Her hands rests on the handle, and we share a look before I nod with approval. She pushes it open, and I watch her face the entire time.
As soon as her eyes land on the wall in front of her, she clasps her hands to her chest. “Who is this monster?”
She takes the light from my hands and holds it up. “This is sick, Jagger. So fucking sick.”
I don't say anything, but I agree with her. Whoever this person is has some sort of sick obsession with Scar. The crazy thing is, it doesn’t appear to be a sexual obsession, but more of a scorned one, as if this person blames her for something—similar to Neo’s obsession with revenge on her because of Maddie.
When Scar reaches for a picture, I blurt out, “Don’t touch anything!” Her hand jerks away, and I lower my voice. “I’m sure he knows we’re here right now, but he might not know we found this room.”
Crew went on a rampage, ripping down pictures of Scar, and we did our best to hide the evidence of our findings, but we’re still not sure if we were inconspicuous enough. Either way, we don’t want to piss this person off any more than we have by being here in the first place.
A loud thud has both our eyes shooting in the direction of the sound. “What was that?”
I press my finger to my lips. “Stay here,” I whisper.
“No. No, no, no,” she repeats to herself.
Looking around on the floor, I spot another piece of old pipe, this one with a sharp end that could slice someone in half. I crouch down and pick it up, then tell her again, “Stay. I mean it.”
She nods her head in rapid movements, and I hope she means it.
Soft, slow steps lead me back out into the main room. When my eyes land on the door, I roar, “Son of a bitch!”
In two seconds flat, she’s at my side, light in hand. “What happened?” She spots the door, seeing what I see. “It’s shut. What does that mean, Jagger?”
“Let’s hope like hell it means nothing.” I hurry over to it, Scar hot on my trail. When I grab the handle and turn it, it’s confirmed…we’re locked in.
“Is it locked? Tell me it’s not locked,” she chirps in my ear with her head nuzzled against my back.
My hands drop to my sides, letting the pipe fall to the ground. “It’s locked. And unless we find another exit, we’re stuck in here.”
ChapterThirteen
SCAR
“Stuck!”I blurt out. “No. There has to be another way out.” I look around the room, but I only see four walls with shelves running the width of them, and the door to “my” room.
Jagger turns around, facing me. “Don’t worry, we’ll find a way out. This creep can’t keep us down here forever.”
His words do nothing to settle my unease because we have no idea what this lunatic’s plan is. We have no food. We have no water. And when the sconce begins flickering, I realize, it’s only a matter of time before we have no light.
“Let me see that.” He reaches for our only light source and I hand it over. I follow closely behind him while he searches for another exit. I’m so close the toes of my boots hit the back of his with every step we take.
After minutes of pacing the room, we’ve found nothing. I finally stop tailing him because I’m certain no one else is down here. If there was, we would know by now. We might be stuck, but at least we’re safe, for now.
With my back pressed to the door to the adjoined room, I slide down to the floor. Knees bent, I hug my legs to my chest. “This is pointless,” I tell Jagger, who is still searching for some sort of miracle. “We’re not getting out until we’re let out.”
“Fuck that. We’re getting the hell outta here.”
I like his confidence, but I can also tell he’s getting really pissed at the situation, as am I, but stress has also exhausted me. So for now, I’ll sit here and let him figure this shit out.
More minutes pass. I’m not sure how many, sixty maybe. I’m thirsty. I’m hungry, and I’m tired. The game has to be over by now and Crew is probably losing his mind, trying to figure out where I am.
Why was I so stupid?I should have never come down here in the first place. Then again, I’m glad it happened this way because had I not told Jagger, I would have tried doing this all on my own. I like to think of myself as a strong girl, but I think The Academy is starting to break me little by little.
My head lifts when Jagger taps his knuckles to a wall. “What are you doing?”
“Someone slammed a door in here when we were in the other room. There has to be another exit somewhere.”