Blood Red

The sun set on the second day of looking for Avery Tripp with little having changed, save that his parents were staggering around like boxers who’d been hit too many times. Ben knew the police were working their collective asses off, and so were the volunteers out looking for the kid.

Danni Hopkins was wringing her hands. She felt bad about the little boy whose face adorned the front page of the newspaper, but she felt a lot worse about her own life at the moment.

Ben was supposed to be here already and she was sitting in the same park as the last time she saw him, as the sun set. She wasn’t comfortable waiting alone. She was a lot less happy about being by herself in the park than she’d been only a week earlier.

Brian Freemont had taken away a few delusions about the kindness of her fellow human beings. She’d spent most of the last few nights wishing she could sleep, and hoping that somehow, somewhere down the line, she could get her mind to stop focusing on having the man on top of her and doing his best to fuck her through the ground.

Remembering what she’d done to avoid jail had certainly put her life into perspective. Danni wasn’t planning on ever touching another illegal substance for as long as she lived. She was also thinking a life of celibacy wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Her stomach gave a faint rumble of protest; she also hadn’t been eating for the last few days. Every time she cooked something and sat down to eat, she found she lacked the energy. Physically, she was ravenous. Her emotional appetite was gone, and maybe forever.

Ben came along a minute after the campus clock struck a single note to announce the quarter hour. He moved over to her bench and settled down next to her.

“Sorry I’m late. I had to check on a few things.”

Danni looked at him for a moment, half expecting him to say something vulgar. She’d been regretting telling him what happened ever since she’d opened her mouth. It would only take one word from him and her reputation around the school would be shattered.

Still, she made herself be nice. “Hi. It’s not a problem.” She forced a strained smile onto her face. “You said you wanted to talk to me?”

“Yeah.” He nodded and then reached into his jacket pocket to pull out a paper bag. “This is for you.”

She looked at him long and hard, her mind reeling a bit. “Is this . . . ?”

“Yeah. Don’t open it here.” He shrugged. “You hear of any others who got . . . in trouble with him, you can tell them that I burned the evidence bags. You get yours back, because I wanted you to know.”

Danni started crying, right then and there. She couldn’t help it. “Oh, God, Ben . . . oh, my fucking God . . .” She cried harder, the bag in her hand held tightly.

“Oh, hey.” He moved his hands around, helplessly, his face puzzled by her reaction. “Listen, I didn’t mean to make you cry . . .” He looked like he wanted to run away, and she couldn’t help but laugh.

“No, Ben. Oh, no, I just can’t tell you how happy I am.” She broke down again, and Ben nodded, looking extremely relieved.

“Well, that’s good then. I don’t like to see you cry, Danni.”

He patted her shoulder awkwardly and she hugged him hard, breathing against his neck and knowing that she was probably covering him with slobber and tears but unable to stop herself.

She pulled back after a few minutes, when the worst of the storm was over, and wiped her face. “I cried all over you.”

“It’s okay.” He looked uncomfortable.

“How can I thank you, Ben? I can’t believe you did this for me.”

Ben stood up and smiled warmly, his eyes halfway between being happy and being somewhere else in his head. “You don’t have to thank me, Danni. Just, don’t ever get yourself caught that way again—”

“—I won’t! I swear. I’m staying clean from now on!”

He nodded, “And don’t ever tell anyone what I did, okay? Somewhere out there, a very angry cop is probably looking for me right now.”

“Never a word, Ben. Thank you. Thanks so much.”

“Have a good night, Danni. I’ll see you in class, okay?”

He walked away and she watched him, still overwhelmed by what he’d done. She had a flash of guilt ripple across her mind. Part of her had expected him to demand similar treatment in return.

The worst part was she probably would have done it; just to be sure she was safe from Brian Freemont.

She crossed her arms over her chest, suddenly cold as the wind picked up, and shivered. The chill was only partly from the weather. What did it say about her if she would screw a guy by way of saying thanks? She didn’t like to think about it, but the thought wouldn’t leave her alone.

Danni rose from the bench with the package still clutched tightly in her hand. She looked around the park for a second, surprised to realize that the sun was gone from the sky. The only light left came from the lamps along the walkways.

She moved toward her car, planning on heading home.

The man stepped out in front of her from the shadows, seeming to simply grow from the darkness as he stepped forward.