Digging into the darkness

Richard

The only important thing to me at the school for the time being is George. No matter what happens, I have to figure out what's wrong with him. If there is even the slightest possibility that he is going through the things I have, I shall give away my life in order to rescue him. No one deserves those bad things happening to them. All night, I couldn't sleep. But this time it wasn't the thoughts of me getting raped that strangled me. Rather, it was George. After all these years, I felt as if there is a connection between us. And whatever God has planned for us, I was ready to discover it.

My time of being a detective had finally begun. All the detective novels I had read earlier, I binged them all last night to get the idea how to figure the entire thing out. A phycologically disturbed person can easily tell if the other person is disturbed or not- whether they wanna open up for not. From George's behavior, it was evident that he didn't wanna share anything with me. So I had to pickup another way to know the truth. However, it wasn't an easy job as George didn't have any friends. The only possible way was to visit his house. I decided to bunk that day of school so that he wouldn't doubt me. Nonetheless, I had to come up with an excuse that would be convincing enough for both George and his family. I didn't want to make George any more uncomfortable.

Surprisingly, the old, broken house didn't have a doorbell. I had to knock on the door. I was expecting his mother to receive me at the doorstep. However, George's dad came to open the door. It was a Monday. Why was he even at home? That looked suspicious. He had a welcoming smile on his face which rather made me feel uncomfortable without any obvious reason.

"Who are you, young boy? And how may I help you?"

"I'm George's classmate,Richard  and also the head of student council. Actually the school wanted me to visit homes of the students who are reluctant to go to the school trip. The authority thought I would convince their parents so that they would let their children go. I was really hoping you would let George come with us. The teachers will take full responsibility and I assure George will be taken care of"

"No one can take care of George as good as I can"

I wasn't expecting an answer like that. The picture of a dad so possessive is very hard to witness. The smile on his face changed into a horrifying expression with a mixture of anger, disappointment and unwillingness. I dare not say anything any further.

"Hey honey! What are you doing here?" said Mrs. Woods holding a bag with one hand and the hand of a  little girl with another.

"Nothing much. We have a guest in here from George's school. He wants us to let George go to the school trip"

"We would love to" said Mrs. Woods. "But as you have guessed by now, things aren't really looking up at us this moment. Another trip would do nothing but add additional financial pressure on us. We need every penny for our little Katherine. You know, she has a heart disease which has to be treated as soon a possible. I'm really sorry sweetheart. Hope you have a nice day"

"Good day Mr and Mrs woods. And also Katherine."

This was not a conversation I was expecting but I got the answer to a lot of questions. But this gave rise to a million more questions in my head-- Why was Mr. Woods at home? Was there any connection between their financial condition and George behaving weirdly? What did Mr. Woods gave such a vague answer to my question? One thing I was sure of that all of this isn't merely just about some financial crisis. It's much bigger