Isaac was not ready for the rabbit hole waiting for him behind that first link.
His coffee had long gone cold and the half-eaten donut was lying forgotten next to him but Isaac couldn't stop reading. He followed one link after the other, reading newspaper articles and blog posts. There were whole sites dedicated to the Hale Fire. Some serious with researched facts, some diving deep into speculations and conspiracy stories. There was a true-crime documentary about it.
Isaac didn't dare to watch the documentary but the photos and news clips were more than enough.
Professor Hale was just an ordinary, maybe even boring man. And then Isaac looked at the pictures of a young man, confused and scared who'd just lost his whole family. He'd been even a few years younger than Isaac.
He'd been seduced by an older woman even if the media didn't phrase it that way but Isaac could read between the lines. It never became clear if it had been her plan all along to murder the whole Hale family or if she snapped when Derek broke up with her, she never talked about her motives in court, but it ended with her burning down the Hale house.
It had been a large family, eleven people died in the fire. Derek and his sister Laura had been lucky, they hadn't been home at that point. If by accident or if Kate had intended to spare Derek was another point up to speculations even over two decades later. Either way, it had made the siblings suspects for a while. Given Derek's relationship with Kate Argent, some people still believed that he'd been her accomplice all along.
Peter Hale, Derek's uncle as it turned out, had been the only one in the house who survived the fire. For days it hadn't looked as if he would make it but eventually, he'd pulled through. His pregnant wife hadn't been that lucky. The media had loved that fact.
Isaac was too shocked to learn all this about his professor that only with a delay he noticed something else. Kate Argent. Argent. Like Allison Argent.
It took only a few seconds to confirm that yes, Kate Argent who'd burned eleven people alive in their own home was Allison's aunt.
Now her reaction to seeing Peter and Derek Hale made sense. Allison had been just a child herself when it happened but for sure she'd grown up with that shadow constantly looming over her.
The shitstorm right after the fire had been epic. From what Isaac could tell the Argents had been under siege by reporters for weeks. In the end, they had moved to a different state but Isaac came across articles and pictures from years later.
Isaac doubted that Professor Hale or his uncle would recognize Allison but he understood why she couldn't enjoy her lunch after she'd recognized the two men. And why she didn't want to talk about them. Isaac didn't want to imagine what would happen if this went around among the students. Allison's life would become hell. Same for Professor Hale.
Isaac closed all the tabs and for good measure, he deleted his search history as well, he didn't want Scott to stumble over this by accident. They usually didn't share their laptops but Isaac didn't want to risk anything here.
With that out of the way, Isaac leaned back in his chair, his mind racing. What was he supposed to do now? Could he pretend that he didn't know and interact with Allison like before? What about his class with Professor Hale? Could he just sit there and listen to his lecture? Maybe but what was about Wednesday? He was supposed to see him during his office hours. Isaac had been looking forward to that, he wanted to bring a list of questions with him. Could he even do that now?
The worst part was that he couldn't talk to anybody about this. Maybe to Allison but he doubted that this was something she wanted to talk about ever again. He'd just read about reporters who had ambushed a fifteen-year-old Allison in front of her school.
If Isaac mentioned this to anybody else, the following shitstorm would be on him. He trusted his friends but he did not trust whoever they trusted outside of their circle. Somebody wise had made a famous quote about that and Isaac was tempted to google it just to get his mind off the other thing but in the end, he just sat there and stared into nothingness, too numb to do anything.
He finished his cold coffee and ate the rest of the donut but he didn't taste anything.
He was still just sitting at his desk when Scott came home from work. He just came in to grab a change of clothes before he left for a much-needed shower. Scott had been in the room for two minutes tops but the rancid smell of dog vomit lingered. It was the kick Isaac needed to shake off his stupor. He got up to open the window and by the time Scott came back into the room, Isaac could pretend that nothing had changed.
"Donuts?" Isaac offered him the box. He'd only eaten two out of the six but he might throw up if he ate something sweet right now so he fed them to Scott.
"Thanks, man." Scott finished the first one in three large bites and immediately reached for the next. "I'm starving, didn't have time for lunch."
"Busy day at the clinic?" Isaac asked and leaned back in his chair. The smell of dog vomit had already given it away but right now Isaac needed to hear about unruly dogs and them vomiting all over the examination table and of course over all over Scott who had been the one holding the dog. And who was the one who had to clean it up afterward.
"You should ask for a raise," Issac told him.
"I should," Scott agreed and reached for the last donut. He really must have been starving. "My bike is acting up again, I could use the money to get it checked out before it breaks down on me."
"Told you to trade it in for a car."
"I got it in high school, I won't just trade it in for a car," Scott defended his bike.
"Don't call me to pick you up if it breaks down completely. That's what you have a girlfriend for," Isaac said. "By the way, are you seeing her later? She's at that tournament thing, right?" Scott had mentioned that in the morning.
"Yeah." Scott licked frosting off his fingers. "It's still ongoing but so far it's looking good for her, Lydia keeps me updated. They won't be home before nine."
"Tell Lydia that my fingers are crossed," Isaac said but on the inside, he let out a breath. He would not run into Allison by accident today, good to know.
"How about pizza, beer, and a movie later?" Isaac suggested. He needed something to get his head free and Scott was the last to say no to pizza.
"Sounds great." Scott beamed at him.
Since they now had plans for the evening, Scott wanted to do the reasonable thing and get some work done before that. To not distract him, Isaac gathered his things and went over to the library. He intended to get some work done as well but in the end, he picked up some astronomy books and read those instead. It did count as research for his astrophysics class, right? Not that he was able to focus, his mind was swirling around the Hale Fire.
By the time he returned to his dorm, movie night had been relocated to Boyd and Erica's place and Danny would be there as well. It was a bad idea, they all knew that, they had class in the morning, but nobody cared. For sure not Isaac, getting plastered did sound like a good idea.
They ordered way too much pizza and while they were stuffing their faces with cheesy goodness, they were debating which movie to watch. In the end somebody, Isaac suspected Danny, just started the first Scary Movie when nobody was looking.
After the pizza, Erica brought out chips and popcorn along with more beer and it didn't take long for them to comment loudly on the dumbness of the movie and throw popcorn at the screen.
Isaac had a good time. Being on his third beer did help, he had fun, he laughed with the others and for a while, he did not care about anything.
Around half-past nine, Lydia and Allison joined them. Allison had made second place at her tournament, that was a reason to celebrate. Isaac raised his bottle along with the others but he couldn't look at Allison. So much for avoiding her.
At least nobody cared about Isaac at the moment, they were all eager to hear about the tournament.
Allison didn't look different. She'd just made second place, it had been a close call but in the end, the other woman had been just a tad better, and she wanted to celebrate. Erica heated up pizza for her and Lydia while Boyd handed out another round of beer.
Isaac stayed in the background, clinging to his beer, but he couldn't help but wonder if seeing the Hales had cost Allison first place. Had it been on her mind the whole time? Was she worried that somebody would find out?
Isaac only half-listened to what Lydia and Allison were talking about, his mind back on the things he'd wanted to forget for the evening. He finished his beer and then he went to the kitchen to help himself to another one.
He didn't remember how he got home but Isaac woke up in his own bed, feeling miserable.
Scott was a horrible friend and kicked him out of bed on time for class. Isaac even had time for a shower and he did feel better after that even if his head was still pounding and the lights were too bright.
Remembering last time, he had a quick look at his sent emails but this time he hadn't embarrassed himself with a drunken email to his professor, thank God for small mercies.
"You're a lightweight, you know that?" Scott had way too much fun with this. At least he'd gotten them coffee while Isaac had been in the shower. Just the crappy stuff they had in the dorm but right now Isaac would chew coffee beans to get more awake.
"Why are you even here?" Isaac wondered into his cup of coffee. "Didn't you want to celebrate with Allison?"
At that Scott made a face.
"Dunno, I think she was tired, it had been a long day," Scott said but the bright smile was gone. "She'd been in a good mood but then she just wanted to go home. But yeah, you know, long day."
Isaac closed his eyes and tried to remember what had happened last night. He recalled going into the kitchen for a fresh beer and he thought that he'd stayed there for a while. Had Allison followed him? He wasn't sure. The last thing he remembered clearly about her was that she'd been in the living room with the others. They had been talking about the tournament.
A fuzzy part of his brain wanted to place her in the kitchen with him, though.
"I'm never going to get drunk ever again." Isaac groaned. The sound vibrated through his skull and he had to press the heel of his hand to his temple to counter it.
"Sounds like a good idea," Scott agreed easily, again with that bright smile. Isaac felt like throwing up and Scott was grinning like that, it wasn't fair.
"Did I talk to Allison yesterday?" Isaac dared to ask. He didn't remember but something was tugging at his mind. He had written that email to Professor Hale without remembering, he didn't want to know what he might have said to Allison in his drunken state.
"Hm?" Scott made. "We all talked to her yesterday."
"I kind of remember talking to her in the kitchen," Isaac said, tasting bile in the back of his throat.
"Maybe? She went to the kitchen to get more pizza." Scott frowned while he tried to remember the details. "Right, she didn't come back for a while, I think she ate the pizza in the kitchen. She wanted to go home shortly after so we called it a night. Had to collect your drunken ass from the kitchen and carry you home."
"Fuck."
