Was It Bad Luck Or Good Fortune??

Why?

A week after Emma’s funeral the police had still not found out who was responsible for Emma’s death.  Their investigation had proved that Old Mr Sanderson had nothing to do with it and they had cleared Todd on that first night.  The trail of her killer or killers had gone cold.  This left Todd feeling very cold and very sick.  How could no-one know what happened to Emma? Emma was well known, well liked, and well... loved.   She had been his best friend, he had wanted to be more than just friends but he never had the courage to tell her so.  Knowing that he never would made him even more determined to find out what had happened to her.

So Todd took it on himself to find out what had happened.  He went around everyone he and Emma knew trying to retrace her steps that night.  Everyone said that he was like a man possessed.  His parents tried to talk him out of it saying that the police would catch her killer and he had to leave it up to them.  But Todd couldn’t, he couldn’t sit back and wait to be told what happened he had to know now.  After a while they left him to it.  They realised that this was something he had to do.  School gave him time off and offered him access to the school councillor.  Which he went to every Monday afternoon, but he made sure that they knew he was only there because his mother wanted him to.

Exactly three weeks after he had found Emma, he had drawn the same blank that the police had.  He had exhausted every line of questioning; he had done all that he could, or had he?  There was only one thing that he could think of that he had not done.  Had he not read in a book in the library that those who kill in such a violent way return at some point to the scene of the crime?  So each night he went to the barn and sat.  He waited and listened, but no one came.

His mother became more and more anxious and spent her days crying and worrying about Todd.  She pleaded with him to stop going and to do something else.  He got really angry with her but he knew deep down inside that it was because she loved him. In the end he would sneak out after going up to bed at night and sneak back in the morning.

It was on the last night of that week that he nearly never went out.  He had been so tired and felt really weak.  He sat with his parents without speaking a word and then he excused himself and went to bed.  He sat at his bedroom window and wondered if he should or shouldn’t go out that night.  Something in his stomach told him that he had to.  So he got out his backpack that had everything he needed and sneaked out his bedroom window.

He walked in the near pitch dark, the only light guiding him was the full moon.  He knew the route of by heart and didn’t even need to look around to see where he was.  As he got closer to the barn he noticed that there was a light on.  There had not been a light on in all of the time he had come here.  He sidled along the wall of the barn and looked in a small window.  Everything looked exactly the same as it had that night except that there was no body on the ground and no blood everywhere.

Todd could hear someone in the barn but could not see anyone.  The noise was really strange it was like breathing but not quite.  He tried to get a better view but he slipped on the box he was standing on and crashed to the ground with a massive bang.  Whoever had been in the barn stirred and the door flew open.  Todd could not see anything other than a dark figure in the shadows.

His heart started racing, his palms got sweaty, and his eyes bulged as he tried to pull himself off the ground.  Something hit the back of his head and knocked him back onto the ground.  He started yelling at the figure saying he was going to expose them as the killer they were.  He just had to escape alive.  He crawled past the end of the barn and ran through the woods next to the barn.  He headed towards town in the hope that whoever was following would follow all the way and get caught chasing him.

He slipped and fell a couple of times but he managed to get back onto his feet.  He could hear the strange breathing getting closer and closer, but he did not turn and look behind him.  His right leg started to ache and he became aware of blood running down it.  He must have cut it when he fell over that tree root. 

All of a sudden he felt a really sharp pain in between his shoulders, which sent him flying.  He landed against a tree with a thud and his head started spinning.  He tried his hardest to not pass out but the next shearing pain was too much.  Something had been stabbed into his shoulder.

He had woken up several hours later.  His leg and shoulder were really painful but he managed to pull himself up and he hobbled towards town.  When he reached the edge of town he felt as though he could not go any further and collapsed right in front of a passing car.  The car managed to stop in time and the driver helped him into his car. The last thing Todd remembered was his saviour strapping him in and telling him that he was going to take him to the hospital.

The next time Todd opened his eyes the first thing he saw was his mother asleep in the chair next to his hospital bed, still holding onto his hand.  He had no idea how long she had been there.  He had no idea how long HE had been there.  His throat felt really dry and there seemed to be a lump at the back of his throat.  He wasn’t in too much pain that was until he tried to move.  The pain that shot down his body from his shoulder was so bad that he jumped, waking his mother up with such a startle that she nearly fell from her seat.

Todd’s mother smiled when she realised that her son was awake, but that quickly disappeared when she saw how much pain he was in.  She helped him sit up and passed him a glass of water before going out of his room to get a nurse or someone.

Todd sipped at the water and tried to remember what had happened last night.  He was brought back from his thoughts when Dr King walked in with his cheery smile.

“You gave us quite a fright young man.  Putting your poor mother through all this stress and taking up a bed for the last two day to sleep”

“Two days” he spluttered.

“Yes two days” repeated Dr King. “And boy do you snore.  On a more serious note you are going to be fine.  We have cleaned up the bite marks” “Bite Marks?”  “Yes bite marks, I have a feeling I am going to have to repeat myself today” chortled Dr King “Anyway we have cleaned up the bite marks, run your bloods and kept an eye on you and I don’t see any reason why you cannot go home.  If you feel up to it that is”

“Yes” replied Todd quickly without even thinking about it.  He hated hospitals and was glad that he had slept through his stay but was not staying any longer than he had to.

“Right” said Dr King “I will sort out the paperwork and give your mum a prescription for pain relief.  If you have any questions or need anything you know where to find me”

“Thanks Doc” said Todd away to get out of bed until he realised that he was just in his boxers. “I will”

“Right” replied Dr King “And next time you want to wrestle with mad wild dogs can you at least try and come out as the winner” Dr King chuckled to himself as he left the room.

Todd gave a weak smile to his mother as she turned to follow the Dr.  She returned it with a weak one of her own and briefly shut her eyes, the lack of sleep and the tears being oh so apparent in her face.  Todd knew there and then that his mother had stayed with him the whole two days and he felt so much motherly love there and then that any teenager/parent fight they had ever had meant absolutely nothing.

Once his mother and the Dr had left the room he slipped out of the bed, he found his clothes on the other chair in the room and he slipped into the bathroom to change.  It was only in there that he seen the bandage on his shoulder.  Dog bite marks? He didn’t remember seeing or even hearing a dog last... not a couple of nights ago.  Saying that he did not remember most of what he saw, just a dark figure in the barn then lots of pain.

In a short amount of time he was back at home and back in his room.  Back but feeling as though nothing was the same and that nothing ever would be again.