Page 19 of I Will Ruin You

Herb Willow waited outside the principal’s office, wondering why he’d been summoned. The office secretary, Belinda, said Trent had been having private chats with all the staff, that it was no big deal, but Herb was worried it was something more than that. Herb would describe himself as a glass-half-empty kind of person, always expecting the worst, and most of the time life did not disappoint.

The door opened.

“Come in, Herb, have a seat,” Trent said, guiding Herb to a chair across from his desk. “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” he said flatly.

Trent said, “That’s good, that’s terrific. Just taking some time to talk to everybody, one-to-one, to see how they’re doing, if there’s anything I can help you with.”

“I’m fine.”

“And more specifically, to tell you that the board is offering counseling sessions to anyone who feels they would benefit.”

“Are they, now.”

“Sometimes, in the immediate aftermath of a traumatic incident, people think they can handle it, but then as time sets in they start feeling the effects. Nightmares, flashbacks, stuff like that. PTSD.”

“Oh.”

“The thing is, I figured what happened might have affected you more than some of the others. Not that we aren’t all shook up about it.”

“I’m not following.”

Trent sighed. “Well, Herb, as you know, you were a likely target.”

“You’re referring to what Mark LeDrew is alleged to have said before he blew himself up?”

“Alleged?”

Herb nodded. “Yes. Alleged.”

“I don’t think what Mark said is in dispute.”

“Did you hear what he said?”

“I was around the corner, not quite close enough to hear the entire conversation between Richard and Mark.”

“So you didn’t hear it,” Herb said. “We’ve only got one person’s word.”

Trent was quiet for a moment, moving his tongue around the inside of this cheek, before he said, “So what are you saying? That Richard fabricated the conversation?”

“Well, either Mark said those things to try to assassinate my character, or he never said them at all and Richard Boyle made it all up for the same purpose.”

Trent said nothing.

“Have you any idea what I’ve been put through the last few days? Police have interrogated me. As if I were a criminal. I have been persecuted. People are whispering behind my back. Did I try to blow up this school? Did I threaten to kill anybody? No. But the way they came at me, you’d think I had.”

“So Mark was lying.”

“If he said those things, yes.”

“Or Richard is lying.”

Herb shrugged, as though the answer was obvious.

“Why would Richard do that?”

“He doesn’t respect me. Never has. Doesn’t value the contribution I make to this school.”