Bernadette Azizi - Undying

“He said that to you?” James asked.

He stood up, looking quite shocked and disturbed.

I stood up and came close to him.

“I Should never have come?” I said, disheartened.

“No…”

His voice was in my ear he was so close to me.

I was trembling and my heart was pounding.

I looked up in disbelief. His face was expressionless, which confused me. He then slowly began to smile and touched my arm gently.

“You should go to Jules. I’m sure she is still worried about you, and pay no attention to what Mr Kemp says.”

And that was it. I knew I had fallen and fallen hard for him.

The next few weeks were not what I had anticipated. Professor Davidson, the English Professor that I was replacing, seemed to be taking up all my time.

“The one whom death takes can trust the Lord’s judgement,” he declared in his classroom, quoting a notable Beowulf monster from the tenth century AD.

Not exactly what I want to be lecturing on right now. A love story would have been better. But no, it looks like blood, terror and death .

Professor Davidson was an extremely intelligent and well-respected teacher, but one whom I couldn’t seem to escape. As much as I needed the information he was giving me, I really felt suffocated. After several failed attempts to escape him, I gave up. He invited himself on my walks, he sat with me when I ate, he was beside me in all my classes and in the common room, and worst of all he would walk me to my room at the end of each day. There had been several memorable moments when I would catch a glimpse of James and he would show me a grin of sympathy or a wink. It was awful. It felt like I was being punished for something I didn’t do.

On the upside, Professor Davidson’s last day was now here and I would finally have some time to myself.

“Catherine, I have complete faith in you… Enjoy your year at the college, my dear, and don’t let my boys give you any heartache,” Professor Davidson said as he shook my hand and continued down the line of goodbyes that were waiting for him.

All his colleagues seemed genuinely sad to see him go. And strangely enough, so did I.

“It’s a shame you weren’t replacing Mr Kemp!” Jules whispered in my ear before belting out a laugh.

“Well at least we can see you now, thank God. Tomorrow is Saturday. Care to go into the village for some dinner tomorrow night? Perhaps we can ask Mr Barclay and a few other teachers if they would like to join us,” Jules said with great enthusiasm.

“OK,” I replied.

“Actually that sounds like a great idea. It will be fun,” I added with more enthusiasm.

“Oh, splendid. I am so happy. I will ask them now!”

And off she went without a minute to spare. I saw her head for James first. I could see him speaking but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. Then she was off to Dr Simons, of course, and then a few more after that. All the teachers seemed to be making their way to the common room. James had now left and I wasn’t sure which way he had gone. I, however, headed to my room. It had been an exhausting two weeks with an emotional ending. I just wanted to sleep. Jules waved to me as I walked away. She was continuing on to the common room and understood that I was heading back to my room.

The walk back to my room seemed natural to me, which was a sure sign I was becoming more familiar with the college and its rooms, its gardens, its walkways and the whole area. It had given me a sense of belonging that I had desperately longed for. The rain was pounding down hard as I reached the bottom of the stairs. The sound of strong wind could now be heard and it had an eerie, echoing hum to it. My thoughts wandered but were interrupted by footsteps that were catching up to me. I turned around cautiously.

But no one was there. Strange, I could have sworn that there was someone behind me. I continued up the stairs but this time my steps were swift. As I got to the top of the stairs, I looked at James’s door and paused for a minute with a smile. Suddenly, I felt a rush of cold wind go past me, blowing my hair over my face before each wall lamp, one by one, flickered and went dark. I froze, not knowing what to do, or understand what was happening. The hallway was completely darkened.

I could hear footsteps, approaching me from down the hallway. Maybe it was one of the teachers coming out to see why all the lights were out, I hoped.

“Who’s there?” I whispered.

There was no reply but the steps were getting closer.

“Who’s there?” I asked, this time with more volume.

I was confused and scared stiff, aware that most of the teachers wouldn’t be up here because they were downstairs for Professor Davidson. I contemplated walking back down the stairs or a little further to my door, but I was so scared I wasn’t sure my legs would cooperate.

All of a sudden I felt a firm push against my chest and was thrown into James’s door.

I screamed, covering my face with my hands, terrified. James’s door instantly opened and I turned around to see his surprise at my presence in his doorway. I grabbed him and put my face on his chest, my hands holding tightly onto his shirt.

“Catherine?”

“There’s someone trying to hurt me out there!”

He held me tight with one arm and half stepped out the room to see.

“There’s no one out there,” he whispered.

I slowly opened my eyes and looked out, still holding onto his shirt and there wasn’t anyone. All the lights were now on and there was no one to be seen. I looked up at James, but I was speechless and confused.

“Come inside.”

James closed the door and placed his hands on my arms and stared at me.

“What happened?”

I couldn’t speak at first. I myself didn’t know what had happened. I finally mustered the courage and tried to explain to James what had just happened.

“I don’t know what to say,” James shook his head with concern.

“Who could have done this? Mr Kemp!”

“No. There is no chance that Mr Kemp would ever lay a hand on you.”

“He threatened me that day, who else would do that to me?” I argued.

James let go of me in shock and took a few steps back.

Outside James’s door, I could hear Mr Kemp mumbling. Anger came over me and I turned around to open the door.

“Catherine, no!” James pleaded, but I ignored him.

I stuck my head out of the door and there he was.

“You! How dare you do that to me?”

“What are you doing in Mr Barclay’s room? Get out of there,” he sneakily whispered.

“You pushed me into his door!”

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Mr Kemp looked surprised. He looked past me and went straight into the room.

“What is all this?” he demanded to know.

James didn’t say a word, but he seemed bewildered.

“You turned off all the lights in the hallway and then pushed me into James’s door, didn’t you?”

“I most certainly did not!” He gave James a long, disappointed look.

“Hem,” he grunted, “are you happy now?” he said to James and headed for the door. As he passed me he paused.

“I warned you,” he said.

I looked at James in disbelief. He didn’t even ask Mr Kemp if he was responsible. Did he honestly believe that he was incapable of doing such a thing?

Mr Kemp slammed the door behind him, and now James and I were left in his room.

“You don’t believe me? Why… I mean… how, could I even make this up?” I pleaded.

James turned around and ran his hands through his hair. He looked frustrated and uneasy.

I couldn’t believe that Mr Kemp just did what he did, and got away with it! And that James could think that I was a liar. Let down, I decided to leave.