In the Dark

Chapter 4

Strange feeling
Mrs.Carter's POV

It's funny how life works. well God really. Just as soon as you're ready to throw in the towel or you think you can't possibly go on anymore he sends something or someone (in my case) to you that changes your entire perspective on life. Being a high school teacher they tell us to be ready for anything and everything but if I'm going to be totally honest I was totally blind sided by this one. I don't pick favorites when it comes to my students but this year I have one. Her name is Katherine but I usually just call her Kat. Kat is a beautiful young girl with long wavy auburn hair and the brightest emerald green eyes I have ever seen she is about 5'6 and very slinder. she has lost a lot of weight the past few months and only weighs about 100 pound. I worry about her so much though she has flawless snow white skin and I always see some kind of mark or bruise on her somewhere. When I ask her about them she just tells me that she fell and I know Kat is clumsy but the bruises I see you can't get by just falling. But I know so much about Kat it's not even funny. She keeps to herself most of the time and is very shy. Her favorite colors are neon colors and her favorite food is steak with French fries and broccoli. I know what kind of books she reads, movies she watched and tv shows. She loves a show called once upon a time and her favorite character is Regina Mills/ The Evil Queen. I can always tell when she's happy because I can see this sparkle in her eyes but when she's sad she won't make eye contact with anyone. She tells me mostly everything and says im her favorite teacher becuase im the only one that notices her. I was totally shocked when she told me that and even more so when I found that she was not exaggerating at all. One day I was talking to a group of Kat's teachers and I mentioned her but none of them knew who I was talking about. I was in infuriated and just didn't understand. Kat is one of the sweetest people I have ever met in my entire life. How can someone not notice her? I just wonder where she gets it from. Because her parents are some real pieces of work. Her mother is a newly found lesbian which i have no problem with but what I do have a problem with is her drug usage. She doesn't care if Kat lives or dies just as long as she gets her high. But her father is an alcoholic and a mean one at that. I don't know how many times Kat has came in my room crying because her so call dad got drunk again and pulled her out of her home in the middle of the night. On those days she just stays in my room with me. I have a spot back behind and under my desk where she stays. I keep a couple of pillows and blankets under there and a teddy bear and I got her. Her parents won't let her have it at home for some reason so I just keep it with me so she will have something to hold. She comes to sees me before every class. We hug and to be honest I never want to let go of her. I woke up this morning with a horrible feeling. I couldn't figure out what it was so I got out of bed carefully leaving my sleeping husband still snoring. I walked down the hall to my oldest sons room and peeked in. He was also still fast asleep dreaming of his very own little candy land. I went farther down the hall to my youngest sons room and peeked in. He was also fine still in dream land. I just couldn't figure out what this feeling was. I also couldn't seem to get Kat off my mind either. I walked back down the hall and into my bedroom. I sat on the side of my bed and smiled as I stared at the picture on my night stand. It was of Kat with Landon on one hip and Braydon on the other. Kat was smiling her brightest breath taking smile as the boys kissed her on her cheeks. They were standing in a beautiful wheat field with the sun setting behind them. The sky was painted with orange and pink. It's one of my favorite photo's of them. I knew as I stared at the picture that this feeling I had was not going to go away any time soon. So I got my husband up and asked him to get the kids ready for me so I could go to work early. I got up and got ready in a rush and headed out the door. I got to the school and the snow had started coming down again pretty heavily. I opened the door hoping to see Kat waiting on me like usual but there was no one in site. I walked down the hall a little ways but there was still no sign of Kat. So I headed up stairs to my classroom so I could catch up on some paperwork I was behind on. I graded everything I needed to and put all the grades in the computer for report cards today. For once I was actually ahead. All I needed to do now was make copies of the worksheet I had for my classes to do today. After walking down the stairs with my stack of papers I turned the corner and saw Kat standing in the middle of the hallway with her back twords me. She had a gray hoodie on that looked 4x to big and knee high socks on her feet but no shoes. I guessed that she had shorts on because the hoodie covered them. "why would she be wearing shorts when it's snowing outside and where are her shoes?" I though to myself. " Hey there Doodle Bug! How are you?" I asked as I came up behind Kat. She jumped and turned to look at me and I new right away that somthing was very wrong.