Read Online Exposure by Kim Askew - Free Book Online Page A

many of you have been hearing,” our guidance counselor announced, his voice husky with emotion. “Your fellow student Duncan Shaw died in a tragic accident over the weekend.” He added that there would be grief counselors on campus throughout the week, and, instead of the usual Friday afternoon pep rally, a memorial service would be held in the gym.
    â€œMy door is always open….” he said, trailing off and leaving a stunned silence in his wake. For several moments no one said a word, then the quiet was broken as students leaned in toward each other, speaking in hushed tones. I looked down at my desk in a daze and was aware of nothing else for the next half-hour. I didn’t even remember hearing the bell or shuffling through the halls to first period, though I must have done it.
    Mr. Kirkpatrick hadn’t provided us with any of the gory details about Duncan’s death, but the cloud of rumors swirling around school did the job for him … and then some. In Anchorage, news of this sort traveled with a speed that belied the city’s growing population. It was a given that by dusk on Sunday half the students knew — or thought they knew — what had happened. So far this morning, I’d heard speculation that he’d committed suicide, his body found a few hundred yards from the hunting shack hanging from a low tree limb with his own belt as a noose. I’d also heard that when he was discovered on Saturday afternoon, his face was barely discernible, having been gnawed off by some sort of wild animal. Some people were convinced he’d passed out and choked to death on his own vomit. Others swore he’d fallen down a ditch, broken his leg, and froze to death.
    All weekend long I’d been trying to will myself to imagine that Duncan’s disappearance on Friday night could be explained away. But the conversation I’d overheard between Craig and Beth that night continued to haunt me. I tried to recall, word for word, what they had said to one another, but the fuzzy memories flitted around my brain like drunken butterflies, just out of my grasp. At the time, I had so instantly jumped to the conclusion that Beth was pregnant that I didn’t even consider that there might be another, more sinister interpretation. Now, everything I thought I’d heard while huddled in Craig’s car made me fear the worst. When Duncan hadn’t shown up at the bonfire after the raucous game of flashlight tag, the only one who’d shown any visible concern was his girlfriend, Tiffany. As the party began to break up, she queried one person after another and was met with shrugs and dismissive laughter until finally, hiccuping nervously, she approached Beth and Craig just as the three of us were climbing into his Jeep.
    â€œHave you seen Duncan?”
    â€œShaw?” Beth said, shaking her head. “The last time I saw lover boy was
hours
ago. He was in the corner making out with some freshman. Don’t know her name.” This was generally in keeping with what I knew of Duncan’s schizophrenic love life, so I thought nothing of it. Tiffany was still protesting when Beth slid, snakelike, into the passenger seat of the Jeep and slammed the door, forcing me to walk around to the other side of the car, where Craig leaned his seat forward to let me in.
    The trip home was as silent and unsociable as the first leg of the journey had been. The only difference was that Beth’s left hand stayed gripped on Craig’s thigh throughout the drive and she ignored me completely until she got out to release me from the backseat. I couldn’t help but think about the baby I imagined was growing inside her. Having a child at the age of eighteen would change her life forever, not to mention throw a giant wrench into her grand plans to be Prom Queen. Beth was manipulative as hell, but I was pretty sure she wouldn’t have gotten pregnant on purpose if it meant forfeiting