Dad:
Me: Dad, they know who I am. I don’t feel safe here.
Dad:
Me: Should I come home?
Dad:
Me: I really think I should come home.
Dad:
Me: The next train arrives today, I think, so I can take that one back home.
Dad:
Me: Is that okay? Are u okay with me coming home? I hope so.
He was paying for my tuition, so he did have a say, unfortunately, in where I studied, but surely, he’d understand how dangerous it would be for me to be here.I waited a few moments for a reply, and when silence greeted me, I left the dining hall to explore. The train won’t arrive until later on thisafternoon, so I went to the admin hall that was in the main castle and waited to be served.
When it was my turn, the woman asked me my name, tapped away on her keyboard, and then asked what I needed help with.
“I need to get back home, so is there a train coming today that I can board to get back to civilization?” I said to her, and she made a face, and immediately my heart sank.
“I’m sorry, Adina, but you can’t leave until the investigation is over,” she replied sympathetically.
“Investigation? Oh,” it suddenly occurred to me what she was talking about. “The student who died on the train? Sorry, I forgot about that. How long will it take, because it’s an emergency that I leave?”
“What sort of emergency? Perhaps, I could arrange a temporary leave of absence, but you’d have to come back within the week to be interviewed by the police,” she explained. “And the investigation hasn’t started yet until police arrive on today’s train. It will take a while because there are so many students to interview who are now witnesses to…”
I swallowed over a lump in my throat and leaned forward to whisper, “Was itmurder? Was someone murdered?”
She brushed my comment aside, “We don’t know yet until the authorities arrive to examine the scene,” she replied carefully. “So, I’ll have to ask the police if you’re allowed to leave, and that won’t be for the next couple of days. But the entire train had become a crime scene, which had created a holdup with the next batch of students arriving, so even if you were granted leave, it might be difficult to find a train that was heading back within the next at least.”
“Okay, I hadn’t thought of that,” I stated, feeling guilty for placing my feelings over the poor person who died. “I’ll rethink my plans.”
As I left the castle, I perused the map for the campus police and found them at the back part of the castle near the cafés, restaurants, and food stores. To catch my bearings, I walked through the high-ceiling castle, stained-glass windows, dark wood, and a grand staircase up to the next level, as I walk under the creepy gaze of the faun statues.
Marble flooring, enormous arches, macabre faces carved into the walls that changed appearance as you moved passed them. It was quite a contrast to step out the back doors onto a busy 1950’s 1950s-themed street lined with cafes, restaurants, and food stores that were well-stocked at this point, but if the trains can’t come up over the next couple of weeks bringing supplies, then there might be shortages occurring.
At the very end of the road was the campus police station, and my body relaxed knowing that there was help if I needed it. I also added their number into my phone, just in case I needed them before crossing the road to walk down an alleyway that led, according to my map, to the social sciences school. Behind the SS school, leading up a hill, was the business school where my classes were, if I stayed.
Despite the size of the campus and how many students it accommodated, it seemed empty. My footsteps echoed, and my breath was raspy in my ears as I swore I thought I heard a voice yell, “Boleyn girl.”
I paused to scan he area of classrooms and laboratories and saw no one, then caught a figure in the classroom window on the second floor, but I thought it was smarter to keep moving. I didn’t like being there alone. Gosh, I’m going to be a nervous wreck by the end of this term.
My ringtone scared me half to death. Dad. Finally. I leaned against the classroom wall and swiped to answer.
“What do you mean, the Warwicks are there?” he was angry, and I didn’t blame him. “Do you mean Leon Warwick’s son? Are you sure?”
I sighed, so relieved to hear his voice, but he was just too far away. “Yes. It’s them.” I dithered to compose myself, forcing back tears. “I’ve met one of them, and he knows who I am. I really don’t think I should be here.”
“Okay, I’ll organize someone to retrieve you, ASAP,” he snarled, pissed off. The person he’d be pissed off with would be the wicked stepmother, since it was she who pushed me to go to Castlehill because that’s where she went, apparently.
“Oh, my god, thank you…” Then I remembered the conversation with the admin worker, and tears gathered in my eyes, but I sniffed them back. “No. Wait. I can’t.”
“What? You can’t?” he growled, confused.
