She can’t be. She was texting me this morning. Asking for help. Needing me.
I feel the bile rise in my throat.
Joe.Joe.
She wasn’t perfect, but she was often the only thing between me and him.
Who’s going to stop him now?
I grip the edge of the chair to keep from falling apart, but sober when I hearhisname.
“I’m sorry,” I rasp. “What about Joe?”
“He’s missing,” the younger officer replies. “His fingerprints were found on the weapon. He’s our prime suspect. Do you know where he might’ve gone?”
The air vanishes from my lungs. My ears ring. The heat rushes to my face, then drains all at once. My stomach twists. Mybody seizes in on itself.
Oh, fuck.
I try to breathe. I really, really try. But everything tilts… and the world goes black.
∞∞∞
Slowly, my eyes blink open to a blurry ceiling, and a room full of even blurrier adults hovering above me.
What the hell…? What am I doing on the floor?
“Lina? Oh, thank God!”
I turn my head toward the voice. A familiar woman kneels at my side, her face swimming into focus. Mrs. Smith. Then, it hits me.
The front office. The social worker. The cops. My mom. The gun. Joe.
The air seemingly becomes thinner, and panic floods me like ice water. My sight starts blurring again. My fingers twitch helplessly against the tile floor.
That’s when the school nurse rushes in. She’s silver haired with a voice that’s calm but firm.
“Lina? You need to breathe, honey. Just breathe with me. In… out. In… out.”
She kneels beside me, guiding my breath with her own. I lock onto her kind eyes. My lungs rebel at first, stuttering with every inhale, but slowly, I match her rhythm. In. Out. Again. We repeat the cycle until my chest stops caving in, and my heart rate eases out of “impending stroke” range.
“There you go,” the nurse murmurs.
I swipe at the wet trails on my cheeks, but the tears don’tstop. They just keep falling, hot and relentless. Mrs. Smith is still watching me with sympathy carved into every line of her face. She looks at me with pity. I hate it.
“My mom’s dead?” I manage, voice sandpapered raw.
She nods, slowly. Like she’s afraid I’ll break again.
I let my head drop back against the cold tile and stare up at the ceiling.
Huh.
One of the panels has a water stain shaped like Texas. Funny what your brain notices when your whole world is going up in flames.
Well, this fucking blows.
“So… now what?”
