She Told Me

Chapter 10

Once the cold air hits me, I realise that I may not have thought my plan all the way through. For one, I have no way to get to the school because my dad hasn't bought me the bike, he promised yet and walking is just not a viable option. I stop short as I catch sight of my dad's bike parked right in front of the door, he does that sometimes when he's in too much of a hurry to get home and right now, it's the answer to my problem.

The spare key is where he always keeps it, in the glass frog near my mom's favourite roses. I sit on the bike and take a deep breath, its time. When I pull up outside the school, it is silent and would be pitch dark if not for the lone streetlight weakly flickering right outside the gate.

My palms are suddenly sweaty. I'm supposed to be here to prevent a murder that I know is happening because the voice in my head told me so. It's not a very convincing story which means getting caught would not be a great idea and getting murdered instead would be an even worse one. That thought stops me in my tracks. Today's victim could very well be me. I might be walking straight into a trap, I might...I hear the sound of running footsteps and quickly duck behind a bush.

"Who the hell was that?"

I recognise the voice, it's Travis, one of the kids from my class.

"I don't know bro, could be the cops, we need to get out of here."

The footsteps recede and I step out of my hiding place. The smell hits me and I realise why Travis and his friend were not eager to have a chat with law enforcement. Though many think it should be, Marijuana is still not legal here and they were bound to get into quite a bit of trouble.

Their hasty exit solves another of my problems as the main gate now stands wide open which makes it easy for me to walk right in without having to do any extra cardio. "What are you doing? Who are you?" I stiffen before I realise that the voice is coming from behind the building and without thinking I run towards it.

The first thing I see is Cory sprawled on the ground, a dark figure crouched over him. They both turn towards me, and I catch a flash of silver in it's hand and instinctively I know it's a knife, probably the knife that was used to slit Karen's throat so I do the only thing I can think of. I shine my flashlight directly at Karen's killer, let out a war cry and charge. To my surprise, it works. By the time I reach Cory, his attacker is gone.

"You good man?"

He looks up at me with red eyes, "who was that?"

"I wish I knew; do you have a ride home?"

"Uh, Travis."

"Yeah, I don't think he's coming back."

"Dude I'm so high right now, I just saw the weirdest thing."

I don't know whether to be grateful or annoyed that Cory was tripping when he was attacked. On one hand, he probably wouldn't have a lot of sleepless nights reliving his near-death experience but on the other hand it would also mean that he wouldn't be able to give me any clues that would help me figure out who the killer is.

I sigh, "come on, let's get you home."

It takes some time to get him on the bike because he stops to marvel at every single thing, he sees on the way there. Luckily, I manage to get the directions to his house out of him and we reach there in a couple of minutes. He almost trips as he gets off the bike and then thrusts something into my hand, "Thanks for getting me home bro."

"Yeah, no problem."

I watch as he walks up to his bedroom window and crawls in and then open my palm, staring at the green substance in a packet. I shrug, "might come in handy."