Katie Bug: New Prey

All Too Familiar

Monday came and went pretty fast. Katie woke up to some sweet nothing texts from Carter then dragged herself out of bed and went to her appointment with the peer counselor. The young woman looked increasingly uncomfortable as Katie rattled on the rehearsed lines about friends and family. The woe is me story she had become accustom to telling strangers. After her time was up the young woman wrote down a name and number and handed it to her. "He's reserved for special cases Katie, I'm pretty sure you qualify. He's still free of charge, just like here but he's an actual professional." Katie wasn't sure how to take that, but she filed the card away in her wallet and headed to class.

Prof. Benoit looked surprised at her as she filed into the class 15 minutes early. He came around the aisle she was sitting and smiled, "Prioritized?" She looked up at him and nodded, "All better. Can I talk to you after class? I know I missed office hours but I was at a counseling appointment. " He nodded and started back down to the front of the class. Katie looked around as the class filled up, Jaylah was nowhere in sight, was she so mad at her that she would drop her class? Katie was back to her former self that took meticulous notes and berated herself for not pay attention. Once Prof. Benoit dismissed everyone she took her time collecting her stuff, he called to her, "Just meet me in my office when you're done Miss Katie." She nodded and headed out the door.

She tossed her bag down next to the chair and had a seat. "What can I help you with?" He asked his brown eyes glistening in the light. "I realize that I have fucked up big time. I know that I'm going out on a limb by asking but is there anything I can do to make up my grades?" She was trying to plead her case without sounding too needy. He cleared his throat and sat back in his chair. "What did you have in mind Miss Katie?" She shrugged, "I never pulled this crap in high school. I don't even know what my options are." She paused, "What are my options?" Prof. Benoit narrowed his eyes at her, "Academically?" She looked at him confused, "What else would there be?" She asked. He let out a long sigh of relief, "Thank God. If you can get all the past work turned in before the end of the quarter and help me grade three times a month I think we can get you back on track Miss Katie." Her face lit up, "Yes, yes thank you!" He nodded again looking like a million pounds had just been lifted from him. "I'll email you later this week with dates and times Miss Katie."

Katie was on her way to her next class when she got a text from Nixon.

'Need you back in the dorm ASAP cops are here.'

The two officers stood outside of the door, Katie could see them talking to Nixon as she came down the hall. Nixon spotted her and pointed her out to the two. "Katie Belfast?" The female officer asked. Katie nodded. "Do you know a Jaylah Reece?" Katie froze, "Yeah." "When was the last time you saw her?" The male officer asked. Katie shot a confused look to Nixon who shrugged and share the confused look. "Um, late Saturday night. Why?" He continued, "Her roommate reported her missing this morning. Apparently she hasn't been home since she left to come get you. Where did you go?" Katie felt confused, "Um a house on O'Keefe Street in Brambrook. We were hanging out with my boyfriend and.. our boyfriends. Well I don't know I guess Xander isn't her boyfriend. The four of us spent the night together." He narrowed his eyes at her.

"What are the boys names?" She felt unnerved as she answered, "My boyfriend's name is Carter Gibson and his friend is Xander Hays." "What did you do that evening? Can you walk us through the night." Katie bit at her lip. "I don't know what time we left here." She looked at Nixon for help. Nixon shrugged, "Like 6:30 maybe." "It took about an hour to drive there, then the four of us started drinking. We drank and played cards until it was pretty late. Jaylah told Xander she was tired and he took her up to his room." The officers exchanged glances. Katie shook her head, "No not like that. He might have been up there with her for like three minutes. He came back down and we the three of us kept drinking and playing cards." The officer kept writing in his little notebook. "So you just played cards all night?" She shook her head, "No around midnight we ran out of beer and Carter and I left to go pick up more." "How long did that take?" The female officer asked. "I don't know, 20 minutes." "So Jaylah and Xander were left there alone?" Katie frowned and shook her head, "No there was like five other guys home that night, some were in the den watching a movie." "So then what happened?" "We came back and drank a little more before I started feeling sick. So Carter and I went to bed." "And what did Xander do?" She asked. "He says he went to bed when we didn't come back down. The next morning he was passed out on the couch. I went to wake up Jaylah and she was gone, the bed was made up and all her stuff including her car were gone. Xander said he saw her walk out of the house, he thought I had left with her." "So she just left you?" Katie felt her stomach twist,