My Beautiful Rescue

A light that never goes out

Tate~

"Mr. Langdon I got the student record for you."

A high-pitched ginger kid serving his detention hours handed Tate a thin manila folder, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Thanks Troy. You and your brother Brian can leave now."

"He's on the crapper he'll be here soon."

Just then an identical image of Troy materialized from the door. The only thing distinguishing these American versions of Fred and George Weasley apart was their red and green shirts that Miss Jude demanded of them to wear. Tate thought that it was pointless; these troublesome turds were inseparable, it didn't matter whom to bust really. After Violet put in her week it seemed that these two were the only ones who most frequently hung around detention.

"Bryan let's go. Mom doesn't want us to be late again. Otherwise we're gonna 'regret it.'" Troy mimicked his mother's voice on the last part.

"You two must be a nightmare for any mother." Tate scoffed. The twins both looked at each other then back at Tate and shrugged their lanky shoulders in sync. As they walked out of the classroom the unnerving sound of their bang snaps echoed in the halls.

Bringing his attention back down to the manila folder in his lap Tate brushed his fingers against the name labeled on the side.

'Violet Harmon.'

He didn't want to feel creepy about it even though he did, but he couldn't shake off the mystery that surrounded Violet. She was an enigma he couldn't ignore. In his head he tried convincing himself that he wasn't hovering, just being a teacher concerned for this seemingly troubled student.

Opening the thin folder a picture of a young Violet stared back at him, one probably from her old school. He noticed how she wore a Mona Lisa smile that was just as haunting as the girl herself. His eyes grazed through her information and her outstanding grades. Not surprisingly enough she hadn't been involved in any clubs or sports. Overall her file was squeaky clean despite a few occasions of missing classes Other than that she was a uniform teenager who one could categorize as an 'outcast.'

Closing the file he felt somewhat defeated. In his pocket he could feel the vibration of his phone going off. It was Hayden. He already knew. He didn't even want to bother so he let it go off until silence ensued afterwards.

His head fell into his hands as he massaged his temples. It's been a week since he last talked to Violet and now it was a Friday afternoon and he was still thinking about her. He thought about how he started going to the coffee shop more often to find that she's not there; or how she was missing from her usual occupation in the hallways. As if she disappeared off the face of the Earth and he was the only one who noticed.

It wasn't as if he was going to take things out of hand and start calling her parents to demand where she was. That was Jude's job. And he was in no business of talking to that woman about one girl in particular out of the entire student body.

He looked at the clock on the other end of the classroom, it was almost half past 4 and he noticed the sun was setting already. He wanted to do something. He wanted to get out and escape this horrible routine that his teaching lifestyle led on. The four walls of this school and his apartment made him sick...

.

.

.

It started off with a drizzle that tapped against his windshield, then it broke out into an unyielding and unforgiving downpour that pounded against his baby blue Toyota Camry. The rain blurred against the windshield and it was already dark out. Ahead Tate saw a bright neon 'open' sign through the hazy view the windshield provided. The store seemed to lead into an empty parking lot; he glanced at the sign once more before hesitantly pulling into the stall nearest to the entrance. Slamming his door shut he hurried in through the automatic doors to avoid getting wetter. The cold A.C. greeted him and he shivered a bit in his drab layers. His gray knit cardigan was already damp and clung to his skin. He combed a hand through his wet disheveled hair that was probably an even darker shade of blonde from the rain.