~~~~~
My hands had completely healed, though Dr. Morrison recommended I keep them wrapped up for at least another week so as not to arouse suspicion. Mom had to stay in the hospital for another few days, due to her malnourishment and dehydration. Her kidneys and lower intestines had been damaged because of her diet (or lack thereof), and she needed steroids pumped into her to help with the pain and the recovery.
I was allowed to stay home from school for a couple of days, but I ended up getting bored after the first day and going to school on the second day any way. I was lucky that it was winter and I could get away with wearing long sleeves and gloves - after the first two class periods of everyone - and I mean EVERYONE - asking about my bandages I got extremely aggravated and just kept my jacket and gloves on through each class period.
A memorial was planned for that Thursday for all the students that died in the “stage fire” at the dance. I was offered a chance to give a few words, but I declined and faked post traumatic stress to get out of it. I had been doing it a lot, lately, just to avoid talking about the dance. I even avoided going to the dance club, just to maintain the illusion that I was emotionally scarred from the ordeal.
It was only half a lie, really. I tried getting dressed for practice that Wednesday, but once I started getting things out of my dance bag I started feeling anxiety build up and I quickly stuffed everything back in the bag. I started questioning how good of an idea it would be to dance, seeing as how I had already caused enough damage by doing so. Not only that, but how did I know that the demon inside me no longer had any sort of consciousness? What if it was just asleep, waiting for me to do something to wake it up? I walked home that day, since I didn’t have my bike and the busses had all left by the time I got to the bus loading area.
Jack was nowhere to be seen that whole week. Neither was Mina, for that matter. I started to worry about him, but when I got home that Wednesday there was a note on my desk.
Kenna –
I had to take off for a bit. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I’ll be back soon.
Jack
I folded it up and put it in my pocket. I spent the rest of the day reaching into my pocket and touching it, making sure it was there.
Mom returned home late that afternoon. I made dinner that night – it was the first homemade dinner I had had since dad had completely lost it. I’d mostly been buying ready to eat meals from the grocery store for myself and Alvin, since dad had been spending every waking moment (and even some non-waking moments) at the hospital and was eating the cafeteria food.
Dad had given me a list of foods the doctor gave him that were going to be the best things for mom to eat until her digestive system could manage to handle processing anything she ate. It looked like we were going to be eating soup for a week or so. Minestrone was a comfort food of mine, so that’s what I whipped up for the family.
Terra joined us, though she announced during dinner that she had signed a contract at the apartment her friend lived at and was going to be rooming there from then on. It was pretty depressing, but the mood was already pretty sullen so it was hard to say that it had gotten any worse after Terra’s announcement. Mom hadn’t spoken much at all since our initial conversation in the hospital. She looked healthier in that she was eating, but she still looked pale in the skin and dark around the eyes. She was hunched over at dinner, constantly pulling her blanket tighter around her shoulders.
Dad was just as quiet, and spent most of the meal with his hand on mom’s shoulder, babying her whenever she went too long without taking a bite. It was, to be completely honest, extremely pathetic. I could tell that mom was irritated that dad was treating her like an invalid, but she had a hard time protesting as she knew that she probably was that way, to an extent. What’s worse is that dad hardly looked fit to take care of himself. He was still awfully pale and didn’t speak much himself. The conversation at the hospital had been encouraging and uplifting at the time, but it was painfully obvious that both of my parents had made little to no improvement at all.
I cleaned up all the dishes after dinner and put on a movie in the living room for anyone that wanted to watch. Arvin was pretty much done with worrying about mom and dad – whether it was because mom was back or because worrying made him tired I wasn’t sure. I didn’t blame him – I was getting pretty tired myself, wondering if dad was actually going to get better now that mom was back, and how long it was going to take mom to get better, if at all. They sat in the living room once I told them I had gotten a movie going, but I could tell they weren’t paying attention. Dad was looking at mom the whole time, trying to take her hand, but whenever he touched her bare skin she shivered and tried to curl up into a tighter ball. She just stared off into the distance, as though there was something watching her, and she needed to keep it in her sight.
I let them sit in the living room that night, not bothering to suggest they go to bed. I went to bed early myself, and while I went to sleep quickly, it certainly wasn’t soundly.
The next day was the day of the memorial. All the class periods were cut ten minutes short so we could have an assembly at the end of the day. Once the bell to dismiss the final class rang, I slipped away from the crowd heading toward the gymnasium and headed towards the closest exit so I could walk home. I almost made it, but when I rounded the corner I almost ran straight into a large man in a long, heavy grey woolen coat.
“Whoa! Where are you off to in such a hurry?” He asked me.
I shrugged. “Assemblies aren’t mandatory. I knew the people who died pretty well, I don’t need the assembly to tell me what kind of people they were or how much they’ll be missed.”
“You wouldn’t by chance be Makenna Reyvens, would you?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I’m glad I ran into you. I have a few questions for you, if you don’t mind.”
“Why?”
“Mind if we sit down somewhere a little warmer?”
“Can I ask who’s asking?”
He chuckled. “I see you’re not going to let this rest, are you? My name is Inspector Gregory. I’ve been looking into the fire and would just like to ask you some questions so I can get a better picture of what happened.”
“I was passed out for most of it, you know. I’m really not the person to ask.”
“I’m aware. Just a couple questions, it’ll take less than five minutes.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. You’re going to be disappointed, though.”
We went to the nearest unlocked door, which happened to be the front office. Everyone – staff included – was at the assembly, so it was completely deserted. He sat down in one of the chairs in the waiting area and motioned for me to do the same.
“Now, then, can you tell me what happened after the dance show?”
“I went to go grab my water bottle out of my bag so I could grab a drink before the final bow. I saw Cassie, Katie, Lindsay, Leah and Dane go into the prop room. I followed them to see why they weren’t going to participate in the final bow, but on my way there a frayed electrical wire brushed up against a rack of costumes and caught fire. I suppose it started out pretty small, because we were chatting in the prop room long enough that we didn’t notice the smoke at all. Of course, by then the curtains had caught fire. When we left the prop room we were pretty much trapped in. I tried to push my way out, but the fire was too hot. Hence, my burns. After that I passed out.”
“Do you know why you’re alive?”
“Jack managed to find a way in and drag me out.”
“Jack, huh?” He got out his notebook and flipped through the pages. “I have written down here that a person named Clive brought you to the hospital.”
“Really? Well, that must be who found me, then. I didn’t actually see who found me or who checked me in, after all. Jack is a close friend of mine and was at the hospital when I woke up, so I assumed it was him.”
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“Uh-huh. Do you have any idea why Jack would only save you, and none of the others?”
“You mean Clive?” I could see what this man was trying to do. I had let slip that Jack had rescued me, and he was now trying to get me to confirm that it was him.
“Yes, of course. Clive.”
“I honestly don’t know. I don’t even know who this Clive person is. A teacher, maybe? Anyway. Maybe I looked the most likely to pull through. I can’t tell you what he was thinking.”
“I see. Did you know what happened to the bodies of your fellow club members?”
I put on the saddest face I could muster and tried to get into post traumatic stress mode. “No, and I’ve been trying to avoid talking about it. I’ve had nightmares about burning to death every night since then, and I hate to think that some of my friends actually went through that. Please, I’d rather you not tell me.”
“I understand, but this is important to the investigation. Just try to answer, will you?” He had lowered his voice to sound more soothing. I nodded almost imperceptivity. “Cassie was found with almost no burns at all. Coroners determined cause of death as asphyxiation. The others, though, were burned beyond recognition. We were able to find enough teeth to match up most of their dental records. Do you know how hot and how long it takes for a fire to burn human bones into ashes?” I shook my head, no. “It takes several hours at almost two thousand degrees for bone to burn to ash. Your school auditorium burned for less than an hour and only at a few hundred degrees before this ‘Clive’ fellow reported the fire. How odd is it, then, that there were so few remains?”
I dabbed delicately at the corners of my eyes, wiping away imaginary tears. “I don’t know! Why are you even asking me? I already feel guilty enough about their deaths! I was the one that kept them there for so long! I asked them for feedback on the performance since it was my first one ever, and we ended up going over all the performances instead.”
“Why were you in the prop room?”
“I don’t know! That’s what they chose! I guess it was tradition or something! Are you done asking me questions yet?” I was starting to breathe in and out quickly, faking hyperventilation.
“Yes, yes, I’m done. I’m sorry to bother you. Are you going to be okay?” I shrugged as sadly as I could. “Well, I’m sorry for your loss. Can I talk to you again sometime in the future?”
“I’d rather you not.”
“I understand. Well, thank you for your time.” He held his hand out for me to shake. First the thing with Jack, and now this? This guy really didn’t trust me.
I held my hands up and said, “Sorry, but they still hurt. Shaking hands is on my list of no-nos for now.”
“Of course. How could I forget.” Inspector Gregory let himself out the door. I saw him look from side to side, then shove his hands in his pockets, walking toward the parking lot.
I waited for a few minutes before letting myself leave. It was a really odd encounter, to say the least. While I tried not to take crime television shows as law, they were at least good enough to tell me one thing – Inspector Gregory thought that there was foul play behind the deaths of the seven members of the dance club. I don’t know who he suspected, but he definitely thought I knew something more than I was letting on.
I took my time walking home. I wasn’t looking forward to another night of sullen parents and awkward dinner. I wondered what I could make that would take even less time than throwing a bunch of canned vegetables together for a soup. By the time I got home I decided that I could stand making soup again, and that I’d do the extra work to get ingredients together for slow cooker chicken for the next day, which would then require almost no preparation on my part when I got home from school.
Sure enough, the afternoon went much the way it did the afternoon previous. It was starting to get awfully depressing, and that night I had nightmares about being surrounded by a cold, blue fire that froze whatever it touched.
With everything that had been going on, I had forgotten that it was Christmas time. Nearly all my classes had Christmas parties instead of the normal lesson on Friday, since it was the last day before winter vacation. It was pleasant enough, but I had a hard time really appreciating them. I tried to have fun, especially in the classes I had with Nobuko, but it was difficult for the both of us. Since not everyone actually knew the members of the dance club that had died, their deaths didn’t weigh on their minds. I could tell that Nobuko was having a hard time coping with the incident – after all, she had made many friends once she joined the club. She gave me a consoling hug at one point during the day, and I hugged her back, though I felt like I was deceiving her in a way. I needed help coping with what happened after the dance show, though not for the same reasons she did. What I needed was for Jack to come back so I could talk with him more.
I took my time going from class to my locker when the dismissal bell rang. I should have hurried up to ensure I didn’t miss the bus, but something was causing me to hang back. I wandered the halls aimlessly, trying to figure out what it was.
I passed by the gym and something clicked. No, I told myself. I’m not going to do that. Not yet. Possibly not ever. But that nagging feeling persisted. I looked around quickly to make sure there wasn’t any administration on patrol, and snuck in to the gym, heading straight to the dance studio.
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