4 Part 3

[Present-Lara]

The first period was World History and by the time their teacher Mr. Stafford entered the class, the initial shock of the incident had died down. A boy approached him and explained the events and when he wanted to see the paper Lara handed it over. But by then the blood had smeared and the words were no longer readable. He didn't ask any questions and left the class with the paper, looking at Lara all the while as if she was the one who hurt Maya and created a scene. The class was then substituted by another woman who didn't really teach them anything so Lara spent the rest of the period looking at the rain pattering the window frames and listening to songs with her air pods.

The classes dragged on and on. Every teacher was saying the same bullshit and by the end of the day, Lara was irritated. The last period was English and Lara had gone to her locker to fetch some books and was about to enter the classroom when she noticed a small crowd in front of the door.

"Do you have class right now?" A man asked Lara and she nodded. He looked like he was around thirty-five, wearing a grey blazer over a blue shirt. His eyes were a deep brown and he constantly fidgeted with the key ring in his hand. Lara looked around and noticed the rest of the crowd comprised of a woman who wore the same outfit as him and three young looking men, one carrying a camera and another a microphone. The third one held a suitcase of some kind and he looked pretty tired. "Is your name Lara McEnroe?" he asked and her heart skipped a beat. She had just noticed the emblem on his blazer and she realized that he was a freaking police officer.

Since when did they stop wearing uniforms? Or was this their standard uniform now? She didn't have much time to dwell on the questions. He was looking patiently at her waiting for a response and she nodded slowly. "So when you saw this paper, what was written on it?" He held up the paper which initially had the threat written by Maya's blood on it, now placed inside a transparent file.

"I am coming for you," she whispered. "That's what was written on the paper."

"You are the one who found the paper?" he asked and she suddenly felt bright lights on her face. The person behind the camera was recording and for a split second she was very annoyed.

"Please tell them to stop filming this, it makes me very annoyed," Lara spoke sternly. She was not a shy person – she just hated to speak when it was not necessary. The man nodded to the guy with the lights and it switched off.

She felt oddly relieved. Interrogations have scared her ever since she was questioned about her father's death. Her mother had committed suicide not long after and that left her all alone to deal with everything at the age of eleven. The thought of meeting the police again made her blood run cold.

"I have not properly introduced myself yet. My name is Noah Clarke and this is my assistant Miss Wilson." He pointed a finger at the lady who looked polite and easy-going but something about her blue eyes was unsettling.

"Officer Clarke," Lara nodded in acknowledgement. "Miss Wilson."

He ushered her to an empty room nearby and sat her down in a chair while he sat on the teacher's table. Nobody except for Ms. Wilson followed them.

"I would have called you to the police station itself but we didn't have time to waste. I'm sorry for the class you're about to miss but we have to question everyone who was present in the class today morning."

"So everyone is being questioned?" That was a relief. She had initially thought they had only sought her out and the fear that made her stomach get tied up in knots inside.

"Yes but we have special business with you is why we sought you out separately," he informed her and the fear was back – settling itself down comfortably in the bottom of her stomach. She tried her best to act unaffected by the information and she knew by this time she had mastered the art of acting nonchalant. After all she had such a long time to train herself and perfect it.

"We got to know that Maya was seen talking to you right before she was attacked. And later when the paper was found, you were the last one seen holding it before Mr. Stafford took it from you, right?"

"Yes, she asked me to show her around the campus but I refused to do so because she looked like she talked a lot and I don't like speaking without absolute necessity." Lara stopped for a moment to collect her thoughts. "After the power went out a lightning bolt struck just outside the campus and fell on one of the trees and we all covered our ears because the loud sound. Then Maya screamed and I all saw her arm bleeding and noticed Michael holding a paper. I was curious so I went forward to see what the chaos was about. When Maya told us the words written on the paper was written by her blood, he dropped it and I picked it up."

"That's all?" he asked thoughtfully. "Any idea as to who could do such a thing?"

Lara indeed had her suspicions on a dead man but it sounded so ridiculous even in her mind. Yet she could not deny the fact that he was the only one she had ever known who loved to make people bleed and then wrote letters with their blood. "No Officer. I don't have the slightest clue."

"You may go but we might meet with you later to question you alright?"

"Okay." I stood up and was almost out the door when Ms. Wilson whispered something to Officer Clarke and he asked me to stop.

"Do you have some kind of a history with stalkers, Lara?" he asked and she was suddenly reminded of him. Again.

When they were on vacation from their boarding school, he had sought her place out though she had never given him her address. He sent her anonymous gifts for a week until one day she was alone at her house and he had finally turned up. "I'm here, love," he had said. She wanted to ask him how he knew where she lived but it was useless. She knew he could do whatever he wanted to and she was not in a position to ask questions. The fact that she was not safe from him even in her own home made her feel helpless. Yet she could not deny the fact that he always took special care of her. He didn't make friends but he considered her one.

But now he was dead.

"No sir, I do not," she replied him and then he nodded.

"Okay, you may go." Lara did not waste one more second there. Her heart was pounding so loud that she could not hear anything beyond the sound of it. She didn't go back to her class even when there was a few minutes left, she dashed towards her home not looking anywhere but the road ahead of her.

Lara recalled how she thought she saw him in front of the burning tree that morning, how Maya screamed, the paper with the terrifying words on it and how it said that someone was coming for her.

But it was not possible, she reasoned with herself. He was dead. And it was not possible to travel from the tree to her classroom within a second if it indeed was him. Not to mention the fact that he. Was. Dead.

But if he was alive then he could easily find out where she lived. He could easily start terrorizing her all over again after all he had told her himself that he found it quite amusing to scare her – torture her. But why would he do this after so many years? And what about the body the police found in the forest six years ago?

Maybe it was all just a ridiculous trick, she reasoned. Maybe she was just being paranoid and maybe he wasn't back. Maybe it was someone else playing games on some other person in her class. She was just triggered because it had reminded her of the things he did to her back in the day.

She urged herself to calm down and take deep breaths. She reached for her doorknob but stopped dead in her tracks when she realized there was a bouquet of roses placed at her doorstep. A card was sticking out from it and it read, "For you."