Chapter 5
Smith found Alicia on her way from the washroom. Making sure he was visible only to her, he called out her name and waved her over.
"Hey Mr. Smith, aren't you supposed to be teaching class or something?" Alicia pointed out.
"I'm not much of a teacher." Mr. Smith replied. "And you probably know that I'm only visible to you, so try not to look like you're talking to someone. Or it'd probably be a better idea if you became invisible too. Just think you are, and you'll get there."
Alicia looked carefully around the empty hallway to make sure nobody would notice her disappearance. "Well, that's as much as I know how to do."
The pair found a spot on top of the counter lockers. "I'm afraid it was true what I said about me being a horrible teacher. So maybe it's better if you asked questions and I try to answer them."
"So, I understand that the person in question has to go through the journey on their own. But how much can we help them?" Alicia swung her legs, being careful not to kick the lockers. "I could just tell that Sarah was ready to shake every answer out of me in terms of what was going on and what she had to do. That wouldn't have helped—I didn't know any answers."
"Nobody ever does know." Smith sighed.
Alicia raised one eyebrow. "Even you?"
"I don't know any more than you do in terms of how things are going to work out." Smith said again. "But perhaps we see a bigger picture, and also a stronger gut feeling."
"So do you think that she will succeed?"
"Everybody has potential of succeeding." Smith pointed out. "Realizing one's own mistakes is the first step to succeeding."
"So how many people do you get to train?"
"You're my first apprentice." Smith took notice of the surprised look on Alicia's face. "I have really no clue why Judge Othniel would suddenly do something like that."
"So I'm guessing Judge Othniel does a lot of things that you don't question huh?"
Smith laughed to himself. "Yes, Judge Othniel definetly has the ability to see much bigger pictures. There were many people that Judge Othniel gave a second chance to that I had no idea why on earth he did that."
"Just like this case." Alicia bit her lip.
Smith put a comforting arm around her shoulder. "She was that bad to you, huh?"
Alicia looked at the ground. "It seemed like she often went out of her way to tease and make fun of us just because we were not as popular as her. Not like she was all that popular at one point either. I, I knew Billy Thompson since elementary school. And in high school, with all the teasing that he endured from Sarah as well as others, I was literally watching him die, and I couldn't do a darn thing about it."
"Then maybe Sarah will succeed and save two lives this time." Smith looked at his watch. "My how time flies. Class is almost over. Let's hope that Sarah will show up to rehearsal today."