Shattered - By Sophia Sharp Page 0,10

darted to Logan’s spot at the back. It was empty.

A strange mix of relief and disappointment flooded over her as she walked to her seat. Logan wasn’t there. Meaning that she couldn’t talk to him. Which meant that the apology would continue to loom over her until she saw him.

She watched the door the entire class, hoping he would come through it, hoping he was late just as she was. But he never came. And when the bell rang to dismiss class, Mrs. Millburn called Laura up to her desk.

“Yes?” Laura asked over the sounds of shuffling students and brass conversation behind her.

“I just wanted to inform you that your arrival today was unacceptable, Miss Cubus.”

“Yes, I know. I’m sorry. I overslept accidentally this morning. It won’t happen again.”

“Hmm. You better see to it that it won’t. I also wanted to let you know that your presence afterschool today will be unnecessary.”

“What? How come?”

“As I’m sure you noticed, Mr. Sutherby didn’t come in today. I was informed by the office that somebody called in an absence for him for today. So, seeing as he won’t be here, I see no point for you to come in by yourself.”

“Oh.”

“Of course, come Monday, I expect to see both of you here precisely at 3:15 PM. You will have the opportunity to make up today’s session then.”

“Ok.” Laura turned to the door. “Thank you, Mrs. Millburn.”

Laura shouldered her way to her next class through the thick throng of students in the halls. After an agonizing 90-minute science lecture on the anatomy of the bacteria cell, it was finally time for lunch, where she would see all her friends.

She found them in the cafeteria, sitting around their usual table. She made her way over to them, and Stacy was the first to notice her, and jumped out of her seat to grab Laura in a big hug.

“Laura!” she exclaimed, “where have you been? We were all so worried!”

“Worried? Why?” She hadn’t told anybody what happened yesterday, and she doubted Brady or any of those guys did. And since Logan was absent, he couldn’t have mentioned anything either.

“Haven’t you heard?”

“Heard what?”

“Somebody was murdered near us last night!”

“What?” Laura was shocked at the news. And somewhat relieved that it hadn’t had anything to do with her.

“Yea, it was all over the news and TV this morning.”

“This morning?” Laura said as she sat down. “You know I don’t watch TV in the mornings.”

“Duh, which is why I was calling you all last night!” Stacy’s dad was a news anchor, which gave her an inside scoop to anything that happened in town before anyone else. “We couldn’t figure out why you were missing yesterday, and none of my calls went through, so when daddy told me what happened, I got scared, because, you know… you never know what might happen.”

“Wait, so what happened exactly?”

“Some guy was murdered here yesterday,” Molly offered.

“Like here, here?” Laura asked.

“Here, here,” Molly continued. “It happened outside a bar nearby.”

“Well, what was so special about it?”

“Nothing really, not at first, but then the police found out that the guy who got killed was a hitman from Portland.”

“A hitman?” Laura was getting interested. This was completely unlike anything their town was used to.

“Yea, that’s what the police say.”

“Well, what was a hitman doing here, anyway? And if he was the one who got killed, he had it coming, no?’

“No, you don’t get it!” Molly jumped in.

“Don’t get what? Can someone just tell me the full story?” She looked to her friends. “Stacy?”

“Ok, so it goes like this,” Stacy began. “A fight broke out at a bar last night. Which is unusual by itself, since not many of those happen here. It was Black Bear Pub, just a few blocks away from the movie theater.

“Apparently, this hitman was involved in the fight. The two guys took it outside, but nobody paid it any mind. Nobody wanted to interfere, from what I heard. Anyway, that’s not the important bit.”

“Well, what is?”

“When they found the guy later, the hitman, lying out in the back, he had all his blood drained out of him.”

“Wait, what?” Laura was, for the first time this whole conversation, completely taken aback.

“That’s why the news is so big,” Kelly explained.

“The guy had two gaping holes in his neck,” Stacy continued, “right beside each other. The cops say they looked like bite marks.”

“Bite marks?” Laura laughed nervously. “What, like a vampire or something?”

“I know, right? It sounds like something out of one of those books,”