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The blare of the horn stops. Silence reigns again.
Despite his collision with the steering wheel, Craig is still conscious. Yet he doesn’t make a sound as he’s shoved to his knees beside the SUV. He simply stares forward, his eyes sparking with terror.
I turn away from the window, suddenly dizzy. I collapse against the wall, sliding down it, feeling the floor rise up to meet me. Just before everything again goes dark, Craig finally screams.
•••
Later.
I don’t know how long.
I’m on the floor in one of the bedrooms. My room. I recognize the quilts on the wall. Water trickles beneath the door. I don’t know where it’s coming from. A burst pipe? A flood?
All I know is that I’m wet and bleeding and more scared than I’ve ever been in my life. When I whimper, Rodney says,You’ll be okay. We’ll both be okay.
He’s huddled beside me, one of the quilts from the wall thrown over his shoulders. There’s blood in his hair.
Where’s Betz?I whisper.
Rodney doesn’t answer.
Outside the room, everything is quiet. Even the crickets. Even the trees and the leaves. But then a sound emerges on the other side of the door.
Footsteps.
Slow, cautious ones that slosh through the water in the hall. Each one reminds me of my mother’s mop sliding across the kitchen floor.
Slick-swish.
Slick-swish.
They stop just on the other side of the door.
I look to Rodney, my eyes asking the question I dare not speak:Did you lock the door?
He nods. The doorknob rattles.
Then something slams against the door, bending it, wood bulging outward. Fear lifts me to my feet as the door is rocked by another slam. It bursts open and I see a knife, glinting darkly.
I scream.
I close my eyes.
The knife pushes into my gut. Filling me. A steel-sharp rape. I take a rattling breath through gritted teeth as the blade is pulled out and I slump to the floor.
Quincy, no!
It’s Rodney, pushing past me, throwing his body in front of mine. I don’t open my eyes. I can’t. The lights have gone out. All I can do is listen to the scuffle moving out of the room and into the hall. I hear Rodney grunting and cursing and shoving.
Then a single, strangled yelp.
Then nothing.
•••
Later still.
I wake again in the wet room. My room.