The Rule of Three by Sam Ripley

Author:Sam Ripley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Published: 2023-06-22T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Eight

She doesn’t look like how she does in the photograph. I guess that isn’t surprising. It’s been nine years, after all. She’s put on weight. Twenty pounds, maybe. Her hair is a different colour. Though the photograph is black and white, her hair is darker. Now, it’s lighter – lots of highlights. I must have been wrong when I thought it was natural. Without the byline, I would never have recognized that my professor was the girl in the picture leading the candlelight vigil.

She smiles when she sees me in class. I’ve missed the last one – the one before that was the one where she made me cry.

Again, I’m not paying attention.

I’m thinking about her and Amy, and what I’m going to say when the class is over.

Can I ask you about your friend who died?

There must be a better way of putting it. A softer way. A gentle approach seems like the right approach. Tell her I really need to speak to her. A quiet chat somewhere private. Take a meandering route to the point. Tell her about my life. My brother. My parents. Watch her reaction. Say I’ve been thinking a lot about this urban myth I heard. That I wanted to prove it wasn’t true. But I found the opposite.

Maybe she’ll refuse to speak about it. I’m sure I’m going to bring up a lot of old feelings of sadness and grief. I don’t want to hurt her, but there might not be any choice. I need to ask her about Amy. I have to know how she died.

She notices me looking her way one too many times and mouths a quick, You okay?

I nod.

She continues teaching, and I watch her, wondering where she used to sit when she was studying here. She must have been a good student if she ended up getting her doctorate. She must have fallen in love with the university, even despite the death of her best friend.

Has she heard of the rule of three?

It strikes me as the kind of thing students tell one another, but not faculty. She could have overheard it, of course. Perhaps she’s the only one from that time who hears the rule of three and knows where it began.

The class is the longest of my life. The seconds tick by in slow motion. It’s as though the hands of the clock refuse to turn. There’s an incredible exertion just sitting here and waiting. I always thought of myself as a patient person, but I was wrong. I’m so anxious for the class to end to get the chance to talk to Professor Griffiths that I’m sweating by the end of it.

My armpits are damp and my palms are clammy as I stand up from my seat. I make sure to take my time as I gather my things. I don’t want to speak to her with an audience.

She’s sitting at her desk, looking at something on her laptop, as I approach.

‘Ila.’ She smiles when she notices me near.

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