The Mirrors of Fate (20 page)

Maria let her mind drift back, though not believing she would pick up anything she could use in her evaluation of him. An evaluation she should have done upon first meeting Alan.

This is for all the trouble you have caused me
...The words haunted her mind. But why had he said it? He had to have a reason. What trouble could she have possibly caused him in so short a time of knowing him?

Everything was confusing. Nothing was making any sense and her head hurt because of it. It was only until, Holy God, she remembered the ladder incident. Her mysterious fall that hadn’t made any sense! But now finally it did. The fall wasn’t an accident. He was responsible.

If that was true, he had plans to hurt her from the start. But why? What did she do to deserve such wrath from a total stranger? She didn’t know him. She had never met him before.

Even Mr. Lohan had fallen victim to his deceit, and now paid for his trust with an overnight stay at the White Crest hospital. Maria had gone with him, having fainted shortly after the student rushed in. Luckily for her, Alan’s attempt at suffocating her caused nothing worse than an excruciating headache, lightheadedness, and pained, burning lungs. She was given some pills and other medicines and sent on her way. But not before being questioned by the police.

What exactly were you two doing before he tried to suffocate you?

Why were you two alone in the classroom? Did he force you in there?

When did you first meet Alan?

Why do you think he did what he did?

Has he ever acted strange around you before?

They kept asking her what, if anything, she could tell them about him. And her response was appropriate.
Nothing.

They told her not to worry; they told her to continue on with her regular activities. But that was much easier said than executed. She wanted answers. She wouldn’t be satisfied until she got them. No matter what anyone might have said to her, Maria knew deep down inside this was not over yet.

How could she forget the impact of those searing eyes when he stood by the door before running off? They had permanently burned a hole into her.

Alan wasn’t finished with her yet.

* * * * *

CHAPTER SEVEN

“
I’m really not supposed to be telling you this, but there’s more going on here than you realize.”

She gripped the edge of her chair eagerly. “What do you mean by that? What don’t I realize?”

Mr. Lohan sat up slowly in the squeaky hospital bed, groaning from the strain of the simple action. It was only nine-thirty in the morning when Maria had come to see him at the White Crest Hospital. The place, dreary with its never-ending hallways of withering white paint, was moderately active with guests moving in the mundane, some standing, pacing, and the rest just sitting on old gray benches in the waiting area. Nurses in their white attire moved about with limited eagerness and tended to their morning duties with happy, painted-on expressions.

When Maria had arrived, an elderly nurse took her straight to Mr. Lohan’s room. Though he was scheduled to leave that afternoon, he was still bruised and intensely sore from his encounter with Alan.

Mr. Lohan looked toward the window where the bright golden rays of morning sunshine came in to grace a corner of his room with a beautiful orange glow. But the light still brought no comfort.

“
I really shouldn’t be telling you anything,” he finally continued. “It’s not right to make you worry more than you have to.”

“
Let me be the judge of that. Please go on,” she insisted.

He sighed heavily and reluctantly spoke. “I overheard the police talking yesterday outside my room door after they questioned me. They’ve found out some things about Alan.”

“
What kind of things?” Maria brought the wooden chair closer to the bed and sat on its edge. “Tell me anything you can.”

“
No. I won’t. For once in my life I should keep my mouth shut. At least until I think about it a little more.”

What? This wasn’t what she came to hear. Now was not the time to treat her like just one of his students. She came in hopes that together they could figure out exactly what was going on, since they both had spent time with Alan. She wasn’t leaving the investigation up to the police. Knowing her track record with luck, Alan would find her again much sooner than they could arrest him.

“
Sir, you have to help me. I don’t care if the information is bad—frightening—I don’t really give a damn at this point.”

Unknowingly her hands became like claws in her lap, clutching at her pants as if his information could become tangible enough to hold and squeeze and keep her from going insane. “I just want to know something, sir.”

When he saw her eagerness his hazel eyes softened. “I’m sorry about what happened, Maria. I know it must have been...very scary for you.”

“
Sir, please, just—I don’t want sympathy right now. I could wallow in self-pity forever, but that doesn’t help me at the end of the day. Mr. Lohan, it’s like I—I feel like I’m in the dark here. I feel so frickin’ helpless. I don’t know what’s going on and if you have any information that I don’t, I have a right to know.
I
was the one almost killed!”

The words reached him and he stared into her eyes.

He must have known she was right. She wasn’t a little girl anymore. She wasn’t the girl he’d watched barely make it into Halimond, introverted, shy and insecure. She wasn’t like his other students who had little to think and worry about. From a young age, she’d already dealt with being stripped away from her parents and the only place she’d known. Before even her first kiss, she’d learned her fate in life was to end up like the mother she pitied, married to a man like her father whose thunderous voice made her wet herself night after night when she’d just become a part of his family. So no, damn it. She was not a child anymore. Fate didn’t allow that luxury.

“
Mr. Lohan, please. I need your help,” she begged one more time.

He sighed. “God, I’m gonna hate myself for this, but fine. All right Maria. But this information must stay with only you and I, do you understand?”

She nodded her head slowly and braced herself with a clenching of the teeth.

“
The police found out there isn’t any
Alan Kristinsson. All his birth records, personal files, all of the identifiers he supplied to the school are fake.”

Controlling the surfacing shivers took everything within her. “How did they find out?”

“
When they arrived with the paramedics at the school yesterday afternoon, they went to his home address on file. It’s nothing more than a condemned building. His contact numbers are no more than out-of-service numbers. His history, his life, everything is a lie. God, the school was just so careless. It doesn’t matter how complacent you get with this being a small place. You always have to process people.”

“
So then...what are we dealing with here?” she dug. “Is he just some guy who came to White Crest so he could hide from the police, or something?”

He shook his head gravely. “I don’t know. He could be someone from another city, town, or country who wanted to start a new life in White Crest. But bottom line is he’s going to be a lot harder for the police to find, seeing as how they have nothing to go on. This kid managed to fool everyone with a completely false identity. And because White Crest City Hall has been closed for repairs since that big storm, he had no problem getting into the city without having to register there.”

“
How convenient,” Maria said incredulously. “The storm gave him the perfect opportunity to come in without being noticed. It’s like he was just waiting for the chance, or like he knew the storm was coming.”

Mr. Lohan grinned lazily and scratched his chin. “Let’s not get spooked. I hardly believe he’s psychic.” But the humor in his tone disappeared before he spoke again. “Looking aside from that, I don’t want you to worry. Leave it in the hands of the police for now. I don’t want you involving yourself any more than you have to with that on-the-run bastard.”

“
Yes, sir,” she said hesitantly.

“
I mean it, Maria. I’m serious.”

She looked away. “I heard you the first time.”

But she had already started thinking about how to explore things further on her own, and he could probably tell she was just agreeing for the sake of ending the conversation. No matter how much he spoke, he knew her stubbornness would lead her to do what she wanted.

“
Everything I say is flying in one ear and out the other, isn’t it?”

Maria looked at him, seeing his soft look of understanding slightly overshadowed by his concern for her and his irritation with her hard-headedness.

“
I know in the end you’re going to end up doing what you want to do,” he said. “But I strongly advise against it. Maria, that boy wanted to kill you. He’s mentally ill. Don’t give him a chance to find you again. I’m being serious. I don’t need my favorite student leaving me.”

She was already scared to begin with, and the gravity of his words made her fear even worse. But she found the idea that “Alan” was mentally ill hard to believe. She wasn’t going to explain away his irrational attempt at her life with a label of insanity. An irrational person was not necessarily crazy. They just thought differently and had different agendas. Alan had a different agenda yet to be completed.

He had a reason; there was always a reason.

“
Sir, I didn’t mention this before, but...Alan said to me that...He said that I was the reason for his problems. He said those words to me.”

Confusion registered on his handsome, unwashed face.

“
Why would he say a thing like that?”

Maria rubbed her hands over her face, trying to rub away the fear the memory of Alan’s words brought to her. “I wish I knew. I think he’s confusing me for someone else.”

He leaned forward and placed a comforting hand on her knee. “Don’t stress yourself out too much. Think back. Are you sure you don’t know him from somewhere before?”

“
I’m not an idiot. Obviously I’d know if I met him before.” She stopped herself, only then realizing how rude she had sounded. “God, sorry. I’m still so agitated. But the only conclusion I can draw is that maybe, possibly, I look like some old girlfriend of his that screwed him over. God knows, maybe he did live in White Crest before. He’s certainly not from where he claimed. Aaargh, forget it! I don’t know.” She viciously raked her fingers through her hair. “I just feel so helpless here! Why the hell would he target me? Isn’t there anything else you can tell me? You haven’t drawn your own ideas or conclusions about anything?”

A strange look of hesitation swept across Mr. Lohan’s features to erase whatever had been there before. He held back whatever was on his tongue, his eyes meandering about as if trying to analyze something in his mind.

“
What’s wrong, sir?”

“
I...But this isn’t relevant to anything,” he said.

“
No sir, please tell me,” she urged.

“
You’d think I was crazy.” But his contrived laugh wasn’t fooling anybody. Whatever he wanted to say he was serious about. He sighed complacently and leaned back in bed. “It’s nothing really. The only conclusions I’ve drawn myself aren’t feasible.”

“
What? Did you notice something about Alan?”

“
I guess you could say that. Alan reminds me a lot of someone I used to know. I noticed the resemblance the first time I met him. I thought to myself,
Whoever this kid is, he has the same spark and energy that a former student of mine used to have
.”

“
Really? What happened to him?”

Mr. Lohan’s expression hardened and his gaze fell solemnly. “He died in an accident.”

“
Oh. I see.”

“
No, no don’t be like that.” He tried to smile but was failing miserably. “When it’s your time, it’s just your time, you know? But it was a very sad and traumatic turn of events. It took him a while to graduate, but he finally did it. But then to die so soon after.” Mr. Lohan’s eyes became glazed with tears, but he shook his head and soon began grinning again, as if suddenly visited by sweet memories. “But anyway, he was just one of those kids I was able to bond with, you know? Nicer than he came across. You just had to know him first. Alan reminded me so much of him...And Alan even called me ‘Mr. L.’ That’s why I was so shocked back there in the classroom. No one has ever called me that except for that student.”

Maria waited for him to finish, but he didn’t right away. She spoke instead. “So, then Alan reminded you of this old student? That’s all then? Maybe Alan’s like a brother or a cousin?” She knew he wanted to say something more direct, more concrete, but with a muscle in his neck tightening the way it was, he obviously held back what he wanted to say. Figuring out what conclusion his mind wanted to draw took no great perception.

“
Sir,” she continued softly, persuasively, “if that student of yours is...Then you do realize that—”

“
Yes I know!”

Maria fell silent.

He slammed his hand against his face. “I know what you’re going to say. I don’t think that. I don’t think it’s the same person. I’m a grown man. I do realize even though Alan seems like him it can’t be him.” He dropped his hand from his face to look at her seriously. “But yesterday Alan looked different, Maria. I’m telling you, he looked different. I don’t know if it’s ever happened to you, but you know when you just get—when you just get this
feeling
? Like you
know
, you’re
sure
you know, but then your mind keeps bantering ‘No, no, that’s not possible’? I just can’t shake the feeling. It’s because yesterday Alan looked so much like him. And even when he said my name, his voice...sounded like his. I recognized it.”