by C. S Luis
The man in the black suit smiled. “Director Nicholson thought you might need the company. Enjoy, sir,” he said.
Bryce had done this? Of course.
The man walked down the steps and down towards the street where a black SUV awaited him; he climbed in, and the vehicle drove away. I closed the door, now faced with two half-nude girls.
It didn’t surprise me when twenty minutes later, the cab drove up, and the girls climbed in. As I watched them from the window, the cab drove away, and I dropped onto the white sofa and took a deep breath. What the fuck was wrong with me? Two hot girls with no strings attached had been standing in my house, and I had sent them home.
I sat there for a mere moment. I had to get it together; if Bryce knew what I had done he would think I wasn’t up for the assignment. But what the hell was I trying to prove at this point? What the hell was I doing? I was protecting her. I rose, taking off the muscle shirt and dropping to the floor to do push-ups. Something had changed in me. Something that now was beginning to frighten me.
Protecting her how? How is not getting us laid protecting her? This is ridiculous! Look at what you have reduced us to. We can’t even get laid because you’re hanging your hopes on a girl you can’t protect!
I will---! The words died short on my lips.
Do you hear yourself? You’re a killer! You’re a man, a man that should be out there hunting and getting fucked! And here you are, hiding like some fool!
I stood up, breathing heavily from the exercise; sweat covering my face and shirtless chest. “Claudia, what have you done to me? What’s happening to me?” I whispered. “I’m under control. I just need time. It’s all a matter of time,” I whispered to the empty house.
A month came and went, and finally, the day I had longed for came. It came on a Monday, and the alarm clock went off at 5:30 am. I climbed out of bed, still brushing the sleep from my face, and hurried to the shower. I shaved, brushed my teeth, and put on cologne. I came out of the bathroom and grabbed a few items from the top dresser and walked into the closet and grabbed my black suit and dark red tie.
I dressed in the bathroom. I brushed back my honey brown hair and added a bit of mousse on the wet strands. I looked myself over, and I felt butterflies in my stomach like it was the first day of school. Well, in a way, I guess it was.
“I hope you’re ready for me, sweetheart. Because God I’ve missed you, and I can’t wait to see you,” I whispered.
I walked out of the bathroom and came down the stairs from the second floor and into the kitchen, grabbing a protein shake from the fridge. I walked out the back door towards the garage and opened it and found my baby blue Shelby waiting for me where Nicholson had said it would be. It had only moved a few times since I went running.
“I missed you, baby,” I said, stroking a hand on the finish. I opened the trunk and found the briefcase. I opened it and the laptop was inside.
“Perfect,” I whispered. I closed the briefcase and put it on the passenger seat, looking hard at the seat and recalling Claudia sitting there staring back at me.
Very soon we’ll be together again, and it’ll be like I never left.
Keep telling yourself that, John; concentrate on what you need to do, and you can get what you want.
I grinned and put the key in the ignition and started her up. I rammed the engine, and I was on my way to Milton once more.
Michael would be surprised to see me, and so I picked up the phone and began to dial his office number. The phone began to ring at the other end. A man’s voice answered the phone at the third ring.
"Dr. McClellan speaking.” I heard Michael’s voice. Dr. McClellan, saying that would be hard to get used to.
"Congratulations, Michael," was the first thing I said. “I heard you made principal. That’s gonna be hard getting used to,” I said.
"John? Black---Slater?” he corrected himself; that was something else he would have to get used to. “I never thought I’d hear from you again." The man sounded surprised but very delighted. It awestruck me that he was happy to hear my voice.
“Oh my, John it’s so good to hear from you. Are you coming back? They told me you had an emergency; is everything alright?” Michael asked; he seemed to be whispering now.
“What happened?” He asked in a soft murmur. “They told me you accepted the position, but I wasn’t sure it was you—the name read Christopher. I wasn’t sure.”
Of course we had never talked since the last time I had seen him. He had accepted my application for assistant principal submitted by The Company. This would be our first meeting.
“Michael,” I interrupted, and he became silent, but I could hear his heavy breath.
“Listen,” I started to say. “I missed you both, you and Claudia. I’ve just arrived at Milton. I’m outside in the parking lot.” I found a parking space in the staff lot and turned off the car’s engine.
“Here?” His voice was filled with excitement, but the only thing on my mind was seeing Claudia; I wanted to surprise her.
“Where’s Claudia?” I asked before he could say anything else. As I got out of my Shelby, the same old gravel greeted my feet. “I want to see her, but I want to surprise her. How is she?” I asked, grabbing the briefcase from the passenger seat and climbing out, closing the car door behind me.
"She's doing fine. Claudia isn’t here yet; she takes the bus now. She hates getting up early with me. I have to get up much earlier now since making principal,” he said, but he didn’t have to remind me of the duties of the position, I knew them all too well.
“She’s growing up, I guess. She misses you a lot, John. We both do. She’s gonna be thrilled when she sees you.”
“Taking the bus? When did she start doing that?” I asked. I could understand why she had done that. Perhaps Michael had driven her to it. He was overprotective and overbearing, a bad combination for a teenager.
“Ever since you left. She can’t drive yet, but I think she’s gonna start bugging me about getting her a car soon. I’m dreading it.”
I chuckled from the other end.
“She is eighteen after all, it’s coming. I just know it.”
"Well, I can’t wait to see her. She’ll be surprised,” I answered. I just wanted to hear her voice, to see her.
“I’m on my way in now,” I said.
“Welcome back, John,” I heard Michael say.
“Glad to be back,” I said before hanging up and heading inside.
Milton never looked so good as it did now, facing me with its dreary appearance of a haggard old woman. Romanesque architectural style, where my first thoughts at seeing Milton’s exterior, to be exact, no doubt it had that Medieval European characteristic. Massive and sturdy, the large building was built in 1926, to be precise, as a military vet hospital turned high school. God, it needed a face-lift. It reminded me of the Addams’ family’s home in its depressing state. But it was my Milton, and I felt a part of it now more than I had ever before. I belonged here, or did I just want to believe it was true?
It was quite early. I had intended on coming in ahead of time, in my hopes of surprising Claudia. I also wanted to avoid anyone else I didn’t immediately want to see. The only thing important now to me was Claudia. After all, I was the deserter, the ADA deserter, or so I wanted them to believe.
I walked through the heavy entrance from the parking lot, passed the cafeteria, and continued down the hallway. The school was fairly quiet this early in the morning. No one else had arrived yet except for Michael.
I passed the office and continued down. As I neared Michael’s office, he stepped out and smiled at me. He was dressed in a grey-blue suit, and it took me by surprise. I had never seen him in a suit, especially not a nice one. He looked very professional, and I almost didn’t recognize him at first. As I stepped up to him, I reached to shake his hand, but Michael immediately hugged me instead. I honestly didn’t expect that and was slow to respond before I returned the embrace and shook the man's hand.
>
“God, it’s so good to see you, old friend,” he immediately said, holding my hand tightly in his grip as he had the very first time we’d met.
“Same here, Michael,” I replied with a big grin on my face.
"How is she? Has she asked about me?" I inquired. I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I had to ask again to the generous Michael, like a curious schoolboy asking about a girl he had a crush on. I missed her so much. I hoped it wasn’t too obvious.
"Always," Michael responded. "There’s not a day that goes by that she doesn’t ask of whether you’ve written or if I’ve heard from you," Michael said, and I suddenly felt guilty. But I knew I couldn’t write, not with so many eyes watching what I would say. I had to protect her. Or perhaps I just wanted to believe that I could.
Michael stared right back at me for a long moment. “It’s so great to see you again.”
“Same here, sir.”
He opened the office door. “Come inside, and let’s catch up.”
I nodded and stepped into the main office as he allowed me in first.
“Claudia won’t be here for another hour. We have time,” Michael offered as we entered his office. He stepped forward up to his desk and merely stood alongside it as I came and dropped the briefcase beside one of the chairs facing his desk.
* * *
"I never thanked you for what you did for Claudia," Michael said as I looked around the office, finding pictures of him now decorating the walls. I didn’t understand what Michael meant right away until the man spoke again.
"For saving her and protecting her,” Michael said, but a picture on his desk of Claudia absorbed me; the image alone made my heart skip a beat.
Breathe, John.
"She looks beautiful as always," I said politely, staring at the picture. Michael caught me looking at it.
“God, it’s nice to have you back. Would you like some coffee?”
I smiled and nodded and watched him step out the office. I stepped over to the wall to admire the pictures. I caught a few of him at charities and school functions and other school activities, football games and outings.
“You’re quite busy,” I said when I caught him reentering his office with two cups of coffee in his hands.
“Sugar?” Michael offered. I waved his offer away as he handed me the beverage.
“Yes, well, it’s not easy, but the position keeps me busy. You know that.”
I glared at him as he walked over to his desk, and I followed. We both dropped on the chairs opposite each other. “I’ll be honest. I hated it,” I admitted to him. He just about laughed, and put his coffee down on top of the desk and sat up.
“But this,” I motioned around the room, regarding his new position. “Is going to be hard getting used to, Dr. McClellan.”
I grinned and winked, and he laughed and took a drink from his coffee as I did the same and sat back to take in the moment. I was back. Yes, back in Milton, and I never wanted to leave again.
What do you think, John? That you’re on vacation?
Can you let me have peace for one moment? Let me relax with my friend.
But you don’t have friends, John.
“What happened, John?” Michael suddenly asked, and I blinked and looked over at him. I put the cup on his desk and fell back in my seat with one hand on my chin.
“You guys,” I simply said, but he wasn’t satisfied. “This place,” I offered again, and he stared back at me, unsure of what I meant. I guess it didn’t make sense for a moment.
“After the incident here, I tried to go on like nothing had changed,” I began. “But it wasn’t easy, and after a personal struggle with myself, I made up my mind, and I thought it was time for change,” I merely said, looking back at him.
“I’m tired, Michael,” I said with a big sigh.
“Tired?” He asked.
I came forward on my seat and looked into his blue eyes. “Tired of being alone,” I honestly admitted. “Tired of running and just plain tired of everything. The lifestyle I was living…it’s not an easy one. You can’t begin to understand.” I rose to my feet and stepped away towards the window with one hand over my head.
“When I first came here, I thought it would be easy. I thought I would come in and do what I needed to do and get out. I even hated the very idea of whom I had to pretend to be,” I said, turning to face him as he sat up behind his desk listening. “But not because I cared,” I honestly continued. “But because I hated society and people in general. I thought ‘this isn’t me. What the hell am I doing here?’ Then everything changed. This place, the people I met. You guys. I know it sounds silly and even crazy. And perhaps you find it ridiculous. I thought so myself. But…now I can’t see myself anywhere else.”
Michael immediately rose and came forward. “It’s not ridiculous, John. It’s not at all,” he kindly said.
“But I knew I couldn’t just walk away,” I continued, stepping away to the window again and staring at the vehicles outside as they arrived at the front of the school. Michael’s office faced the front of the building, and I could see Broadway Street from his window.
“What do you mean, John?” Michael asked, standing behind me.
“I couldn’t just go and start a new life, Michael. I had to disappear. I had to make it look like…”
I turned back to him.
“You see, they’ve invested so much in me they would have never allowed me to leave. I had no choice.” I looked up at him, finding it hard to look him in the eyes while telling him what I was telling him. A lie.
“Once I knew you and Claudia were safe, I returned and was assigned another mission, and when the time was right, I let them believe I died while on assignment.”
I looked up at him. He blinked; he looked shocked and like someone who had just seen a ghost.
“You faked your own death?” he could only say.
“It was the only way to break from them. I couldn’t go on, not after Milton.”
He looked worried as he stared back at me.
“You and Claudia have nothing to worry about. You’re in no immediate danger. I assure you. They don’t know she exists, and as long as that is the case, she’ll be fine.”
He looked troubled nevertheless; perhaps he wondered why I had brought this upon them and why he had allowed me to return. Perhaps he had made a grim mistake in taking me back.
“I’m sorry if I frightened you, Michael. I know this is a lot to take in. And if there’s a problem at all, I don’t have to be here. I don’t want to be a problem.”
Michael stepped over to me and put his arms around me and hugged me. I didn’t know what to do. He pulled back and looked up at me.
“John, you’re our friend. God, you’ve become something far more than that to us, to Claudia and me, and we will do anything we can to help you, no matter what you did in the past. You’re family now,” he softly said.
Damn, why did I feel guilty when he said that?
You’re bad, John, so bad. Are you for fucking real?
I didn’t know what to say. I was speechless. He had accepted me without a thought. What was I doing?
“I want you to have dinner with us this evening,” Michael said. “To celebrate your return.”
I smiled and nodded and then said, “Of course. I’d love to.”
“God, it’s good to have you back!” Michael again said, and he looked over at the clock and moved to his desk. He then opened the center drawer, pulling out a set of keys.
“By the way, the movers set up everything yesterday in your new office, so there should be furniture ready for you. I’ve had a few things placed there from your old office in case it really was you coming back.”
He smiled. Just then, Mrs. Wallace appeared at the entrance. She blinked when she caught sight of me, perhaps thinking she was seeing a ghost.
“Dr. Black?” She asked, I smiled, coming forward to greet her.
“Mr. Slater,” I corrected her. “How are you, Mrs. Wallace?”
“Well, you’re a sight for sore eyes. What are you doing here?” She curiously asked, and I glanced back at Michael.
He smiled and said, “Oh, she’s alright John; she knows about your—”
I wrinkled an eyebrow. And does she also know about Claudia? Well, if she knew this much then perhaps she knew that as well. Wow, what a tight knit family we have here.
Indeed, John, wouldn’t Bryce love to know this.
“John is our new 11th grade assistant principal,” Michael offered Mrs. Wallace as she smiled back at me.
“Oh my! It’s nice to have you back Dr…I mean Mr. Slater. Oh, this is gonna be something hard to get used to,” she said.
“Glad to be back, Mrs. Wallace,” I offered.
“Claudia is going to be so happy to see you!” She said.
“Could you keep it a secret?” I politely asked. “I want to surprise her.”
“Oh yes, of course. Hush, hush,” she offered and walked back for a second before coming back. “Anything I can get you?” She asked.
I shook my head politely as Michael was now standing beside me with the keys in his hand. “Shall we?” He offered.
“Lead the way,” I politely said, grabbing my briefcase from the side of the chair and following him out the door. Michael looked at his watch again and hurried down the hall with me. We came to the assistant principal’s office; the glass door read ‘Mr. Claypool and Mr. Vasquez’.
“Of course, we’ll be adding your name here as well,” Michael politely offered as he opened the door, and we walked in. The secretary desk was near the entrance; the lady sitting on it greeted us when Michael entered, and we both stood within the office looking over at her. Inside, there were three offices.
The secretary was in her thirties and had dark hair. She seemed quite plain, with a pale green blouse and light makeup. She looked tired and overworked. And she looked new; it was the first time I had seen her.
“Ms. Erickson, this is Mr. John Slater; he’s our new 11th grade assistant principal. He’s an old friend,” Michael added with a smile. “Please take good care of him.”