Arriana's Return

Arriana's Return - Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

"So, where do I start first?" Her voice wavering.

She scanned the room, but nothing was out of the ordinary. She walked to the filing cabinets and began to open them one at a time. The first drawer had a few file folders in them. They were all swimming records and old workouts that Coach Doare had retired. The rest of the drawers in that cabinet were full of all the swimmers' files that Coach Doare had over the years. The second filing cabinet had worksheets, schedules and other teaching assignments that were unfinished. So far everything was what a normal coach kept in his office but Arriana was not about to give up finding something. A man who is supposed to be a role model for kids should not have a sword in his office. Not to mention, there was a passage in their school handbook stating that it was against the policy to have weapons on the premises.

It's just a prop, Arriana. Just a prop. Yeah, that's it.

A million different things were running through her mind. She did not know where to begin to sort them out. The third filing cabinet would not open.

"Locked? I wonder why only this one is locked. Now, if I were Coach Doare where would I hide the key?" Sighing heavily, she knew the answer. "I'll bet it's in one of his damn pockets. I could break into it or forget about it for now. Of course, if I break into it he'll know for sure someone was in here. That's the last thing I need."

Arriana decided to forget about the locker and headed for the desk. It looked normal enough. Papers scattered around, pictures of Coach with different people, pencils, pens and a calendar. She began pulling open all the drawers. Nothing out of the ordinary just some books, notebooks and more worksheets for swimming and teaching. Arriana was beginning to get frustrated.

I saw what I saw right? Coach did have a sword. I know I saw a sword!

She thought she was losing her mind but Arriana was absolutely sure that Coach Doare was up to no good. She slammed the open drawer shut and sat back in the chair looking around the small room. Her temper flared as she glared defiantly around the small office. Had she just wasted time and ran the chance of getting kicked off the team?

The closet. Of course. Why hadn't I thought of that in the first place! If someone were to hide a huge sword in a small office where else would there be besides the closet?

She smacked herself in the forehead while jumping up and practically knocking over the swivel chair. Inside she saw jackets, bags, some old sneakers, empty hangers and boxes. She groaned, afraid of another dead end. The boxes looked like the kind of boxes used to store papers in. Arriana pulled one down and saw a date on it, May 18, 1992. Figuring there wasn't much in it she took the top off and inside was what she thought there would be, papers. There was a college diploma and all sorts of certifications, newspaper articles and the likes. The diploma was for Marc William Doare.

Why would he stick his diploma in a box with a bunch of crap?

Digging through more of the papers and articles, they appeared normal enough. Just things clipped from newspapers that meant nothing to Arriana. She put the box back feeling like a total blockhead. Arriana put the box back and began searching deeper into the closet when her hand brushed what she had been looking for. Gasping she grasped the handle and pulled out the sword. It was unusually light, not what she was expecting at all. Looking at the blade, her face fell and felt like a brainless twit. She hit it off the side of the closet and heard a dull thud. The blade was plastic. She then remembered seeing a book in the top drawer of the desk, 'French weapons through the ages'.

"Well now I know what Coach was reading in the hallway, the latest French book for us to do a report on. Wow, do I feel like an ass. I know Coach better. I should have known he wouldn't have a real sword."