Chapter 6
2294 Words
6
The door to Sarah’s room creaked open. Sarah peeked her head inside. The early morning sun streamed in through the opposite window and gave her a full view of her guest. He lay on his back in the center of the bed with his head on one of the pillows. His arms were clasped together on his chest and his eyes were closed. Other than the indent of his body, none of the sheets beneath him were disturbed.
Sarah crept into the room and tiptoed over to the closet. She cringed when the door squeaked when it opened.
“That’s a nice look for you.”
Sarah spun around to find the man’s eyes open and a teasing smile on his lips. She pulled on the lower hem of the short nightshirt and glared at him. “I’m just borrowing it.”
His eyes swept up and down her. “Dang. I think you look good in it.”
A slight blush accented her cheeks. She spun around and leapt into the closet, shutting the door most of the way behind her. The quarters were cramped, but she made out one of her sets of work clothes. In a thrice the pajamas lay on the floor at her feet and she was ready for work.
She stepped out and found the man was in a seated position propped up by the pillows. His dark eyes lay on the window with its bright sunshine.
She walked over to the side of the bed and looked him up and down. The blood flaked off his torn shirt and allowed her to see the round wound in his chest. The edges were frayed and she could see a half inch into his body. The rest of the hole was filled with dried blood and flesh.
The man slid his hand over the wound and smiled up at her. “It’s better than it looks.”
She winced and looked up into his face. His eyes now lay on her and studied her with the same intensity as she had him. “Are you sure you don’t want a doctor? That could get infected.”
He shook his head. “I’m fine. What about you?”
She shrugged and winced when her shoulders complained. “A little sore, but that’s it. Is there anything I can get for you? Some food or something to drink?”
His smiled faltered and his eyes flickered down to her neck before he turned his face away. “I’m fine.”
She sighed and pursed her lips as she stared at the blankets around him. “I. . .I didn’t thank you for saving me last night.”
He studied her with a soft gaze. “Don’t blame yourself for me getting hurt.”
“But it was my fault. I should have run away when those. . .those things crashed through that fence,” she insisted.
He shook his head. “Not you. You’ve got too much courage to run away from a problem.”
She raised her head and frowned at him. “You say that like you know me.”
He chuckled. “You handled yourself pretty well back there. A lot of other women would have fainted and just been dead weight, but you were pretty nice to carry around.” He shifted and winced. “I don’t think I’ll be carrying much for a few more days.”
“Is there anyone I can call for you? Any friends or family?” she offered.
He smiled and shook his head. “It’s fine. I told them I’d be away for a few days, so they won’t be worried about me yet.”
She furrowed her brow. “What were you doing around there, anyway? I mean, in the alley?”
He shrugged. “Just going to the Village on an errand.”
Sarah pursed her lips, but glanced at her watch. Nearly time to leave. She stood and stepped backward away from him toward the door. “Well, I’ve got to get to work.”
He lay his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. “Good luck.”
Sarah grasped the door knob and smiled at him. “You have no idea how much I’ll need that, but I’ll see you later.”
She stepped out and the door clicked shut. His eyes opened and he turned his head toward the door. He pursed his lips before he looked in the opposite direction where the window offered him a view of the bright day.
He pursed his lips and sighed. “Sorry about this. . .”
Sarah sighed and turned around. Jenny’s face sat two inches from her own. She yelped and jerked back to stumble into the door behind her.
Jenny grinned. “Did you give him a kiss goodbye?”
Sarah frowned and pushed past her friend. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
Jenny followed behind her like a shadow. Her evil words whispered into her ears. “You know, you could give yourself a day off,” she suggested as they walked into the living room. “I think the school would forgive you if you told them you had a rough night last night.”
Sarah swung her bag over her shoulder and strode over to the front door. “If I told them that they’d probably assume I had a hangover. Besides-” she turned to her shadow and smiled, “-you can watch him.”
Jenny cringed. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. Don’t you have the day off today?”
“Yeah, but-”
“Then take care of him, and call me if anything goes wrong. Got it?”
Jenny sighed and gave her a lazy salute. “Aye aye, cap’n ma’am.” Sarah looked past her friend at the hall and pursed her lips. A soft smile slipped onto Jenny’s lips and she lay a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “He’ll be okay. I’m sure of it. Now get going.”
Sarah nodded and left the apartment. She hurried down her normal route, but her footsteps slowed as she approached the scene of last night’s adventure. A crowd of people and a police barricade forced her to stop at the mouth of the alley. To her right was the bus garage, and down the graveled way was parked a bunch of police cars.
“Hey, Miss Rennelle.” She turned to a young man of seventeen who stood near her, a previous year’s student by the name of Avery who was generally in the know. He had a smile on his lips. “Neat, huh?”
“What happened?” she asked him.
He scooted to her side and looked down the alley. “They say there was a big ruckus last night and the neighbors found the whole place wrecked. The cops figure a car tried to drive through the bus garage and didn’t make it.”
Her face paled as she remembered the headless man. “Did they find the driver?”
“Nope.”
Sarah whipped her head to the young man. “What?”
He shrugged. “The driver drove off. I don’t think they’ve found him yet.” He paused and eyed her. “You don’t look so well, Miss Rennelle. You okay?”
She shook herself and stepped back. Her voice sounded far away. “Y-yeah, I’m okay. I. . .I just need to get around her and get to school.”
He grinned. “Just follow me, Miss Rennelle. We’ll get there in plenty of time.”
Sarah tightened her grip on the strap of her bag and nodded as her eyes flickered down the alley. “Not a bad idea.”
They walked together down the street. Avery glanced at her . “You go that way to leave school, don’t you, Miss Rennelle?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I mean, sometimes.”
“You didn’t see anything last night, did you?”
Sarah grasped the strap so hard her hand turned white. She stared straight ahead and pursed her trembling lips. “I saw a lot of shadows, but that’s it.”
He shrugged. “Dang. That must’ve been a crazy driver to do that much damage and drive off that fast.”
“Yeah. . .” she murmured.
The pair walked around the block and up the street to the high school. Students walked like zombies along the sidewalks with their eyes on their cell phones. They weaved in and out of the singles and groups until they reached the shaded campus of the high school.
Avery paused at an intersection of the sidewalks and turned to Sarah. “We could walk back together if you can leave that early.”
She managed a firm smile. “Don’t you think you’re a little young to be walking me home?”
He grinned and took a step back. “Nope, but I’ll see you later, Miss Rennelle.” He turned and hurried away.
Sarah shook her head and continued into the long, wide brick building that served as the main portion of the high school. A long hall stretched from one end to the other. Her room lay near the far end and she found her students as eager to learn their studies as wild wolves are to be captured. She set her bag on her desk and sighed. Another long day in the annals of education.
Sarah tried to focus on her teaching, but she found her mind wandering back to the handsome stranger who even then lay in her bed. She reached up and brushed her hand against her neck.
“Miss Rennelle?”
Sarah started back and looked over her shoulder. She stood at the white board with the students behind her. Those not whispering to each other stared at her.
One of the young women pointed at the paper on her desk. “I need some help on this.”
She smiled and nodded. “Sure thing, and Eric?” A boy looked up from a stack of papers on his desk. She walked up to him and held out her hand. “Phone please. You can have it back after class.”
He frowned and reluctantly drew the phone from the papers and handed it to her. She walked back to the white board and set the phone up next to a dozen others.
The groups of students moved in and out of her classroom like a flow of young, captive humanity. Lunch came and went, and the shadows of the day lengthened. Her last class shuffled into the room and time, relative as it is, stopped. Eyes flickered to the clock above the white board or to the shut door to their right. The hands on the clock acted as though they were tied down to the face and could hardly move a minute for every ten that happened to the occupants.
Sarah was helping one of her students when a phone rang. It was the funeral march. Her face fell and she hurried over to her bag where she drew out her ringing phone. She glanced at her students who stared back at her. Some of them jerked their thumbs at the white board and grinned.
She pursed her lips. Her heart skipped a beat as she thought about that injured man. “I’ll be right back. Keep doing your work.”
Sarah hurried out into the hall and shut the door behind her before she answered the call. “What’s wrong?”
“He’s gone!”
Sarah’s eyes widened. Her breath caught in her throat before she shook herself and glared at the wall opposite her. “What do you mean he’s gone? When? How?”
“I don’t know! I went to the bathroom and when I came out he was gone! I can’t find any of the bandages, either! And he stole my umbrella!”
Sarah shut her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “How long were you in the bathroom?”
“Um, an hour?”
She sighed and shook her head. “Just great. . .”
“Maybe he went to see you?” she suggested.
“He doesn’t even know what I do for a living, now shut up while I think,” Sarah growled. She leaned her back against a wall and scrunched her eyes shut. There had to be a clue. Something he said last night.
“Didn’t he say anything to you about where he lived or what he was doing in a dark alley?”
Sarah snapped her fingers. “That’s it! He told me he was headed to the Village when we ran into each other!”
“Great, but you’re forgetting that the Village is huge. There’s blocks and blocks of just the old apartment buildings, not to mention the old business district,” Jenny reminded her.
“But it’s a place to look. I’ll go from the school to there and see if I can’t find him.”
“Want me to chauffeur you?” Jenny offered.
“No, this is my problem. I’ll call you if I need anything.” She grasped the phone in both hands and smiled. “And Jenny?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for not shutting up.”
Her friend laughed. “Don’t mention it. Just go look for that handsome guy so you two can have cute babies, and get my umbrella back.”
Sarah shut her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
“You can fix that with less talk and more walk! Now get going!” Click.
Sarah sighed as she dropped her arm to her side and shook her head. The smile slipped off her lips as she thought of their former lodger. She reached up and brushed her fingers against her neck. Her heart skipped a beat and a faint blush colored her cheeks.
“Miss Rennelle?”
She wrenched her arm to her side and whipped her head to her right. One of her female students leaned out the door of the classroom. She shook herself and smiled at her. “What is it?”
“I-well, I was just wondering-I mean, what are we doing next?”
“Doing next?” she whispered as she looked ahead. Sarah’s eyebrows crashed down and she glanced at her watch. Ten minutes until quitting time. She pushed off the wall and marched into the classroom with her student close behind her. “Everybody!” Everyone’s attention turned to her. “You can go home early, but if I hear you guys yelling, running, or even chewing loudly down the hall you’ll have two tests next Friday. Understood?” Twenty eager heads nodded up and down. She pointed at the open door. “Good. Now get out.”
The students shoved their books into their bags and evacuated from the room before teacher changed her mind. In ten seconds Sarah was alone. She grabbed her purse and stepped into the hall. Her students were already out of sight. She pushed open the nearest exterior doors and slipped out.
Her quick footsteps clacked against the pavement as she hurried away from her duties and to her destiny.
- Writer
