Judges

Chapter Thirty Four

1994

"What is going on? Back off, bozo," says Jared, and he moves in front of me as Alastair drifts over.

"I wanted you to quit, come back and spend time with me, but you just left, it backfired on me. So I called you back for this last job, I wanted to see you again. But then this boy comes along and in a few days takes you away from me? I think not. You're mine. Why does a few days matter more than seventy-five years?"

"Alastair, you're insane."

"Insane for you! This boy is going to die, for the greater good. And for good measure, he's going to die how I died. In the water. I planned this storm and flood just for him."

Alastair grins, and his face turns red. He looks evil in the dark, like his true self. I can't believe I ever thought this monster was handsome. The grim classroom is now a death trap, filling up with water. It only has a human, a demon, and a judge inside of it, and soon to be three dead people.

"You wouldn't kill him."

"He has to die. See what I'm willing to do for you!"

"What does life matter to you?"

"I was there, that day," he says, ignoring me, "that day in the ice cream parlor, the day you died. I was working behind the counter, I saw your yellow dress and Elizabeth kissing Edward, and I wanted to make you stop crying." He winces. "I had made up my mind to come and see you once Mr. White had dismissed me for the day, to come by your house and tell you that I cared about you, and that I would show Edward that you are worth a thousand Elizabeths, and tell you how I would never let you go, not ever. And then you died, and I knelt by your body, and I felt like crying. There was nothing anyone could do, you were just too injured."

"Alastair, you need to leave."

"So two years later, in 1910, I was seventeen, I was helping my father rescue some barrels that had fallen off of his boat into the river, and I fell in. And I thought about you, and I just... didn't swim up."

"You're crazy. You didn't even know that you would see me."

"That's how much I care about you! I died for you, Augusta!"

"You died because you're insane, you jerk." Jared laughs awkwardly, but I glance at him and push him behind me.

"You are insane, Alastair, and I want you to leave me alone, forever. No more death and murders for me, or anyone. I'll be reporting you." I stand in front of Jared protectively.

"And why do you think you got called back to judge some fifteen year old boy? I just wanted to see you again, Augusta! You really think that we needed help on this kid? He's a zero! A nothing, I'm so much better, why aren't you with me?"

"He is so much more than you think, you jerk."

"Jared, get under the water." Alastair smirks, as if Jared would obey. Jared stands still.

Alastair is by us now, only a few feet away, and the water level is up to our thighs. I can see the whites of his eyes.

"Jared, run."

He moves as Alastair lifts his hand and the windows implode. Glass explodes everywhere and Jared shields his face with his hands.

Alastair smirks.

"Drown!"

The water rises, as if moving to Alastair's command, and Jared struggles to keep his head above the water.

"I wanted to kill him somewhere more grand than this English classroom, but he's scum, so we can kill him like scum."

The rain comes through the destroyed windows and the storm is raging. My hair blows in the wind, and Alastair hovers over Jared's submerged body.

"The power's off, right? So, let's turn it back... on."

Jared dies as the water electrocutes him, and I scream louder than anything in existence, and his body is left alone in the water-filled first floor English classroom, dead.