by Aiden James
She laughed for a moment, and the worry in her countenance briefly diminished. Even her gorgeous eyes twinkled a bit.
“You’ve got a way of cheering me up, sister,” she said, pausing for Johnny to set her cappuccino in front of her. The cup billowing steam, she blew on it for a moment. “This seems a helluva lot hotter than the last cup.”
“I had em’ heat it up just for you, sweetie!” said Johnny, his smile impish. Dressed in his preferred Vols football jersey, and the three gold chains he most favors, it suddenly hit me that he and Tyreen must have had plans other than hanging around campus for the day.
“What are your Saturday plans?” I shifted my glance from one to the other. Peter looked up from the pancakes and bacon that had completely absorbed his attention since he sat down. “I take it that you won’t be spending much time at the library or in the dorms today, huh?”
“You obviously haven’t heard the latest news, have you?” said Tyreen, shooting an ‘I told you so’ look at Johnny.
“More shit’s happened?”
“Yes,” she said. Worry clouded her face again. “They found two of the girls who disappeared the other night…or what’s left of them.”
“Oh my God!”
I hoped I sounded alarmed enough for her. Yes, I was just as horrified at the thought of what was discovered since the night before. But with everything going on, the initial shock I felt when Irma Goizane was gruesomely killed had waned with each new victim. It was more like a heavy sadness that this tragedy hadn’t stopped, despite my belief that everyone on campus didn’t expect the four abductees to walk again amongst the living.
“The head from one girl and part of the shoulder and neck of another,” said Johnny.
He bit his lip to keep from saying more. Really, these were pointless details since we already knew the killers were beyond normal viciousness.
“And that’s enough for me,” said Tyreen. “I’m outta here!”
“So, you’re leaving?” I sought to confirm, surprised. “Are you just leaving campus and hanging around this area? You mentioned renting a chalet in Gatlinburg the other night.”
“No,” she said. “Johnny and I are heading down to Atlanta, to stay with my folks until this bullshit’s over and done with, and they catch the Ted Bundy ‘mo-fos’ who are killing people!” Her bottom lip quivered. Just like that, the fragile façade of peace and wellbeing was on the verge of going ‘poof!’
“Maybe we should go someplace, too,” said Peter, reservedly. “We can head to Nashville this afternoon. My parents have an unused guesthouse where we can wait it out until they catch the guys doing this. I mean, they’ve already closed school through Monday. With just a little over a week before Thanksgiving break, I’m sure they’ll cancel classes. This place will be a ghost town before the weekend’s out.”
“I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head. All three looked at me as if it was my decision alone to make. The second recent request to get the hell out of town, I needed time to think about this…to consider the situation and all viable options.
“Yes you do know,” pressed Tyreen. “Go with Peter to Nashville, and you should leave right now!”
“I’ll have to think about it,” I replied, more firmly, raising my hand to stop her from pressing harder. “I promise to be smart with this decision, and I’ll make it before tonight. Just give me a little time to consider everything. Okay?
“We’ll be leaving around three o’clock this afternoon. If you haven’t decided to go with Peter, then your ass is coming with us! You got that, girlfriend?” Anger simmered within Tyreen’s emerald irises. “Hell, you can bring Peter with you, too, as we’ve got plenty of room in Johnny’s Caddy. We always have a good time together, anyway, so why don’t you both plan to go with us?”
“We’ll see,” I told her, despite Johnny and Peter’s enthusiastic support of her offer. “I’ll let you know in plenty of time before you leave this afternoon.”
***
Of course, Tyreen was right. I truly did need to leave. The question, though, was how safe would I be no matter where I went? If what the vampires told me was correct, then it wouldn’t matter if I headed to Atlanta, Nashville, or anywhere else in the country. Whatever menace had traveled across the Atlantic surely wouldn’t be deterred from tracking me down, as long as I resided on planet earth.
The complicated decision of leaving with Tyreen, Peter, or with the vampire ‘emissaries’ presently sleeping somewhere in the Smoky Mountains didn’t have an easy answer. I likely would’ve struggled with a final answer, if not for a phone call early that afternoon from Richmond, my home.
“Txema?”
The familiar voice sounded distant, as if the connection wasn’t so good.
“Momma?”
“How are you, honey?” My mother’s voice sounded clear then. “Papa and Grandma are worried sick about what’s going on out there. I am too.”
“I’m okay…safe,” I told her, gazing out my dorm room window at the deserted courtyard below. “Don’t worry, Momma. I’ll be sure to stay inside my dorm, and the only time I’ll go out is during the daylight hours to eat at the cafeteria we visited when you, Papa, and Jon were here for orientation. Peter, my boyfriend, is staying here with me.”
“I’m sure your boyfriend would do everything he could to protect you,” she said, and then chuckled nervously. She grew silent on the other end of the line.
“Momma…are you still there?”
“Yes…Txema, your father has made the decision for you to come home,” she told me, her voice hushed. Apparently, this had been a decision reached with much discussion, not an easy compromise. “He has already arranged for a flight to Richmond, first thing tomorrow morning.”
I didn’t know what to say, even though leaving school was already a given. As independent as I am, having that decision made without my input flew all over me like a shit storm on a plumber who just broke through a sewer line. That’s one of Papa’s favorite expressions, and it seemed very appropriate right then.
However, taking it out on my mother wasn’t an option I’d consider. If anyone had tried to make sure I had a say in this decision, it would’ve been her or my grandmother. The seriousness of what was happening here, and maybe one of Grandma’s intuitions that we all took seriously overrode all else.
“Okay,” I replied, releasing a low sigh. I glanced over at Peter, who had been reading a John Grisham novel lying on Tyreen’s bunk bed. He paused to look up from his book, nodding at me with a concerned look on his face. “What time is the flight out of Knoxville?”
“Seven-forty-five tomorrow morning on Delta, Flight 1107,” she said, clearing her throat before going on. “I have emailed the confirmation to you, so you can print out the ticket and your boarding pass. Be sure to get there early, as the news reports are saying a lot of students are leaving, since classes are canceled until December.”
News travels fast, especially terrible news.
“Okay…I’ll be on board that flight,” I told her, after releasing another low sigh.
“Good. Your father will be greatly relieved,” she said, the heaviness in her tone lifting. “We’ll meet you at the airport.”
“I’m coming back here,” I blurted out. “I still want to finish school at UT once this whole thing gets worked out.”
“Why, of course, Txema,” she said, chuckling again, though more from amusement this time. “But, this murder spree will have to be over and done with. Do you understand me?”
“Yes…yes, I do.”
“So, I won’t need to worry about you not making the flight…. Right?”
“Yes, Momma, I promise to uphold the tenets of the Articles of Faith and be an obedient child.”
“Txema! This is not the time to get sassy with me!” Just like that, my smart mouth stripped away the thin veneer covering my mother’s worry. “We’ve already paid good money for the ticket, so please make sure you give yourself plenty of time to get to the airpor
t on time. Okay?”
“All right…I will,” I told her, making sure my tone was respectful. “I’m sorry for giving you a hard time.”
“That’s okay. Just make sure you’re on the flight.”
“Yes, I’ll make sure I’m at the airport by six tomorrow morning.”
After we hung up, Peter closed the novel and came over to me. He wrapped his arms around my waist from behind, as I stared absently out my window.
“So, it looks like you won’t be going to Atlanta after all, huh?” he said, blowing softly on the back of my ear. “Maybe I should head home to Nashville until this all gets sorted out. But, let me take you to the airport in the morning.”
“Okay.”
I felt numb. Yes, I knew I’d have to go somewhere soon. But, now that the decision and destination had been decided, the peace of mind I expected to experience wasn’t there. Something felt weird…out of sync. Like the decision made by my folks would somehow alter my fate.
Knowing that Tyreen and Johnny were planning to leave in the next hour or so, I went ahead and called her…to tell her the news. Of course, she told me that it was ‘okay’ with her, and that she was just glad I wouldn’t be staying on campus. Peter and I had already witnessed the growing exodus earlier that afternoon, and it seemed like seventy percent of the student body population had already left—at least seventy percent of Massey Hall had. The mass departure really picked up right after we came back to my dorm after breakfast. Since then, many more students had disappeared.
At the current rate, I knew by nightfall there would only be a handful of girls on the floor with me. At least Peter’s presence would raise fewer eyebrows from the security detail downstairs, and the fourth floor stragglers might appreciate a friendly male presence once night returned.
The declining population escalated my roommate’s worry for my welfare, so she changed her departure plans to the next morning, as well. And, I heard Johnny offering a hearty ‘Amen!’ in the background, which Tyreen advised was for the fact he could now watch the Vols’ football game that evening, instead of listening to the team’s final road game on the radio while they drove down to Georgia.
So, our travel plans were all set. I looked out the window at the courtyard one more time. The last time, as it turned out, watching the dwindling stream of students and a few parents who had driven to campus to collect their most prized possessions. No one, it seemed, was willing to leave their kids’ journeys home to chance, in light of the worst college killing spree in recent memory.
But, I knew it wouldn’t deter the killers. They would continue to hunt each night until they found their prize.
Until they found me.
Chapter 11
Within each of us is a voice, and not always one that speaks with reason.
I’m not talking about conscience, the thing that nags at us if we’ve done something we know is wrong. Rather, I’m referring to the thing in us that rarely eggs us on to do something against conscience, and it almost always supersedes reason.
Gut instinct.
A wonderful thing when we listen to it…not so much when we ignore it. Especially when ‘reason’ gets in the way. It’s pure folly when we do something that sort of follows reason, but ignores gut instinct, and in the end, the reasonable thing proves disastrous.
Welcome to my night of erroneous judgment.
“What do you mean you have to go to the library? Are you insane??” Tyreen berated me, right after I told her that I needed to retrieve my satchel that I left in the foyer at Hodges Library. It was foolish of me to bring it with me that afternoon, since other than my IPad and the latest Anne Rice novel, it had nothing else in it. “You’ll just have to leave it, Txema. Better yet, you can tell the security guards in the lobby downstairs that you left it there, and they can arrange to pick it up for you.”
Reasonable. She was right. It made sense to do just that. She and I, along with Johnny and Peter, could finish watching the Vols pummel Vandy. But, then the stubbornness I’m known for suddenly kicked in.
“It will be a lot easier just to do it myself!” I whispered harshly, hoping our men didn’t hear our little argument outside our dorm room. I peered into the room, and both Peter and Johnny’s eyes were glued to the TV. The Vols were driving for another touchdown. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
“Oh, yeah? You must have a serious death wish, Txema!” she seethed, though thankfully she kept her voice to an irate hiss. “If you’re going, then I’m coming with you!”
I’m sure this is where ‘conscience’ was supposed to kick in—and normally it would have. I mean, why would I endanger anyone else but myself? It was one of those false assumptions based on reason, or at least reasonable facts as I understood them to be. The monsters responsible for all the death and mayhem going on were supposed to be after just me—not anyone else, and certainly not someone of heritage other than Basque. Besides, these primitive vampires seemed a bit skittish when other people were around me…or so I thought.
That was the first crack in my fragile theory. I assumed Peter had protected me in the Hodge Library parking lot on Thursday night, as my pursuers disappeared without a trace into the frigid night. I completely ignored the fact they likely were the same ones trying to attack us at Peter’s townhouse.
Looking back on that night, I see this excursion as a vain excuse to collect my personal property from the library. Like most Apple addicts, I can’t live for long without my I-products.
“Okay. Then grab your coat and let’s go,” I told Tyreen, hoping she’d hesitate and give me the few seconds I needed for a major head start to the elevator.
She quickly retrieved her coat and a scarf, stating very calmly to our engrossed boyfriends that we’d be right back. I heard a grunted okay from Johnny that was echoed by Peter, confirming that neither one had any clue that we were about to step outside, where the evening’s darkness had fully engulfed our campus for the past two hours.
The only other obstacle was the police patrols still monitoring the dorms and campus grounds, which contributed to my heightened sense of urgency. All campus buildings would close by 7:00 p.m., and it was already pushing six-thirty.
“You owe me,” said Tyreen, once we stepped into the elevator and headed downstairs. “I’m betting we don’t even make it past the cops guarding the entrance.”
“Leave that to me,” I said, just as we reached the lobby. “I’ve got a plan.”
The look she gave me confirmed it was what she feared most at the moment. Nothing would stop my determination to retrieve my cherished IPad and book. Nonetheless, I prepared myself for the likelihood she’d approach the security staff and get them to either detain me until it was too late to leave, or get a couple of them to pick up my belongings for me.
But, hardly anyone noticed our approach to the guarded entrance to our building. Maybe it was the pizza deliveries from our local Dominos outlet that kept the security staff from so much as asking to see our IDs, as we slid through the tables and chairs set up to block access to the large glass doors. Regardless, Tyreen seemed stunned that no one accosted us, having to run after me when I exited the building and walked briskly toward the library.
Eerily similar to the other night’s spookiness, when I took this same route, I expected to see more security personnel on hand patrolling the grounds. But, there was hardly anyone there. The unnerving sensation of being tracked and studied as we moved toward the library was much more unsettling than the past Thursday evening. And, the lone patrol we came across—three Knoxville cops with a pair of large German Shepherds—had little effect on the spine tingling uneasiness we both experienced. It was as if a thousand eyes scrutinized our every move.
“Damn, it seems like it’s taking forever to get there!” Tyreen remarked, just as we came up on the Alumni Center.
She pulled her parka’s zipper all the way up to her chin to try and stay warm. Cold enough to see our iced breaths linger in the air in front of us, a deepe
r chill seemed to emanate from the shadowed archway that marked the center’s side entrance.
“The main floor’s lights inside the library should be visible in just a moment,” I assured her, peering into the darkness around us.
I slowed down just enough to peer at the thick bushes near the Alumni Center’s entrance, trying to appear nonchalant though my heart raced. I pictured the hairless creature glowering at me with yellow eyes from the other night, and shuddered.
“This is really stupid!” said Tyreen, shaking her head while she picked up her pace.
She didn’t wait for me to catch up to her, which amused me somewhat, given her stated worries about my welfare. Fear had definitely triggered her personal survival instincts.
“Hey, wait for me!”
I picked up my pace to match hers, but she didn’t slow down. Not until she was across the street and walking up the library steps.
“I assume you remember where you left your shit?”
Tyreen said this as she stepped through the entrance, again not waiting for me to catch up. She motioned for the two night guards running up to greet us from their station that it would only take a moment, explaining tersely how her friend had left something in the lobby earlier that day. I expected my satchel to have been collected by someone, and hopefully brought to the “Lost and Found” box near the front desk. However, as Tyreen spoke to the first guard to arrive, I saw my bag’s strap peering out from under an orange and white checkerboard vinyl couch across the room.
“I’ll be right back!” I announced, slipping past them before they could interfere with my agenda. I scooped up the satchel, relieved that my stuff was still safely tucked inside the bag. “Got it!”
I nodded to both guards, flashing the disarming smile I’m known for while Tyreen discarded her bitchiness long enough to offer a warm ‘thanks, guys!’ on our way out.