Shattered (3 page)

~Shock and Murder~

Laura had run home as soon as her legs were strong enough to carry her. Run from the scene that lay before her. Run from the memories there.

She lay face down on her bed, the door to her bedroom locked. Away from her parents, away from her sister, away from her dog, away from everybody. She hadn’t told any of her friends what happened. She hadn’t told anybody what happened, for that matter. She had dozens of missed cal s from her friends so far, wondering why she didn’t show up in last class, wondering why she wasn’t there to walk home with them afterschool, wondering a hundred different things. She ignored them al . She was in no mood to talk to anyone.

It felt like in that one afternoon, everything had col apsed around her. She dreaded what school the next day would bring. An encounter with Logan, in first period math, for starters.

Her world was col apsing around her, Logan was at the heart of it al . If Logan hadn’t shown up in the hal , maybe things wouldn’t have gone that way with Brady. If Logan hadn’t come to school in the first place, maybe she would have bumped into Brady sometime after school, instead of having to endure detention in math. If Logan hadn’t been there to beat al those guys senseless, warning them to stay away from her, maybe she’d stil had a chance with Brady. The rational part of her brain told she couldn’t blame Logan entirely. It told her that Brady was an asshole, and that she shouldn’t feel heartbroken over him. But she did. Years of utter infatuation over him weren’t swept aside just like that. She found herself being overwhelmed completely by her emotions, and it wasn’t a feeling she was familiar with.

How
was
it that Brady had become such a jerk? He was so nice before, so quiet and wel -meaning and polite. She couldn’t believe what he tried to do to her. Could it have been his friends, the three guys he was with, pressuring him into doing something like that? And was she a special target, or would they have done the same to any girl they found that day?

Or, for that matter, had they grouped up on lone girls like that
before
?

Laura wouldn’t believe it. Not out of Brady. He wasn’t like that. She knew that.

Or… she thought she did, were it not for a smal voice tel ing her that
yes, he was like that
. She refused to listen. She had held out for him for so long, lusted after him for so long, that she couldn’t just flip a switch and forget about it al .

She buried her head further in her pil ow and sobbed. Brady
was
like that, and he
had
tried to do things to her. Along with three of his friends. Anything her imagination had conjured up before about what he was like was coming face to face with reality. And reality was winning.

Stubbornly, she pushed herself up from bed. Reality was winning, and she couldn’t just hide from it. And reality was that Logan, of al people, had rescued her from her assailants.
And that one of her
assailants was Brady
.

She nearly broke down again after that last thought. Instead, she shut her eyes tight, and wil ed the pain to go away. After a moment, it did subside, and Laura could open her eyes.

The reality of things was that Logan had saved her, and if he hadn’t been there she couldn’t say what might have happened. But it would have been much, much worse.

Logan had saved her, and she repaid him by punching him in the gut.
Idiot!
Complete and utter
idiot!
Logan had risked his wel being, had risked
himself
, just to help a girl he saw was in distress. He had faced four guys much bigger than him without blinking, al for her. How could she have been so blind, exploding at him like she had?

She stood up. It was because she let her emotions take hold of her in that moment. It happened so rarely to her that she didn’t know how to react. But now she knew. If she ever felt even the tiniest shred of emotion trying to come to life within her, she would push it down as harshly as she could. Push it down and keep it there, locking it away forever. She never wanted to be vulnerable enough to do something stupid again. And she knew she had to thank Logan. It was going to be hard, but she had to do it. She was determined to, now. It was too bad she didn’t have his phone number, so she could text or even cal and apologize.

The apology could wait until tomorrow, at least. She though it would be an awkward, uncomfortably tense moment for her. And after the way she reacted to his rescue, she doubted very much he would want to listen.

She heard scratching at the door, and opened it to let her dog in. The great thing jumped up to her, and she caught him in her arms, letting him lick the trails of her tears away.

--Laura woke up late the next morning, and had to rush to school. She arrived fifteen minutes late despite her best efforts.

She got a stern look from Mrs. Mil burn when she opened the door to interrupt lecture. But her eyes instantly darted to Logan’s spot at the back. It was empty.

A strange mix of relief and disappointment flooded over her as she walked to her seat. Logan wasn’t there. Meaning that she couldn’t talk to him. Which meant that the apology would continue to loom over her until she saw him.

She watched the door the entire class, hoping he would come through it, hoping he was late just as she was. But he never came. And when the bel rang to dismiss class, Mrs. Mil burn cal ed Laura up to her desk.

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

“I just wanted to inform you that your arrival today was unacceptable, Miss Cubus.”

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

“Hmm. You better see to it that it won’t. I also wanted to let you know that your presence afterschool today wil be unnecessary.”

“What? How come?”

“As I’m sure you noticed, Mr. Sutherby didn’t come in today. I was informed by the office that somebody cal ed in an absence for him for today. So, seeing as he won’t be here, I see no point for you to come in by yourself.”

“Oh.”

“Of course, come Monday, I expect to see both of you here precisely at 3:15 PM. You wil have the opportunity to make up today’s session then.”

“Ok.” Laura turned to the door. “Thank you, Mrs. Mil burn.”

Laura shouldered her way to her next class through the thick throng of students in the hal s. After an agonizing 90-minute science lecture on the anatomy of the bacteria cel , it was final y time for lunch, where she would see al her friends.

She found them in the cafeteria, sitting around their usual table. She made her way over to them, and Stacy was the first to notice her, and jumped out of her seat to grab Laura in a big hug.

“Laura!” she exclaimed, “where have you been?

We were al so worried!”

“Worried? Why?” She hadn’t told anybody what happened yesterday, and she doubted Brady or any of those guys did. And since Logan was absent, he couldn’t have mentioned anything either.

“Haven’t you
heard
?”

“Heard what?”

“Somebody was
murdered
near us last night!”

“What?” Laura was shocked at the news. And somewhat relieved that it hadn’t had anything to do with her.

“Yea, it was al over the news and TV this morning.”

“This morning?” Laura said as she sat down. “You know I don’t watch TV in the mornings.”

“Duh, which is why I was cal ing you al last night!”

Stacy’s dad was a news anchor, which gave her an inside scoop to anything that happened in town before anyone else. “We couldn’t figure out why you were missing yesterday, and none of my cal s went through, so when daddy told me what happened, I got scared, because, you know… you never know what might happen.”

“Wait, so what happened exactly?”

“Some guy was murdered here yesterday,” Mol y offered.

“Like
here
, here?” Laura asked.

“Here, here,” Mol y continued. “It happened outside a bar nearby.”

“Wel , what was so special about it?”

“Nothing real y, not at first, but then the police found out that the guy who got kil ed was a
hitman
from Portland.”

“A hitman?” Laura was getting interested. This was completely unlike anything their town was used to.

“Yea, that’s what the police say.”

“Wel , what was a hitman doing here, anyway? And if he was the one who got kil ed, he had it coming, no?’

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

“Don’t get what? Can someone just tel me the ful story?” She looked to her friends. “Stacy?”

“Ok, so it goes like this,” Stacy began. “A fight broke out at a bar last night. Which is unusual by itself, since not many of those happen here. It was Black Bear Pub, just a few blocks away from the movie theater.

“Apparently, this hitman was involved in the fight. The two guys took it outside, but nobody paid it any mind. Nobody wanted to interfere, from what I heard. Anyway, that’s not the important bit.”

“Wel , what is?”

“When they found the guy later, the hitman, lying out in the back, he had
all his blood drained out of him
.”

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

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

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

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

“I know, right? It sounds like something out of one of those 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 bit.”

“And then what is…?”

“The police issued an animal warning.”

“An animal warning?”

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

“An animal sucked his blood?”

“Yes, that’s what they say.”

“But what kind of an animal could do that?”

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

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

“Wel , 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, especial y 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 from school yesterday, right?”

“Oh my God, that’s right,” Laura said, final y understanding the gravity of the danger in her mind.

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

“Wow. Wel , thankful y nothing happened.”

“That’s right. Thankful y not.”

~An Unexpected Offer~

Afterschool that day, Laura walked home together with Stacy. News about the animal warning had spread through the entire school, and an assembly was cal ed that day to alert the students to it. There, the principal emphasized that the threat was likely very smal in nature, but advised them al to take precautions necessary to make sure nothing untoward happened.

From there, for the second time in less than a week, the school was abuzz with something new. It was like everybody had forgotten al about Logan’s arrival, and now shifted their attention to the bizarre animal warning. Again, al sorts of rumors started going around, from the completely implausible (that somebody had been bitten by a wolf and transformed into a werewolf, and the hitman was the latest victim), to the more sane (that a bear had become rabid and kil ed the guy). But mostly, everyone was just uncertain. Uncertain about what to expect, and uncertain about the scope of danger facing them. When Laura got home, her mother raced over to embrace her in a giant hug, proclaiming that her sour mood from yesterday had been forgiven and that she was just glad that Laura was safe. It seemed like news of the death had rattled the entire town of Vancouver to its core, especial y here in the suburban area – since it happened in such close proximity. Stacy stayed the night, and the girls spent time gossiping and watching movies together with Laura’s little sister. Laura debated tel ing Stacy about what happened Thursday afternoon in school, but ultimately decided not to – at least not before talking to Logan about it. And Stacy, sensing Laura’s decision, thankful y didn’t press the subject.

Sunday evening, just as Laura was about to go to bed, her mom informed her that since there have been no new developments in finding the rogue animal, she was going to drive her to school in the mornings from now on. Laura had no problem with that, and didn’t protest.

On the drive to school on Monday, Laura found herself wondering if she’d see Logan that day. She needed to talk to him. And the sooner it happened, the better it was for the both of them.

Since her mother had to get to work in the morning as wel , Laura arrived at school wel before her usual time. As she walked by her locker, hearing the echo of her steps bouncing around the empty hal way, she shivered involuntarily and hurried on. Memories from what happened there last week flashed in her mind, but she shoved them down harshly. She didn’t want to stir up any repressed emotions. And the further away she was from this spot, the better.

She entered her first period math class, and found that she was the first to arrive. Mrs. Mil burn looked up from her desk to frown at Laura, but otherwise didn’t comment. Laura sat in her seat, and waited for the rest of class to fil up.

Half an hour later, the last students were rushing through the door. And stil , there was no sign of Logan. Laura hoped that
she
wasn’t responsible for his absence, after what she said that day. Or, worse yet, that the animal had gotten to him. Although after the display against Brady and his friends, Laura doubted he had trouble taking care of himself. Which, again, was what made everything about him so weird

– the type of calm confidence he had displayed facing the bul ies went at odds with the other way he acted otherwise.

The second bel rang, announcing the start of class. Mrs. Mil burn came to the front of the room, and greeted everyone with an effusive “Good-morning.”

Laura sighed. It looked like Logan wasn’t here today, either.

Just then, the door at the front of the room opened, and a tal man Laura didn’t recognize stepped in. His head was held high, and 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. Laura rubbed at her eyes, thinking they were deceiving her. Was that
Logan
?

“Sir, I don’t know what would possess you to interrupt, but as you can see, I’m in the middle of teaching my class,” Mrs. Mil burn began. Then her eyes widened, when she realized what Laura had realized herself.
It
was
Logan
. “Ah – ahem. Mr. Sutherby? 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. Mil burn
never
acted that way.

Logan nodded to her, and walked towards his seat.
Strutted
towards his seat was more like it. He walked with shoulders swinging grandly, and made strong eye contact with everybody on his way. Wel , then. Laura had certainly not been expecting
this
. As he passed her, their eyes locked, and whispered in a stage-whisper – a loud whisper –

“We’l talk after class.” Everybody around her heard, but nobody dared comment. Laura just nodded quickly. Satisfied, Logan walked on.

And it wasn’t just his manner of dress or his hairstyle that was different, Laura realized. His milkysmooth skin had also become more vibrant. It was stil white, but shone with a renewed vigor. Laura al owed herself to peek back at him as he sat down. His body language was completely different. He leaned back comfortably in his chair, shoulders and arms spread wide. He wasn’t afraid to take up space anymore. And with his hair style up like that, it looked almost a crown. A black, thorny crown belonging to a king. Most of al , though, Laura thought that Logan looked proud.

She twisted back to look at the front of the class. Mrs.

Mil burn

was

talking,

something

about

trigonometric functions and probability equations. Laura tried to focus, but her entire mind was racing with questions about Logan. What had prompted him to make such a drastic difference? Was al of last week just an act? Why did he look so much more
vibrant
al of sudden? It was like he underwent a weekend transformation, and came out of it a completely different person.

More importantly, though, she was trying to figure out what she would say to him. And what he would say to
her
. He told her quite clearly that they’d talk after class. Did he want to clear the air regarding what happened on Thursday? Laura couldn’t imagine it being anything else.

Suddenly she became uncomfortably conscious of

the fact that he was sitting behind her. Meaning he could very easily be watching whatever she did. Not that she was doing much, sitting there pretending to pay attention to the teacher, but the possibility of his eyes being on her made her rigid. She felt awkward. Slowly, the clock ticked away anxious-ridden minutes leading her closer and closer to the end of class. Would Logan want to talk with her right away?

Or would he wait until their detention session with her afterschool? She wasn’t sure. She knew she wanted to talk to him as soon as possible, before – but now she wasn’t so sure. She wasn’t even sure
who
she would be talking to – would this new, more confident version of Logan act differently with her than before?

Final y, the bel announcing the end of class rang, stopping Mrs. Mil burn mid-sentence. She looked mildly annoyed, but didn’t protest when her students started getting up. Laura sat stil in her seat. If Logan wanted to speak with her right now, she didn’t want to rush out prematurely.

“Laura.”

She looked up, and saw Logan standing beside her. For a split-second she thought she could see a golden-red halo surrounding the pupils of his eyes, but it went away as soon as she shifted in her seat. Probably just a strange reflection of the light.

“Hi, Logan,” she said.

“We need to talk,” he said seriously. “Would you come with me?” And without waiting for an answer he started walking away, leaving Laura to scramble to get her belongings into her bag before rushing after him.

She caught up outside the classroom, where he stood with one shoulder leaning against a locker. On seeing her, he nodded to one side and proceeded to walk in that direction. Laura had to push her way through the mass of bodies in the hal way to keep up. Not losing sight of him was easy, though. He stood nearly a head tal er than everyone else.

She trailed after him, wondering where he was taking her. She knew the hal ways of the school like the back of her hand, but couldn’t figure out where they were going. Plus, the longer they walked, the less time they had before they had to go to their next class.

Eventual y he stopped, pul ed open a door, and ducked inside. Laura paused before fol owing. She had never noticed
that
particular door before. Bodies continued to mil around her, and she was jerked to and fro by the crowds. Wel , there was no use in waiting. She twisted the doorknob, and walked inside.

It was a smal room with a single row of lights. A stack of chairs stood in one corner coated in dust, but otherwise it was empty. Logan leaned casual y against the far wal , and smiled as he saw her.

“What is this room?” Laura asked suspiciously.

“I’ve never been here before.”

“Just as wel . I stumbled upon it last week, when I was searching for a particular classroom. I thought we’d have some privacy here.”

“I mean, I guess…” Laura began, “…but we don’t actual y have much time. I have to get to next class soon, and so do you, I think.”

“Yes, I know,” he replied. “But I didn’t want to talk to you where anybody else could hear.”

“Why not?”

He paused for a second, studying her intently. Then he sighed audibly. “I wanted to apologize.”

“Apologize?” Laura was taken aback.
S h e
was ready to apologize to him!

“Yes. For what I did last week. I realized, in the last few days, that what I did was… wrong.” Laura could see that he was struggling to say the words. “But it was wrong not because of what I did, but because I did it without asking.”

“Asking who? Me?”

“Yes. I shouldn’t have acted without your permission.”

“Wel , to be honest… I doubt I would have objected. I just wish you weren’t so violent. With them.”

“I know. But I also know this: he’s not good for you.”

“Who, Brady?”

“Yes.”

“You know, I kind of figured that one out myself, this weekend.” Laura laughed nervously. “And I also wanted to apologize to
you
. For the way I acted after. I had no right to punch you, or say al those things. But… I was emotional. I couldn’t help it. So…

I’m sorry.”

With the apology complete, Laura turned to leave. Stiffly. Her cheeks grew hot as she said that, and she didn’t want him to see her blushing.

“Wait,” Logan said, stopping her right before she opened the door. “You told me you wanted to know what Brady thinks of you.”

“I did, yes,” Laura admitted, looking down at her feet. “But I was just caught up in the moment. It’s irrelevant, now, anyway.”

“Wel , if you want, I could show you.”

“What?” Laura turned back slowly, and looked at Logan. He looked very serious. “What do you mean?”

“I mean what I said. If you want, I could show you what Brady thinks of you.”

“How?” Laura asked suspiciously. “Is this some kind of trick?”

“No, no trick,” he assured her. Then he held out his hand towards her, palm up. “Take my hand.”

“Uh…” Was he trying to hit on her in some strange, unorthodox way? Suddenly the confinement of the room became al too apparent, and the feeling of being trapped that she experienced with those four guys around her returned.

“There’s no trick, I promise.” His voice was sincere, and it seemed… trustworthy. If he wanted to do anything to her, he would have already made his move. Laura met his gaze, and saw only the purest assurance in his eyes. She could trust him.

Slowly, tentatively, she reached out to place her hand on his. Her fingertips grazed his palm, and their skin touched.

A flood of thoughts, not her own, erupted into her mind. It was commotion. Mayhem. A thousand different voices cried out disjointedly, each clamoring for her attention. It felt like her head would explode. Images completely foreign to her flashed through her mind, but none was there long enough for her to make it out. There was not enough room for al of them. The thoughts trampled through her head, until she thought she would lose herself in the uproar. Her own voice cried out to her, but was just as quickly lost in the turmoil. She was disoriented. Where was she?

Who
was she? The link. She saw her hand, touching another. Who’s was that? She couldn’t tel . Her sense of self-awareness was fading. Her conception o f
herself
was fading. She didn’t know how much longer…

Abruptly, al that was gone. Her own thoughts rebounded harshly to her, and she staggered back. She looked up. Logan was standing there, smiling at her knowingly.

“What… what was that?” she managed.

“A trick.”

“Is it… normal?” She was short of breath, and felt like she had run a hundred miles.

“Normal enough for me, anyway.”

“Al those voices I heard… what
were
they?”

“Thoughts.”

“What?”

“They were thoughts, and you could hear them.”

“
Who’s
thoughts?”

“Everybody’s in the school. And some people outside the school, near us.” The way he said it made it sound like he was explaining the most natural thing in the world, like spring weather.

“Wait,” Laura said, staring wide-eyed at Logan,

“are you tel ing me that I just heard the thoughts of
all
the students in the school
?”

“And some of the teachers, and some other people close by.”

“That’s… astounding. Is it dangerous?”

Logan shook his head. “If it was, I wouldn’t have shown it to you.”

“Was that some sort of link that was made, when our hands touched?”

Logan smiled. “You’re quick. Yes, you could say that a link was created. It’s more of a bond, real y, but it’s… hard to explain.”

“And what about you? Can
you
hear them, too?”

Again, Logan shook his head. “No. I can’t make any of them out. Al I can do is transfer them to another person.”

Laura stared. She had just heard the
thoughts
of people around her. And Logan was explaining it to her patiently and calmly, as if he was completely used to it. “How long have you had this? How long could you…
transfer
… these thoughts to other people?”