He’d been using his laser pointer most of the class, looking up at the slide projections on the screen above his head. After about twenty minutes, he finally turned around to ask a question. His eyes scanned the room from left to right and eventually fell on mine in the process. He lingered on my face for a fraction of a second longer than anyone else. I noticed, but no one else seemed to. If Tabitha had, I’m sure she’d have kicked me under the table.
When he finally asked his question of a student in the back rows, I could hear Tabitha exhale beside me. I wasn’t sure what she was worried about. She’d never been called on in class. I think with Professor Walker no one had need to worry about being put on the hot seat while I was around. Even with Daniel, I think her proximity to me placed her in a zone of exclusion, perhaps too close to be touched.
Yep, my paranoia reared its ugly head once more.
Class ended too soon. I felt like I had missed something in my notes, but I had no idea what it could be. It was probably because I’d spent too much time contemplating the lecturer and not the lecture. With an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach, I gathered my books and got to my feet. Tabitha kindly reached down, picked up my crutch and handed it to me, as she slung my backpack over her shoulder. With a maternal eye, she carefully watched as I made my way up the stairs and when we reached the top she signed us both out.
While waiting for her, I turned to look down into the hall. Daniel was surrounded by his female coed admirers once again. Like a chorus of chirping birds, they were all asking him questions at the same time. Oblivious to the cacophony they created, he looked up from the center of the circle and found me. I was trying not to laugh at the absurdity of the moment, but a smile crept on to my lips before I could reign it back in. Perhaps unintentionally himself, he returned my smile with a slight one of his own then went back to his legion of followers. One of them, having caught his glance, followed it up to me only to shoot me a dirty look before returning to ask him her very important question that just couldn’t wait.
As Tabitha joined me, she looked down as well.
“I just don’t get it,” she said, shaking her head from side to side. “Yes, he’s … insanely gorgeous, but there’s just something about him … I don’t know … I just don’t get it.”
With a shrug of her shoulders, she turned and started for the exit while I, ever so ungracefully, followed her out of the hall.
I got it.
As we parted at the exit doors, we made plans to meet up for our usual dinner over in Hasbrouck. The comfort of routine, I hoped would be my friend today. I needed to get back to normal. I sure wish Professor Walker would get back from wherever he’d run off too. I assumed his return would mean Daniel’s departure from my daily life and a return to the normalcy I so desperately craved.
After my last class for the day, I went back to Capen Hall. I was exchanging my text books for my genealogy things when there was a knock on the door. I looked up to see the knob turn as the door cracked open.
“Sara?” Ben’s head popped in the door.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Hi, Ben. What are you doing here?”
“I heard about your accident. I just wanted to stop by and see how you were. See if you needed anything.”
He walked in and flashed me that amazing smile of his. My poor heart went pitter pat against its will.
“Thanks, that’s nice. I’m fine though. I was just on my way over to the library for the rest of the afternoon.” I reached down and picked up my full backpack.
Taking it out of my hands, he said “I’ve got a few minutes. I’ll walk you over there.” Then he swung it over his shoulder and handed me my crutch.
“I’d tell you not to bother, but quite frankly that thing weighs a ton.” I laughed. “Besides, apparently I’m supposed to let a man treat me like a lady.”
Ben laughed. “Who told you that, your father?”
“I’m sure he said it at some point in my life.” I muttered as I reached for my jacket.
Taking it from me, Ben held it open for me to slip into.
“I guess I can be a gentleman. That is, if I want to be one.”
I didn’t turn around automatically, but slowly reached down for my keys. I didn’t want him to see the blush that had spread across my cheeks.
Ben accompanied me over to the library and made sure I got settled at my usual table. He had class and didn’t linger long, although I had a feeling he might have liked to. For some reason I couldn’t fathom, he looked hesitant to leave.
Unable to let my puzzle drop, I spent the rest of the afternoon pouring over local history books trying to find more information on the series of deaths in 1905 that had claimed the life of Daniel Bennett. Unfortunately, most of the books I could find were on the early history of the first settlers of the county and not on the late nineteenth / early twentieth centuries. My last resort would be to contact the Ulster County historical society. I’d give it some more time though. Contacting them felt like admitting I couldn’t find it on my own and I hated to admit defeat before I’d exhausted every avenue.
Even though my ankle had stopped throbbing, I was dog tired. As the afternoon progressed, it kept getting harder and harder for me to keep my eyes open. Leaning back in my chair, I ran my fingers over the sore spot on my scalp. The bump on my head was only noticeable to me, but I could distinctly feel it just above my hairline. Careful not to hit the sore spot, I put my head down on my crossed arms and allowed my eyes to close for just a second.
“We’re closing up, dear,” was the next thing I heard as a librarian tapped me on the shoulder.
“What time is it?” I muttered.
“Five to ten,” she said, as she walked away.
I’d been asleep for almost four hours?
How did that happen?
I sat up and stretched. My neck ached from the awkward position I’d been in. Still hazy from my long nap I gathered up my things.
The room felt wrong somehow. The floor to ceiling windows at my back were now filled with the empty blackness of night. As I stood, I could see the lights of the parking lot below and a faint glow on the horizon coming from the direction of town. I’d only been here a couple of times after dark. I preferred to study in my room after dinner.
Passing no one on the way, I headed out of the deserted section of the library, down a few flights of stairs and out a side exit. The night air was getting colder now and I took a moment to zip up my jacket and pull the collar up around my neck.
I should have taken the front exit I thought to myself. It was all grassy hills over here and the front was cement steps that would have been much easier to navigate using a crutch. But it was too late now. The back exit had locked behind me.
There was an eerie quiet in the evening air. This section of campus didn’t have any dorms so it was usually deserted this time of night. As I started up the hill, a cold breeze pricked the back of my neck as it carried a sound to my ears. Voices. Two, maybe three men. I didn’t turn; they were probably in the parking lot behind me. As I continued up the grassy hill towards the corner of the theater building, they grew louder.
“Hey there, girly. Where are you going?” one of the voices called. It was much closer to me now, but still down the hill a ways. I continued without looking back. There were footsteps behind me now. I could hear them faintly crunching in the leaves as their gait increased.
“So what’s your name? Don’t you want to stop and say hello?”
I knew if I looked back I’d be committed to the situation. No, it was best to put it off for as long as possible. I was on unsteady footing here in the grass. Just a little ways more and I’d be at the corner of the building and the pavement. From the sound of the leaves, I knew they weren’t far behind.
“What’s the matter? You think you’re too good for us?”
When I finally gained the pavement, I knew they were only a dozen or so yards behind me. As I rounded the corner of the building, I heard
the footsteps break into a run. As soon as they followed me around it, something or someone jumped out and pulled them into the impenetrable blackness of the shadows beside the building. Standing there alone on the sidewalk, I heard muffled sounds coming from behind the veil of shadows. Hard as I tried, standing where I was under the street light, I couldn’t see through them well enough to discern what was going on. I should get the hell out of here was all I could think. Yet my feet seemed firmly planted to the cement below them.
“So what happened to your leg?” a raspy voice asked from behind. I instinctively knew it was another one of them and instantly swung around as fast and hard as I could. Using my crutch, I hit him with enough force to knock him off balance. Before he could regain his footing, I leaned on the crutch to support my weight and kicked him hard with my good leg square in the chest. As he doubled over, I swung the crutch down on his back and watched as he fell to the ground unconscious.
Quickly gathering up my wits, I decided it was time to get out of there as fast as possible and pulled my backpack tightly around my shoulder as I repositioned my crutch. I’d hobbled about twenty paces away from the body just outside the shaft of light from the street lamp when the sounds in the shadows abruptly stopped. Wondering what could possibly happen next, I spun around only to see Daniel standing right behind me, his hair and shirt looking somewhat disheveled. His piercing blue eyes were fixed on me as if his life depended on it.
“Are you alright?” he asked, in an anxious, agitated voice.
“Yes, I’m fine. What are you doing here?” I replied, forcing a fake calmness into my own tone.
“Well, obviously someone has to keep an eye on you. What on earth are you doing wandering around in the middle of the night by yourself?”
It was a question, but he was clearly scolding me.
“Don’t worry about it,” I replied, unable to keep my sense of resentment out of my voice. “I can take care of myself.”
He crossed his arms and looked down at me as if to insinuate otherwise. With pursed lips, I peered around his shoulder, causing him to follow my gaze to the unconscious figure on the sidewalk behind him.
“What the hell!” he muttered under his breath. “What happened to him?”
“If it’s all the same with you, I’m hungry and would like to get something to eat.”
He was still looking over his shoulder at the man when he roughly took me by the arm and started in the direction of the dorm. We walked, or should I say he pulled me along for a minute in stony silence before he continued.
“You didn’t answer my question,” he finally said. He was trying to sound calm, but I could tell he was still upset about something.
“I’ll answer yours if you answer one for me.”
“Fair enough,” he answered reluctantly.
“Were you following me?”
He paused as if trying to come up with a good answer – or more likely an excuse.
“Yes.”
Despite how he was practically dragging me along, I stopped and stared up at him wide eyed.
What?
“Why?”
“That’s another question. First you answer mine. What are you doing wandering around in the middle of the night by yourself? … And what happened to that guy?”
As if suddenly realizing I had a heavy backpack over my shoulder, he reached over and pulled it off and slung it over his own. As he looked down at me, I saw the muscles in his face relax slightly, but he didn’t smile. Then without a word, he turned and started to pull me along again, but this time more gently. I think a bit mindful now that I was hobbling along beside him on a crutch.
With his hand firmly under my arm we walked along for a few moments while I took my time to form a good response. How on earth was I going to explain this to him without really telling him anything?
“Do you remember me telling you while we were hiking, that men aren’t interested in women who like to hang out in cemeteries?”
“Yes.”
“Well, they aren’t particularly interested in women who can beat them up either,” I added dryly.
“I’m not following you.” His voice sounded oddly – patient. I wasn’t expecting that.
It was then that it finally dawned on him. “Are you trying to tell me you were the one that incapacitated him?”
I answered by nodding my head.
“You can’t even walk straight! How on earth –” He stopped mid-sentence.
“I told you I was raised a little differently than my friends.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? I just figured your parents were hippies or something.”
I laughed at the idea only to glance over and see the dirty look he shot me.
“What are you some kind of black belt?” he asked sounding incredulous.
“Something like that. Let’s just say you don’t have to worry about me. I can take care of myself,” I shot back defensively.
As we continued to walk along, a cold wind blew a chill into my bones.
Stop it, Sara! You shouldn’t care what he thinks of you. Keep your mouth shut and your head down.
I followed my own advice, but I could tell my silence irritated him. Without thinking about it, I instinctually snuggled closer to his arm for protection from the cold wind that blew across the quad. He still held my arm in an iron grip, but something about his hold on me felt comforting where I wished it wouldn’t. Looking for an answer as to why this would be, I looked up into his eyes, but all I could see was his own unspoken questions behind them.
“I’d rather not talk about it,” was the last thing I mumbled as we walked along.
He unhooked from my arm only to wrap his arm around my back to shelter me from the wind. Why did I feel so safe here? It was as if his presence chased away the flood of unpleasant memories that had been stirred up by the men behind us. I wanted them gone and if I had to be by Daniel’s side to chase them away, so be it. It really didn’t make any sense. How could someone who scared you, also make you feel so safe?
If I was going to ask him about the blood, now would have been as good a time as any, but something held me back. I wanted so desperately to give him the benefit of the doubt, but his continued bizarre behavior was making that increasingly difficult. After all, he’d just admitted he’d been following me, then all but refused to say why.
Over the course of the day I’d formed an idea, an experiment that I could perform that would lay my strange doubts about him to rest once and for all. I just needed the right time to do it. I’d have to wait for that moment to present itself and who knew when that might be. I only hoped it would come soon. I wasn’t sure how much more of this I could take otherwise. I needed to know the truth behind those amazing sky blue eyes before it was too late.
The rest of the week passed without incident. I saw Daniel in class but he took no special notice of me that I could detect. Not that I’d expected him to. No, his indifferent attitude seemed par for the course with his bizarre string of behaviors around me.
Ever since that night, I’d found myself constantly looking over my shoulder, wondering if he was following me, watching me from somewhere, but I never spotted him. Yet for some reason, I continued to see him every night on the far side of the dining hall, though he’d been too busy fending off female students for me to catch his eye more than once or twice. I just didn’t get him. He was a guy, wasn’t he? There had to be at least one of these women who appealed to him. By weeks end, I had to admit I was beginning to think Mike and Ryan might have been right all along.
As Friday drew to a close, I wondered if Daniel still wanted to go to the Harvest Festival. I was pretty sure my honesty had scared him off. He wouldn’t be the first, and he most assuredly wouldn’t be the last man I’d do that too. Whatever, I told myself. But I knew what I felt deep down inside was disappointment. The harder question was, disappointed about what?
When I came home from dinner, my phone was ringing. I answered only to hear Dani
el’s not so surprisingly sexy phone voice say “So are we still on for tomorrow?”
It took me a moment to recover enough to form a coherent answer.
“I – I wasn’t sure you still wanted to go.”
To be honest, I’d decided on my walk back from Hasbrouck that his backing out was probably for the best.
“A gentleman never breaks his word, Miss Donnelly,” he murmured softly.
“Well, you needn’t feel under any special obligation. I’d understand if you changed your mind,” I said with a calm tone that spoke how much I’d expected his absence more than his presence. There was a bit of resentment there too. I couldn’t help but feel he was toying with my emotions just a little.
“Far from it. I’m looking forward to it. So when shall I pick you up?”
His tone sounded like he meant it. Either that or he was just ignoring my attitude.
I hesitated for a moment, realizing that our going together was going to mean coming out of the closet that we were … what? Friends, I guess. All my friends were planning on going to the festival as well. When they’d asked me, I’d begged off joining them, fibbing that I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that much activity on my ankle quite yet. Another lie, as my ankle had been just about completely healed for a couple of days now. They were planning on arriving at the festival a little before noon and eating lunch there. I’d say to go later so that we could do dinner and maybe avoid them altogether. It was a long shot but worth a try if it saved me from questions I didn’t want to answer
“I’d like to sleep in for a change tomorrow and maybe get some studying done after lunch, so how about five. It runs until ten or eleven I think.”
The Purity of Blood: Volume I Page 14
