8. Aurora

Istare at the empty whiteboard as Mr. Torrance animatedly drones on about safety in numbers. Like, seriously? This is a biology class, but he's talking about something the principal or our school counselor should be.

Right before Halloween, the teachers always give us lectures, but those are usually about teen drinking or being careful with our curfew. Not this time and the teachers all seem so jumpy about it. My gaze shifts to Amanda Biel's desk in the back and something ominous spreads through the air. I find it oddly relaxing.

No one else seems to notice that Tiffany and her posse is missing today, but I do. I notice a lot of things other people don't, like how when the full moon and Halloween fall on the same night, the sky takes on a red hue like blood pouring from the clouds.

Something is amiss and all anyone can focus on is Damien King, myself included. He has become an obsession to me. I don't know why I've never given his case more thought until recently. Everyone has heard about the Halloween massacre and no one has questioned why it happened. People assume that Damien King lost his mind. He was freaking twelve. Twelve year old boys don't just lose their minds.

Something happened to him. I know it deep within my soul and I want to know what it was. I also want to know what happened to Bellatrix Rothchild.

I know she was just a toddler, but maybe she has the answers to my questions. It would be hard to find that out. That's such an out of the ordinary name. If she went to this school, I would know. We would both be seniors.

The administration has been pulling kids out of class all day. I'm not sure why because no one is talking about it. It has no real rhyme or reason to it. I wonder if they're going to want to talk to me or if I'm one of the few they won't.

I run my fingers through my hair as I turn my head to look out the window, but I nearly jump when I look across the street and see a familiar face staring into the window. It's him, the guy who helped me on the street yesterday.

Item number two on my list of things I can't stop thinking about. He didn't say a word to me and yet when I slept last night, I dreamed of him and those captivating eyes of his. Those striking eyes and his rough fingers…and those tattoos I saw peeking out from under his sleeve. I dreamed of the things I wanted to say and the things he could do to me without saying a word.

My skin flushes at the memory. I've had sex dreams before, but it was never anything like that and never with a face attached to the other body involved.

I throw him a smile, but I doubt he can see it before I drop my eyes to the desk. I want to talk to him, to find out more about him, but it's school hours and I doubt he'll still be there when we're let out.

I know everyone in this part of town and I don't have any idea who he is. I want to know though. I want to learn everything about this silent stranger.

"Aurora Sullivan."

Lifting my head, I gulp when the school counselor, Mrs. Rolon, looks at me with an inviting smile. Feeling a bit dazed, my gaze moves back out the window and I almost gasp when I see my stranger is already gone. I knew he wouldn't stay there all day, but I wanted more than one look.

I hope he comes back soon.

"Miss Sullivan, I'd like to speak with you for a few minutes," Mrs. Rolon adds.

I slowly move to my feet and grab my book bag before dashing out of class. Anything to escape the carousel of be careful out there. Nothing exciting ever happens here. This town could benefit from another massacre. It might add a bit of character.

If that didn't sound psychotic, I don't know what does.

I'm morbid. Sue me.

"Come with me, dear," Mrs. Rolon says as we head toward her office at the front of the school. I contemplate running out of the school and skipping the rest of the day just so I can get ready for the fall festival tonight. I love the festivities almost as much as the chaos and seeing all the costumes on Halloween.

Or, Halloweenie as my mom likes to call it.

We walk into her office and I take a seat on the sofa across from the armchair she takes up.

"What is this about?" I ask as I set down my book bag on the seat beside me.

"I just wanted to do a little check in. There's been a lot of excitement the last few days." She grins as she picks up her notepad from the table in front of her. She tries to look calm, but I see the way her foot bounces and her ass shifts in her seat. That chair looks too comfortable for her to be adjusting herself so much.

If she calls the past few days exciting, the inner workings of my twisted mind would freak her out.

"You're talking about Damien King," I say and the way her hand jolts at my words answers my question. Mrs. Rolon is spooked and not in the way associated with the season.

"What do you know about Damien?" she presses while she writes on the pad, barely looking down at the paper as she talks. That's creepy.

"That he killed sixteen people fourteen years ago when he was twelve and no one questions it." I cross my arms over my chest and she analyzes me with her gaze, seeming more on edge now.

"You don't think he's guilty?"

"No, I'm pretty sure he is. There was physical evidence to prove it was him, but no one ever tried to figure out why. A little boy kills nearly one-point-five dozen people and no one ever tried to figure out a motive or what happened that pushed him to that point."

She's silent for a while as her pen stops moving and she sets the pad in her lap. Mrs. Rolon is cautious as she folds her hands over the pad. "Dear, sometimes bad people do bad things and there's no explanation that can make it better."

"I'm not trying to make it better," I grit the words through my teeth. "And, he was twelve. Do I really need to mention that again? That's a little kid. Kids don't just hurt people."

"Aurora," Mrs. Rolon stops me, pulling off her thick-rimmed glasses. "It sounds like you want to make excuses for Damien King's bad behavior."

"All I'm trying to say is I think something or a lot of something happened to him that pushed him to that point. What if someone hurt him? Why did no one look into why? None of his doctors or the cops tried to find out why this happened. My dad always says every case has a who, a what, a why, a where, a when, and a how. We know who was responsible, where it happened, when it happened, what happened, and we know how it happened. There's still a piece to the puzzle missing and it's been fourteen years. I know Damien King is a mass murderer and sixteen people lost their lives that night. It was a big tragedy, but it's quite possible another catastrophe happened and no one knows about it because the person it involves hasn't spoken a word since that night."

She slowly nods, but I can see the accusations in her eyes. She thinks I'm completely insane for my train of thought.

"That's an interesting theory, Aurora."

It's not a theory. It's an instinct. I know it's true. I just can't prove it.

"What about Bellatrix Rothchild?" I ask.

Mrs. Rolon looks like I just slapped her. "Um, your dad told you about Bellatrix?" Her voice squeaks and I raise a brow at her sudden change in behavior.

"I asked him when I saw a picture of her and Damien on the news. She seemed important. She was the only person, besides Damien King, of course, who made it out of that house alive. Why did he let her live? As a matter of fact, where the hell is she? There is no record of her even existing. Doesn't that seem a little strange to you? All that is left of her is a picture where you can't even see her face or his."

Mrs. Rolon tilts her head quizzically. "Do you think there's some type of conspiracy going on here?"

I shrug. "Maybe. Maybe not. I can't think of any reason why her entire life would be scrubbed from the records unless someone didn't want her to be found, but there could be a logical reason I haven't thought of."

She doesn't say anything. All she does is pick up her notepad and start writing again. All I wanted was a second to vent everything I've been feeling the last few days, but Mrs. Rolon is judging me and I'd much rather listen to Mr. Torrance go on about public safety rather than be put under a microscope.

She thinks I'm nuts. I know it. Maybe I am, but I feel enough like a freak every day without her making it clear that she thinks I am one.

I didn't ask for this meeting. She's the one who brought me in here.

"I need to get back to class," I say as I stand and grab my book bag from the sofa.

"Miss Sullivan–"

"I don't want to miss anything important." I dart out before she can say anything else and nearly run into Principal Forrester who smiles at me.

"Aurora, so good to see you." Principal Forrester used to be my dad's partner but she turned in her badge to be an educator when I was a toddler. It's not weird at all that my parents named me after her. It would've been so much easier if I was named after Sleeping Beauty, but no. It was this ray of sunshine.

There's nothing wrong with her. She's always so kind and open to talk if I need to, but she's too close to my dad for comfort. I can't confide in her unless I want my dad to hear about everything I say. That's the shitty thing about small town people. They can't keep a secret and I have a lot of them.

"Ms. Forrester, hi. I really need to get to class."

She nods. "You know my door is always open if you need to talk," she offers and it takes everything in me not to cringe.

"Got it. Have a nice day." Then, I dash around her like my ass is on fire and head back to class.

* * *

Lieutenant Sullivan

I stare downat my phone as I pause the security footage I've been combing through for hours when it flashes with Andrea's phone number. It's not very often when the school counselor calls me but whenever she does, I know it's an emergency and my heart squeezes in my chest.

Without giving it another thought, I click the green answer button and put my cell on speakerphone, practically on the edge of my seat like watching the action scene of a movie.

"Mrs. Rolon," I greet her.

"Lieutenant Sullivan, I know you're busy trying to track down that fugitive, but there's been a development with your daughter." My eyes widen as I grind my molars.

"What kind of development?"

"I think we might have a problem on our hands, sir. I've had students in and out of my office all day, just doing mental health check in's concerning recent events, but when Aurora came in, she started talking about the fugitive in a way that's very unhealthy and…honestly, I'm worried. I think she's going through a mental health crisis. She's developed an obsession with him."

My heart rate picks up as I glare at the phone. "What? No, she hasn't. Things have been hectic and she's had to research his case for a local history paper, but that's it. Aurora barely knows anything about King."

The silence on the other line rings on for what feels like hours. "Sir, there is no local history paper. The senior history classes are currently focused on infrastructure. I'm sorry to break it to you, but I believe she lied to you to get information about him. She knew more than the general public. She knew about her own involvement in the massacre. She knew the name Bellatrix Rothchild and she seemed convinced of some sort of conspiracy having to do with her whereabouts. People don't just disappear, after all."

Back when I adopted Aurora, Andrea was a social worker working with the department. She is one of very few people who know the truth about Aurora.

"Did you say anything to her? You didn't tell her the truth, did you?" Please, tell me you didn't do something so foolish.

"Of course not. I would never break your confidence, but she's asking questions she shouldn't. She's convinced that something bad happened to the fugitive and that's what pushed him over the edge fourteen years ago. I think something is very wrong. What if he contacted her?"

My eyes narrow as I take a deep breath. Maybe Aurora is right and something bad happened to Damien King when he was a pre-teen, but that does not excuse what he did. There is no excuse for killing sixteen people and who knows how many more by now.

"He doesn't want to contact her. He wants to kill her, Andrea."

"But, how do you know that? Has he made threats toward her?"

"No, but that's only because the man hasn't spoken since that night. He's coming back to finish what he started. I know it. I know him. I looked into the eyes of a killer that I thought was a traumatized little boy. He fooled me once. I won't be fooled again. I'm not going to give him the opportunity to hurt Aurora. I'll shoot him if I have to. She is the most important thing."

"I agree, Henry. Really, I do, but I think you should seek professional help for her. It sounded a lot like she was trying to rationalize his behavior and that scares me. I've seen time and time again young girls fantasize about these predators and make excuses for toxic men to behave the way they do. I don't know what to do other than for her to seek professional help. I'd hate to see her go down this dark path. Like you said, an obsession with Damien King would be very damaging to her."

I need to have a long, in-depth conversation with my daughter. Whatever is happening with her, it needs to stop now.