Repaying Her Blood

Chapter twenty three: Verification

Marissa

I wasn't thinking straight.

Memories of Jordan telling me about him protecting my sister from Isaac rolled around in my mind. Why would he rescue her but then make her life worse?

Maybe he was lying about that. About beating up Isaac for bullying Lorna. It could have been his plan all along; to get me to trust him and to never suspect a thing from him.

The texter threatened Alex- an innocent kid. They got Madeline to ditch Lorna, leaving her to deal with the harassment of Isaac on her own. She had no-one else she felt like she could go to anymore.

If Jordan was the texter, that meant that he was Lorna's tormentor, too. It didn't make sense though. None of it made sense. What would he have against her?

Groaning at the complicated mess of everything, I stretched out my body on the bed.

Last night, I had got a terrible nightmare again, containing Jordan, Madeline and Lorna. It was up on the cliff and they all pushed me off of it. I hadn't had a nightmare for a while and after finding out Jordan's betrayal, I got one.

The only person who could confirm Jordan's betrayal was Isaac. So as much as it pained me to say it, I was going to find him on my own. No Jordan or Elijah or Andrew to be there with me.

I would find him and talk to him alone.

†

I turned many corners and passed several people who had witnessed my frantic state yesterday. The curious looks they sent me never stopped.

Continuing on my way to the unused classrooms, I nervously bit my lip. I hadn't really ever spoken to Isaac before, but I did know what he looked like.

He had black hair with a constant frown that never seemed to move. Isaac was the dark, brooding type at the back of the classrooms, misunderstood and troubled.

That was really it, just troubled. But then again, that was no excuse for the horrible things he did to my sister.

I shakily breathed in a breath of air and steadily opened the door to one of the unused classrooms. There were rumours that Isaac actually lived in the classroom, but I didn't believe it at all. It was painful being at school for 7 hours as it was. Imagine having to sleep here, too.

"Isaac Bennet," I spoke out into the silent classroom.

A figure soon after appeared out of the shadows, causing me to jump ten feet in the air.

"Jeez!" I shrieked, catching sight of the amusement filled eyes that belonged to Isaac.

The frown was still there, making an indent between his eyebrow.

"What do you want?" He growled, flickering his eyes to me.

"I-I know what you did," I said straightforwardly, wincing at my stammer. "To my sister, Lorna."

He crossed his arms over his chest and scanned the room. I caught a glimpse of fear in his eyes as he slowly backed away from me. His hand protectively swung in front of his face, which had me cocking an eyebrow up in wonder.

"He's not here. Don't worry." I nodded, confirming my suspicions.

He was afraid of Jordan. That only meant one thing- Jordan had in fact beaten him up.

"I deserved it," he muttered out, scraping a chair out from under a desk and plopping himself down onto it.

"Well if it's makes you feel any better, you've just saved his arse." I smiled reassuringly at him.

"How come?" He shot me a confused look whilst scratching his face.

"Let's just say I found something in his locker, which caused me not to trust him and with your...reaction it confirmed things for me," I explained, glancing down at the floor.

He quirked up his lips slightly and then frowned in deep thought.

I was about to leave him to it when I stopped at the sound of his voice, "Wait."

I turned around to him and watched his mouth open to speak.

"What exactly did you...find?" He asked, fiddling with his scratched fingers.

"A brown envelope with a mobile phone in it..." I trailed off. "Why?"

He glanced left to right and beckoned me in closer towards him. "Come here."

"Ok," I drawled out as I stepped closer towards him hesitantly, my feet thumping against the hard classroom floor.

"Maybe I shouldn't be telling you this, but, I know this sounds crazy, I owe it to Jordan," he whispered quietly. "He stopped me from turning into something I actually feared... a bully."

I nodded slowly, leaning in closer.

"The other day, I was staying late and I heard clatters around the school. Me being alarmed, but also curious at the same time, I stepped outside to find a figure with black clothing on, moving up the stairs. It looked like a body of a male but I'm not exactly too sure."

"Wait- I think I was there that night," I responded with wide eyes.

"Before I could shout at them or yell, they roughly opened a locker and planted something in it. To be honest with you, I thought it was some kind of bomb and I was tempted to slam the fire alarm," he told me with a serious expression.

"But why didn't you?"

"Because I caught a glimpse of what was inside before they closed the door shut," he revealed. "And it was definitely a phone in a brown envelope."

"It's been a while since that day though...why haven't you said anything to Jordan?" I asked him.

"Because I'm...scared of him. The last time we crossed paths was when he was pummeling my face into the corridor's floor." He swallowed, glancing shamefully down at the floor.

"You don't need to be afraid of Jordan. He's a big softie at heart," I replied, feeling like I was getting somewhere.

"You know, I never seriously meant to hurt your sister. And if her death was due to me, I'll come forward and-"

I cut him off with the shake of my head. "You were blackmailed too weren't you? Who did they threaten?"

He sheepishly got red in the face and rubbed his cheeks a little. "My ex-girlfriend."

"Was she your ex at the time?" I asked, not really caring if I was invading his privacy.

"Yes, I didn't want to see her get hurt. I still loved, no, love her," he breathed out before narrowing his eyes at me. "Don't mention that to anybody!"

I put my hands up in surrender. "Relax, will you? I won't and thank you, Isaac. You've helped more than you could ever know."

He gave me a salute sign, stood up from the chair and walked back into the shadows, like he was never there.