The Initiation

Chapter Six

   I left the hospital and headed back to campus to search for Angela. The first place I checked when I got back was her dorm room, but she wasn’t there. Her roommate told me to check the library since she’d been moaning about a term paper. 

 The library. The scene of that mysterious face in the window the night before. I swallowed hard and told myself that I’d be safe in the daytime. 

 I headed out to the library, hoping to find Angela. When I entered, I went for the reference section first, thinking that would be the logical place to find her since she would be there for a research paper. 

 Searching around the tables, I didn’t see her. I avoided looking toward the window where I’d seen the face the night before as I searched. Frowning, I stood in the middle of the room and looked around in every direction, but Angela was nowhere in sight. 

 I spotted Tina, one of Angela’s friends, sitting at one of the tables and went over to her. 

 “Tina?” I asked in a low voice as I neared the table. 

 She looked up at me, a slight scowl on her face. 

 “I’m sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you’ve seen Angela today,” I hurried to ask her. 

 After staring at me for a moment, she finally shook her head and said, “I haven’t seen her in here today. Why? Who told you she’d be here?”

 I shook my head and asked, “Do you have any idea where she might be?”

 Sighing, she put her pen down and said, “Try the cafe. She might be trying to soothe her nerves after what happened last night.”

 I perked up at that and asked, “What do you know about that?”

 She shook her head and said, “I was asleep when this all went down, so I missed everything.”

 Pursing her lips, she added, “I miss all the good stuff.”

 I raised one eyebrow at her and asked, “The good stuff?”

 She waved her hand and said, “You know what I mean.”

 I shook my head and asked, “So, you think she might be at the cafe?”

 Angela nodded, picking up her pen again, looking down at her notebook.

 I was clearly being dismissed. 

 Rolling my eyes, I said, “Thanks for the help.”

 “No problem,” she muttered, writing something down. “Glad to help.”

 “Sure you are,” I muttered as I walked out of the library.

 Once outside of the door, I hesitated. I felt drawn to the area where I’d found the footprint the night before, but I didn’t want to go over to see if it was still there.

 I took a few steps toward the campus but turned around and hurried to the area where I’d found the footprint. Kneeling in the dirt, I found it right away. It had hardened in the mud from the night before.

 Pulling out my phone, I took a picture of the impression with my hand next to it for size reference. I stared at it for a moment after taking the picture, wondering what could have made it. 

 I shook my head and stood up. Walking away from it, I scanned the ground for any other footprints but only saw the one I’d already found. 

 Shaking my head again, I looked at my watch and realized I might have missed Angela at the cafe. I hurried from the library and made my way there.

 I spotted Angela walking out of the door as I turned the corner. Picking up the pace, I hurried toward her.

 “Angela!” I called out, hoping she wouldn’t ignore me.

 She kept walking. 

 I called out again in a louder voice. 

 “Angela!” 

 This time, she stopped and turned, looking around to see who had called her name. I waved at her as I ran up to her. I tried to ignore the look of distaste that crossed her face as she recognized me.

 “Suzie!” she said, pasting a fake smile on her face. “What are you doing here?”

 “Looking for you,” I told her, trying not to pant to show how out of shape I was. 

 “Oh?” she asked, her eyebrows raising. “What for?”

 I hesitated a moment before saying, “I understand you were the first person who found Debbie Harrison after she was attacked last night.”

 Her face paled, and her smile slipped away. She glanced around as if hoping someone would come to her rescue, but no one did.

 Looking back at me, she said in a flat voice, “Yeah, I was the one who found here.”

 “What can you tell me about it?” 

 She gave me a strange look but sighed and said, “I heard her screaming from inside and ran out without thinking. I saw something crouched over her, but it ran away so fast when it saw me that I didn’t have time to get a good look at it.”

 “What do you remember about it?” I asked.

 She thought for a moment with a frown on her face.

 “It was big, and it was hairy,” she said, closing her eyes and grimacing. “That’s all I remember.”

 Opening her eyes, she looked at me with a surprised look and said, “Oh! And it had yellow eyes.”

 “Yellow eyes?” I asked, remembering the creature I’d seen in the trees the night before.

 She nodded and said, “That was the weirdest part. It was like the eyes were glowing as it looked up at me.”

 I shivered as I remembered how the creature had looked up at me with its glowing yellow eyes. 

 Angela gave me a strange look and asked, “Are you okay?”

 Starting, I nodded, saying, “Yeah, yeah. I’m good.”

 I looked at her and asked, “So, you heard the screams, went to look, and saw this big, hairy creature crouching over Debbie?”

 Angela nodded, shuddering. She took a sip from her cup and sighed.

 I continued. 

 “It saw you, but then it took off, and you ran over to Debbie?” 

 She nodded again, saying, “She was covered with blood when I reached her. I took out my phone and dialed for help. I didn’t want to move her, but I was also nervous about staying there. I didn’t know if that thing would come back and attack me.”

 This time, I nodded. 

 “That makes sense.”

 I reached out and patted her arm, adding, “You were very brave to stay with Debbie until help arrived, even though that thing may have come back.”

 Her face brightened up, and she grinned at me.

 “That’s right,” she said. “I was brave. In fact, I think I was a hero! Just imagine that! Me, a hero!”

 I took my hand back and frowned slightly. 

 “I wouldn’t go that far.”

 She didn’t listen to me but kept going on about how she was the hero of the story. Sighing, I rolled my eyes and tried to break into her monologue.

 “Angela, I’ve got to get to class, but I really appreciate everything you’ve told me about what happened,” I said, backing away from her.

 She barely acknowledged me as I left since she was still going on about herself.

 I shook my head as I walked down the sidewalk toward campus. What had I created by telling Angela she was brave? I wouldn’t be surprised if, by the time I got back to school, everyone would be buzzing about how heroic Angela had been.

 Before I went to class, I went back to my dorm room to freshen up. Thank goodness, I only had one afternoon class today. I frowned as I realized it was my Myth and Folklore class. 

 For a brief moment, I seriously debated on withdrawing from the class but shook my head. I didn’t actually want to drop the class, since it was a fascinating class. I just didn’t want to think about what had happened the night before since I was now associating it with the face I’d seen at the library and Angela’s attack. 

 I changed my shirt to a short-sleeved blouse and ran a brush through my hair. I added some small hoop earrings and a gold chain necklace to my outfit. Looking at myself in the mirror, I added a shiny lip gloss, then nodded at myself. 

 Not thinking too deeply about why I dressed up for class, I grabbed my notebook and purse and headed out of the door, locking it behind me. 

 “Don’t you look nice,” I heard before I turned around.

 “Oh, hey, Veronica,” I said, whirling around and holding my notebook to my chest. 

 She gave me a once-over and c****d one eyebrow.

 “What are you all dressed up for?” she asked, trying not to grin. 

 Shaking my head, I said, “Nothing. Just heading for class.”

 “It wouldn’t be your folklore class with the dreamy Professor White, now would it?” she asked, a teasing note to her voice.

 I looked up and down the hallway to see if anyone was around to overhear us, but the hallway was thankfully empty. 

 “Shhh!” I told her, feeling my face warm. “Someone will hear you, and that’s how rumors get started.”

 Her smile grew wider as she said, “I think I’m on to something.”

 I shook my head, then nodded, saying, “Okay, okay. I think he’s cute. And maybe I did dress a little nicer for his class, but can you blame me? I mean, have you seen the guy?”

 She threw her head back and laughed. 

 Then, throwing an arm around my shoulder, she said, “I was just teasing you, Suzie. You look nice, and if he’s male, he’ll notice you.”

 I leaned my head against hers and said, “I’ll let you know how it goes.”

 Withdrawing her arm, she said, “Be sure to tell me all the juicy news when you get back.”

 “Will do,” I told her. “But I’ve got to get there first, so I’m out of here.”

 With that, I waved at her and hurried down the hall toward the stairs. 

 Hurrying out of the dorm, I trotted across the campus to the building where my class was. 

 I slid into my seat just before Professor White entered the classroom. Nearly all the females turned their heads toward the door to watch him walk in, sighing as he made his way to his desk.

 “Good afternoon, class,” he said, setting his briefcase on the desk. “I hope you started your research for your papers, but if not, you still have time. I hope you are finding it interesting reading.”

 “You could say that,” I muttered under my breath.

 While I don’t think he heard me, his gaze locked onto mine, and I froze, staring at him.

 He smiled at me and went on.

 “Today, we’re going to be talking about Classic Mythology,” he said, turning to the whiteboard on the wall. “I hope you are familiar with at least some myths from around the world.”

 He started to write down the characters from myths, identifying which culture they had originated.

 Turning back around, he asked, “Does any of these names sound familiar to any of you?”

 “I think you forgot Romulus and Remus,” a male voice called out from the doorway.

 Everyone turned to see a man standing there with short light brown hair, stubble on his face, and a piercing stare. That stare found my gaze, and I felt a jolt of electricity shoot through my body.

 Who was this guy, and why was he in Professor White’s class?