Rachel’s head throbbed, and her ears were ringing. She sat up
slowly, trying to will her eyes into focus. It wasn’t working. The room seemed
to spin around her. What the hell had happened?
Slowly she began to see small details. People still littered the
floor, although they didn’t look dead. People were walking among them, and she
could hear the sounds of their voices, although they were faint.
She squinted. Cops.
“Help…” she croaked. “Help me.”
“This one is awake!” One of the officers yelled out, and waved his
arm towards her. Then, in a few steps, he was next to her. “You okay? Don’t
worry, we’re here to help.”
As calm and collected as the officer was, Rachel still didn’t feel
safe. She couldn’t figure out what had happened. Those guys had rushed in, and
then… Chad had been hurt, and then something bright and blue, and she
remembered herself being lifted off her feet. Then her memory stopped.
“We got a corpse!” Another officer was yelling in the background?”
“Chad?” The name slipped past her lips, barely a whisper.
She was on her feet, looking around the room, her eyes finally in
focus. The ringing in her ears had been replaced by the sounds of cops rushing
in, sirens blaring in the background. She looked around.
Chad stood at the door front door, Alice by his side. They both
looked unharmed, and completely calm.
How? How could Chad be standing? One of those guys had beaten his brains
in. He should be bruised and bleeding on a stretcher, not upright and… and
smiling?
Alice looked at her, and Rachel felt a chill run down her spine.
Her friend’s eyes, which had once been so warm and friendly, were now cold and
distant. She was smiling as well, but it was one of those smiles that never
seemed to reach the eyes. It was a mask.
“Your friend Chad is fine.” The officer next to her was speaking. “He’s
the one who called it in.”
Rachel couldn’t speak. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the two
people standing in front of her.
Something was very wrong, and her gut was telling her that it was
about to get even worse.
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