Teacher's Pet (Point Horror)

by Richie T Cusick

  “He was okay,” Denzil conceded. “Just okay. I’ve heard better lectures that—uh-oh, here he comes. Put on your armor.”

  “My armor? What are you talking about?”

  “I know that look.” Denzil scowled. “And Gideon Drewe hasn’t kept it off you all through class.”

  Flustered, Kate whirled around to find Gideon behind her, his hands clasped at his back as he waited politely for their conversation to end.

  “Ah, Miss Rawlins. Do you have a moment?”

  “Well… I…”

  “You’re on your own, kid.” Denzil patted her shoulder. “See you at lunch.”

  “Wait—but—”

  “This won’t take long,” Gideon said, watching Denzil go out the door. “If you’re on your way to another lecture now—”

  “No, that’s okay.” Kate settled herself in a chair and looked up at Gideon towering over her. He was holding some papers, and as he sat down, she saw a title on the top page and realized it was her short story. Gideon caught her glint of recognition, smiling as she looked away.

  “You’re uncomfortable with my having this, aren’t you?”

  “I didn’t know Miss Bunceton sent it in,” Kate said evasively, then sighed. “Yes. Very uncomfortable.”

  A warm smile spread over Gideon’s face. “You shouldn’t be. It’s very good.”

  Kate’s glance was shy but curious. “Really?”

  “Really. As a matter of fact, I read all the submissions that William received, and I was very impressed with your talent. I feel you have great potential.”

  “Well… I…” Kate didn’t know what to say, pleasure and embarrassment making her tongue-tied. “What I mean is, I’ve always wanted to be a writer. So that means a lot, that you think it’s good.” God, I sound just like Tawney—

  “Thank you, Kate. It’s flattering for one’s opinion to be held in such esteem.” Gideon’s smile widened. “But you have to believe in yourself, too. Do you believe in yourself? In your dreams?”

  Kate thought a moment. “Yes. I’ve never wanted to be anything else.”

  “Then what a head start you have. You see, these conferences aren’t just for building the talent—they’re for building the ego, as well. Writers are a notoriously insecure lot.”

  “You don’t seem insecure.” Kate studied him, the striking color of his eyes, the serene expression on his face.

  “Looks can be deceiving,” Gideon said smoothly. “Just like fears. At any rate, I’d love to go over your work with you. Nothing formal. We’ll just toss some ideas about.”

  “I’d like that.”

  “Say… tomorrow morning? About eight?”

  “Sure. That’d be great.”

  “Eight… yes… eight would be great.” A faint smile flickered across Gideon’s face, then slowly faded, his voice drifting off to a whisper.

  “Did I say something funny?”

  “No. It just reminded me of something. Someone. I’m sorry.”

  “Well… tomorrow then.” She started to get up, but his voice stopped her.

  “I noticed you last night. I was hoping you’d be in my class.”

  Startled, Kate stared at him. “You noticed me? I don’t think I saw you….”

  “No, of course not. It was at the bonfire. You were halfway round the circle.” He turned slightly to peer out the window. “It’s a lovely day. I hope you enjoy it.”

  As he offered his hand to help her up, Kate couldn’t resist one more glance at his face. Surprised to see Gideon looking back at her so intently, she reached for her notebook and knocked it to the floor. As they both bent to retrieve it, the door suddenly opened and a shadow fell across the threshold. Kate jumped up, agonizingly conscious of Pearce’s dark stare upon them.

  “What is it?” Gideon asked, unperturbed. Kate grabbed up her notebook and groaned as her purse fell to the floor. Squatting to pick it up, she didn’t have to see Pearce to know he was watching her—she could feel his eyes boring into her back.

  “Clumsy,” she mumbled. “Sorry.” Knowing her cheeks were bright red, she backed toward the door, avoiding Gideon’s eyes, maneuvering around Pearce’s body. “I enjoyed the class—really—thanks a lot.”

  “My pleasure,” Gideon said as he rose to his feet. He glanced at Pearce and then at her, his voice oddly distracted. “I look forward to teaching you quite a lot… about fear.”

  Chapter 4

  “SO WHAT KIND OF propositions did he make?” Denzil whispered in Kate’s ear as he set some crackers on the table.

  “Will you stop?” Kate shook her head at him, laughing, and he backed away with a grin.

  “Hey, trust me, I know his type—”

  “He just wants to critique my story, that’s all!”

  “Right. Critique today, kiss tomorrow.”

  “Don’t you have work to do?”

  “Oh, so now I’m just a lowly busboy in your eyes—and here I was so sure you wouldn’t be fickle!”

  “Good heavens, what are you two jabbering about?” Miss Bunceton tried to talk around a mouthful of salad. “Is something wrong with your food, Kate? Who is this boy?”

  “Denzil Doyle. And no, my food is fine.” Kate swallowed a laugh as Denzil made a face behind Miss Bunceton’s back and disappeared into the kitchen. “Did you enjoy your classes this morning?”

  “I should say I did! Romantic heroes—titillating dialogue—and then the best discussion on love scenes! I tell you, Kate, I am just so inspired! What did you do, dear?”

  “William Drewe’s brother took over his class—and that was quite a surprise about my story being critiqued, Miss Bunceton.”

  Miss Bunceton chuckled and threw Kate a sly look. “I believe you’ll thank me in the end, Kate. For taking the initiative, I mean. You’re much too modest, my dear. And has anything been said about William? No one seems to know what’s going on.”

  Kate’s mind wandered back over Gideon’s class, the magical spell of his voice, how she’d hung onto every word. He’d been such a commanding speaker, yet so softspoken, that when the lecture had ended, she’d felt like a dreamer slipping reluctantly from a sweet, enchanted sleep. And he liked my story… he wants to talk to me—

  “—don’t have to go to all the lectures, you know.” Miss Bunceton broke into her reverie. “You’re here to play, too. Join some activity, have a good time. Take advantage of this experience, Kate—good heavens, I’ll never tell!”

  “Yes… well…” Hurriedly Kate pulled out her schedule, disappointed to see that Gideon had no more lectures that day. “I want to go over my notes after lunch. And then I thought I could do some exploring this afternoon.”

  “Excellent idea. Just remember what that Pearce fellow said about going off the trails.”

  “Yes, I’ll remember.”

  As soon as she’d eaten, Kate wandered into the dining hall kitchen, finding a spot near the back door that was out of everyone’s way. Tawney saw her and tried to wave, her arms full of freshly washed glasses, and Denzil made a mad dash as several of them slipped from her grasp.

  “Don’t even speak to her,” he scolded Kate, swinging himself up onto the counter beside her. “She can’t think about two things at the same time.” As Kate gave him a chiding look, he grinned. “So the spell’s broken? You’re back down to earth? Fallen from the spell of Gideon Drewe?”

  “Denzil, I told you—he’s just a great teacher! I can learn a lot from him.”

  “I bet you can.” He jerked away as Kate slapped at his arm. “Debonair Mister Drewe—that accent girls go crazy over—that genteel air—”

  “Oh, I think he’s so handsome.” Tawney nodded eagerly as she walked up and stood between them. “I saw him this morning on the way to my lecture. I’ve seen him before, too, and he just gets handsomer every time. Don’t you think so, Kate?”

  “Course she does,” Denzil said before Kate could answer. “She’s the teacher’s pet—she thinks he’s God.”

  “Oh, Denzil, for he
aven’s sake—” Kate began, but Tawney cut her off.

  “Teacher’s pet? He had one this summer, too, didn’t he?”

  “Don’t tell her that,” Denzil snorted. “You’ll break her heart!”

  “You will not break my heart,” Kate flared up.

  “And anyway, she just thought she was his pet. It was pretty one-sided, if you ask me.”

  “What was one-sided?” Kate demanded. “Will you please tell me what you’re talking about?”

  “This past summer.” Tawney sighed. “She worked with us here in the kitchen—Denzil, what was her name?”

  “Merriam.”

  “Yes, and she loved Gideon! She was hopelessly, totally, passionately—”

  “Will you just tell the story, Tawney? Jeez….”

  Tawney smiled sentimentally. “—in love with Gideon Drewe.”

  “Was he…” Kate tried hard to sound casual. “Was he in love with her?”

  “Heck, no.” Denzil scowled. “But you’d never have guessed it to hear her talk.”

  “She told everyone.” Tawney nodded. “Everyone.”

  “Said she and Gideon were gonna run away together. Everyone in the kitchen knew about it—”

  “I wrote a poem about it, too. ‘An Unlikely Pair and the Great Affair’—”

  Everyone around camp knew about it—students, workers, delivery people, teachers—even Pearce. Everyone but Gideon.”

  Tawney looked at the floor, her face suddenly sad. “But maybe he did find out about it, Denzil. Maybe that’s why she left.”

  At Kate’s puzzled expression, Denzil added, “Nobody really knows what happened. She just didn’t show up for work one day. When someone went to her cabin to check on her, all her things were gone. We figured she just split.”

  Tawney nodded solemnly. “We figured maybe they had a lover’s quarrel. In fact, I wrote another poem—”

  “Except Gideon seemed totally oblivious to the whole thing,” Denzil added, ignoring Tawney.

  Kate pondered the story, looking quizzically at Denzil. “Did anyone ever find out what happened to her?”

  Tawney exchanged looks with Denzil and gave a half nod.

  “So?” Kate looked from one to the other. “What?”

  “They think it was suicide.” Denzil gave her a wry smile. “Trust me—you don’t wanna hear about it.”

  Kate opened her mouth to ask more, but Tawney jumped forward with a scream.

  “Oh, my gosh—the dishwasher! I must have put in too much soap!”

  In dismay they watched as a wave of suds surged across the floor. As everyone yelled and scurried for mops, Kate let herself quickly outside.

  Breathing deeply of the crisp air, Kate hugged her notebook to her chest and started off for her cabin. The pathway was so beautiful today, with none of the threats that had hidden in last night’s shadows. Overhead the trees entwined their scarlet and green plumage, filtering pale sunlight into freckles along the trail. Thinking of Gideon, a quick smile came to her lips, then faded as the conversation in the kitchen came back to her.

  “Teacher’s pet… trust me, you don’t wanna hear about it.”

  Spying the cabin up ahead, Kate slowed, letting her gaze run appreciatively over the little clearing. Now she could see how the trees crowded in from all sides, obscuring practically everything but the porch.

  Perfect place for someone to hide.

  Surprised at the unexpected thought, Kate forced it away. What’s the matter with you? It’s a gorgeous day, you just found out you’re talented, your teacher is the best-looking guy you’ve ever met in your life—

  Something slithered against her foot, curling around her ankle.

  With a scream, Kate jumped back against the wall. There was a quick streak of shadow, and two eyes blinked at her from beneath a bush by the path.

  “Pet?” Cautiously Kate knelt down, hands extended. “It is you, isn’t it? Poor kitty—come on—I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  Playing hard to get, the cat regarded her with saucer eyes, her back hunching in annoyance as Kate came closer.

  “Here, kitty. What’s that you’ve got in your mouth? A glove?”

  Chuckling, Kate squatted a few feet away and wiggled her fingers enticingly. The cat blinked and snaked its tail, then at last padded slowly and deliberately over, sitting smugly just out of Kate’s reach.

  “Naughty girl,” Kate scolded gently, inching closer. “You do have someone’s glove. And they’re probably out there somewhere looking all over for it.”

  Pet’s eyes grew rounder. They fixed on Kate with a strange glow.

  “That’s a good girl… just let me see what you’ve got now—“

  And at first it didn’t register, the glove so thick and bulky as she eased it from the cat’s mouth, the faint spoiled odor that met her nostrils and the way the fingers should have flopped, empty fabric, only they didn’t, and the sudden awful realization that what she was holding, what she was looking at, was solid, was—

  “Oh, God—”

  She saw the cuff of the glove, one horrible glimpse of stringy red meat and dull white bone, and as a cry bubbled up in her throat, the glove fell with a thud at her feet.

  And then, as Kate screamed, the cat slid into the shadows and watched silently as Kate raced along the path toward camp.

  Chapter 5

  “JUST CALM DOWN, WILL you? I’m coming as fast as I can!”

  “Calm down? Calm down!” As Kate burst out of the trees, she cast a scathing look back over her shoulder and pointed to the bushes alongside the path. “There! Oh, for God’s sake, don’t touch it!”

  Tawney stopped near the treeline, her eyes huge. “I don’t even want to see it! Oh, Denzil, get a stick or something!” She huddled beside Kate, and they watched as Denzil cautiously approached the tangled underbrush.

  “Well, there’s no cat,” he announced tentatively, taking another step closer.

  “She probably ran off.” Kate shifted nervously, her eyes darting in all directions. “I probably scared her to death when I yelled.”

  “And there’s nothing here,” Denzil finished. He slapped his thighs and turned back around. “Well, guess that’s that.”

  “What!” Breaking from Tawney’s grasp, Kate came slowly across the grass, eyes narrowed. “Denzil, if you’re just saying that to lure me out here—”

  “Ha! Some horror writer you are! See for yourself—there’s not a thing around here that even resembles a—”

  “No.” Kate shook her head, her chin lifting stubbornly. “No. It was here. I saw it.”

  “So you saw a glove, big deal. I told you, Pet’s the champion thief of all time.”

  “Denzil, this glove wasn’t empty! There was a—something—inside it!”

  “Mud. Maybe she fished it out of the lake. Or leaves. Maybe she had it buried somewhere—”

  “Leaves?” Tawney shivered and stepped back. “Oh, look out, maybe it’s hiding under some leaves—”

  “Oh, right. It crawled away, and tonight it’s gonna scratch on your window.” Denzil made his eyes even bigger behind his glasses. “Scratch … scratch…”

  “It’s not funny.” Kate turned on him. “Pet must have carried it off again. That’s the only explanation.” She looked at Tawney, who nodded vigorously.

  “Wait a minute.” Denzil grinned, lowering his head, shaking it slowly from side to side. “Just hold your horses a minute here. Now I see what’s going on.”

  Kate’s look was blank. “You do? Then why don’t you tell us.”

  “Ah-ha, pretty sly, you two. Pretty sly.” His grin spread wider, and he gave a low chuckle. “It’s ’cause of that story I told last night, right? Around the fire? The hand that should have been a hook? Pretty clever, you guys. You almost had me convinced.”

  The girls exchanged bewildered looks, and Kate’s cheeks reddened. “Denzil, you are totally off base if you think this is some joke. There was a glove here, and there was something inside it!”

>   “Yeah, okay.” He wagged a finger at them and laughed. “Okay, you two. But I’ll get you back! Two can play this game!”

  “But there’s three of us.” Tawney frowned, confused. “And I don’t even know what we’re playing.”

  “You wait.” Denzil chuckled, heading back onto the path. “I’ll definitely get you—and it’ll definitely be good.”

  “Denzil”—Kate looked after him beseechingly—“you’ve got to believe me!”

  “Hey, sure I do!” He doffed his hat and disappeared into the woods. “See you later! And you’d better be ready for anything!”

  Kate stared at Tawney, then sighed and climbed up onto the porch. Strange how everything could look so peaceful, so normal, when her insides were churning so much. She stared hard at the bushes where she’d last seen Pet… let her eyes rove across the clearing and back again. I couldn’t have imagined it. I couldn’t have….

  “What did it look like?”

  “What?” Kate jumped. She’d almost forgotten Tawney was there.

  “You know—that thing you saw. What did it look like?”

  “Don’t you want to come up here and sit down?”

  “No. It might be hiding under your porch.”

  “Oh, God, Tawney, don’t say that!” Kate scooted closer to the door, then stared at the trees and said slowly, “It was brown. Definitely a man’s glove. Like a work glove. Real sturdy and thick.”

  Tawney nodded. “I’ve seen gloves like that. Pearce wears gloves like that. He wears them all the time when he’s working around camp.”

  Kate considered this, letting out a sigh. “So Pet really could have gotten it most anywhere. And what I saw really wasn’t a hand.”

  “That’s what I’d want to believe.” Tawney nodded seriously.

  Kate regarded her for several minutes. “That’d sure make it easier to stay here tonight.”

  “I think so, too. Do you want to go swimming later? I know a spot that’s kind of secret—we’d have it all to ourselves.”

  “In this weather?” Kate shivered.

  “It catches the afternoon sun. It’s not so bad.”