Devin
My apartment looks foreign asI look around.
It feels like a million years since I’ve been inside these walls. It doesn’t even really seem like home anymore. Sebastian’s place feels more like home than here. Probably because it’s my safe haven, my security blanket. Even though I needed a change of scenery for a little bit, I find the comfort and solace there.
I stroll down the hall, feeling a thousand pounds lighter, or more like one-hundred-fifty Crystal-shaped pounds lighter. Grabbing my duffle from the floor near my bed, I head into the bathroom and grab a few essentials: my hair brush, a new pack of birth control, my perfume. Sebastian ordered stuff for me and had it delivered, but it’s not the same as your own things.
Back into the bedroom, I pull a few things from my drawers and toss them into the bag.
Laptop!
I need my computer. All my files for work are on there, and I need to get back to my job, Sebastian and I both. He’s been doing a lot from home, but me? Not so much. It’s been hard to concentrate on anything with Crystal on the loose.
As I near the end of the hall, I hear the dead bolt lock and the chain slide across.
“Sebastian,” I call out as I try to zip my duffle. “Everything okay at the office?”
Sebastian isn’t the person standing at the now locked door.
Crystal, who my brother assured me was taken off the streets last night, is glaring at me with an insane gleam in her eye and a crooked smile.
My next breath is lodged in my throat, and I feel like I’m going to pass out as stone-cold fear rises to the surface. There is no doubt in my mind this woman is here to kill me.
Where did she come from?
How did she get out of jail?
How did she escape? Again? From a jail cell?
Sebastian! How’d she waltz right past him and get inside?
Flashbacks from my dream pop into my mind, playing tricks on me.
Is this a dream?
Did she kill Sebastian?
Oh my God... Sebastian.
I swallow thickly and ask the question I don’t know if I want the answer to. “Where’s Sebastian?”
She clucks her tongue. “It took you guys long enough to get here.” The pitch of her voice is high. “Trouble in paradise already?” She tilts her head to the side. “With all that’s going on, he just left you on your own as soon as you thought I was out of the picture?”
“Where is he?” I ask again, trying not to throw up thinking about all she’s capable of.
She pushes away from the door and heads in my direction.
Every part of my being is screaming at me to run. But where? If I run down the hall, I’m only trapping myself in a room. There’s no way I’d get out a window before she caught me. But maybe I could alert Sebastian to trouble.If he’s still alive.
She nears, and my heart is beating so damn fast I have black spots forming in the corner of my eyes.
Do not pass out, Devin. If you pass out, you are done for.
She turns into the kitchen but looks back over her shoulder. “He’s outside. On the phone, I believe discussing something about a new campaign.”
What the hell is she doing?She rummages through my drawer and cabinets like she’s looking for a snack.
Keep calm. Don’t panic. Try to stall her. Sebastian is alive and just outside the door.
