Forsaken (4 page)

Her friends called after school, wondering why she missed their last class. They’d made plans to go to the lake afterschool. Nora bailed. They were worried.

She didn’t care. She ignored everything. She did not want to talk to anybody. She was strung too tight.

She dreaded what tomorrow would bring. An encounter with Hunter, in first period math, for starters. She pressed her head deeper into the pillow.

Her world was collapsing around her. Hunter was at the center of it all. But Brady was, too. Nora never imagined that Brady would be capable of what…of what he tried to do. If Hunter hadn’t been there… Nora shuddered to think what might have happened.

Now what? She’d pined for Brady for so long. But he was a monster, nothing at all like the boy she’d built up in her mind. He was an asshole.

She
shouldn’t
feel heartbroken over him. But she did. She couldn’t help it. Years of complete infatuation could not be swept aside in one afternoon.

When did Brady become such a jerk? He used to be so nice: quiet and well-meaning and polite. Nora couldn’t believe who he had transformed to.

Maybe it was his friends’ fault? Maybe the guys with him
pressured
him to do that. Nora remembered the smell of beer on their breaths. Was she a special target, or would they have done the same to any girl they found that day?

The worst part was that her stupid brain wouldn’t let her flip a switch and forget about Brady, just like that. She’d held out for him for too long. Now that the illusion was shattered…

Well, she did the only thing she
could
do. She buried her head into her pillow and sobbed. Deep, heart-wrenching sobs tore through her body. They left her drained and exhausted.

Eventually, she pushed herself up from the bed. She couldn’t hide forever.

She shut her eyes tight and willed the pain to go away. It subsided a little. Nora opened her eyes again.

Hunter had saved her. He risked
himself
to help a girl he thought was his friend. And how did she repay him? By punching him in the gut.

Idiot!
Nora ridiculed herself.
Complete and utter idiot!

She stood up. The immediacy of what happened with Brady had overwhelmed her completely. She’d lashed out at the most convenient target: Hunter.

Would he ever forgive her? Nora stared hopelessly at the ceiling. It was too late to change the past, but maybe she could somehow apologize to him in the future. She
owed
that much to him, at least.

Scratching at her door caught her attention. She opened the door to her Labrador, Buster, who jumped onto her and licked the trails of her tears away.

—

Nora overslept the next morning and had to rush to school. She arrived fifteen minutes late, earning a stern look from Mrs. Millburn.

Nora’s gaze darted to Hunter’s spot at the back. It was empty.

A strange mix of disappointment and relief flooded over her. Hunter wasn’t there. It meant the much-needed apology would have to wait. But, it also meant the guilt of lashing out at him would keep gnawing at her.

Nora slid down in her seat and watched the door the entire class, hoping Hunter would come. But he never did. The bell rang, interrupting her brooding, and Mrs. Millburn called Nora up to her desk.
Great.

“Yes?” Nora asked, over the sounds of shuffling students and brass conversation behind her.

“I just wanted to inform you that your late arrival today was unacceptable, Miss Colburn.” Mrs. Millburn raised an eyebrow and waited.

“I know. I’m sorry. I overslept this morning. It won’t happen again.”

“See that it doesn’t.” Nora started to turn away, but stopped when Mrs. Millburn continued. “I also wanted to let you know that your presence afterschool today will be unnecessary.”

“What? How come?”

“Mr. Geralds wasn’t in class today. Seeing as he won’t be here, there’s no point for you to come in by yourself.”

“Oh.”

“Of course, I expect to see both of you here at precisely 3:15 on Monday, to
make up
for this missed session.”

“Okay.” Nora turned to the door. “Thank you, Mrs. Millburn.”

Nora shouldered her way through the thick throng of students in the halls and caught up with her friends in the cafeteria.

“Nora!” Stacy was the first to notice her, and she jumped out of her seat to grab Nora in a big hug. “Where have you been? We were all so worried!”

“Worried?” Nora tried to sound nonchalant. “Why?” She hadn’t told anybody what happened yesterday, and she doubted Brady or any of his buddies had. Since Hunter was absent, he couldn’t have mentioned anything, either.

“Haven’t you
heard
?”

“Heard what?”

“Somebody was
murdered
near the school last night!”

“
What
?” The shock was softened by the relief that it hadn’t had anything to do with her…incident.

“Yeah, it was all over the news this morning.”

Nora sat down hard. “You know I don’t watch TV in the mornings. It happened by the
school
?”

“Yeah, which is why I was calling you all last night!” Stacy’s dad was a news anchor. It gave her an inside scoop on anything that happened in town. “We couldn’t figure out why you were missing last block yesterday, and none of my calls got through, so when daddy told me what happened, I got scared, because, well…you never know what might happen.”

“Wait, so what happened exactly?”

“Some guy was murdered here yesterday,” Molly offered.

“Like
here
, here?” Nora asked.

“Here, here,” Molly continued. “It happened over by the movie theater.”

“Seriously?” Her thoughts turned immediately to Hunter’s absence. Was he all right?

“And, it gets even weirder. Turns out, the guy who got killed was a
hitman
from Portland.”

“A hitman?” Relief flooded her system, surely that had nothing to do with Hunter. The news did, however, peak her interest. Things like this never happened in this town.

“That’s what the police say.”

“What was a hitman doing here, anyway? And if he was the one who got killed, he had it coming, no?”

“No, you don’t get it!” Molly jumped in.

“Don’t get what? Can someone just tell me the full story?” She looked back and forth between her friends. She had entirely too much on her mind to follow their disjointed version of events, and her patience was wearing thin. “Stacy?”

“Okay, so it goes like this.” Stacy fidgeted in her seat. “A fight broke out in the theater last night, which is unusual by itself, since not many of those happen here.” She paused for a minute, obviously waiting for a reaction. When she didn’t get one, she huffed out a breath and kept going. “Apparently, the hitman was involved in the fight. The two men took it outside, so nobody paid it much mind. They were afraid to interfere, from what I heard. Anyway, that’s not the most important bit.”

“Well, what is?” Nora prompted.

“They found the guy later, the hitman, lying out in the back with
all his blood drained out of him
.”

“Wait, what?” Nora was, for the first time in this whole conversation, completely taken aback.

“That’s why the news is so big,” Kelly explained.

“The guy had two gaping holes in his neck.” Stacy shivered. “Right beside each other. The cops say they looked like
bite marks
.”

“Bite marks?” Nora laughed nervously. “What, like a vampire or something?”

“I know, right? It sounds like something out of one of those horror books,” Stacy said, “but it’s
true
. The police say the guy got knocked out in the fight, and they’re not blaming the other combatant for the death, but they’re trying to find and question him anyway.”

“Wait, so the other guy got away?”

“For now, but that’s not the real important part.”

“Then what is…?” One guy was dead and the one he’d been fighting with had disappeared, and that wasn’t important?

“The police issued an animal warning.”

Nora’s eyebrows drew together in a scowl. “An animal warning?”

“Yes. They say the guy got knocked out in the fight, and when he was unconscious outside on the ground, an animal killed him.”

“An animal
sucked
his blood?” Nora said, skeptical.

“Yup, that’s what they say.”

“What kind of an animal could do that?”

Stacy shrugged. “They don’t know. My dad told me they called in specialists from Portland, agents from the CIA and FBI, different scientists, zoologists, and those morgue guys to try and figure it out.”

“So then if it’s all taken care of,” Nora said, thinking, “and there’s no like…hitman or serial killer on the loose, why were you so worried?”

“Well, they placed that warning out for the animal. They don’t know how dangerous it might be. They told everyone to keep off the streets, especially if they were by themselves. And it happened so close to us, you just never know…”

“Know what?”

“Know what might have happened! You walked alone here this morning, and home from school yesterday, right?”

“Oh my God, that’s right.” The full gravity of the danger she’d been in finally hit Nora.

“That’s why we were worried something might have happened to you. You didn’t come to last class yesterday, after all, and after I started getting the updates from my dad, I just didn’t know…”

“Wow. Well, thankfully, nothing happened.”

Hunter’s absence took on a much more ominous meaning, and the idea of sharing what
had
happened after school yesterday briefly flickered through her mind. “That’s right. Thankfully, nothing happened.”

Chapter Six

~An Unexpected Offer~

With the rabid animal warning still on everyone’s minds, Nora’s mother drove her to school Monday morning. “No walking anywhere by yourself, and don’t forget, I’ll pick you up after school.”

“I know, thanks, Mom.” She got out of the car and walked into the empty hallways of the school. She was one of the first students there—her mom had dropped her off early so she would have time to get to work.

As Nora walked to her locker, the echo of her steps bouncing around the empty hallway sent a chill down her spine. She shivered involuntarily and hurried on. Memories of what happened here last week flashed in her mind, but she shoved them down harshly. She didn’t want to stir up any repressed emotions.

The farther away she was from this spot, the better.

She entered her first period math class and found she was the first student to arrive. Mrs. Millburn glanced at Nora, but otherwise didn’t comment. Nora sat down and waited for the rest of the class to fill up.

Half an hour later, the last students were rushing through the door. And still, there was no sign of Hunter. Nora hoped
she
wasn’t responsible for his absence, after what she’d said the other day. Or, worse yet, that the animal had gotten to him. Although, after the display against Brady and his friends, Nora figured he could take care of himself.

But the calm confidence he displayed facing the bullies was at odds with the way he acted normally. Something about Hunter was
off,
and it intrigued Nora.

The second bell rang, announcing the start of class. Mrs. Millburn went to the front of the room and greeted everyone with an effusive, “Good-morning.” Nora looked at the empty desk behind her. It looked like Hunter wouldn’t be here again today.

The door at the front of the room opened, and a tall guy stepped in. He held his head high. A sleek black trench coat sat on his shoulders, opened to the chest to show a vibrant red shirt underneath. His straight, dark hair was combed back and up, and…wait. Nora rubbed at her eyes, thinking they were deceiving her. Was that
Hunter
?

“Sir, I…” Mrs. Millburn began. Then her eyes widened, when she realized what Nora had realized herself.
It
was
Hunter
. “Ah – ahem. Mr. Geralds? If you would, ah, take your seat, we can continue.”

That was it. No reprimanding him for being late, no demand for an apology or excuse. Mrs. Millburn
never
acted that way!

Hunter nodded to her and walked to his seat.
Strode
toward his seat was more like it, making strong eye contact with everybody on his way. Well, then. Nora had certainly not been expecting this.

As he passed her, their eyes locked, and he whispered in a stage-whisper. “We’ll talk after class.” Everybody around her heard, but nobody dared comment. Nora just nodded quickly. Satisfied, Hunter walked on.