Dark Woods Academy

Chapter 18

Chapter 18
I was slowly losing myself in the details of their death and in a way it was helping me to forget just that, their deaths. I couldn’t get past the empty feeling inside me though, it clung to me like a disease and I tried my best not to feed it.
Elliott came to see me as soon as I was up the next morning. He had put his contact details in my phone which I hadn’t thought of either.
“Morning sunshine,” he greeted casually as he stepped into my room and then sat on my bed.
“Getting a little too accustomed to my room?” I asked.
“We should go get breakfast and talk,” he said instead. I nodded and followed him out the door locking it and setting the tiny alarm system Elliott had managed to hook up for me.
We got pastries for breakfast and coffee heading to a bench on the outside to get some privacy.
“Eat first,” Elliott instructed and I did feeling hungry since I had been ignoring my appetite lately. When I was finished and full, the coffee giving me warmth and comfort, I turned to Elliott trying to distinguish what mood he was in.
“We should talk,” he said staring straight ahead.
Okay he was straightforward and seemed to be talking very casual and wouldn’t meet my eyes which wasn’t good.
“Yeah, what did you find out?” I asked.
“Apparently the report actually states a bear attack,” he said shaking his head.
I suddenly felt lightheaded thinking about it.
“The authorities are saying that you were drinking that night, under the influence.” He continued while I shook my head no at the statement because it wasn’t true and because it didn’t make sense.
“In your account of the events, you didnt actually see anyone grab your friends,” he continued.
“Yeah but how could one bear grab them all at the same time?” I asked trying to crush the stupid lie.
“Look they actually had evidence,” he said shaking his head.
“Evidence?” I asked confused.
“Yeah,” he answered not continuing.
“What evidence?” I asked impatiently. What was he not telling me? I had a right to know.
“Evidence that says it was a wild animal, most likely a bear,” he said in a tone that was telling me to back off.
“Wait y-you mean th-their bodies?” I asked in a shaky whisper pushing back tears.
“You don’t need to know this Ace, don’t do this to yourself,” he said gently shifting closer to me on the bench.
“No Elliott I need to know, please, I-I will deal with it,” I said thinking about if it was a bear and the gory scene that could be left behind.
“Where did they even find their…bodies?” I asked after a pause feeling the tightness in my throat.
“Okay that’s enough,” Elliott said slipping his arms around me.
I knew he was dreading the topic as it could trigger another anxiety attack. I didn’t want another either. I swiped two tears and buried my face against his shoulder fighting the tears and taking deep breaths slowly as the thoughts of their bodies faded from my mind.
“There’s a lot for you to deal with right now but I think the funerals are being arranged by their parents now that the case is closed,” Elliott said and that’s when I managed to get myself composed.
James’ father who worked at the Academy, Professor Emrit, I needed to go see him, to give him my condolences and to just check in on him and see if there was anything that I could do to help him in his time of grief. God alone knew how he felt, how all of their relatives felt.
I was heading to his office when I was intercepted by a short lady with glasses that I had never seen before.
“Are you Ace Morgan?” she asked.
“Yeah…” I answered instantly wary of her.
“I’m a counsellor,” she said and I nodded in response.
“Please feel free to visit me anytime,” she said smiling at me.
“Uh yeah,” I lied knowing I had no such intentions to see a grief counsellor. Elliott could be a counsellor…
“Like this evening, according to Principal Webster’s request,” she said sympathetically.
Damn him. I guess she tried to make me feel like I had a choice in the matter at first. I sighed.
“Yeah I’ll drop in later,” I said and then continued to Professor Emrit’s office.
He was locking his office when I approached.
“Sir?” I asked unsure of what to say to him.
“Ace,” he said turning around.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered taking in his bloodshot eyes, the coffee stain on his shirt front, his unruly hair.
He walked over and put his hand on my shoulder seeming incapable of words and so was I.
“If y-you need anything…” I swallowed the lump in my throat and he nodded seeing my difficulty.
“You too Ace,” he said patting my shoulder before turning to go.
I went to my room knowing that Elliott wasn’t following me around and I needed the time alone to just be by myself.
I unlocked the door and stepped inside to find a piece of paper on the floor that had been pushed through the tiny crevice where the door didn’t meet the floor.
I snatched it up surveying the room for a moment to ensure that no one had been in there and according to the alarm system, no one had been.
The paper was about the size of a sticky note and read:
Meet me in the woods on the South side of campus about 100 feet inside tonight at 8pm. Come alone. I’ll explain, I’m sorry.
L.B.
PS. Don’t tell anyone, especially not Elliott and bring your knife and the map with you when you come.
My heart pounding, I read the initials again. Could it really be? Was it Logan? Had he returned now that the case was closed and things were settling down at the Academy?
Why was he so being so secretive? Why couldn’t he just come to my room.
Was he going to explain why he left since he was saying he was sorry. Did he regret leaving without saying goodbye?
How the hell was I supposed to even get out into the woods at night with so much campus security and what about the bear?
Do I tell Elliott? The questions and logistics of meeting him were yet to be figured out.
I put the note between the pages of a book memorizing the page number if I needed to find it again and put the book in the middle of the stack hiding it effectively.
I was both scared and excited to see Blaze one more time. The thought alone lifted my spirits like nothing else had in the past few days. The weight of him leaving lifted off me and I felt lighter, the pain slightly clouded by the happiness I felt at knowing I was getting to see him again. It occurred to me then how much I had missed him, how I had felt as if something in me was missing the whole time he wasn’t there. Now I would get to see him one more time and I wasn’t going to let anything get in the way, not the campus security, my fears or even Elliott. He wouldn’t understand, I needed closure from Blaze at least and I trusted him, not only that, I cared about him a lot. More than I had realized before. I wasn’t sure if what I had said to Elliott was true when he had asked me that question in the library and maybe this would be the last time I would get to sort out what he meant to me.