One Week Ago
Being a teacher who taught French as a second language, Reid Beckett liked to keep his students on their toes, especially when his classroom was located in the Big Apple. Reid leaned up against his desk as his students began filing into the room and taking their seats. He shared some ‘hellos’ and ‘so glad it’s Friday’ before getting down to business.
“Clasa bună dimineața! Astăzi suntem cu un test.” Reid spoke with a grin as he held up a manila folder in his right hand. Good morning class! Today we test.
He received a collection of groans from the class and it had his grin widen.
“Oh come on, Mr. Beckett, its Friday.” Terry, the self-proclaimed lady’s man, voiced everyone’s opinion.
Reid’s brow rose at the sixteen year old sophomore as he began passing the test sheets around the class.
“Je vais vous faire une affaire. Si vous pouvez répéter cela à moi en français, je vais vous laisser partir tout début.” Reid told Terry with a smirk. I'll make you a deal. If you can repeat it to me in French, I will let you go early.
Everyone let out another round of groans, knowing Terry’s French was the worst in the class. Terry bit the inside of his cheek as he tried to remember how to say his sentence in French.
“Oh monsieur Beckett rendez-vous vendredi.” Terry said hesitantly and unsure of himself. Oh mister Beckett appointment Friday.
Terry’s response had the class erupt into laughter. His friend, Ian who sat behind him, smacked him on the shoulder while trying to breathe through his laughter.
“’Oh allez, monsieur Beckett, son vendredi’ is what I think you meant to say, but nice try.” Reid said with a chuckle and placed a test sheet on top of Terry’s desk.
When Reid turned around to go back to his desk, the door to his classroom opened and the Principle walked in.
“Mr. Beckett,” Cheri Noels spoke as she entered the room. “Do you have a moment?”
“Oui…um yes.” Reid said quickly and heard the muffled giggles from his female students.
Shaking his head, Reid followed Cheri out of the classroom and into the hall. Seeing the upset look on Cheri’s face had Reid frown.
“Is everything okay?” Reid asked the red head.
Cheri shook her head no.
“It’s about your father.”
Reid froze. What could be wrong with his father? He had just talked to his parents earlier that morning and they seemed fine.
“What happened?”
Cheri watched Reid’s face go pale at her next words.
“Your mother called. She needs you to get up to the hospital downtown as soon as you can.”
“Cheri, my class?” Reid asked the Principle before he walked back inside.
The students quickly sat back down in their seats, all watching as Reid went over to his desk and grab his briefcase.
“Students, Mr. Beckett has an emergency to tend to. I will be taking over the class for today.” Cheri spoke as Reid made a hasty exit.
Reid made it to the hospital parking lot twenty minutes later and hurried inside to the first reception desk he saw. One of the nurses who worked behind the desk smiled up at him in greeting.
“Can I help you with something, sir?” The nurse asked politely.
“Yes, um…Owen Beckett was admitted here a while ago. Where is his room?” Reid asked, pulling his cell phone out of his back pocket as it began to buzz.
“Are you family?” She asked.
Reid nodded and answered his cell.
”Reid, where are you?” His mother’s voice filled the speaker.
“I’m in the lobby. Where are you?” He asked.
He heard his mother sniffle.
“I see you.” She mumbled.
Reid turned around, his cell phone still by his ear as he searched for his mother. Finding her petite form halfway down the left hallway, he lowered his cell to his side. She had tears in her eyes, some already trailing down her pale cheeks. Her sandy brown hair, which matched his, was disheveled and that was a rare sight in itself. Patricia Beckett was always well groomed and took careful consideration on how she looked before leaving the house. He went to her.
“Mom?”
Patricia sniffled and shook her head. She moved out of the way and motioned to the room she was standing in front of. Walking pass his weeping mother, Reid saw his father laying on a hospital bed. Wires were traveling in all sorts of directions, but what confused Reid was the fact that the only thing he heard inside the room was the echoes of his mother’s crying. In that moment, it hit him. His father was dead.
“We were leaving the restaurant when he started to complain about his chest hurting. He thought it was just heartburn so we went home.” Patricia said in between sobs. “I found him lying halfway off of the bed. When the ambulance brought him here…the doctors said that Owen was in heart failure and tried to revive him.”
Reid stood in place, stunned as he was unable to look away from his father’s still form. The lump in his throat rose, threatening to obstruct his airway. Patricia slipped her arms around her son’s waist and proceeded to bury her tearstained face in his chest and cry. Choking back a gasp of air that seemed to burn his lungs, Reid wrapped his arms around his mother and pressed his face into her hair.
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Present Time
It had taken Reid and his mother three days to arrange Owen Beckett’s funeral. Two days for Reid to help his mother get his father’s affair in order and one day to decide that he could not bare the thought of being in the city his father taught him to love. With his mother’s understanding, Reid placed in his order of absence to the high school he worked at before packing a duffle bag and driving out of the city.
Diving down one of the many back roads in Vermont, Reid searched for a place to take shelter from the sudden snow storm. The snow had come out of nowhere, making visibility almost impossible. Every outside light of his silver 2013 Nissan Xterra was on along with the windshield wipers which were whooshing back and forth at full speed.
The heater inside the SUV was turned up full blast, a major difference from the temperature currently outside. Feeling stuffy, Reid pushed up the long sleeves of his tan shirt, not bothering to turn down the heater. Some tune played from the radio, low enough where Reid was not sure what was actually being sung in the first place. His blue eyes peered up at the white sky for a moment. Moving his gaze back to the road ahead of him, he saw the dark figure of a deer right in front of him.
“Merde!” Reid hissed in French as he jerked the wheel to the left in an effort to miss the stunned deer. Shit.
His breath hitched as his SUV slammed into a snow bank, causing him to jerk forward in his seat. His head smacked the steering wheel. Groaning, the last thing he saw before blacking out was the deer disappearing into the white abyss.
