Mr Bones: Part 2

A while ago I wrote the beginning of a short story, the post was called “Mr Bones.” I recommend reading it if you intend to read its continuation below.

Nobody understood. Nobody knew why. But they went along with it all the same.

Once he had frantically searched around the garden, Mr Bones stoped and stood exactly where his brief case and coat had been. For several minutes he stood completely still and silent, his eyes filled with anger and confusion as he thought solely of his missing possessions. Mr Bones was frozen for so long that his mind began to drift off, he managed to snap out of his uncalled for visions of lying on a beach, and bring himself back to the present dilemma. The awakening to reality prompted him to take action, he turned to search around the far side of the fountain again but decided instead to go back up to the school. Walking briskly to the principles’ office, Mr Bones felt like a schoolboy, he imagined himself making feeble attempts at covering up his careless action of leaving all the SACs unattended. ‘I turned around for a second, and when I looked back they were gone!’ but Mr Bones knew that he would end up telling the truth.
Metres away from Mrs Proshore’s office, Mr Bones inhaled deeply and wiped his sweaty hands on his pants. After knocking three soft times, he heard the principle’s bitter chirp call him in.
“What can I do for you, Paul?” Mrs Proshore asked once he’d let himself into her office, suggesting she had little time to spare or that there were many other things she would rather be doing. He felt intimidated by her sharp features, her slick black hair was tied into a tight neat bun, not a single strand fell out of place.
“Well” he began “I believe a theft has occurred” he was instantly upset with his choice of words, but tried to maintain confidence in himself.
“I see” Mrs Proshore commented wearily, perhaps several other thefts had been reported that same morning. She rummaged through some papers, Mr Bones was almost certain they had nothing to do with him or thefts of any kind. Her silence lasted for longer than he could deal with.
“What should I do?” he prompted, keen to get some kind of response from her. She looked up as if she’d almost forgotten he was there and sighed.
“Well. That depends on what was stolen” whether or not Mr Bones answered seemed last on Mrs Proshore’s things-I-care-about list.
“My year 12 Biology SAC reports” he confessed in a breath.
“Right. Well then, that’s your problem. There’s obviously nothing I can do to help. I don’t support stealing but I don’t have the means to reverse it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must get back to.... this” she continued with her apparently busy day, as if he had already left. Without saying a word, Mr Bones smiled in failure and walked away.
Never before had he been so uncertain of what to do. He didn’t know where to go or if (and therefore who) he should report his problem. Feeling somewhat awkward standing aimlessly outside the principles’ office, Mr Bones thoughtlessly decided to wait in his period 4 Biology classroom for the twenty minutes remaining of lunch. Slipping his hands into the pockets on the sides of his pants, he headed leisurely to level three. A sense of being followed radiated through Mr Bones, the eerily empty corridors began to send shivers up his arms, and a sudden impulsive drive forced Mr Bones into a jog. He was relieved to push open the class room door, and stood panting for several seconds, before he noticed another sound in the classroom he presumed would be empty.
Having completely forgot about Lucy and her tearful run by earlier, Mr Bones was surprised to see her sitting in her usual seat at the front of his class. He noticed she was sobbing quietly to herself. “Lucy?” he asked, the back of her natural blonde wavy hair was all he could see. She automatically stopped sniffling, whipped her eyes with the back of her hand and turned to face Mr Bones. She managed to contain her tears for less than a few seconds, before bursting into another round of weeping. Her face was sickly white, making her normal red lips even redder and her eyes were puffy pink from crying.
Being a considerate man who treated the welfare of his students with high regards, Mr Bones walked down the lab and sat next to Lucy, who had taken to putting her face in her hands. Without thinking he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, causing her to retract in a single bound, before Mr Bones knew it she was on the other side of the lab between the Bunsen burners of two working benches. “I didn’t mean to-” he began, but could find no words to explain himself. Evidently Lucy took this as a release of a threat because she let her stiff posture drop.
“Sorry” she apologised, and sat down on the floor between the lab benches. Mr Bones was now reluctant to try approaching her, so he stayed where he was and hoped that words could make her feel better.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, partly hoping that she would so that he could help. Lucy went to speak, but changed her mind and took a shaky, uneven breath in. “Maybe I could help?” he suggested. She looked up in what seemed like appreciation but shock her head sorrowfully. Mr Bones let her grieve in peace for a while, now there was nothing he could do but sit in the front row, observing his classroom from the reverse angle of what he was used to. Without forgetting about Lucy for even a millisecond, he fiddled with the end of his navy blue tie. Lucy’s loud breaths and soft sniffles echoed through the room.
“Do you-” began Lucy before an uncontrollable inhale of air overcame her “-have a tissue?” she asked like it would mean the world to her if he did. Mr Bones made the action of sliding his hand into his coat pocket to retrieve his packet of Kleenex Aloe Vera tissues but, offcourse, his coat was elsewhere. Feeling foolish for thinking he was wearing a jacket, Mr Bones cleared his throat and walked over to his desk, which faced the class. Knowing very well his own classroom, he opened up the third drawer from the bottom and took out a box of brand-less tissues. He felt as if he was ripping Lucy off, for he knew these tissues to be scratchy and far less ‘enjoyable’ to use than his missing Kleenex ones.
“Here” he said with a smile, and placed them on the corner of his desk closest to Lucy. He didn’t want to scare her again, so he walked away from his desk to give her enough personal space to take the tissues. She stumbled to get up, but eventually made it to the tissues and blew her noise dramatically loud.
“Thank you” she said sincerely, once she was done. Taking another tissue to wipe her eyes.
“Is there anything at all I can do to help?” Mr Bones offered, now a few paces away from the desk. Rather unexpectedly, Lucy dashed over to Mr Bones and wrapped her arms around him. Soaking his shirt with tears, she stood shaking. Mr Bones first thought was to push her away, but this was a special circumstance, and he felt somewhat fatherly as he placed his hands on her back and spoke quiet phrases such as “It’s OK” and “let it all out.” They stood like this for more than a minute.
Noticing Lucy’s hair was falling into her mouth, he caringly pushed it aside for her. Revealing two small, red circles of blood, one above the other like a snake bite, on her neck.