How? How could he have known about this secret place? My head flies around the alley, up and down, racking my brain, trying to comprehend what this means. Then I spot it, the camera on the corner roof of the building opposite the store. He must have searched high and low for me, leaving no stone unturned. And then what? Came back here, just to leave the message. It couldn’t have been long ago; yesterday or even this morning.
That thought is enough to press the eject button in my brain. I drop the sash, like it’s on fire and leap to my feet, and run for my life. I’m in panic mode, running on a dangerous cocktail of fear and adrenaline. My feet slip and slide all over the pavement, and my lungs heave, my chest feeling like it’s going to burst.
I reach the gate, and don’t bother trying to open it; it’s always locked, so I use the electricity meter next to it to gain height and hoist myself up to the top of the fence. Scrambling over it, I drop to my feet on the other side with a thud.
And just like that, I’m free.
I begin to run, but I’m not fast enough. A hand seizes my arm in a firm grip and yanks me back. I scream and lash out in desperation, but his hold is too tight, pulling me into his body.
It’s him. He’s got me. I’m done.
“Tommy, she’s at the front!” a voice of a guy I’ve never heard yells out, and it takes a moment for the words to register.
That’s not Sergei’s voice.
I stop fighting, and the panic loosens its grip on me. Then I turn around and come face to face with a man with dark hair and blue eyes. I don’t reconise him, or the other guy running up behind him.
“You got her, Vin?” the man running asks.
The door to the store flings open and Tommy bursts out, taking one look at me and storming over.
“Lilly, what the fuck?” Tommy sounds disappointed and pissed. “I thought we were friends?”
No words leave my mouth. I can’t even breathe. I just stand there and let him lead me back to the car, slowly sinking further and further into a pit of despair.
Sergei is not giving up. He’s out there, and if I’m in Sydney, I will never be safe again.
We ride home in silence. The light banter and jokes from today are gone. I can feel the tension in the air, and by the time we arrive home, I had worked myself into a state.
And I did an exceptional job at it.
First, it started with a barrage of not kind words about my intellect. How could I not think Sergei would be watching and waiting for me to run?
That’s not smart.
This time it will be much more difficult to get away. Back then, I studied his habits, his tells, the way he moved and talked. No one could ever understand the workings of his mind, but I was close enough to know what to expect and plan around it.
Now, I’m in the dark, a sitting lamb.
As soon as we walk through the door, I run to my room to be alone and to process everything that happened today. Pacing back and forth a million times does little to settle my nerves, so I walk to the window desperate for some fresh air.
But it’s locked.
My throat tightens and the walls start to close in. There’s no air in here, and no way out.
A familiar feeling begins to take over my senses, but I try desperately to push it down. All I need is fresh air to settle the panic attack that threatens to consume me. I leave my room and go to another and attempt to open the window, but it’s locked as well.
I run to another.
Locked.
Then to the back door.
Locked.
Another window.
Locked.