language disguises thought

“I know what you mean.” he sighed, “I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t affecting me, I mean, Rachel was one of my students. It still hasn’t really sunk in what’s happened.” every time he saw her empty workstation it sparked back into his head, she never missed a lesson, not once before. Part of him felt like he should have somehow known, “I just wish there was something we could do. You know?”

“Completely.” Maggie nodded her head. “I just-” she sighed. “Feel useless in a way? We can’t do anything.We have to leave it to the police, and nothing quick is coming of that.” She sighed before shaking her head. “It’s just... things are out of our control. And people are in danger. Everyone’s been hurt by what’s going on, and it feels like nothing is getting better.”

Wesley was still thinking about interview with the police earlier on in the day, it was hard to know if he’d answered the questions ‘right’, or if his answers and raised some kind of suspicions. He was no psychologist, he didn’t know if being a grandmamma’s boy made you more likely to be a murderer on aggregate according to some study. Fidgeting a bit as he did so, he prepared a pot of coffee in the almost deserted professors’ lounge. He felt like he needed it before the three hours of lectures he had this afternoon.

He served himself up a mug in a particularly, one might say overly, ornately patterned bamboo coffee mug he had so that he could carry it around with him to a lecture if he hadn’t finished it in time. He turned to look at the only other person who seemed to be here, “Have the police interviewed you yet?”

Maggie was spending the break between two of her lectures in the professor’s lounge, catching up on emails. It was usually nice to have an hour or two at this time of day, she would usually catch a bite to eat before her afternoon classes and office hours. At the sound of someone else entering the room Maggie looked up from her laptop, only to turn back to her computer upon recognizing a fellow professor.