.

“Totally fine. The doctor wants to keep watching her for at least the rest of the week, and a room became available—it’s just better for everyone.”

“Okay—Sure.”

“Come find me down in emergency and I’ll show you up to her room,” Ava said.

“I’m just on my way to school.”

“That’s okay—I’m just starting my shift. I’ll be here all night. Oh—and you’ll also need to sign your mom’s insurance forms. I have them all set aside for you here.”

“Okay, cool. Thanks, Ava.”

“No problem, Connor. See you tonight.”

“Bye.” As Connor hung up the phone, he stepped onto the university grounds. In the distance, he could see familiar faces making their way towards class.

Noticing Connor as she grabbed the door handle, Hanna stopped and smiled. She waited for Connor to catch up before she entered. Connor was ecstatic to see the beautiful young girl, but he could not get the image of the distraught Fenner family off his mind.

“Hey,” she said as Connor walked up.

Connor forced a smile. “Hi.”

“What’s wrong?” Hanna asked.

Connor reached past Hanna and held the door open for her. The two entered the university. Quietly, in the warm comfort of the school halls, Connor told Hanna about Wade’s passing the night before.

Hanna’s eyes quickly turned wide as Connor went into detail.

“I overheard the paramedics,” Connor continued. “They said he was attacked by that Vampire Killer—the same holes on the neck and the same blood loss.”

Hanna opened her mouth to reply, but had nothing to say. Her face became flushed and a new slew of anxieties crossed her mind. As soon as Connor discovered her secret, he would instantly assume she was the killer.

“Are you okay?” Connor asked.

Hanna looked slowly up at Connor. “Me?” she asked as her brain sluggishly processed the simple question. “Yeah,” she said, suddenly snapping back to reality. “It’s just so... Unexpected.”

“Are you part of the English upgrading class?” Standing at the doorway to the classroom was a police officer, in full uniform. He stood tall with a stern expression on his face as he looked towards Hanna and Connor.

“Yeah,” Connor replied.

“Can you please come take a seat?” the officer insisted, holding the door open for the students.

Connor motioned Hanna to go first, and then followed her into the silent room, where Kane and Brittany were already seated. As Connor walked into the room, he immediately noticed Andrew’s absence—uncharacteristic on Andrew’s part.

Standing in the front corner, next to the whiteboard was another police officer—an older man with a beard and a moustache.

“Okay, we’re just waiting on one more,” the officer said as he walked up to the front of the classroom and looked down at an attendance sheet. “We’ll give him another minute,” the officer said to his partner.

Kane, in the back corner of the room, sunk deep into his chair, knowing that the “one more” was not going to show up.

The silent minute was excruciatingly long. The older officer in the corner carefully stared into the eyes of each student, looking for any and every sign of weakness—any sign of guilt or suspicion.

The ticking clock reverberated through the noiseless room, providing a metronome for the sharp howl of the cold winter wind against the thin school window.

Suddenly, the door to the classroom opened, and the heads of every student and police officer turned towards it.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE

MEET THE NEW KID

Kane’s heart sunk deep down into the pit of his stomach as the door creaked open. He took a cautious breath in through his nose, and tried to maintain his composure.

A familiar face stepped into the room—It was Tarun.

Tarun froze as his eyes fell upon the officers in the room.

“This is English Twelve?” Tarun asked after a moment of silence.

“Yes—Tarun Mumbar?” the younger officer asked, looking down at the attendance.

“Yes,” Tarun replied.

“Please have a seat,” the officer said.

“My name is Luke Hendricks. You will refer to me as Constable Luke Hendricks. Last night your teacher, Professor Wade Fenner, was killed outside of his home.”

Kane carefully turned his head towards Hanna to watch her reaction. She remained surprisingly still, surprisingly calm. Kane was not aware that she had already heard of Wade’s passing.

Kane slowly looked next to him, where Brittany was sitting. She appeared pale, as if she was about to throw up. He eyes were glossy and her posture was stiff.

“You okay?” Kane whispered.

Brittany forced herself out of her anxious daze. “Yeah—just shocked,” she replied.

“Excuse me,” the constable said firmly, interrupting the whispering students. “I need everyone’s attention. This is extremely important.”

“Sorry,” Kane replied sheepishly.

“Written here on the board is the number for the Safe Walk program. Either walk home together, or use the program. There will be officers patrolling the campus at all hours, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be fine to wander off alone—understood?”

All of the heads nodded in the class.

“Officer Wendale and I will be taking statements throughout your class tonight. We’ll be calling you out one at a time.”

Connor looked around the room, his eyes landing on Andrew’s empty desk.

“Are there any questions?” Constable Hendricks asked.

Officer Wendale picked up a whiteboard marker and began writing down another number on the board.

Connor looked back at the police officer and slowly raised his hand.

“Yes—your name?” the constable asked.

“Connor. Connor Knight.”

“What is it?”

“Who will be teaching the class?”

“Replacing Professor Fenner is another university professor, Andrea Perkins. She should be here soon.”

Officer Wendale stepped forward. “If anyone wants to make an anonymous statement, this is the number for the local precinct. Tell them that you are calling anonymously, and there will be no questions asked.

“Also, the precinct can put you in touch with free grieving and counseling services. Again, that is this number here.”

“Brittany Bru—Bru...” Hendricks attempted to read from the attendance list.

“Brucheveskyj,” Brittany said quietly.

“We’ll start our interviews with you. Can we see you out in the hallway, please?”

Brittany slowly stood up from her desk. Her body felt cold as a tingling sensation rushed through her spine and all of her nerves.

“This way, please,” said the constable as he held the door open.

Kane watched as Brittany and the police officers left the room.

“Where’s Andrew?” Connor asked openly.

Hanna and Tarun both turned their heads around the class.

“Maybe he’s sick?” Hanna suggested.

“The officer said this was everyone,” Connor reminded Hanna.

“Maybe he dropped out,” Kane said. Kane could not shake the image of Andrew’s body slumping down into the cold snow.

“That’s weird...” Connor said as his mind mulled over the suggestion.

“Hi Kane,” Tarun said, smiling at his tenant and now fellow classmate.

“Hi Tarun,” Kane replied. “

Click!

The classroom door slowly opened and a short, middle-aged woman stepped into the room. She had her light brown hair cut into a short bob, with her bangs twisted, pushed, and clipped behind her ear. She took off her long snow-speckled black coat and placed it onto the back of her chair, revealing her sheer white blouse, which was tucked neatly into her fitted brown skirt.

The woman stood up straight and delivered a modest smile to the class. “Hello everyone,” she said. “My name is Professor Perkins. I teach first and second year comparative literature here at SBU. I’ll be teaching the remainder of your high school upgrading.”

The modestly pretty professor scanned the faces in the room. She stopped on Hanna, quickly recognizing her from all of the media she had received after the disappearance of her father.

“You only had a few classes with Wade, which is a real travesty. Some of you may have gotten the chance to know him. Wade actually taught me in my first year of university.”

The classroom door opened and Brittany, with her chin to her chest, quietly walked back towards her desk. Officer Wendale poked his head through the open door.

“Connor Knight?” the police officer asked.

Connor stood up and walked towards the officer. Wendale held the door open for the young sports prodigy, and then closed the door shut behind him.

Brittany sat down at her desk and slouched into her chair—her mind questioning every single word she fed to the officers in the hallway. “Did they believe me?” she wondered to herself.

“I’m sorry about all of his terrible nonsense,” Professor Perkins said. “You all came here to learn, and I’m sure this isn’t making it any easier. That being said, let’s get started, shall we?

“According to Wade’s curriculum, you should all be finished reading A Tale of Two Cities, is that correct?”

A few heads nodded within the class.

“Okay, good. Let’s just start with an open conversation about the book. Who can tell me who the main character of the book is?”

Brittany raised her hand.

“Yes?” the young teacher asked.

“Sorry—But where’s Andrew?”

Andrea’s eyes glazed over, as she knew the answer to the question. “Um,” she said. She looked down at her attendance sheet and looked at Andrew’s name. “From what I understand, it’s just the five of you,” she said diplomatically.

Once again, Kane’s heart sunk deep down into his gut and churned in his burning stomach acid.

He had killed an innocent man—

A
good
and innocent man.