Laney
He knows. He knows. He knows.
The chant inside my head went on and on, tormenting me with its relentless dread and darkness. This whole time, I’d been walking around about to step on a landmine, and I had no idea.
Clutching my phone in a white-knuckled grip, I dialed my mom’s number. “Please pick up,” I muttered as it rang on the other end.
It went to voicemail.
Sucking down a shaky breath, I left a quick message and slipped my phone back in my pocket. Then I grabbed a bag and packed a few essentials—clothes, toiletries, laptop, chargers. Once it was stuffed full, zipper barely making it to the other end, I dashed outside.
I had to get the hell out of here. Go back to Silvercreek.
When Hunter revealed the truth to me earlier, I ran away from him like a firecracker had been lit under me, blood draining from my face and heart hammering so hard in my chest I thought it might explode.
Then the shock finally set in. It felt like I’d fallen off a cliff and landed flat on my back, and the jarring impact had knocked every puff of air from my lungs. I went numb. Silent. Completely stunned.
After Adam and Trina caught up to me and asked me how it went with Hunter, I managed to squawk out a lie about him refusing to speak to me. They weren’t stupid—they knew something was wrong. So I lied again and told them I suddenly had awful period cramps.
It wasn’t like I could tell them the truth. No way. They loved me now, but if they knew who I really was and what I was capable of, that love would turn to horrified disgust and hatred in the blink of an eye.
I would deserve it, too.
I spent the rest of the school day in a daze, mind floating somewhere else and body rigid as a board. After classes were finally over, I begged off my afternoon plans with my friends by mumbling the lie about cramps again. Then I went back to my dorm and crawled into bed, still reeling from the terrible shock.
I wanted to hide under the covers until everything went away. Wanted to disappear.
Time rushed by in a blink, and when I finally dragged myself out of bed, it was after eight and dark outside.
The numbness had faded by then, and I realized I couldn’t hide forever. Hunter might have waited this long with the ticking time bomb of information he had on me, but I didn’t know how much longer that would last. He might blow my life up next month, next week, or tomorrow. Hell, he might even do it tonight.
That was when I decided to pack up and make a run for it.
As I headed across the Blair Hall parking lot, I grabbed my phone and tried to reach my mom again to let her know that I was on my way home. She needed to know that her life might blow up at any minute, because she was just as involved in the situation as me.
The call went to voicemail again. I let out a frustrated groan and walked faster, gulping down harsh, frantic breaths as a hundred different questions flooded my mind.
How did Hunter find out what I did?
How long had he known, and how much did he know? Did he know my mom was there that night, helping me out, or did he think I was the only one involved? Did he know every single detail of what I did, or did he only know the basics?
More importantly… what was he planning to do with his knowledge?
Surely he had something huge and terrible in mind to put me in my place, like the ruling god he thought he was. Otherwise he would’ve just gone to the police and had me arrested.
I shivered at the thought and whipped my head around to make sure the parking lot was empty. I didn’t want anyone to see me leaving RFA in a hurry, because that information could make its way back to Hunter.
If he knew I was trying to flee, he might reveal my awful secret to the world right away, to ensure that I didn’t make it more than a few miles before everything and everyone caught up with me, coming for my neck like villagers with pitchforks and torches.
Swallowing thickly, I sped up again, feet flying over the asphalt as I hurried toward my car at the far end of the parking lot.
It was cold out here, with thick fog hanging in the air. The wrought iron lampposts lining either side of the lot gave off a yellow glow that looked sickly against the gray haze, and in the distance, the Blair Hall dorm windows looked fuzzy, light dissipating in the cold mist lingering beyond them. It made me feel like I was stepping through a big, eerie cloud. I couldn’t wait to reach the safety of my car.
When I was about ten yards away from it, I thought I heard a rustling from the dense patch of woods beyond the eastern side of the lot. Then I heard the slow crunch of footsteps on dead leaves. I stopped and whirled around, eyes saucer-wide.
There was nothing there. I was imagining things.
I finally reached my car and stashed my bag in the trunk. Then I looked down and let out a defeated groan, chest tightening as sickness rose in my throat.