Nothing out of the ordinary has happened again today, so far so good.
I've been slowly distancing myself from my friends and Emma. I've been having the same excuse of leaving my phone at home during the school day and blaming it on not sleeping well or work. Mr. Radek has mostly returned to his normal self, from what I can tell anyway. He's been handling all the weight of planning and preparing to mobilize against anyone we may be able to find. Whereas I've been trying to follow his advice, without him around I'd likely be fucked.
I keep imagining situations in which I'll need to use my gun, but I can't put the image in my head of shooting anyone. I've grown to avoid conflict and enjoyed my happy little bubble with my friends for the past couple of months, now with all my memories intact, I've begun remembering things I'd rather have forgotten.
The idea of death isn't exactly foreign to me, I've seen people die. Austin died in front of me, and I had no way of helping him at that time. I watched him suffocate on his own vomit while in a state of euphoria from the heroine. It's in the past, I've tried justifying it, as being a mistake, I'd made that I won't let happen again.
But in that regard, I'm not doing a very good job, Austin's been avoiding me again, while I was off playing video games with Josh and Charlie and spending my time playing chess with everyone after school, Austin's been slowly falling into the same habits in the past, and I neglected my responsibilities as a friend to help drift him into a better situation.
I just hope he'll talk to me soon, and that it's not too late.
There's also the memory where me and Dad got into a fistfight, and me getting my ass whooped by my old man and kicked out of the house, I'm not exactly fond of that memory... I guess it still stings.
I understand why he did it though.
My failings as a son, my addiction, and the stealing I'd do around the neighborhood, and to my family...
And the cherry on top of the shit cake, was me punching mom. I know she said she forgave me before, but I could never face them again.
These thoughts are a bit heavy to be thinking of on the bus.
The students around me are too loud, the seats are cramped beside one another, there isn't any heat in the back of the bus and I'm cold.
I've been staring blankly out of the window, the scenery passed by, but I don't even see it. I've been ignoring these feelings for a while, I've been occupied, worrying about dying, that the idea of a depressive episode hasn't had the opportunity to arise. But stress and depression go hand in hand.
The "in vicinity" signal hasn't disappeared yet, I keep focusing on it.
I want to shake this feeling off, but I haven't been able to focus on anything today, nothing is keeping my attention.
The kids around me are chatting with one another, laughing even, but their words and the sounds of my environment blend into a meaningless buzz. I know I need to regain my energy and talk to someone. But the people I've grown accustomed to could be in danger if they're in contact with me. Mr. Radek is the only one I can talk to, but we've got bigger things to worry about than my moods.
The bus stops and begins letting off students, they pile in droves out the doorway, I gather up my things and head out last. The walk home doesn't feel any different, besides the motion of my legs pressing forward, and not immobile on the bus.
Mr. Radek needed to do some "Housekeeping" before picking me up today, I don't know what that means, but he told me he'd need a few minutes. Without the constant distractions I'd kept my time occupied with, the bad thoughts are coming back again. I remember why I was an addict, to begin with, maybe it'll follow me around forever. I've got an urge to get high right now, or maybe just to feel comforted.
I want to call a friend or tell someone about what's going on. Maybe blacking out for 2 hours isn't so bad, and I could wake up at supper time with my parents. But there's no telling if the punishments become more extreme the more often you do something, that entity isn't exactly just and fair.
I wonder if everyone who is a part of this is thinking the same way I am. If they're lonely and afraid, or if they want to protect the life they have so that they forget things like fear. Guess there's no way to tell.
When I'd finally made it to my doorstep, I enter the front door and call to see if anyone is home.
Thea pops her head out from the hallway on top of the stairs.
"Hey, shithead, Mom and dad are out right now." She had a snarky voice, like usual. I could only see the texture of her green hair and the image of her head from the bottom of the stairs. The bathroom light seemed to bend the light in such a way that her face was in a shadow.
"You know, you used to be such a cute kid. I wonder what happened to that?" I asked her in a low voice.
"Huh? Speak up you dumb fuck, I can't hear you, but I can tell you're acting like a little bitch." She says before returning to the hallway, her footsteps stomping her way to her room.
Yeah, guess she's right. I gotta stop moping around, let's make a quick pot of coffee and eat something quickly.
Before that, I head upstairs to grab my phone that I'd left charging overnight again. When I unlocked it, I'd seen that I had 3 missed calls and 20 something texts, and some Facebook messages. I'll check the important person first.
Emma sent me a few texts and messages; I'll check the messages first.
There's a picture she'd taken. She's smiling in a selfie at the gym in school. Looks like she's in her volleyball uniform, there's a message attached to it.
"Hey, you gotta come with me to my volleyball tourney next week, mark it in your calendar, boy."
There are a few texts from her too, some of which are just keyboard smashes to get my attention.
But one message sticks out to me.
"Hey, I hope you're doing okay. You looked down today. Here's a meme I made of you."
There's a photo of me with text generated on the top and bottom. The top says:
"Feeling sad?" the bottom says: "Eat chicken waffles."
I guess I did say that at some point. I know I shouldn't get her hopes up, but I don't want to let her down too much.
"Hey, I'll be at your tourney for sure, wouldn't miss it for the world," I reply, before shoving my phone in my pocket and heading downstairs and making my coffee.
After eating something and having a cup of joe while looking through the kitchen window, Mr. Radek sent me a text.
"I'll be there in 5." His message says.
I head upstairs and grab the pistol in my closet, and sit on the couch in the dark, I never bothered to turn on the TV, it's hard to enjoy things when you feel like you're going crazy. Staring at the popcorn ceiling, I wonder if I could bust them open and snort the asbestos inside and die. Slowly, from cancer or something.
The honking horn of Mr. Radek's vehicle brings me to an alert state, and I grab my backpack, toss on my shoes and head out to meet him.
We drive the same way as the other day to the campground area.
Mr. Radek told me we'd go to the shooting range later, but we're losing valuable daylight and we need to do something first.
When we stop the vehicle at the campground parking lot, I feel a bit uneasy and needed someone to confide in.
"Hey, Mr. Radek, are you scared to die? Or kill someone?"
"Of course, I am, if it was avoidable, I'd be at home with my wife and daughter right now. But it's not something we can avoid, so we'll just have to cross that bridge once we arrive."
I think that's a good enough answer for me, it's nice to know that someone feels the same way as I do.
We leave the vehicle and headed to the back of the car, Mr. Radek popped the trunk when I asked him my questions.
It's getting to be a bit dark now, not quite pitch black, but not mid-afternoon either. The autumn days don't last very long.
In the trunk is an assortment of camping gear, and many different items. There's a jug of water in the corner of the trunk, the black fuzzy interior of the trunk feels funny on my hands. It reminds me of a welcome mat.
Mr. Radek hands me a jacket and some boots and tells me to change quickly because we're going to be going for a hike through the woods.
After putting on his jacket, I can't help but feel it's a bit too big for me, my hands don't reach out the cuffs easily, and the torso stretches out past my ass. The boots are surprisingly comfortable. Maybe we've got similarly shaped feet.
Mr. Radek walks ahead and begins to break his own trail into the woods. The young pine trees are swaying in the wind, and there's a distinct change in sound when Mr. Radek walks. The rough sound of gravel and rocks being spread around in the dirt by his feet, begin to make a loud crunching noise as he steps into the secluded forest.
"You gotta keep up, Danny. This is going to be a doozy of a walk." He says before breaking the trail ahead.
Well, what the hell. Maybe a scenic hike will help to cure my moodiness.
I begin following Mr. Radek, we're walking along the shoreline, to what I think is north, or maybe it isn't. I've never been good at directions. I can hear waves crashing into the shore as I step onto deadfall and the crisp dead leaves on the forest floor. The forest is dense and wild. It seems like everywhere I step there's either a fallen tree that would trip me if I don't watch my feet constantly. And the backpack I'm carrying and the jug of water aren't helping, it's hard to get a good sense of balance. I'm constantly grasping at nearby bushes and trees to keep myself upright.
"You gotta watch for any widow makers, it'd be pretty unfortunate to die to a fallen tree." Mr. Radek says as I watch his back and follow similar footsteps to his.
The air is cool and fresh, it's almost as if there's a slight mist that splashes from the nearby lake. Seeing the open water is soothing. The density of the forest makes it so that there appear to be no markers indicating where we've come from. Like it's been completely untouched by man. Along the trees, there are scratches along, maybe we're walking into a bear's territory or something. Being mauled isn't on my list of things to do today.
I had to continue stopping as we walked, and I could see Mr. Radek's figure slip in and out of view behind the greenery, it's hard to keep up with him. It's like he's been here before.
After what felt like an eternity, we'd made it through the forest to a small clearing. The trees are separated enough to seem as though they've been cut down before. There are roots sprouting out of the soil, they look like veins, like the kind in my arms. I guess they're pumping nutrients in and out of the trees though. Don't trees have some weird symbiotic relationship with mushrooms? I think Claire said something like that at some point. She's weird like that.
It's cold out, but I'm fucking sweating. The weight of the backpack was pushing me down at every step, and I felt so wobbly following Mr. Radek, I need to work out more. I'm glad it's fall, or else we'd probably be swarmed by insects and eaten alive by mosquitos and no-see-ums.
Mr. Radek walked up to a tree line in the clearing, two large trees are close enough to each other to set up a tarp, or something. I was guzzling water as he was talking. I had to sit down for a few minutes, Mr. Radek told me that we need to be quick, so the walk back isn't in the darkness.
Mr. Radek begins unpacking and setting up a small tent and tarp, I can hear the swishing sound of the plastic being unfolded, there isn't much noise in the forest. There are a lot of smells though, pine trees and the smell of the lake nearby exude many aromas.
I got up to help Mr. Radek put the tent spikes into the soil and tie knots for the tarp above it.
Mr. Radek also brought fireworks in his bag, they're sealed in a way that makes them waterproof, they're covered in plastic wrapping and taped down along the sides.
"What's the fireworks for, Mr. Radek?"
"I thought we could use them for a signal or something, in case we ever to come here, I don't own a flair gun, but had some leftover fireworks from the summer that I thought we could put to use." He says before taking a drink of water.
"Ahh, would you mind walking towards the lake and grabbing some rocks? Maybe some larger ones about yay size" Mr. Radek puts his hands out and expands them to about a foot across, give or take.
"Alright, I'll empty out my bag and toss them in here. There'll probably be bigger rocks near the lake."
I empty my bag and leave the gun behind with Mr. Radek before making my way toward the lake.
The image of the lake is filtered by the overgrowth of trees, I keep walking towards it while making sure to watch my step, there's a ton of deadfall though.
In my inner brain, or whatever, I've been trying to create a mental image of the direction we walked from, but the nearby lake helps to keep me grounded. The lake is a constant, it's always there. If we were in a denser portion of the forest, I'd easily get lost.
Okay, finally made it, I didn't fall either. Or die to a tree, that's a success in my eyes.
When I look back into the forest, it's so dense that I can't even see the clear area I and Mr. Radek were in. It always feels colder by the lake. Gotta find some rocks, not sightsee. I've come to a small sandy area near the lake.
I want some bigger rocks, there are some coarse-grained rocks on the larger side just a little way into the lake. I don't really want to get wet, but I can't exactly take sand back with me. I'm assuming these are for a fire pit. No choice, I guess.
These aren't my boots anyway. If they get wet, I'll just change them at the car. Or actually, let's take them off, and my socks. I don't know how much longer we're going to be here.
After taking them off, there's a cold sensation on the bottom of my heels, the sand is damp from the water that's seeped in between the grains of sand. I hate wet feet. I remove my backpack too and place it on the shore.
While looking into the lake, I see my reflection against the water. Such a stark contrast from my previous self, I look so healthy.
As I place my hand into the water to grab the rocks, I disrupt the delicate calm to the water. Creating a circular shaped wave that transcends from the origin point of my hand. It looks pretty, I always liked water. It's calming.
I start scooping out rocks and tossing them towards my bag, it took me about 5 minutes to grab all that I wanted, put my socks and shoes back on after air drying my feet, and walking back to the camp.
The sleeves of Mr. Radek's jacket he lent me are all soaked now though. I don't think we'll be here very long so it's fine.
I wander back through the forest and call out Mr. Radek's name to make sure I'm going in the right direction.
"Mr. Radek! I'm coming back now!"
"Alright! I'm over here, I'm just about done too!" Mr. Radek yells back through the thicket of woods.
I keep taking careful steps along the forest floor, before eventually making it back to Mr. Radek. We set up a small fireplace together, placing the rocks in a circular formation.
We've got a makeshift camp set up, I'm not sure what for.
"Mr. Radek, how do you know about this clearing?"
He pauses for a second before answering.
"My daughter loves this campsite, she's also fond of exploring, so we'd often go on little "Adventures." as she called them. This was just one area where we'd walked together. Now, let's get ready to head back, there isn't much time left until the sun sets and we're walking through in the pitch black night." He says before grabbing his empty bags. It looks like he'd also left behind 9mm bullets and food and water, as well as sleeping bags.
I can't help but think the water will freeze by the time we have to come back here next, but there are also cooking supplies so we can boil lake water.
"Danny, you're gonna lead us back, you need to be able to traverse the area as well as me, and the best way to do that is by taking the lead." He says to me before pointing to the area we came from.
Ugh. I know this is necessary, but the entire bush area looks the exact same, there are some traces of us having walked through, like young trees being bent forwards. That isn't much to work with though for the untrained eye.
Grabbing my bag, I place my gun inside it, sling it over my shoulder and start walking without thinking too much.
So, we came from this direction, the lake is on our right side now, if only it were a beach area the entire way, we'd have been able to just walk along it. Mr. Radek probably wants to use this wooded area as a natural defense, seeing as it's so dense that just walking through it is strenuous.
"Hey, Mr. Radek, do you think we'd be able to set up like, bear traps or something? So, we'd know where the traps are if anyone approaches us here, but they wouldn't?" I ask.
"No, maybe. But it's hard to say, considering we don't know under what circumstances we'll be coming here next will be. Maybe we'll be running from someone, and we won't have the luxury of remembering where we'd left our trap. Then we'd lose a limb or worse." He says while walking behind me.
It's hard to hear him, and I can't see his face to read his lips either.
The trees and logs along the forest floor are all so debilitating. I keep trying to grasp the young trees nearby to keep my balance, but it's not easy. There's a clear area just up ahead, like a small gap in the density of the forest. I'll stand there for a second to catch my breath and survey the area for how I'll maneuver us through.
Oops, almost slipped. The logs are wet with condensation, or erosion.
Alright, finally here. Now to look for a way out.
Mr. Radek is directly behind me, I can hear his footsteps getting closer until he's directly behind me, I can feel his breath on my neck.
I turn to face him, to ask him how I should approach this problem. That's when I catch a glimpse of a metallic object in his hand, it's sheen reflects what little light there is in the forest. He grabs onto my shoulder and begins to pull the strap of my bag downwards.
I weave my arm through and contort it in a way to remove the backpack and turn to face him.
Now I see the clear image of the knife in his hands. Mr. Radek looks at me intensely.
My pistol is in my backpack, I don't have time to grab it on the forest floor, I won't make it in time.
With his right hand, he lunges forward with the knife, I instinctively dodge to the left, narrowly missing the blade. I reach out to grab his wrist, trying to disarm him.
He's stronger than I am, I can feel the veins bulging in his arm as he tries to keep hold of the knife. I can see the determination in his eyes, and I know I need to act quickly. I twist his wrist with a sharp yank and manage to wrench the knife from his grip.
Mr. Radek stumbles back for a second, and at that moment, I reach for the knife on the ground and hold it upwards, facing him. My hands are shaking.
I can feel the anger and fear coursing through me.
I trusted him.
Taking a step back, I try to catch my breath, Mr. Radek looks at me with hatred in his eyes. I can tell he's not going to give up that easily.
I can't let him get to the bag and grab the pistol, I've got to take the initiative. I grip the knife tighter; my heart pounding out of my chest and take a step forward.
Mr. Radek charges at me, his fists clenched tightly. I side-step his attack, my heart racing with adrenaline. I can't let him get too close.
He throws a punch, which I dodge by ducking low. I take advantage of his momentum and grab his arm, twisting it behind his back. He cries out, grunting in pain. But I don't let go.
With his arm pinned, I take the opportunity to strike back. I deliver a swift kick to the back of his knee, causing him to stumble. He manages to break free from my grip and charges at me again.
I sidestep his attack and swing the knife, slicing through the air. Mr. Radek jumps back, avoiding the attack.
He looks at me with a mixture of fear, and maybe pride. The feeling of betrayal still lingers in my mind, I can't let it distract me. I need to be focused. Again, he moves in for the attack.
I move my body out of the way and swing the blade of the knife in the downward direction and punch Mr. Radek directly in the gut, he doubles over in pain, gasping for breath.
I couldn't bring myself to lunge the knife directly into him. The image of his dear family was burned into my psyche.
With him hunched over, I still can't imagine killing him.
Do I mark him? Do I attack? Do I do nothing? If I don't...
Will he kill me? Will he mark me? Will I ever be safe from someone who knows so much about me?
I lower the knife and take a step back, ready to run back to the vehicle, but I don't have the keys, and the gun is on the forest floor, he'll make his way back and be able to find me quickly, and he'll have the pistol.
Do I hitchhike back to town? And then what?
I again raise the knife and charge him. In a few seconds, I'll feel the blade penetrating his skin.
That was when Mr. Radek finally spoke to me.
"Wait! Danny! Wait!" He screamed; his hands held forward.
I stop dead in my tracks.
Mr. Radek is on his knees, begging me to stop. I can't think straight, the words coming out of my mouth are fuelled by emotion.
"What the fuck do you mean wait, you had a knife, you were going to kill me!" I scream at him.
"Danny, just, give me a second. Fuck that hurt." We're both huffing and puffing after his sudden attack.
"Okay, you good? Okay. Okay, let me explain."
"That was a test, I needed to test you, I needed to know..." He spits, I didn't get him in the face, I don't think.
"I needed to know that you could defend yourself, no matter the situation. I'm sorry, but others won't wait for you to be ready. We can't take this situation lightly." He begins standing up.
I again grip the knife, thinking this could be a ploy.
My eyes begin surveying Mr. Radek, we're a few paces away from the gun, but it doesn't seem like he's going to reach for it anytime soon.
I back up a bit, recoiling from his standing posture.
"Agh, you really got me good with that one, you learn that while you were boxing with Austin and his brothers? Aha..." He tries to walk but is holding his stomach while doing so, he takes labored steps toward me.
My body is still in fight or flight mode, I'm still locked onto my target. Carefully watching Mr. Radek get his bearing. Every slight movement he makes, I take notice of everything, down to the position of his feet, where his hands are located. If anything seems out of the ordinary for even a second, I don't think I'll be able to rationalize my attack on him.
I've got to calm down, calm my breathing. My rational thoughts are hindered by my body's need for survival.
"Alright Danny, you don't have to point that thing at me like that. Especially with that kind of face you're wearing." Mr. Radek is clearly damaged from our fight.
I must look angry right now. I am angry, I'm so fucking mad he'd do this to me.
I'm trying to reach a state of neutrality. Let's talk with him. I can't even remember what he said just now.
We spend a few minutes in a deadlock, I've been staring at Mr. Radek. He eventually sat down to catch his breath.
"I'm sorry Danny, I thought I needed to test you. What if something like this were to happen from someone else in the game? I needed to know you could react in time and fight back."
His voice sounds full of regret, I sit down too.
The damp and cold leaves of the nearby bushes and grass help me to realize how cold I am.
"Why did you have to do it that way?" I ask while throwing the knife into the grass.
Without missing a beat he answers.
"Because there are too many unknowns, too many problems that could arise. Especially since we're going to have to find our... enemies from now on."
I keep quiet and listen.
"If things go south, and we mark someone, and they mark us back. What if they were to attack us immediately, regardless of who could be around? Say we're in a crowded area, and we do find and mark someone in the game, what if they're able to discern us from the crowd and disregard the people around us." He begins extrapolating what he understands could happen.
"Collectively, you and I. We'll need to be able to work together no matter the situation. Especially if we want to keep each other safe. Listen, I'm scared too. What if you aren't the one targeted, and I am? What if I'm going to be the one who needs saving?" He asks.
"But, I would know what to do in that situation, I'll do what I can to keep you safe," I reply.
"Will you? Are you completely sure? You hesitated back there. You could say it's just because it's me. But what if that's not the case? What if you just couldn't do it? I needed to simulate a real fight for you. And for myself." He stands up and walks towards me.
He stretches a hand to me, to pull me up, I accept it and stand up with him.
"We've both got things we need to protect. This whole situation is horrible, I'm scared for my sweet little Maria to be taken from me. I'm worried my wife will get hurt, and now that we've spent our time together. I'm scared for you to get hurt. I couldn't give you notice that I'd do this. I want you to be prepared for anything." He grabs onto my shoulders with a gentle touch and begins grasping onto them tighter.
He pulls me in for a hug.
"I'm so sorry I scared you. I know I shouldn't have. But we'll need to be strong enough to take on any role or enemy. And you are strong enough. You're much stronger than I am."
I feel an uncomfortable slurry of emotions.
I understand why he did it now, but I feel confused and angry. All of these emotions are mixing up inside my head.
"It's alright Mr. Radek. I know where you're coming from. I'm sorry too, for punching you in the gut and stuff." While placing my hands against his back.
"Just call me Jason from now on, we're a team. We should treat each other as equals." He says while he detaches himself from the embrace.
"You really did a number on my knee too, I'm proud that you were able to turn the situation around in your favor," Jason says as he begins limping ahead of me through the forest to the vehicle.
I grab my bag and knife from the ground and follow behind him.
I should do the same thing to him. I know I won't.
It's nearly night now. In the distance, you can see the fuzzy wave of light, or whatever, being emitted by a streetlamp in the campsite parking lot.
Jason pauses his limp steps and removes two bottles of water from his bag and hands one to me without saying anything.
I didn't realize how thirsty I was, I downed the entire bottle of water in a few seconds. The water pours down my lips and onto my jacket. At least it isn't my jacket.
There are different spots of wetness along Mr. Radek's back and legs as well. From the condensation of the leaves on the trees and from our fight.
At least I have dry socks right now. That's one positive.
After making it through the forest, the car is sitting silently in the parking lot. Mr. Radek unlocks the doors, and we throw the bags we'd brought back with us into the back seat of his car.
In my usual passenger seat, I suddenly remember calling "shotgun!" to my mom when she'd take me and Thea for drives.
Sitting down feels good. Too much happened just now, we smell like the bush and we're all wet and gross. I take off my jacket before Jason starts the vehicle.
Mr. Radek lights another cigarette, as he usually does.
"That was a lot more action than I'd hoped for today. Sorry about that." Mr. Radek blows his smoke out of the window he'd just opened.
With the open cigarette package, he leans it my way, offering me one.
It still feels weird to get a cigarette from your teacher. But I accept.
"Alright Danny, I think I can tell you who could be a part of the game now. I have a few suspicions, but the biggest suspect in my mind is one of your classmates."
"You classmate Spencer, I think he's a part of the game too." Mr. Radek begins explaining.
"This student sticks out to me because in the past, our past lives... he never moved back to town. He'd never been registered for any classes, at least from what I can tell. I don't ever recall him for any of my classes. He sticks out like a sore thumb. I've never had him as a student, or seen him around the school for all my years of teaching. And I've been at that school for several years now." He begins to look through his phone while smoking.
"From what I know, he's called a "behavioral" student. He'd gotten into a fight before moving to town with his stepfather, I don't know the full details, but the teachers talk amongst each other about certain bad students." Mr. Radek's voice is serious, he must have considered many ways I may take this news.
"Alright, so we've got to isolate Spencer and then, kill him?" I ask.
"Well... there's also the chance that we work together. But you know, I just have this feeling that you and his personality could end up clashing. He's a relatively quiet person, but he always appears to be so angry. And he's conjoined at the hip with his girlfriend, one of the other students, Carly."
He sure likes to drop a lot on me, first, he attacks me, then tells me who our possible target is.
"Alright, so could we approach him and ask?"
"You'd have to be the one to do it, I don't think the same tactic I used on you would be sufficient, I have a feeling he'd come after me immediately, or worse, mark me and run away or something. It's a very delicate situation."
"Well, Emma is close with Carly. I could talk to her about him, or them, maybe we could reach a common ground with him?"
"Hmm... alright, but I think it's best to organize something with Emma first, maybe just hanging out together with him? You could go on a double date or something with them." Mr. Radek laughs a little.
"Yeah, a double date..."
I don't really want to let down Emma more than I have to. She's not a part of all this, it would be selfish to exploit her feelings for me in order to get closer to Spencer.
"Do you think we can work with him, Mr. Radek?" I ask.
Mr. Radek begins to reverse his car; we've been sitting in the parking lot catching our breath for a few minutes now.
"I'm not sure, I have another plan as well if you can't. During the field trip next week, we could find a way to speak to Spencer alone. And if things go wrong, we'll both be ready to attack."
Mr. Radek looks at me.
"It's not like I want to kill my own students... but we'll need to prepare for anything." He says while looking sullen.
Mr. Radek looks in the rear-view mirror.
"At least you didn't get me in the face. I won't have to explain too much to my wife." He says while taking a considerable amount of time staring at himself.
"Sorry about that, I thought you were going to kill me and all that..."
"Regretfully, I wish I had gone about that a different way." He smiles at me, probably his fatherly instincts of trying to comfort me.
"So, you'll have to ask Emma about them if it's possible. I don't know if they're exactly close anymore though, hasn't she been mostly avoiding her friend? She seems to be in quite the codependent relationship with Spencer." He pauses to stare at me before continuing.
"Let's not place all our eggs in one basket with her though, she's just a girl. She hasn't done anything wrong, if we can, let's avoid having her caught in the crossfire."
"Agreed."
We begin driving back home.
On the drive, we again enter the range of the sensor, and Mr. Radek stares at the abandoned homes that straddle the sides of the highway.
Not much is said during the drive home, after he drops me off, entering the house I notice my parents are home.
They're watching the news together again, I listen in while removing my shoes.
"In the early hours of this morning, the city was left reeling as news broke of yet another victim of the serial killer who has been terrorizing the streets for the past several weeks. The latest victim, a young man in his mid-twenties, was found strangled and with their ring finger removed."
I begin walking into the living room to watch the report.
"This marks the seventh victim of the so-called "Ring Finger killer." Who has been preying on both men and women late at night near bars and other nightlife spots? The killer is believed to be targeting people who are out alone and vulnerable, taking advantage of their inebriation and luring them to a secluded area."
When Mom notices me, she switches the channel.
"Hey Danny, you're home, you look like shit." She says bluntly.
"Thanks, I feel the same way I look," I say before attempting to walk upstairs.
"Hold up, there's supper in the microwave, grab it for yourself, I didn't spend the past 2 hours slaving in the kitchen for you to not eat it." She says before getting up and making her way to the kitchen.
She's wearing her lazy clothes, pajamas, a big sleeved shirt that says, "Cool Mom."
"Alright Mom, I'll grab it in a minute, I've gotta change my clothes, and pinch a fat loaf," I say before making my way upstairs to my room.
"Don't be fucking gross." She yells out.
Dad laughs at least.
Today has been, long.
Let's change first, and then eat, and then just take a quick nap.
"Spencer, huh."
Didn't Austin say we were close when we were younger, I don't remember him all that well. It's strange how memories of others imprint themselves in our heads, I wonder what other people remember about me that I've long forgotten.
I guess me and Emma have a date tomorrow.