When Adam awoke, he gazed around his bedroom. It took him a few seconds to recognize it. How and when did I get here? He turned towards his alarm clock. It was six fifty-nine in the morning. In less than one minute his alarm would sound. He realized he didn’t remember much of anything that happened yesterday. Was it another attack of his Jekyll and Hyde syndrome? His alarm sounded, tearing his mind from those terrifying thoughts. He hit the snooze button and sat up on the side of the bed staring down at his feet. He closed his eyes, straining to remember anything that happened yesterday. In a flash of clarity, a few memories returned. He remembered walking to school with Kyle and Vance. Then they were checking out the police cars parked across the street from the cemetery. Oh yeah, in school, they found out someone was murdered in that area. Everything was clear until it came time to leave school. He couldn’t recall anything after school ended. It happened again. This time, over twelve hours of his life went missing.
More questions came to him. What did I do during that time? Was it something bad…something really bad? Something bad enough for me to go to jail? Did I hurt someone? Maybe one of his friends? His mind was speeding like a bullet train with no brakes! The shrill sound of his alarm made him jump. This time, instead of hitting the snooze button, he switched it off. His movements this morning were automatic as he prepared himself for another day of school...automatic but stilted. He focused on remembering everything he was doing right now. He felt it was necessary, but it was mentally draining, causing him to run a bit late.
He was still at the kitchen table eating cereal when he heard the doorbell ring. He rose from his chair and checked the peephole. Kyle’s and Vance’s mouths were moving, but he heard no sounds. Upon opening the door, Kyle said,
“You ready, dude?”
“Ah…ah…yeah. Hold on, let me get my backpack.”
Adam scrambled, taking a final spoonful of cereal then placed his bowl in the sink. He switched off the family room television and snatched his backpack off the couch. Before closing the door, he patted his right leg pocket to ensure he had his keys. Off they went to school.
Soon after they entered the school building, Adam felt something was amiss. Most of the students were quietly discussing something. It was extremely rare for them to be so quiet.
“I wonder what’s going on?” Vance asked as he scanned the hallway.
“I don’t know. Everybody looks so strange. Worse than yesterday, don’t they Adam?” Kyle replied.
“Yep, they do. What’s everybody talking about?”
As they headed towards their classroom, Adam turned to see Vance drop down to one knee near some girls that were standing next to their lockers. Then Vance looked up at him and smiled while he tied his shoes. What the hell is he doing? Adam turned and began walking to catch up to Kyle. Then he heard footsteps approaching from the rear. He turned and it was Vance.
“Hey! Wait up! I have to tell you something,” Vance said, puffing harder than usual.
Adam called to Kyle and waved for him to come back. They followed Vance over to an empty section of the hallway by the wall between the lockers.
Vance began, “Listen to this. The reason I stopped is because I overheard those girls back there saying words like killed, and yesterday, and juror. It didn’t make any sense, so I pretended like I was tying my shoes.”
“So that’s what you were doing, being nosey,” Adam said.
“Yeah, and I’m glad I was. One of the girls said there’s been two murders in two days and she was scared. Now get this. Another girls said her mother told her the second person killed was a juror on the Kinkaid case.”
“You mean there was another murder?” Adam asked, raising his voice slightly.
“I think so,” Vance answered.
“You know what?” Kyle asked, “For a dead guy, he’s been in our lives a little too much lately.” He turned to Adam and continued, “First, Adam almost got killed when he slammed into his grave, next he wants to write a paper about him, and now some juror on Kinkaid’s case gets killed. This is really weird, huh?”
Adam saw Vance nod his head, agreeing with Kyle, but he remained neutral, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. Kyle’s comments struck a nerve and secretly, Adam knew Kyle was right.
“So Adam, are you still going to write your paper on Kinkaid?” Kyle asked.
Another direct question from Kyle, and Adam said,
“Ahhh…ahhh…yyyyess. Yes…yes, I am. Maybe I could add this into the paper. What do you guys think?” stumbling over his words.
The expressions on Kyle’s and Vance’s face said it all. They weren’t expecting a return question. Vance shook his head then lowered it. Kyle cocked his head to one side and stared back at Adam. Adam remained quiet as he began walking towards their classroom. He heard their footsteps following behind him, but he wished he could see their faces instead. Once in the classroom, they took their assigned seats.