As she watched Arnold approaching the exit, Ms Halford noticed that Brenden was standing just to the side of the door. She waited for a short while, expecting the boy to move on, but as Arnold continued to inch towards the door, Brenden remained where he was. Ever since the boy had returned to the school, she had refrained from seeing him more than was necessary. This was mainly because she was still affected by the guilt and the weight of responsibility she felt for leading Brenden to run away. She was not worried about having to face up to any ill feeling the boy might feel towards her due to what had passed; instead she was concerned that she would direct Brenden in the wrong direction once more, either by his listening to her poorly chosen words or by him doing the exact opposite of whatever she happened to say.
She told herself that she was being a coward, that she was being a terrible teacher by not facing up to her responsibilities or the consequences of her own actions: was she still such a child? While she did hesitate a moment longer, she railed against herself for doing so and promptly walked over to where the boy was still standing, passing Arnold on the way.
“Brenden,” said Ms Halford “are you waiting to see me?”
The boy’s first response to the sudden appearance of the ghost before him was to take a couple of steps back and mumble a number of excuses about how he was sorry to disturb the teacher. He then made to leave, but as he did so, Ms Halford swept past him to attempt to stop him from going any further.
“Brenden, if you want to tell me something, I’d be more than happy to hear what it is. No use putting it off, especially if it can be attended to right this moment.”
Brenden backed up towards the entrance of Ms Halford’s classroom, from which the figure of Arnold gradually began to emerge.
“I’m not sure, Miss. Maybe I should just come back later or something.”
“Now, young Brenden, it’s quite clear to me that there is a topic of some sort or other that you want to address with me, and I for one would rather that we deal with it now. I assume that if it were the case that this topic could not be tackled at this moment, you would not be here. So, let’s just move things along, shall we, and dispense with having to go through this same dance later today or tomorrow.”
By darting his eyes first at Arnold and then to the floor, Brenden made it clear to Ms Halford that whatever he wished to talk to her about, he wanted to do so in private.
“Well then,” noted Ms Halford after interpreting Brenden’s actions as suggesting that perhaps he would talk if Arnold were not in earshot, “why don’t we get to it then. Let’s just give Arnold a moment and then we’ll see if we can’t sort out whatever this is.”
Though the best part of Brenden was now telling him to just try and deliver himself from the present situation in any way he could, his deficit of willpower meant he found it next to impossible to counteract the authority of Ms Halford’s words. Indeed, instead of making his own opinions known - or just walking away - he simply remained on the spot, his gaze directed at the floor, waiting to be told what to do next.
“Mssss ‘alfoorrd,” groaned Arnold as he finally cleared the entrance to the classroom.
“Good day to you, Arnold,” responded the teacher, before promptly making her way past the zombie to return into the room. “Come on, Brenden.”
With no hesitation, the boy followed the command of the teacher and then mutely followed her further directions to close the classroom door and take a seat. Ms Halford gave the boy a little time to take the initiative to start the conversation now they were in the privacy of the room, but it was soon apparent that whatever topic Brenden wanted to discuss, she would have to help him to draw it out.
“Are you getting settled back into things, Brenden?”
“I guess so,” the boy replied in a barely audible voice.
“Good, good.”
A few moments after resting his head in his hands and staring off into nothing, Brenden breathed in sharply as if to suggest that he was about to say something. However, the boy checked himself before uttering a single word, leaving Ms Halford to start to lose a little patience with the student.
“Look, Brenden, you can continue to put off talking about whatever happens to be on your mind for as long as you wish, but you have to understand that I cannot say your words for you. If I were you, I would just get on with whatever it is you want to discuss.”
“It’s just…” started Brenden before stopping himself.
“Go on.”
“It’s just that I went to Adam,” the boy said a little hesitantly. “I went to ask him about the Tunnels, about what they’re like. But he said that it was not right for him to talk about them and that I should talk to someone with real experience of the place. He then
