Sensing he wasn’t going to delay any longer and with his distraction by Erica, I scanned the room.There had to be something.
Anything.
We needed to be able to defend against him.He was too big.I barely had a handful of lessons in self-defense.This man looked like murder was his usual daily mission.
My eyes landed on the metal coatrack near me.The only thing that I could use.Without hesitating, I reached for it.
The man noticed the movement and lunged, his knife flashing toward me.I closed my eyes, swung, and prayed.The clang of metal against metal scraping together echoed in the room.The force of his strike rattled through my arms, but I didn’t let go.
“Run,” I shouted to Janice, praying she’d take the chance.
“But—”
“Help, get help!”
The man growled in frustration, swinging his knife again.I practically jumped away, too scared to risk being so close to him.I pretended I was in gym class playing softball and swung the stand as hard as I could.
He stepped back to avoid it.The momentum almost made me fall, but I managed to keep my balance.
Suddenly, the door burst open and two nurses appeared, one with a fire extinguisher, the other already calling for security.
“Drop it!”the nurse barked out, raising her extinguisher like a weapon.
The man’s eyes darted to the door as he calculated his odds.He took one last look at Janice.“You’re going to be dead very soon.”
He turned and ran toward the nurses.They screamed as he swung his blade and jumped back.He shoved through the opening they created.A few seconds later, security guards were sprinting by, chasing after him.
I had a sneaking suspicion they weren’t going to get him.
For a moment, the room was silent except for the sound of my ragged breathing.Then Janice raced to my side.
“Cadence.”She reached for the coatrack, trying to pull it from me.
My fingers refused to loosen as I still clung onto it like the lifeline it had been for us.
“He’s gone.Backup is here.You can let go,” she said gently.
I finally forced myself to look at her and then at the coat rack.Despite being made of metal, it was warm in my grip.I blew out a breath and slowly forced myself to let go.
As soon as I did, she put it on the ground and then I was in her arms and we were both crying.I clung to her as my knees buckled and we both went to the ground.
Janice was whispering something over and over as she practically choked me.It took me a long time to hear her words.
“Thank you.Thank you.Thank you.Thank you.”
I squeezed her harder, never wanting to let her go.Never.
