Chapter 9

The corridors were lit with a subtle light of the sun, Jake strolled down them complacently his mind as it had been more often than not these days was wandering, he was thinking about Richard, the afternoon they had shared, the fact he had two free periods and his sister had not made contact with him at all for a while, he knew he would see her sometime or other, but he planned to say nothing about Richard or about anything at all. His mind had drifted onto his father, what would he have said about this had he been here, Jake knew that his father would love him no matter what, still he would have liked an opinion, Jake made up his mind to talk to his father as soon as he could, afterall his mother would be in no fit state to hear what he had to say.

Reagan Walker reread the letter sent to her by her daughter, with each word, each syllable reverberating off her tongue she got angrier and angrier. How could Keith be so stupid, why didn’t he listen to her. As she thought this she began to chew, she chewed and chewed, her teeth gnashing over her tongue until she felt the hot sticky taste of blood fill her mouth. Snarling at the taste Reagan seized a pen and piece of purple paper, the pen was a thick black felt tip, Reagan scrawled Three words, the ink seeping into the paper as it dried, Ignoring the spots of blood on the letter, she shoved it in an envelope and screamed for a nurse.

Edward Broadwell was a his wives mercy, he knew Melissa was angry because of Saturday afternoon, she had seen him sat with Jenni grisham in the Café in Hamlet, although she knew how important her Husbands job was to him, she was still lacking the understanding of why he did what he did. The result had been a screaming row, in which the two had gone repeatedly over issues of the past. Melissa had brought to surface, Edwards affair, his first failed marriage, the fact that he never spent anytime with her anymore, and that they no longer had a sex life. Edward had spent most of Sunday persuading his wife that he still loved her, he didn’t know whether he had succeeded in convincing her, but at least they had speaking to each other in a normal tone, rather than screaming across the lounge.

Fiddling with a catch on the file infront of him, Edward flipped open the cover and read the file for the umpteenth time, the words were just a blur, but the picture was clear, it was an old photograph of jonathan Walker, he looked young in the picture, yet Edward did not know what he looked like just before he died, he had never met Jonathan let alone speak to him, no he never would.

Surrounding Jonathan were his family, a wife, a son and a daughter, the daughter a little replica of her mother, both radiating beauty. Edward would not have understood, had he not known Reagans past history, why Jonathan would want to leave such a beautiful woman, for a young girl, who was nothing so much in the looks department, but from what he had heard was powerful enough to manipulate older men under her wing. Had Jonathan been manipulated by Fleur Byers? It was a thought which did not leave Edward as he started another day as the esteemed headmaster role, he had to play.

Kenny placed his hands on his face and placed his head on his desk, he was free, yet why did he feel trapped. Kenny had broken up with Becky yesterday, finally ending it with one large argument, which led to her walking out. Kenny didn’t care, It was not Becky he wanted anymore, he should be happy, but the nagging feeling which often held him back was here again, with him, telling him he was doing wrong.

“It appears as I you have a conscience Kenny” he said to himself. A few years ago he would not have believed this to have been true, Kenny had been a reckless teenager, yet growing up, the slow demise of his family around him and of course his experiences at university had caused him to change, he changed his path, he changed his style and overall he changed his emotions.

Kenny thought that the change would be something that would be staying around, and it had, except for this time, he was obsessing and he knew it. All he could think about was Fleur, she dominated his every thought, from the moment he woke, until he lay awake in bed, trying to sleep. Kenny had been sleeping less and less recently, even after a row with Becky he could not fall asleep, Fleur instead kept him awake at night, his heart counting the seconds until he could see her next.

“God damn you Kenny, you fool, she doesn’t even want you, what’s your problem” he said again to no one inpartiular, Kenny had nothing to offer a girl like that, and anyway she was still in love with Jonathan Walker, she also was a student, which was it his mind was protesting to the most?

“Silverman post” a voice hollered through the doors of Keith Silverman’s prison cell, he had been moved again, this time the prison was closer to Reagan than he would have expected.

Keith sat up and pushed his silver hair back off his glasses, it had grown longer since he had been in prison, he had let no one cut it, nor did he want it long, it was a battle of wills in Keith’s own mind which no one could contend with.

The letter was pushed under the door, Keith picked it up, recognising the purple paper Reagan used to write to him on.

Smiling to himself Keith began slitting the enevelope, Reagan always brought such good news, something to look forward too. Unfolding the paper, Keith read, his face slowly changing, the black words were bold, glaring him in the face, forcing his eyes to look.

Screwing up the paper, Keith stood up, his eyes wide with rage, he banged on the prison door, this was it, he was getting out of here tonight if it killed him.

Off to one side of the room the piece of paper lay discarded, crumpled but with the words clearly visible.

‘DON’T TRUST EDWARD’.

Acting calm when you were filled with rage was a skill, Jenni Grisham thought as she pulled her car into a spot outside Hamlets convieniece store, it was skill she had perfected beautifully. She was angry at her brother, he was the one turning her cogs at the minute, but she wasn’t about to take it out no him, it just wasn’t worth the effort, besides she needed him. Slipping the car into Neutral Jenni waited, she was prepared to wait all day to get what she wanted.

Fleur sweeped her hair back with one hand, whilst the other lifted the polystyrene cup she was drinking from back to her lips, she didn’t know where she was going she was just walking aimlessy. The liquid inside the cup was cool and refreshing whilst the polystyrene was warming her mouth. She found herself heading towards the dark corridor where Kenny kept residence in his classroom. As she approached she could see him sat at his desk, head in hand.

“Hey” Fleur said, her voice adding softness to the still room.

Kenny jumped slightly, he had had apparerations of Fleur in his head, now here she was in the flesh, looking radiant, cup in hand, he just wanted to kiss her.

“Hello Fleur” Kenny said, then silence, the silences were becoming more apparent as there relationship grew from the sporadic moments they had together.

“Just thought I’d pop by and say hello” She said walking over to Kenny’s desk.

“Great, great” Kenny said, the word loser came to mind and it was meant for him.

“So how are you” Kenny said standing up and walking over to her. He noticed she was a lot smaller than him, but so was everyone else.

“Good im good”, Fleur said putting down her cup and taking a step closer.

There was that silence again Kenny thought, unintentionally the two had moved closer to one another than was acceptable in a classroom situation.

“Good weekend” Fleur asked.

“yep yep” Kenny replied almost too quickly “not bad, dumped my girlfriend” he added with out thinking.

“Oh God why” Fleur asked gently.

“It was over Fleur, over before it even started” Kenny said.

This was leading somewhere dangerous and Fleur knew it, the night with Jonathan had gone this way, it was history beginning to repeat itself, but then again Fleur didn’t feel at this moment in time as if she gave a damn.

“Sorry” she said, taking his hand, Kenny flinched but did not let go. The two could feel the heat of their bodies, they were stood so close their lips were almost touching.

“It’s” Kenny got no further, Their lips had met without either having any control of their bodies. Kenny’s hands worked their way onto Fleur’s waist. Fleur going weak pushed Kenny back against the filing cabinet in the corner of the room, the two in their states of ecstacy never saw the door close quietly separating them from the outside world.

The ground was cold, hard, the night air, pumped through Keith’s lungs, he was free, it didn’t matter that his leg throbbed with pain, his head ached, his body was freezing, he was free, he was free, it was all he could do to stop himself from shouting out, screaming to the world that he was free.

“Next stop Hamlet” Keith giggled manically as the darkness engulfed him, hiding him from sight.

The tiny store in Hamlet had closed for the night, Richard walked around the back swinging his keys, back and forth and whistling, the car park behind the shop was preactically empty, save his own little car. The air was cold, Richard inhaled it deeply and headed for the dark shadow of his car, he had to get home, he had work to do.

“Hello” a soft voice called to him from by his car.

Richard stopped, his keys became still as he assessed where the sound had come from.

“Hello” he replied quietly, then louder “Hello”, nobody replied.

Stepping towards his car, Richard said nothing more, instead he inserted his key into the lock of the car, it was far to creepy to be hanging around here.

As he turned the key in the lock, Richard inhaled sharply as a hammer collided with his skull sending him into the depths of darkness, blood spilling from his head as he lay by his car, his attacker running away into the distance, shoes clacking on the concrete.