Woodsfield

Chapter 5: Drew "The Killer" Kraski

Song - At Seventeen
~
Janis Ian

It wasn't long before the bell rang once again. 3:00 PM, school was let out. And for the first time all year, Jacob Calfrey and Becka Taylor were to stay after school hours.

A small alliance had formed between the two a day earlier, out of cautionary purposes. It wasn't long before they had come up with a full on plan to shut down Drew, or at least make sense of what he was doing with the list. The one that had Ally Bridgewood's name on it. Judging by how lists usually are, Becka had assumed it was a hit list. And Jacob, although he refused to admit it, believed it too.

Tori Hatten
Callie Hartshed
Katy Shyler
Emme Rose
Kylie Hunter
Ally Bridgewood

Six names. One sheet of paper. It makes one wonder if what happened next, was it worth all this?

~

To fully understand the motives of Becka Taylor and Jacob Calfrey, we must go back one day, to September 19th of '85. When Becka made the fateful decision to open the locker of Drew Kraski. But what she didn't tell Jacob, what may have been an incredibly crucial detail, was why. Why she did what she did. Why she opened the locker.

It was during study hall. The hallways were empty, all except for a certain blue-eyed brunette. Becka wandered the hallways silently, almost as if she was looking for something. Something, perhaps, that would confirm her suspicions. Or maybe, more likely, something that would contradict them.

And that was when she made the drastic decision to look inside of Drew's locker. But there was one other factor. The crucial factor that I mentioned earlier. The single factor the Becka failed to tell Jacob, which was the small pool of blood in front of the locker. It wasn't but barely noticeable, and if Becka hadn't already been on edge she wouldn't have found it. But there it was. The blood of someone, and that someone could have very well been Ally Bridgewood.

The locker was jammed, making it harder for Becka to pick it's lock, but she was determined. Not only for the good of Woodsfield, but also to prove something to herself. And that something she wanted to prove would not become clear, not even to Becca, until far later. Probably because she didn't want to believe it.

The locker opened with a quiet click and Becca began her investigation. She figured if anyone walked down the hallway while she was still searching, then she'd just claim the locker as her own. But that rule no longer applied when she could actually hear footsteps. Walking down the hallway, she could see Jacob Calfrey. AKA the guy who knew where her locker was, and it was not there.

Jacob wasn't necessarily her friend, but Libbie Dunham used to know him. Becka knew that because during the first few days of school they all sat together. But that was when she met Charlie Kurt, who invited her and Libbie to eat lunch with him and his mates. Sure, she felt bad for Jacob, but he probably preferred to be alone anyway. Will was likely the only one holding the group together, and he wasn't there anymore.

"Jacob! I was wondering if you'd like to help me with something!" Better to draw attention to the situation than leave him to speculate.

"Yeah?" This was the most Becka had ever heard him talk. Jacob Calfrey didn't talk much.

Her voice wavered as she responded. Becka only got like this when she was lying. But in this situation, it was only her motives that she wasn't completely truthful about.

"You wouldn't happen to know Jacob Kraski..?"

"No, why?"

Becka cleared her voice. "This list... it fell out of his locker. It has Ally's name on it- and others."

Jacob's hands sheepishly grabbed the paper, as if he were asking permission to grab it. His gaze shifted over it for a few seconds, before he looked back up. Becka tried her best to give him a "yeah it's kind of odd" look, before returning her gaze to the paper as well.

"We should have a picture of this, as evidence. In case he was actually involved in..." Ally's murder. The words went unspoken between the entire student body. Jacob pulled out a camera from his backpack.

"You're... in photography, right?"

"...yeah..." Jacob responded, he concentration on snapping a picture of Drew's hit list, as it would become known as. He steadied the camera and Becka heard the camera click.

~

It was fourteen days earlier, September 5th. When Charlie first met Becka. Charlie was the kind of guy who didn't really hesitate about anything. He took the fast lane. Which is why, third period the same day, Becka found herself busy Friday night. Charlie had asked her to the movies.

There wasn't a specific reason why he liked her, it wasn't like she was over the top beautiful like some other girls he knew. Her hair went down to her chest in tangled waves, and she wore a little makeup. But looking at her, Charlie knew that she was quite average. Which is what he wanted. Actually, she was what he needed in his life at that point in time.

So that's when the two of them became a thing. Something that may become important later, maybe not. At least they weren't one of those dysfunctional couples like half the school was. Heck, they weren't even sure if they could say they were even a couple. But mostly they just shrugged off the label, and continued hanging out in private.

~

When 3:00 finally rolled around on the 20th of September, Becka and Jacob met in the library as planned. They knew Natalia would stay after school that day, as she did every school day. No doubt she was there because of Drew, who often stayed after to work on projects for student leadership council. It sounds fancy, it's really not.

But for the next four hours they had to wait, done to the very last second until Natalia left. But it was unlikely that she'd be leaving the school that night, at least not by seven. So they rehearsed every ounce of what was to become their plan. Thinking back on it, it was no doubt a stupid plan, bound to get them all in trouble. But if the truth was what they wanted, it was the truth they got. And the truth wasn't always pretty. Or even decent, in fact.

They didn't try and solve the murder in vengeance Ally, which sounds bad, I know, but as people often are, they were fueled by their own selfishness. Their need to know what actually happened on September fourth. Wanting to be in the clear, I guess. But not once did one of them think that it was the other one who had committed such terrible acts.

~

And so it was seven, the long awaited yet dreaded number. Natalia White took long strides down the hallway, turning her head at every peculiar noise she heard. That's when Becka rounded the corner from the science hallway, as if it were purely accidental. Unplanned.

"Natalia?"

"What." Her voice had no touch of emotion in it, just a mild attempt of intimidation. Probably to get Becka to stop talking to her. But Becka, though quite timid, did not budge.

"Carol Woods told me to let you know that she wants to see you. She's in Ms. Gale's room, I think?" Becka knew Carol Woods. Carol and her boyfriend sat with her and Charlie and the rest of them at lunch, which was why she also knew that Carol and Natalia were best friends until Ally got in between them. It was enough motivation for Natalia, to see what her previous best friend had to say to her. It would have to be.

And as I previously mentioned, Natalia reached the door no less than three minutes later, only to find that Becka had excluded one major detail. Carol Woods was nowhere to be found.