Raymond stepped out of his car and stared up at the school. The words popped out, impossible to miss. Granite Bay High School. It was his second year teaching, and Raymond wasn't sure what to expect.
It took him a good minute to finally walk inside after feeling nervous. His hands were shaking. Why was he nervous? Maybe it was because he didn't want anyone to talk to him about his dead wife. It would rip open even more wounds.
"Good morning, Mister Hunter!" The lady at the front desk exclaimed with a bright smile. But Raymond knew that she knew that he knew it was fake. They were all fake smiles.
"Uh hello there... Joy," Raymond said back to her.
All of a sudden, Joy's smile dropped as she was unable to hold up the happy attitude. "I'm so sorry about what—"
"I don't wanna talk about it," Raymond stated as he halted her with a raise of his hand. "Have they uh, started already?"
Joy nodded. "Yes. About five minutes ago. I'll let them know you're coming up."
"Thank you," Raymond whispered. He walked out of the office and walked up the stairs to the conference room in the junior wing. He remembered how confusing the school was during his first year teaching. There was a freshman, sophomore, junior and senior wing, the art department, the electives department, the gym, and more that he couldn't export during his first year.
He finally arrived at the conference room. With a few seconds of mental preparation, Raymond pushed the door open to be greeted by other teachers. Everyone turned to look at him. Whoever was speaking went silent the moment he stepped foot inside.
"Hello. Sorry I'm late," Raymond said as he shut the door behind him and took a seat next to one of the female teachers. Everyone looked like they were on top of their shit. Everyone except for Raymond who looked like a complete mess. His hair was still messy, his tie was draped around his shoulders, and he held his suit jacket in his hands. Last year he was like everyone else. Happy and organized.
"Um, n–no its fine. Please, have a seat," the head of the English department said. She was surprised to see Raymond frowning and all over the place. He was completely different from last year when she first met him. "We were just going over what the expectations are for this year."
Raymond placed his bag on the floor next to him, nodding as he listened to what she had to say. But the entire time Raymond was itching for a drink.
-x-
Seth spun the pen in his fingers, humming to himself a random tune. He stared down at the papers that were in front of him. He hated doing paperwork.
His partner came walking in, looking upset about something.
"What's up, kiddo?" Seth asked. Walter rolled his eyes and plopped down in his seat at his desk, he hated being called a kid.
"I don't really wanna talk about it," Walter replied. He felt exhausted after a restless night of looking after Catherine. "So, anything new on the case?"
"Uh not really. But I'm almost done with the remake of John Doe's file." Seth made a period at the end of a sentence, sighing as he was still nowhere near done. "I'm just waiting for Nancy's report."
Walter plopped down into his chair, feeling sweaty from the heat. "How's Ervin?"
"He's ok. Still traumatized, understandably." Seth rubbed his temples, shaking his head.
"Whats wrong?" Walter asked.
"It's just that... I wish he didn't hate his sister so much. It pains me to see him tormenting her on something she can't even control."
Walter rolled his eyes and groaned. "I'm sorry, but Ervin has no right to hate Sarah for being gay. It doesn't effect him in any way."
"He says that God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve."
"Of course!" Walter exclaimed. "Ervin is just a little shit head who doesn't know how to respect others."
"Careful, thats my son you're talking about." Seth whispered, furrowing his eyebrows.
"I don't give a damn. I don't like people like him, spouting nonsense at things that have no impact on his life." Walter crossed his arms. "To hell with him."
It was the final straw for Seth. He slammed his hands on his desk, standing up and clenching his jaw shut. But the only thing the prevented him from actually doing anything was Wanda walking to the two men after witnessing the situation from afar.
"Lets not fight now, men," she said as she rushed in, putting her hand on Seth's arm, squeezing it tightly. "Sit down."
Seth scoffed and took his files with him, walking out of the squad room. He wanted just a bit of time to himself. He wanted to be near no one. Not even his own partner. Walter watched him walking out from the corner of his eye, having a slight feeling of regret which was rare since he didn't usually feel regret for his actions.
Wanda turned to look at Walter, her arms crossed his disappointment. "My office, now." Walter sighed and reluctantly got up out of his seat, following after his boss to her officer. He was really regretting what he did.
-x-
After several hours of getting to know some of the new teachers, having to deal with questions about his blind eye, and sitting through meetings, Raymond finally got to leave and spend some time to himself. He packed up his things into his cheap black book bag and left the school through the back to avoid talking with anyone else. He got into his car and sighed. School hadn't even officially started yet and he was already tired of being in that building.
He moved his hands onto the steering wheel, hands on ten and two and he just look straight ahead, watching the other staff members walking out and waving goodbye to each other with smiles. Raymond sank in his seat a little just to avoid people seeing him.
His eyes wondered over to the envelope from Jack that sat on the passenger seat. He realized it was a bad idea to just leave it there in the open. He picked it up and threw it into the glove compartment and then starting up the car.
He didn't really have breakfast that morning. So his stomach was begging for food. And Joe 'n Go Diner wasn't too far away.
"Off we go," he whispered to himself before driving off.
-x-
The diner was relatively quiet. It was slow, and hot inside. Even the waitresses were sitting around, fanning themselves.
Raymond had his book bag with him, thinking of doing some planning for lessons to do for his future class.
"Hello there sir, how can I help you?" A young woman said. Raymond tilted his head, noticing the familiarity in her face. She wasn't the girl in the pictures, but she did eerily look like her.
"Table for one, please," Raymond said. The girl grabbed a menu and guided him to a table near the entrance, giving him the menu. Not only did he not have any breakfast in the morning, he also didn't have any coffee, which was so important to him. So to drink, all he did was order a coffee. The waitress nodded and walked to the kitchen, giving Raymond time to look at what he wanted to feed his hunger.
The waitress came back with a pot of coffee, making sure not to drop it like she did last time on that man. She sat a cup down on the table, pouring the hot coffee into it. "Ready to order?" She said as she then pulled out her pocket notepad and pencil, ready to take his order.
But right as Raymond was about to speak, a young woman walked into the diner and looked around for a bit. The waitress looked up at her and furrowed her brow, clearly upset as the young woman was walking up to her.
They looked similar.
"What do you want?" The waitress asked the girl.
"I just wanted to say hi," she said with a smile. "Don't be so mean to me." Her eyes wondered over to Raymond who looked so surprised to see her. The girl tried to think back if she had seen him before. "Hello?"
Raymond looked away and cleared his throat, feeling embarrassed that he got caught staring at her.
"Please leave," the waitress said in a hushed tone.
"Just for a few minutes... please?"
Raymond tapped his fingers on the table. He lost his appetite as he thought back to the pictures she posed in. He felt wrong for looking at those pictures.
"Fine. But behave yourself. Go have a seat over in the corner."
The young woman sighed and nodded as she made her way over to the seat in the far corner of the diner, her shoes tapping lightly against the floor.
The waitress looked back at Raymond and rolled her eyes. "I'm so sorry about that," she said. "Now, what can I get you?"
"Uh... I'll just have the streak omelette with potatoes on the side." Raymond closed the menu and handed her the menu back.
"And anything else?"
Mitchell and Kora. He always brought his children something home. A toy, candy, or just something they've been wanting.
"Some strawberry and blueberry pancakes, please. A–and that'll be all."
The waitress smiled and nodded. She took his menu and walked off to start his order.
Raymond looked over at the girl sitting next in the corner of the diner. She was the girl in the pictures. She was the girl who met Jack. She most likely had sex with Jack. Raymond felt more sick than he already was.
The girl pulled out a mini mirror and looked at herself in it, fixing her bangs and making sure her red lipstick is still in place. After all, she needed to look nice for later on tonight when she starts working. Her mysterious hazel eyes wondered over to Raymond, seeing him quickly looking away. She looked around and saw that there weren't very many people around. Her sister wasn't in sight. She was probably taking others orders or hiding in embarrassment from her sister. She slid her mirror into her purse and made her way to where Raymond was sitting nervously.
But for some reason, she liked shy and nervous guys. Maybe thats what attracted this strange and mysterious man to her.
She sat down across from him, giving him a friendly smile. Raymond was surprised to see her sitting across from him. All he could think about was her naked body pressing against Jack's.
"Do you like the night?" She asked. Raymond blinked with confusion spread on his face. He shrugged.
"Yea."
"You seem like a night owl. Do you like to have fun at night?"
Raymond could feel her sexual vibe and he did not want to have any of it.
"I'm... married," he said with hesitation seeping through his voice. He didn't want to let go of that. Ignoring women who made advances towards him because he was happily married with two children. It made him feel as if for a second, everything was actually normal. But when he looked at his situation again and looked at the scene of his dead wife, he knew that everything was far from normal.
The girl looked at his left hand, seeing a ring on his finger. It always brought a smile to her lips.
"Oh. I'm sorry. I'll leave you alone."
"Actually, I'd rather you stay. I would like to talk with you if thats alright."
The girl nodded and made herself comfortable. Raymond wasn't sure what he was getting himself into. He needed to be careful this time since he didn't find Jack's note at the beach when they went. A step that could have been important to helping piece it together.
"What would you like to talk about?" She asked.
Raymond shrugged and cupped his hands together, bouncing his leg anxiously. "Luna, right?"
She clutched on tightly to her purse, raising a brow at him. "So you know what I do." Luna sighed and brushed her bangs to the side. "Listen, I'll do whatever you want but I'm not free."
"Yea I know." Raymond rubbed his temples. He tried to get the mental image of the pictures out of his head. He wasn't actually going to have sex with her. But he needed to lure her into spitting out more information. If he just came out with saying everything he knew about her and Jack, she would be creeped out and leave. Never in a million years would he have sex with someone who wasn't his wife, especially if they had sex with someone like Jack.
"So why are we wasting time? Lets go now."
"Calm down, dear. I haven't eaten all day."
Luna slumped down against the booth and crossed her arms. "Fine. But I'll be waiting."
-x-
Raymond parked the car in a quiet and empty parking lot. He looked over at Luna who already had her hands on his belt, unbuckling it. Before she could unbutton his pants, he stopped her hands and squeezed them tightly.
"I don't want sex," he said.
"Then what do you want?"
Raymond let go of her hands. "Your knowledge on what you know about him." He pulled out a picture of Luna in the first picture that Jack took of her. "The man who took these pictures of you."
Her eyes looked over the picture. "Oh. Him. He's my best John." Luna looked back up at Raymond and shrugged. "I'm kinda like a doctor or a therapist. I don't talk about my Johns. Its confidential. Except I don't cure them. I make them feel better."
"Patient confidentiality? Really?" Raymond rolled his eyes. "First of all, he's not a patient, he's just some guy. So you got nothing to protect. I want you to tell me about the man who took these pictures. Tell me everything you know."
"He has a big dick."
Raymond furrowed his eyebrows. "I... thats not what I meant."
"Well you wanted me to tell you about him, so I did."
"I meant him as a person and who he is, not his penis size."
Luna chuckled and brushed the loose strands of hair behind her ear. She liked to joke around with people and was also a big prankster with her sister. She enjoyed a good joke.
"Alright fine. What is it that you want to know?"
"Anything you can tell me—" Raymond held up a finger, "—except for his penis size."
"He's a really nice man. Pays for a lot of my things like dinner, clothes. One time, he was kind enough to pay for my broken arm since I had no insurance to cover it."
Raymond frowned. Jack was not a good person. He was pure evil. A murderer. He wanted nothing more than to choke him to death and watch as the light went out in his eyes, signifying the end of his terror.
"Do you know who he is? What does he look like?"
"He never told me his real name, so I just call him 'darling' or 'papi'." Luna closed her eyes, imagining Jack. "He's tall, has a charming smile with warm and welcoming eyes."
It was far from what Raymond imagined him being. He thought of him as angry and rough, willing to kill anyone who came his way, not caring.
"When was the last time you saw him?" Raymond asked.
Luna opened her eyes and shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe a few days ago."
"Did he bring anyone else with him?"
"Not that time, but another time yea. Another man. Told me he was his friend." She tilted her head to the side. "He was... nervous. Maybe it was because he never had sex. He was young after all."
"How young?"
"I don't know. Maybe late teens or early twenties?"
Raymond tapped his fingers against his chin, painting a picture in his head of what this second guy must look like. Well for starters, he was young.
"What else? Tell me more about his appearance," Raymond said.
"Eh, I don't really remember him much. All I remember was that he was young and nervous." Luna leaned back in her seat, arms crossed. "After awhile you forget faces. Especially in this line of work."
Raymond's interest shifted from Jack to Luna. "How long have you been doing this?"
Luna furrowed her eyebrows and shrugged. "I don't know," she replied back very dryly.
"I see. And what does your family think of you?"
Luna's face became annoyed. She didn't like being asked about her work. She was ashamed of it and she became estranged from her family. Her parents didn't want anything to do with her anymore. But the only thing she had left was her sister who was working as a waitress at Joe 'n Go Diner, trying to support herself and her young sister.
"You have so many questions. Why does my personal life matter to you? Either you pay me for sex or leave me alone."
Raymond reached into the glove compartment and pulled out the stack of polaroid photos that Jack took of her. He pulled out the last picture of her when she was very young. Luna's eyes widened and she quickly snatched the picture from his hands, holding it close to her chest.
"Its you isn't it?"
"Go fuck yourself," she whispered as tears were falling down her cheeks. She then braced herself for any kind of force she would feel. If he would grab her, slap her, punch her, or worse. But she felt nothing. She looked over at Raymond, seeing him just sitting there with his eyes full of empathy.
"I'm sorry," Raymond said, raising a hand to gently rub her on the back. Luna flinched but let him do so. She felt comforted by him. "Can we keep in touch? If thats ok?"
Luna brushed her bangs out of her eyes and wiped away her tears. "Why?"
Raymond sucked the air through his teeth, tapping his fingers on his knee. "I can't tell you. But please, can we?" Luna sighed and nodded. "Great. Here I'll write down my number for you in case you need anything. Call me any time." Raymond grabbed a random piece of paper and a pen, jotting down his number to Luna and handing it to her. "I mean it."
"Alright." Luna looked at the paper quickly before folding it up and shoving it into her purse. "You know where to find me." She opened the car door and got out. She looked back at him and smiled. "Bye papi," she said with a wink before closing the car door. Raymond got chills.
(A/N) Sorry for the slight delay on this chapter. My birthday was the 22nd and then after than I had testing for two days. But here you guys go! I'm almost done with the MRM's information so hopefully soon I can show it. Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, don't forget to vote and comment, it helps me out a lot. And also be sure to follow me cause I often post updates on the progress of this story on my page. Thank you :)