As I walked inside the house from school to grab more clothes, my phone rang. I considered ignoring it knowing it wouldn’t be Keiran but since Aunt Carissa wasn’t home I decided to answer just in case.
“Hey, Lake,” Sheldon spoke into the line.
“You sound miserable.” Ever since finding out what happened to Keenan, Sheldon had been living a former shell of herself. She also refused to see him in the hospital.
“Gee thanks.”
“Go see him, Sheldon. It will make you feel better.”
“I can’t,” she said. Her voice crack and she sounded close to tears.
“Why not? He’s your boyfriend, Sheldon. I don’t understand –”
“No, you don’t so drop it, okay?”
“Fine,” I reluctantly agreed.
“So, how is he?”
“Jeez, you just told me to drop it!”
“I know what I said, I –” The next second I could hear Sheldon sobbing on the other end of the line.
“Sheldon what’s going on with you?”
“He fucked her.” I didn’t immediately react because we all knew Keenan strayed often but Sheldon always forgave him.
“Who?”
“Ms. Felders.”
“The new chemistry teacher?” I shrieked.
She sniffled and said, “uh huh.”
“How…when?”
“Oh you know the traditional way,” she said with sarcasm. “I don’t know when it started but I have an idea. I knew something was fishy between the two of them when she started paying extra attention to him. I caught her, one day, with her hand on his chest when I went to ask her about my failing grade on a project.”
“What did they say?”
“She laughed it off and said she was smoothing out a wrinkle in his shirt. Do you know how close I came to head butting the fuck out of her? I thanked her and told her that from now on I would be the one fixing his wrinkles.”
“When did you find out? I mean…how do you know he really had sex with her? That’s a little far-fetched even for Keenan.”
“Apparently not. I saw the text messages between the two of them spanning about two weeks and confronted him about it after we left laser tag. We argued and I kicked him out of my house. He must have gotten snatched right after,” her voice finally broke on the last and I knew she must have felt guilty.
“Sheldon, I know you’re thinking it’s your fault but it’s not.”
“I just can’t help but think that if I had given into his bullshit just one more time he wouldn’t be fighting for his life right now.”
“Sheldon…”
“I left him, Lake. I told him I hated him and wished he would die. Do you know how horrible I feel? I went to see him, you know.”
That caught me by surprise. “When?”
“The next morning. Dash and I weren’t told until then. I rushed straight there, I swear I did, but then I saw her. She was there, Lake. She went to see my man. Can you believe that bitch?”
“So what did you do?” I asked, picking up on her claim of Keenan. I knew she still loved him but was hurting too much to see it now.
“I left. It was the final nail in the coffin and now we will never be able to forgive each other.”
* * *
Monday morning came all too quickly and I still haven’t heard word of Keiran. I don’t know if he is even alive…
Did Mitch find him again?
At this moment, Keiran could be dead…
My mind brought forth an image of a broken and lifeless Keiran and I would have collapsed if I weren’t already seated. Don’t think about that.
But I couldn't help but worry. His absence was driving me mad and everyone seemed to be caught up in his or her own thing so I couldn’t distract myself. How dare he put my life in danger and then just disappear like that? I could have lost my life…I could have lost him. It felt like I have already lost him. Mitch was still out there and knowing what he planned to do with his son was nerve wracking.
Lost in my thoughts, I turned into the school parking lot a little too quickly. There was a gang of students still in the parking lot even though the first bell would ring soon. As I parked my car I noticed a crowd of students in one spot. When I got closer I could see through the slight opening and I could see a familiar black muscle car and Keiran leaning against it. Quentin and Dash were blocking him from the crowd. I couldn’t tell what was going on because everyone was talking at once. I walked closer to the circle and could just barely make out the various ‘are you okay’, ‘how is Keenan’, and ‘what happened.’
My heart skipped at the sight of him. It had only been a week but the worry and the fact that I missed him made it seem so much longer. I picked up my pace to get to him before he could disappear again and just as I got in the circle, Chloe Newman, one of the cheerleaders, threw herself into his arms and worse…he caught her.
I stood there and watched them. Pain rooted me to the spot as I died inside. But when I saw his hands grope her ass I forgot about the pain and let my rage take over. Before I knew it my hands were in her hair and she was being yanked to the ground. The crowd erupted in chaos as I got on top of her and reared back my fist. Oh you better believe I was going for her perfect little nose but my fist never connected with her face. My hand was caught and I was yanked up and into a hard chest.
“What are you doing, Lake?” Keiran asked; his voice neutral. He sounded bored.
“What am I doing? What are you doing?” I screamed and ripped myself away from him I didn’t care that I may have looked and sounded like a banshee. What is he doing to me? “You disappear for days and the first time I see you, I find you with your hands all over the nearest skank?” Said skank had already run off with her posse of skanks.
“It’s not that big of a deal.”
“The hell it isn’t, asshole.”
The familiar burning look in his eyes returned and that vein in his temple begin to throb again. “Let’s go.” He walked off, assuming I would follow. I did. I followed him to one of the empty classrooms they used to store extra desks.
“Where have you been?” I asked when he stared at me with a black look in his eyes. I haven’t seen him this way in such a long time that I nearly forgot about the ferociousness of it.
He released an aggravated breath. “Look, I’m sorry I disappeared. How are you?”
“Pissed and I don’t know…maybe hurt? Where were you?”
“I had to figure shit out.”
“But how could you just leave Keenan alone like that?”
“He isn’t safe as long as my father is out there and he has John.”
“But he needs you too, you’re his bro –”
“Don’t,” he bit out. “Don’t say that.” The pain in his voice was unmistakable. I could only imagine how Keenan must have felt finding out the way he did. Keiran, however, didn’t appear surprised that night.
“Did you know all this time?”
“Yes.”
“How?” I asked incredulously.
“I saw her picture on Keenan’s nightstand the day John brought me home. He said she was his mother.” He swallowed and took a deep breath but didn’t continue.
“What did they make you do?” I didn’t feel the need to elaborate. There was only one thing standing between us. He watched me intently but I wasn’t about to back down again.
“I guess it doesn’t matter anymore, anyway.” His tone was desolate and I wondered what he meant by that. “I made my first kill for them when I was six.”
“How? You were so young.”
“It’s amazing what you’re willing to do when you’re starving and don’t know a way out. They used anything they could to control us. Before long I stopped noticing the hunger pains or thirst and the scars healed before I ever knew they were even there.”
There were so many questions swimming in my head but I didn’t want to interrupt. His gaze was distant and his entire body was so still.
“They started me off small. First it was other kids they wanted to punish until I made my way up to adults. After two years of murdering I became one of their best. I was a fucking eight-year old kid. I stopped thinking and I stopped feeling. It kept me alive.”