Losing Eight Lives

13 | The Man In Black

Jace thanked me as I put a sandwich and bag of chips in front of him.

"Eat quickly, I want to go look at the school again after." I threw a plate at Carter and sat down with my own, as my eyes landed on the digital clock on my oven: 2:16 pm. I would be just getting home now if none of this happened. A sharp feeling washed over me, longing for how things were just earlier that day.

I looked around the table as I chewed on my own sandwich and chips. Jace happily ate his food while Carter just stared at his.

"You can't tell me you're not hungry," I eyed Carter.

He practically acted as though he didn't hear me; didn't look up and said nothing. However, he picked up the sandwich and took a bite.

I studied him for a second. He looked suddenly depressed and on the edge of tears. Quite different from the pervious smirk and amused expression.

My eyes fell on my plate in thought. I did my best to ignore him.

-=-=-=-

I had a lot more energy with a full stomach, and a refreshed feeling washed over me now that I had one less thing to worry about.

The three of us walked back to the school in silence. I walked side by side with Jace and Carter walked behind us. My fingers were locked with Jace's again and I didn't care what Carter had to say about it. Surprisingly though, Carter had done as I asked. He had not smiled, winked, or even really looked happy during his time with us. He only ate half his food and he rarely even looked at me.

Maybe he finally grew up and realized he was the cause of Amanda's suicide.

However, despite the fact he seemed depressed, I did not feel bad for him.

"Carter," I said, realizing suddenly that he might have information.

"What?" he muttered.

"Can you tell us what happened to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, you saw the fire right?" I asked, trying to word it differently.

"Obviously," he responded, "It was pretty hard to miss."

I ignored the annoyed tone in his voice and continued, "What happened? Let's hear you part of the story." I waited for him to speak, but got silence.

"Please," Jace said shorty next to me.

I heard a soft sigh come from behind us.

"Well," Carter started, "I was in Music class, when the announcements told us to immediately evacuate the building." He paused, trying to remember, "So, we did, and we did the whole line up in the parking lot too. Just like a drill, except, this time, when I looked back at the school, the entire second floor was on fire."

Jace and I must not have been awake yet, I followed his story with ours.

"When the teachers were taking attendance, they were like, flipping out because only about half of the kids were there. They thought the other half was stuck in the fire," he paused, "I still don't know where they are." Another pause, "Then for some reason, I felt the need to play hero, since the girl I liked had a study hall on the second floor."

Well that girl certainly wasn't Amanda, I thought bitterly.

"So I ignored what the teachers were yelling at me and ran back into the building. I ran up the stairs and tried to open the door to get to the next floor but the fire was blocking it," he paused again, "Then I looked in the window of the door, and saw nothing but flames . . . at first. When I looked harder, I saw something that looked like a gun on the floor." he said the last part like a question, as if he believe himself. "And I thought I saw you guys run into a hallway, deeper into the building, but I think it must have been my imagination."