CHAPTER 2
707 Words
CHAPTER 2
This was no time for her body to give out. Her heart pounded in her chest like the horrible thumping in that Edgar Allen Poe story, and her legs propelled her past the drinking fountain and out of the science center before she realized her coughing had stopped. Her boots pounded on the pavement, their echoes crashing in her ears. Could she hear Vinny behind her? Would he chase her, or would he just gun her down? Zigzag. Shouldn’t she run in a zigzag? Somewhere in her dad’s crazy crisis training, didn’t he say something about it being easiest to shoot someone if they were running in a straight line?
But what if Vinny was coming after her on foot? She didn’t have time to waste on cute little twists and curves and slithering snake patterns. She had to get somewhere safe. She couldn’t slow down. She had to get to shelter. If Vinny had a gun, would she hear it and then feel the hot fiery pain in her back? Or would it happen all at once? Was there really such a thing as dying instantly like the police reports claimed? Could you ever die so quickly you didn’t even realize what had happened?
Ahead of her, someone unlocked the dorm. Just a little more exertion, and she could reach it before the door closed. “Hold it!” she tried to yell, but she was going so fast her voice got lost somewhere behind her.
The door shut just as Kennedy slammed into it. She didn’t take the time to look back. Vinny would be on her any second.
Someone opened the dorm from the inside, and she darted in, not even pausing to glance at her savior or mumbling, “Excuse me.”
Up the stairs, two by two, hoisting herself up with the handrail when her thigh muscles got too tired. Please let Willow be in. Please let Willow be in, her mind begged, and she strained to see down the hall. Was the door open just a little? That would save at least twenty seconds if she didn’t have to stop and fiddle with her keys.
Please be open. Please be open.
Yes!
Kennedy pushed through the door, slammed it shut behind her, and threw back the deadbolt. She jumped to her roommate’s side of the room just in case Vinny shot straight through the door.
The police. She had to call the police. She reached around for her backpack. It wasn’t on her shoulders. She had left it in the science hall. She needed a phone. Where was Willow’s?
At that point, Kennedy first noticed her roommate staring at her from her bed. Under the covers beside her was someone Kennedy had never met. At the beginning of the semester, she might have been surprised, but right now she didn’t care what Willow was doing or who she was doing it with. She just had to let the police know Vinny was after her.
“I need your phone.”
Willow raised an eyebrow.
“I’m sorry,” Kennedy panted. “It’s an emergency. And ...” She turned her back. “Well, sorry for barging in.”
Willow swept her blanket off. “Don’t worry. We’re still decent.”
Over the course of the semester, Kennedy had grown to enjoy Willow and her carefree style, but right now she needed someone whose brain functioned faster than a viscous gelatin. “I just saw Vinny,” she panted. “I need your phone.”
Any minute, Kennedy expected to hear Vinny pounding on the door outside. She wondered how much damage she’d do to Willow’s computer if she slid it and the whole desk against the door as a barricade. Why was Willow just reclining there with that dazed, questioning expression? Didn’t she realize Kennedy was the one person Vinny wanted dead more than anyone else?
“Where is your phone?” she panted.
“You say you saw Vinny?” Willow’s voice was softer than normal. Subdued. Almost gentle.
“I ran all the way here.” For just a minute, confusion mingled with the acidic fear that raged and foamed in Kennedy’s stomach. “He was right behind me.”
Willow stood up. Slowly. As if she was afraid of hurting Kennedy if she moved too fast. She reached out her bejeweled hand. Softly squeezed Kennedy’s shoulder with those long, painted nails. “That cute journalist you’d been talking to stopped by this morning. You know, the ginger?” Willow stared at the wall behind Kennedy and took a deep breath. “He wanted to ask if you’d heard the news. Vinny’s been in custody since last night.”
- Writer
