Chapter 4
I Dream Of Death
In spite of her best efforts, Alex failed to find much sleep. When she wasn’t feeling warm and strangely out of breath, she spent her waking hours thinking about why she felt warm and strangely out of breath. When morning came, Alex had to be up an hour and a half earlier than she normally would have so that she could prepare for the hour-long drive back to Suburnia. All in all, Alex could attest to three hours of sleep, probably less. Certainly not more.
When Aunt Melanie’s scratched-up Suzuki Vitara approached the campus driveway, it was met with blank stares and cringing faces. The crowd had clearly never seen a vehicle that was worth less than six digits.
“Now I remember why I left this place.”
“What?”
“Nothing.” Aunt Melanie stretched her hands behind her back and yawned. “Alright. We’re here.”
“Thanks Aunt Melanie.”
“Any time.”
Alex stepped out of the car, and as soon as everyone had a good look at her face, they ducked their heads and they immediately began whispering amongst themselves. Before she had even asked for it, a stream of silent murmurs filled the air around her. And there was no question whatsoever that the rest of Suburnia had already heard about the deaths of her parents. And like the neighbors outside her home, they leered at her from the distance as if Alex were a zoo animal, or some kind of contagious mutant, or a girl without a soul.
“Isn’t that the girl…?” was how the whispers all began.
“We have a class together,” a few other voices would say.
“Do they kn0w who did it?” Some in the crowd let out. And from that point, everyone had answers, theories of their own. It was almost amazing that for all their talk of it, none among them needed to be informed of what it was.
The most surprising of all however, was when she went to class, and when she confessed to her teachers for not having yesterday’s homework done. She had the one from the day before, but not the day she missed. Instead of lecturing to her the importance of homework, they all lowered their chins in sympathy and excused her, telling her in fact, that she wouldn’t have any homework due for two whole weeks. And to top it off, when out of the blue Alex was sent to the principal’s office, she thought it would have been due to her unexcused absence. But no. Instead, Principal McLeary urged her to take the next week off starting with the following Monday. He even gave her back the friendship bracelet that he took from her, telling her something along the lines of how In this hard time, God knows we’ll need all the friends we can get.
“Just don’t wear it in school,” he added. “It’s not proper school attire.”
“I won’t,” she assured him.
When Alex went to English class, Mrs. Friedman gave her the exact same treatment that all the other teachers had given her. No homework for two weeks, and she was allowed to see the school counselor at any moment during class if she wanted someone to talk to.
While many would have appreciated the special attention, our girl without a soul, who did any and everything she could to fit in, didn’t. In spite of how much effort Alex had put into fitting in, she was now sticking out among her peers like a sore thumb. Her mind was so distracted by her fellow classmates that it took nearly ten minutes in Mrs. Friedman’s class to realize that she hadn’t seen Amy throughout the entire day.
“Ben,” she poked at the boy that sat in front of Amy’s abandoned desk. For some indiscernible reason, the boy didn’t respond.
“Ben,” she tried again, poking and poking and poking and poking until finally he turned around.
“We’re not supposed to be talking in class,” he told her, flustered. “I got into enough trouble the last time. Please, if you have something to say, wait until class is over.”
A reasonable request, Alex supposed. But on the other hand she needed to know where Amy was. And sooner was better than later.
“Ben,” she muttered, jabbing the rubber end of her pencil at his side.
“What?” the boy groaned back.
“Where’s Amy?”
“I don’t know. She’s in some kind of trouble last I heard.”
“Why?”
“All I know is she didn’t show up to school yesterday and today. I don’t have to tell you what two absences in a row means.”
As a matter of fact, he didn’t. Alex Frost had memorized the entire student handbook cover to cover. And on page 314, there was a chapter outlining the consequences for unscholarly behavior both on and off campus. Chief among such punishable offences were the unexcused absences. One absence meant detention, two meant one week of suspension, and three throughout any given semester was as good as an expulsion.
“Amy’s getting suspended?” Alex thought aloud in a whisper.
“It seems that way.”
“Ben Lindsey!” Mrs. Friedman’s wrinkly skin flared. “I thought you learned not to talk during my class.”
“It’s not my fault,” Ben raised himself from his desk. “She was the one that started talking. Don’t blame me.”
“Child, I would do well to inform you that do-re-mi is a musical tune, not an excuse. See me after class.”
Ben sat back down. “Yes ma’am.”
Alex Frost Meets The Killer Page 6
