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“Daxon is number one, and Mason number twenty-five.” He points out into the field.
Nodding, I start to look around the field and around me. This is insane. In all my years in high school, I never once have ever been to a football game. And all this is weird.
There’s commotion everywhere. People clapping and cheering, food being passed around and shared. The queens are even doing a good job getting the crowd going with their jumping and yelling.
“You all right?” Colton says to me, breaking me out of my thoughts.
“Um, yeah. I think.” I really want to tell him that I’m leaving. This isn’t my scene. These aren’t the people I want to be around. But I don’t. “You know, I think I want one of those pretzels. I’m gonna go get one.”
“No, stay here. I’ll go grab you one.” Colton gets up and heads down the bleachers.
“Must be nice having three guys ready to do anything for you,” Liz remarks over the noise of the crowd.
I grimace. “It’s not. It’s annoying as fuck. I needed to pee, too. Fuck. I’ll be right back. I’m gonna go head over to the restrooms.”
“You are going to have to go to the fitness center. They keep those open during games.” Liz points.
“Okay, I’ll be back.” I get up to run down the bleacher stairs and start the trek across to the fitness center. I turn around and see the boys warming up and getting ready to take the field. As long as I see something, I’m sure the two of them will be happy, so I just need to hurry back.
When I get into the fitness center, I head towards the front restrooms by the gym. Oddly enough, they are locked. I walk down the hall towards the locker rooms and yank the door open. I head over to a stall and handle my business. As I am buttoning up my jeans, I hear the door open and shut to the locker room.
As soon as I reach for the door to the stall, the lights turn off.
“Are you fucking kidding me? Did the rich people not pay their power bill?” I hold up my phone to use as a flashlight, except my phone is such a piece of shit that I can only use the screen.
I open the door slowly and step out into the blackness, my phone only dimly lighting up the ground in front of me.
“This is absolutely ridiculous,” I mutter as I hold out my hand and try to reach out to anything in front of me so I can try to get out of here.
As I slowly and cautiously step along, I try to get my eyes to adjust to the dark. I reach out and find a wall, breathing a sigh of relief. Pressing my palm against the wall, I start to follow it around. You would think this place would have emergency flood lights or something. I make it out of the restroom section of the locker room and head down the hallway towards the door. At least I think I am. I can’t see shit.
Suddenly, I hit a mass in front of me, and I gasp as my phone drops to the floor. I reach up and touch what I just ran into. It’s not a wall. It’s person. Before I can utter a single word, a hand is wrapped around my throat, and I get shoved back into the wall.
I try to claw and kick at whoever has a hold of me, but they’re too strong. My head starts to get light as I struggle to take a breath of air. The hand squeezes tighter, and the fight I have left in me becomes me just trying to breathe. I stop struggling against my attacker as I feel myself start to slip under.
“Beautiful,” is all I hear before everything goes dark.
twenty-six
PHOENIX
“Phoenix!Phoenix! Breathe for me, baby. Wake up.”
“We need to call for help!”
“Phoenix, open your eyes for me. Come on, CT. I need you to wake up for me.”
I suddenly realize I can breathe and take a huge breath. My eyes fly open, and I see Colton and Liz crouched beside me. My panic flairs as the memory of what happened floods back into my mind.
“No!” I scream as I push back away from Colton. My voice sounds hoarse. My head swivels as I look for the person I ran into in the dark. “Where did he go?”
“Where did who go?” Colton tries to come closer, but I hold out a hand and slide back away from him.
“The guy … he was here … it was dark …” My hand flies to my throat. The pain from just trying to swallow is too much. I can feel the tears start to fall down my cheeks as I try to understand what the hell is going on. My mind is working overtime just trying to make sense of everything.
“What guy, Phoenix?” Colton holds up his hand and doesn’t try to move in on me. “What guy are you talking about?”
I shake my head. My breaths are still coming in hard and fast. I can feel my chest tighten, and the floor seems to shift under me. Did I dream this? Where did he go? I felt him.