Dangerous Betrayals

Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

Kennedy

Only five minutes left till the bell. I loved my job and I usually didn’t count down the time for the end of the day, but my weekend was slammed. It was homecoming and I was nominated to announce this year’s winner. About nine years ago, I was the one being crowned homecoming queen. Back then, I never thought I’d be back at South Point High School, teaching senior English. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always wanted to be a teacher I just never thought it would be back in my hometown. Though the money wasn’t great, I loved what I did and felt rewarded helping the students learn.

“Think we’ll win tonight, Ms. Scott?” Tanner asked, tossing his football into the air.

Looking up from the papers on my desk, I smiled at him and the rest of my students. Tanner was our senior star quarterback who’d just gotten offered a scholarship to play for UNC Chapel Hill. Not only was he amazing on the field, but he was an A student. Right now, our high school was first in the conference and everyone throughout the whole town was pumped for tonight’s game.

Laughing, I set my pen down. “You better win.”

Jennifer raised her hand. “If we do, will you give us a chance to earn some extra credit?” Dressed in her cheerleading outfit, she reminded me of myself with her long blonde hair and hazel eyes. She didn’t even need the extra credit, but her boyfriend, Josh, who sat beside her did. He was a football player as well, and when he wasn’t on the field, he was working to help take care of his mother and younger sister. I grew up without a father too so I knew how difficult it was for him. My father had died when I was five years old from a drowning accident. The police had determined he’d fallen and hit his head on his fishing boat as he plunged overboard into the water. I was supposed to go with him that morning, but I’d woken up with strep throat so he went alone. To this day, I’d always wondered if he’d still be alive if I was there to help him.

“I certainly will,” I answered, watching Josh’s shoulders relax. The extra credit would help his grade immensely and it broke my heart that he was too ashamed to look at me, but I knew he was grateful. There were a lot of privileged students at my school with parents who made more money than I’d ever seen in a lifetime, but he wasn’t one of them. He worked hard and was very disciplined and responsible, and I could see him having a great future. I wasn’t about to give up on him. The bell rang and the kids jumped out of their seats anxious to enjoy their Friday night. “Have a good weekend, everyone! If you’re going to be at the game, I’ll see you there.”

They rushed out of the room and I couldn’t help but giggle. The excitement I felt as a kid before a game was a feeling I missed. It wasn’t the same now that I was older, but I loved seeing my students experiencing it.

“Knock, knock.” I looked over at the door to see my friend and fellow teacher, Amy Parks, all decked out with school spirit wearing her red and black Red Raiders school T-shirt and her face painted with an S on one cheek and a P on the other for South Point High School. Even her chocolate colored hair had red and black hair spray in it. “It’s time to go home,” she said in a sing song voice. “What are you still doing here?”

I waved her off. “I know, I know. I’m leaving. I’m eating an early dinner with my mom and then I’m coming back.”

She waggled her eyebrows, her bright green eyes twinkling with mischief. “Is Dean coming with you?”

Dean Porter was my ex-boyfriend, but we were still pretty close. We’d been talking about getting back together, but nothing was set in stone yet. “Yes,” I said, feeling my cheeks burn. “He’s staying with me this weekend.”

Amy snickered. “I know what you two will be doing.”

Rolling my eyes, I couldn’t help but smile. “It’s been a while. What can I say?”

She burst out laughing. “You’re too much. See ya tonight. I need to get out of here.”

I waved at her. “See ya later.”

Once I had my papers all put away, I was ready to go. Before I could make it out of the school, my phone rang. Dean’s name popped up and I couldn’t help but grin. “Hey,” I said, answering his call.

“Hey. We’re still on for the weekend, right?”

“Yep. You’re more than welcome to eat dinner with me and my mom tonight. If not, you can just pick me up at my house around six. That’ll give us plenty of time to get to the school and find a parking place.”

“Sounds good, babe. Wish I could eat dinner with you, but my shift ends at 5:30. Tell your mom I said hey though.”

“I will,” I promised him. “She’ll miss seeing you, but maybe we can visit her on Sunday?” My mother loved Dean to death. She always thought he was the cutest thing. Not only was he good-looking but he was a firefighter too. We always joked around saying he should pose for a calendar.

Dean chuckled. “Perfect. I gotta run, but I’ll see ya in a couple of hours.”

“Okay,” I said. After we hung up, I got in my car and called my mother to tell her I was on my way, but she never answered the phone. It was a nice October day so she was most likely outside walking around in her garden. Something she loved to do whenever the weather cooperated.

On the way to her house, I stopped by the grocery store to pick up a cookie cake with extra icing. We were addicted to them. Growing up, she’d always buy one for the silliest reasons, just so we could eat it. One time she bought me the cake because I quit one of my jobs. It was at a clothing store where my boss never let me take breaks. I’d work for eight hours straight, on my feet the entire time, and never once given a lunch break. I was miserable, but I knew we needed the money and persevered for as long as I could.

Before leaving the store, I called my mother again to see if she needed anything before I left. Again, no answer. I called both the house phone and her cell and nothing. She was sixty years old and in great health so I never worried about her being alone. Plus, I lived on the same street, just seven houses down from her. It was a close-knit neighborhood and everyone was on the lookout for everyone else. Something I always liked about living in a small community.

When I pulled into the driveway, the garage door was open and my mother’s SUV was parked inside. She was a stickler about keeping the garage door closed, and usually when it was up that meant she was in the yard somewhere. I got out of my car and walked around to the back of the house, thinking she’d be out there in her garden, but she wasn’t.

I circled around the house, back to the front and grabbed the cookie cake out of the car before going inside. The kitchen was dark which made no sense. We were supposed to be eating spaghetti, but yet there was nothing on the stove. A strange, foreboding feeling settled into the pit of my stomach.

“Mom?” I called out.

Trying not to panic I was surprised to find the whole house was dark, though it didn’t hide the disarray I found as I walked into the living room. The table lamps were shattered on the floor and the couch had been slashed open. There wasn’t a sound in the house.

“Mom!” I shouted, feeling the adrenaline course through my veins. There wasn’t time to think; I just reacted. I ran through the house, tears filling my eyes as I looked at the destruction. The pictures in the hallway had all been smashed, the glass crunching underneath my feet as I raced across the debris.

“Mom, where are you?” I cried. When I got to her bedroom and turned on the light, nothing could’ve prepared me for what I saw next. My mother was on her side on the floor, dressed in her nightgown, in a pool of blood. The direction she was turned to I couldn’t see her face. The smell of blood doubled me over and I dropped to my knees. “Oh, my God,” I screamed, crawling over to her body. I didn’t care about the blood or that it soaked through my clothes as I made my way over to her. All I wanted was for her to be okay.

The second I touched my mother’s arm, I knew she was gone. She was as cold as ice. I crawled around her so I could see her face, and the level of terror I saw in her dead eyes would forever be engrained in my mind. I tried to scream, but I couldn’t. I took a deep breath and opened my mouth, but nothing came out. The pain was too much, as if it was trapped inside me. It was then when I saw what had been done to her.

Her heart had been cut out of her chest.

Looking at what had been done to her and I still couldn’t fathom it. The level of brutality and outright sickness of someone to do something like that was incomprehensible. The heartache was too much to bear. It sent me into a downward spiral of pure hell. My voice came back in full force and I screamed. I screamed until I could barely breathe, and eventually, everything went black.

I thought that when I’d wake up it would all be a bad dream. Unfortunately, it was just the beginning of one.