CHAPTER 44
But that day was not like any other...
It was dawn, the school was shrouded in mist and deep silence. Footsteps could be heard, mixed with the sound of shovels removing earth.
"Today was the day" ... Charles thought.
- Elizabeth; that teacher, had crossed the path of Charles Spurlok, a cruel man who always found pleasure in tormenting others. His thirst for revenge knew no bounds. And the victim of his wrath was Elizabeth.
Charles, with his wicked grin, had just prepared a series of bear traps on the path in front of the school entrance...
Elizabeth happily met up with her father and together they went to school. She needed some school supplies, and only by checking everything could she organize the list. Willian Thatcher was amazed to learn how little her salary was and, as well as looking after her family, she used some of that money to buy more materials for the needier pupils or books to improve her teaching; with each passing day he learned something about his daughter and became prouder and prouder...
When Elizabeth arrived at the school, she could hardly imagine what awaited her. As she walked alongside her father, her foot sank into a pile of dry leaves. Willian, realizing this and being a connoisseur, having seen it in the army years ago, pushed his daughter, and his own foot ended up falling where it shouldn't have... it was a cleverly camouflaged bear trap. He staggered, but managed to escape with a minor injury. Charles saw Elizabeth, lying on the ground, horrified to see her father wounded and bleeding profusely. That wasn't his plan, but seeing that girl in such horror gave him pleasure. Charles' cruel laughter echoed in his mind, he couldn't make a sound lest he be discovered. Charles saw Elizabeth get up slowly and try to walk over to her father, who was bleeding. He watched from afar, his expression of satisfaction growing as Elizabeth continued to approach other hidden traps in the grounds. Intertwined branches and holes disguised by leaves hid deadly dangers. She lifted one of her feet, and just as she was about to place it on the trap, a shout was heard...
- Don't move, Mrs. Grant! Stay like that until I get there...
Elizabeth recognized Robert's voice, and balancing on one leg, she stood until she heard him closer to her back...
- Don't move. There's a bear trap right under you...
- Robert! I can't stay like this any longer.
- Calm down, teacher, I'm going to pull you up and I'm going to hold you.
- Robert... me;
- Please... I won't let anything happen to you.
Willian groaned in pain, he was pale, but he asked Elizabeth to trust the boy. He had already realized that this boy would do anything for his daughter's well-being.
Robert put his hands on her arms and, with a strong pull, made her come into his arms. He didn't move, not even with the impact of her body on his...
They were both gasping for breath. They knew the danger they were in.
- Ms. Grant, you're only going to step where I step, okay? Trust me.
- I do, Robert. With all my life.
- I'll protect you. Stay calm and step here.
Robert guided her to a tree. He noticed the holes from afar, even though they were covered, they looked like traps and he had done this many times with his grandfather, before he passed away. Soon after, he went over to Elizabeth's father, taking off his shirt, he tied it tightly to try to hold the wound.
- Sir, I need to get you out of here; there are more traps here and they can be triggered with anything.
- Son, I don't think I can walk...
- I know, sir. Just stand up and I'll be your crutch.
Willian was impressed by this young man. He was still an apprentice man, and hadn't even entered the mountie, but he was already showing his sense of leadership. And his daughter had fingers there...
Elizabeth and Robert helped Willian, who was jumping with great difficulty and pain, to sit under the big tree. She ran into town, and when she arrived, she saw Bill and Nathan sitting outside the police station, where they were having coffee. She ran to them in desperation.
Bill and Nathan saw her, all smeared with blood, and Nathan jumped up with her in his arms, wanting to know where she was hurt.
She explained everything, and Bill went to get a cart and with it Robert and Willian.
Willian needed stitches, thirty-five on one side and eighteen on the other, which Dr. Carson very kindly performed. Bill ran to the school with Robert and Nathan and there they disarmed eight traps. Bill looked at Nathan and spoke:
- Nathan... whoever he was, he came after Elizabeth.
Robert said that he was riding along when he saw Mr. Willian Thatcher wounded and could only run to prevent Elizabeth from getting hurt too.
Nathan thanked him for always being ready to save her, and the little red-headed boy said it was his duty. Bill went on:
- It's not your duty son, you're not a mountie yet...
- I'm not yet, I know that. But it is my duty and that of all of us, ever since mountie Jack asked us to go to war and even more so after his death. We have an even greater duty to protect her from anyone who would do her harm. She will always be mine, our priority, you can ask the other boys and girls in the class and you'll know that we have a pact about that.
Nathan smiled. That boy took it very seriously.
- Robert, how did you know what to do?
- My late grandfather... He choked. He always used these traps to prevent the bears from attacking; he lived in the forest in the most enclosed part. But mountie Jack gave me his diary to read when I was little and in it he told me that he had been caught in these traps, it was when he tried to save a bear that was stuck in one, he had a scar on his left knee and he sewed it up himself. His drawings were like this, with these lands with dried leaves.
- Well done, son! You'll make a great mountie. Bill said.
With his failed revenge and those people standing around the school, Charles Spurlok felt fear run down his spine. Nathan and that Bill guy, they didn't seem to be joking, they were going to look for him until the end. He quickly moved away from the school grounds, knowing that his actions had put him in a dangerous position. As he hurried away, anxiety consumed him. He was going to sit in that mine and think of a way to finish Elizabeth off; hurting other people in that place could attract more investigations from the mountie and the first trades would know his strength.
Charles, laughing, spoke loudly as he entered the coal mine:
"I am the shadow that never disappears, the ghost that defies justice, the legend I will never be defeated. "