Reckless

Reckless - Chapter Twenty-Four

Eek, had such a busy week and forgot to update!

R E C K L E S S . . . 

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR-

The school closed for two weeks to investigate Mrs Court’s murder, extending the Easter Break by more than a few days. I can’t remember how many times I was called back to the police station to tell them what had happened during those two weeks.

Every time they asked what had happened that night I told them the same thing; when I’d been showing Mr Samson up to the head teacher’s office I’d heard a noise come from Mrs Court’s room and went to investigate. I’d found her in her room almost dead and told the other teachers. Later on, when the ambulance had come to retrieve the disappeared body I’d gone in search for it and found it in the woods.

I didn’t dare talk about the group of vampire hunters that had helped me or the note from a self-loathing vampire that had led me to her room, or even the things I’d been through to find her dead body on the border of the woods under a pile of rotting leaves.

Mr Samson was another problem – he couldn’t believe that something like this had happened right under his nose, while he’d been at the school discussing the safety of the students. He was convinced that I’d played some part in both Sam’s injuries and Mrs Court’s death.

After everybody had been cleared out the school and I was ordered to stay for the investigation, my mum called to say that she was picking me up but that planned failed by the veto of the police. It took a further week for them to allow me to leave and by then I was going slowly mad. I couldn’t stand being cooped up in the school with every person watching me with accusing eyes. They were sure that I knew what was amiss in their investigation, but they couldn’t find a valid reason to hold me back.

On the day that my mum picked me up I sat at a window that overlooked the driveway of the school like a little child and waited to see her familiar battered car wind down the road. All I could see the detectives and the policemen that now roamed the grounds 24/7 in an attempt to make some sense of the murder. They’d finished asking me their questions and insisting that I tell them the events of that night in detail.

Fleetingly, I wondered if she’d forgotten about me, that she was never going to pick me up. It didn’t take much time to eliminate that thought from my mind – we’d been talking on the phone every day, both anticipating the day that I got to return home.

I spent my time waiting for my mum rubbing burn cream onto the puckered marks on my arms that I’d got from Jev’s fire. I’d stolen the cream from the school nurse’s office, denying that I had any injuries from that night. How would I explain the red marks that puckered along my arms without bringing up the fire elemental?

Through the window I saw my mum’s battered red car trundle towards the school and grinned. I screwed the top back on the tube, shrugged my hoodie back on and picked up my bags with an excited grin on my face. Finally, I was going to leave.

I signed out on the pad at the empty receptionists and bounded up to the car, pulling open the passenger door and jumping in. We smiled at each other in a relieved sort of way and she started the car up.

“I’m so glad you’re okay, Anne,” my mum said to me as we drove away from the school. She briefly glanced away from the wheel to smile weakly at me. It was clear where I’d got my long, blonde hair and thin frame from, but her eyes were a deep brown in contrast to my light blue, and they crinkled around the edges whenever she smiled.

My mood deflated at the subject. “I’m fine,” I murmured, gazing back at the rapidly shrinking building. I could just see the woods in the distance, a foreboding mass of dark leaves that held no end of secrets and dangers.