Fractured- UnOrdinary (Original)

Chapter 10: Claims

Sitting in the nurses office shouldn't have been anything new for Keene. He was in there almost on the daily with Darren.

But usually, he didn't have the sounds of construction equipment and hammers nailing away against the floors. 

Keene had resorted to coffee, the cool and relaxed man now as uptight as the doctor that sat across from him.

Darren stared at the man with a raised eyebrow. "Keene...are you alright? That's your 5th cup today and I'm starting to get worried." The doctor jumped as Keene slammed the cup down on the desk, eyeing him with a look of betrayal. 

"Like you're one to talk! You have a drinking problem when it comes to the stuff!" Darren sighed and took the cup away from the man.

Oh, how the tides have turned. 

"Keene, that's enough. You've been working non-stop for 4 days straight now. Take a break."

Keene huffed and reached for the cup again. "Darren, no. I can't stop...not while the school needs me...not when Vaughn needs me." 

Darren sighed. He knew taking on the responsibility of headmaster had been difficult on the man, but ever since they found out that Vaughn was going to be in a medically induced coma for the next month and a half to recover, Keene had been working himself to the bone.

Honestly, all the teachers were worried for him.

He still had to uphold his responsibilities as groundskeeper and now he had to take on the safety and well being of the school. 

Darren moved the cup to another table and stood up. "Keene, look at me." The man sighed and looked up, dark bags adorning the bottom of his eyes. Darren sighed as he rounded the table and placed a hand on the mans shoulder. "Go take a break and get some sleep. You are going to pass out where you sit if you keep going like this. Let me and the other teachers take care of some of this." 

Keene went to argue but Darren gave him a look that said 'do it or I'll have to sedate you.' Keene sighed and got up. "Alright...but the second there's anything happening-" Darren rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I'll wake you up and let you know. Just get some sleep already!"

Keene gave a faint smile before grabbing his things and heading home for the morning. 

Darren sat down and started going through the papers in Keene's unmarked pile. He looked over bills, forms, even notices from some of the teachers before getting to the headcount list.  

He looked over the list, marking down the names of students who hadn't checked in yet. Of those who hadn't checked in, he would leave them a note. If they didn't get back by the end of the weekend, he would break down their door. 

Darren looked up when he heard a knock. "Come in." He saw a man with periwinkle hair and sapphire blue eyes walk in. Darren recognized him as detective Kace, one of the men taking on their little arson issue. He was a relatively tall man but he looked harmless. The man almost reminded everyone of a really large stuffed animal.

"Ah, detective Kace. What can I help you with?" The man gave a grim smile as he walked over and placed down a packet on the table. "We found some evidence that we figured you and Mr. Keene would like to look at. I'm...I'm afraid to say it isn't good."

Darren looked at the packet before turning his attention back to the man. "Keene had to leave for the morning. Would you like me to grab him?" Kace only shook his head, his voice warm and welcoming. "Oh no, please. I'm sure he's busy enough as it is. We only wanted the both of you to look at this before we made the announcement public."