“Yeah, I guess so,” I replied scared, “but I never said I had a relationship with Mr. Knightley, she just accused me of it.”
“This is true and seeing she used Lily to frame Knightley for the crime, it would seem she had some strange obsession with him that would lead to such unrealistic thoughts,” Todd concluded with a nod of his head.
“Is Mr. Knightley still under investigation because of what she said?” I asked, wishing to hold his hand, but knowing now was not the time.
“Not at all, Jennings admitted to the crimes and took all the people she used to find victims down with her,” Todd explained with a curt nod.
“It’s over finally.” I muttered in disbelief.
“You don’t have to live in fear anymore. The vampires are all gone.” Tad said, and unlike the church incident, he was very serious.
I closed my eyes; it was hard to believe.
“So everyone knows I’m Abbi Martin?”
“Going back to school might be tough,” Tad observed with a deep breath.
“There’ll be a lot of people with a lot of questions, and the media frenzy is ridiculous. It should calm after the trial, which you will have to testify in,” Todd added, not asking if I was willing to put myself under the microscope. I assumed I had no choice.
“Great,” I whispered, closing my eyes again.
“It won’t be too bad. She has no way out of this one and Lily is being tried as an adult,” Todd reassured me, and I opened my eyes to see him with a calm smile.
“It’s still going to suck,” I reiterated.
“I’ll be there too,” Tad added.
“I hate that I dragged my teacher into this,” I commented as I watched the detective carefully.
“You would be dead if I wasn’t involved,” Tad explained. “Any teacher with my knowledge would have done the same thing.”
“Okay, so now what?” I asked, trying not to smile at Tad’s sarcasm.
Chapter 51
I was getting used to being traded off between visitors, and I was surprised that three days after waking up I still hadn’t see Jaz. I wondered if it was her knowledge of Tad and I that kept her away. That thought suddenly tossed me out of my sleep in panic—would she tell? When I opened my eyes I was surprised to find Jaz sitting by my side. She had her hand over mine and she squeezed it when she saw my eyes were open. The girl had impeccable timing and despite my dream I still leaned up and wrapped my arms around her.
“It’s nice to see you,” I whispered into her hair.
“It’s nice to see you too,” she replied with a sniffle.
I pulled away. “I’m okay; why are you crying?”
“I’m sorry I don’t mean to—I’m just so happy you’re okay…and I’m glad you want to see me,” she said, looking down at her hands and picking at her fake nails.
“Why wouldn’t I? You’re my best friend!” I asked, shaking my head at her.
“You’ve never actually said that before,” Jaz replied with a slight smile.
“Well, you are.”
And I meant it.
“Mr. Knightley saved you?” Jaz probed as a full smile came over her face.
“Yes.”
Jaz reiterated to me that the news was saying what Todd had explained to me earlier in the week. Her eyes went wide as she said, “I wouldn’t have thought Knightley would have a gun.”
I could tell she wanted to know the truth of what had happened.
“Jennings tried to kill me with my gun. Did you think I’d have a gun?” I asked.
“I’d have thought so if I had known the whole story. I guess it makes sense that he had a gun because he knew he would have to protect you sooner or later,” Jaz observed.
“It seems it somehow turned into a Romeo and Juliet story anyways, didn’t it? Even though you warned me to be careful,” I commented with a laugh.
“No, I think it’s better than Romeo and Juliet because neither of you are dead even though you both would have died for each other.” Jaz put her head in her hand as if to swoon.
“So, you never suspected?”
“No, not really, but everything came together when you almost tackled that policemen,” she replied, and her eyes widened in mock shock.
“I wasn’t going to tackle him,” I retorted as I crossed my arms. I was going to maul him.
“You were about to do something stupid…it’s better this way—no one knows but me.” She looked proud to hold such a secret, and my worry washed away as I took in her thrilled face.
“Indeed.”
“So…how long have you known Knightley?” Jaz asked, leaning forward.
“Since two or three months before school started,” I explained. “I didn’t realize he was going to be one of my teachers though.”
“That first day in class when he looked so angry—he was angry at you!” Jaz realized. “And that poem was about him, wasn’t it?”
“Yes and yes. It was the hardest school year ever, is the hardest school year ever,” I said, leaning back and looking at the ceiling as I remembered it wasn’t over yet.
“How did you bare it? Me saying all those things about your boyfriend! I’m so embarrassed!” she gushed as her face turned apple-red.
“Eh, I knew they were true and at times you were thoroughly amusing,” I responded, looking at her squirm with a smile.
“Thanks…goodness…the reading to me in bed comment! Ahh!” She threw her hands up and smacked her forehead.
“That one was great. I loved it!”
“Does he read to you in bed?” Jaz asked, a twinkle in her eye.
I smacked her arm. “That’s for me to know and you to never find out!”
“Speaking of the devil!” Jaz exclaimed. “Hi, Mr. Knightley.”
“Hi, Jaz…uh, how are you?”
“Good, just visiting with Vera—I mean Abbi…what should we call you?” she said, and Tad moved uneasily on the heels of his feet.
“Abbi is fine…I’ll probably respond to both for a while,” I replied as the awkward tension built in the air.
“Anyways, I’ll leave you two alone,” Jaz remarked as she gave me a quick hug. “I’ll text you later.”
“The police confiscated my phone for evidence,” I explained with a sigh.
“I’m sure she’ll have a new number soon that she can give you,” Tad interjected, nodding over his shoulder.
“I’m sure she will. Nice to see you Mr. Knightley, will you be teaching tomorrow?” Jaz asked, standing.
“Of course, see you then,” Tad replied, and Jaz left smirking over her shoulder.
“Does she know?” Tad asked as he watched her back fade down the hall.
“She kind of figured it out. I apparently almost tackled the policemen trying to arrest you. She said something like ‘your story doesn’t have to be Romeo and Juliet’s’,” I explained with a roll of my shoulders.
He sat down and leaned back in the chair before saying, “She won’t tell, will she?”
“Of course not…she’s just really embarrassed about some of the things she said about you to me,” I reassured him as I reached over and took his hand.
“Ha, they were embarrassing without them being about your boyfriend,” he commented, leaning over and kissing me. “I’ve missed you.”
“Did the doctor say when they’re going to let me out of here?” I asked, anxious to be able to be really alone with him.
“Two more days—when a person flat lines it usually warrants some monitoring,” Tad remarked reaching in his pocket and handing me a package. “Here’s your new phone.”
“An iPhone?” I asked, taking it out of his hand. “The plans for these are expensive.”
“I get a discount on my plan as a part of my teaching perks,” Tad explained.
“You added me to your plan? Thank you.”
“Of course, there’s no point in keeping your own plan anyways. They fixed up your apartment like new for when you get out of here,” Tad explained as h
e carefully watched my face.
“My apartment?” I sputtered in response.
“What’s wrong? You’re pale, Abbi—are you okay?” Tad asked as he leaned forward, putting his hand on my cheek.
“I can’t go back in there—never again. I don’t want to…please don’t make me go back there ever again,” I gasped. The thought of when I last walked through that door haunted me, and all I wanted to do was forget it. It was bad enough I would have to relive it once more to send Jennings to jail, but to go back into the apartment again—I couldn’t.
“I would love you to move in with me,” Tad suggested.
“But that’s not plausible right now. I’ll talk to Kirsten when she comes in later tonight. I’m sure they won’t mind me living there until I find a new place or I graduate,” I responded with a sigh.
“Are you sure? I know how much you like living on your own.”
“Well,” I began pulling on his tie. “I’m sure I’ll still be spending plenty of time at your place once the media leaves me alone.”
“Yeah, about the media…I’m sure they’re going to be waiting right outside the main entrance when you leave,” Tad explained, and his jaw clenched with the thought.
“Do you think they’ll give up once they get the idea that I’m not going to say anything?”
“Sure, but Oprah might try to call you,” Tad teased with his eyebrows raised to mock me.
“I’ll say the same thing I’m going to say to everyone who wants to talk to me about it—No, thank you,” I responded as I rolled my eyes.
“To Oprah! She’ll be in total shock!” Tad exclaimed as he threw his hands up.
“I just want to go back to a normal life…whatever that is,” I said, but as I looked down at my bandaged wrists I knew that nothing would ever be normal again.
Chapter 52
“What’s wrong Vera?” Kirsten asked with hand on my back as I stared out the front door of the hospital.
“That.” I pointed at the huge crowd of people with cameras being held back by hospital security guards.
“Once you make it clear you aren’t going to say anything they’ll leave you alone. They have bigger fish to fry like the other families of victims who might want to talk,” Bill said. “Leave this to me.”
With a nudge, I was out the door into a crowd of screaming adults acting as if they were children. Over their shoulders I could see a hooded figure exiting the building at the other entrance and getting into an R32. If these idiots hadn’t been here I would be getting into that car too.
“Abigail! How do you feel? Will you make a comment on the recent events?” some newsperson probed, nearly sticking a microphone into my eye.
Bill stepped in front of me and put his arms up saying, “Abigail would like the media to respect her privacy. She has no comments to make at this time and will have no comments to make in the future.”
“Why?” the newscasters chanted.
“Why?” Bill repeated. “You can’t figure that out yourselves? You‘re wasting your time here and will continue to do so if you hound Abigail, so please respect her privacy.”
The newscaster ocean parted and Bill and Kirsten led me to their car. When we were safe inside I put my head back on the seat.
“Do you think that will get them to leave me alone?” I wondered out loud.
“Not right away, but once they see I’m not playing games and neither are you, they’ll have to find something that they can actually use on the news,” Bill replied, putting the car into gear.
I put my head on Kirsten’s shoulder.
“Thanks, you two,” I said.
“We know we can’t replace your parents, but we love you like you were our child, and we’ll do our best to protect you just like Sarah and Mark would have,” Kirsten’s voice cracked when she said their names, and I realized that this was as hard for them as it was for me. They had to relive losing their best friends every time a media crew came near me, and they had to relive the guilt that they felt in almost losing me as well.
Chapter 53
I contently curled up into Tad’s arms on his couch; I had missed him holding me like this. While I loved Kirsten, Bill and Megan, I had a concussion, and raising a three year old was not quiet. I felt the pounding in my head subsiding, but I felt the heaviness in my chest returning. I had to go back to school sooner or later, and it was better to be sooner. The media was driving me nuts, and it was by some miracle of God that I had gotten to Tad’s apartment without being spotted. The reality was harsh, I was the vampire girl again, and everyone wanted a piece of me. Except, there wasn’t really much left to go around after the darkness of death had marched in and was now haunting me.
Tad seemed to sense my thoughts and pulled away so he could see my face.
“It seems like something has been bothering you?” he asked, cocking his head and brushing my hair out of my eyes.
“You know me too well.” I sighed. “You know how they always say there’ll be someone waiting for you at the end of the tunnel? Well…I always thought my parents would be there…but there was no one—nothing, just emptiness, pain and endless darkness, like if I let go I would be nothing but dust. I would just cease to exist.”
“Did you ever think they didn’t show up because they knew you wouldn’t come back if they did?” Tad suggested as he ran his hands over the bare skin of my arms.
“I would have, they could have just said your name, and I would have come back to you,” I retorted in defense.
“Abbi, I know you love me, but you once told me about a dream. You heard your father’s voice, and you were done for, you just couldn’t help but run to him. It would have been the same. There’s no sense in denying it,” he continued, and his face showed that it didn’t pain him.
“You think they’re still out there? Or do we just cease to exist?” I asked, looking down at my hands.
Tad tilted my chin up. “I know there’s life after death. I know your parents still exist, just like I know my mother still exists—”
“How?”I cut him off.
“I just know. Just like I know I love you. It just is,” he explained, and his face said it all. He truly believed it, and I needed to as well.
Chapter 54
“Hey girl, how are you feeling?” Jaz asked, leaning against the locker next to me.
“Like crap and everyone keeps staring at me,” I replied through gritted teeth.
“At least there’s only a few weeks left of school.”
I rolled my eyes. “First we have to get past prom.”
“I know. I’m sorry. Can we make sure we go shopping for dresses together this time?” she asked, and her voice was eager for my yes.
“Of course. I’m going to go see Mr. Knightley,” I said, nodding over my shoulder.
She winked at me. “Have fun but—“
“Not too much—I know, I know. Talk to you later,” I cut her off with another roll of my eyes.
“You betcha,” she teased with a wink.
“This is much better than the hospital room,” I commented as I took my seat in Tad’s classroom.
He stood and walked towards me, stopping at the front of my desk. He looked down at me.
“I agree.” He took my hands in his and flipped them, so he could see if the bandages needed changing. “But I can’t take care of you here.”
I pulled my hands away and tucked them under the desk and out of sight.
“You can take care of me later,” I replied.
He shook his head and walked back to the front of the classroom. He sat at his desk, staring at his paperwork for a moment and chewing the end of his pencil. Tad looked up at me and shook the pencil, but before he could speak the bell rang, and the rest of the students began pouring in. I felt as I had the first day in the classroom. I wanted to disappear, yet this time it wasn’t from Tad’s enraged stares, but from the questioning stares of my fellow classmates. Tad kept the class going the whole period and would cough or k
ick a person’s desk if they stared at me too long.
When the bell rang it dug into my head, and I closed my eyes against the sound. When I opened them the last student was leaving the room still staring at me. Jaz was turned and looked at me in worry.
“Are you alright?” she asked.
“Sure,” I responded through gritted teeth.
“Abbi, are you okay?” Tad asked, coming towards me.
“Sure,” I repeated as I tried to keep the room from turning black.
“Let me see your wrists,” Tad ordered.
I turned them little by little.
“Mr. Knightley, I think it would be alright if you brought Abbi into the teachers’ lounge and changed her bandages and maybe found where she hid her pain pills?” Jaz suggested as she stood.
“Oh, pain pills would be nice,” I remarked with my eyes half closed.
“Come on.” Tad took charge, taking my arm and leading me out of the room.
“I’m taking Abbi into the lounge to change her bandages,” Tad explained to Paul, who greeted him at the door.
“Let me get the door for you, the room’s empty, so you won’t be uncomfortable, Ver—Abbi,” Paul assured me.
“Will you open your eyes?” Tad asked sitting me down on the couch. “You’re starting to freak me out.”
“I’m fine—I just hurt all over again, and I forgot my pain pills,” I explained as I opened my eyes and watched Tad pull my pills from his messenger bag. “You’re my angel.”
“Now, let me see those wrists,” Tad’s voice chastised me sweetly.
“Thanks,” I replied, closing my eyes again.
“Is there something else wrong?”
“It’s like I woke up from that coma, and now I feel everything to an extreme. I miss my parents, I miss you, and I just want this school year to be over. I just want to be me, not the vampire girl—the newest zoo exhibit in Amherst,” I explained, feeling as though I had a two ton building on my shoulders.
Walking in the Shadows Page 17