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My student who had a panic attack yesterday.

“Too early to be out here, Miss Vitelli…” I say out loud as I take steps closer to her.

She looks up at me, her ocean blue gaze meeting mine. She looks…tired.

“Mister Caldwell…”

“You’re having a lie in this cold morning?”

She shrugs as she sits up in an upright position. “I like getting fresh air,” she tells me softly.

I offer her my hand as I watch her pick up her coffee cup, but she refuses it. My fingers twitch to help her but I don’t force it. I stand there, watching her bend to collect what seems to be a sketchbook.

“I’m heading back to campus,” I gesture with my hand toward the building in front of us. “Walk with me, I want to pick your brain about something.”

She glances at me before nodding her head, “Sure, I don’t mind.”

We both take short sips of our drinks as we take the long way back through campus. Classes don’t start for another two hours so we have time.

“Pardon me for being so blunt but I need to be honest with you… the criminal case that we were studying in class, your perspective on the case—the way you profiled the serial killer, it intrigued me.”

She looks at me for a beat, taking note of my expression before looking away. “Oh?”

I clear my throat before speaking, “I was wondering, if your schedule permits this of course, if you’d work with me on it? You’re from this town, you know its history, you’d be the perfect fit.”

I’m hoping she’ll say yes.

Please say yes.

“Isn’t the case closed?”

“It is, but I’m still kind of curious about the killer behind it. And I think you would actually be really helpful on this.”

“Mister Caldwell,” she starts off, almost stammering in the process. “I’m grateful for the opportunity, truly, I am but, I think it’d be too much for me to take on alongside my studies, so, I’m going to decline.”

And with that she throws her empty coffee cup into the semi-full bins we have littered all over campus. Before I have a chance to say anything else, I watch her making her way into the building without giving me a glance.

20

Mireya

Play – Picking Petals by Alyssa Grace

Dirty betting

“Blue peed next to my bed this morning…”

Hayzel looks at me with wide eyes, and within seconds I hear her snicker. I turn to look at her, and she covers her mouth, hiding her laugh with a cough. “Sorry, that’s not funny.”

“I spent an hour cleaning it off, and I had to take another shower.” I rearrange my hair before kneeling to pick Blue up and shower him with kisses.

Hayzel looks at me, confused, before shaking her head.

“What? He didn’t do it on purpose; I’m not going to hold it against him.”

“The fact that you’re more affectionate with animals than with humans doesn’t even shock me anymore.”

“They have pure souls.”