Page 43 of Locke 2

Don’t kill her.

Kill me instead.

Twenty-One

Kali

When I opened my eyes, I knew someone was there. I looked into the black corner, knowing it was looking back at me.

Fear rose in my throat. My flight response kicked in. I knew I should scream, but I didn’t. I just stared at the corner of my room, feeling the terror and my heart rapidly beating in my chest.

“Locke.”

I said his name as if willing the dark presence to be him.

Please, be him.

The shuffling sound disturbed the silence. It was so slight, yet it made me jump the same way a scream would.

A footstep sounded.

Then another.

A body emerged from the blackness. The silhouetted lines of a giant man in a suit. My vision spotted and then cleared. I let out a heavy breath and felt dizzy. Relief should have slammed into me when I recognized it to be Locke, but there was something all wrong about him. He was too stiff, too wrong as he approached me.

Yes, something about him was all wrong.

I clenched my pillow tightly as I waited for him to respond. When he didn’t, I reached my hand out. “You’re scaring me. Say something.”

I felt his eyes on my hand. A few moments dragged out before I felt his fingers lightly brush along the tips of mine. He didn’t hold my hand, though.

I sat up, my tiredness dissipating as I began to grow panicked. “Is it Lenny? Did you find him?”

Was he hurt? Was that why Locke was off? I began to tremble.

“No,” he answered.

My heart didn’t settle. “Then what is it?”

He continued to stand there, unmoving, but I felt his eyes on me. “How did you know?”

“Know what?”

“That there was something sinister going on with him. How did you know?”

I swallowed and looked down at my now clasped hands. “I recognized myself in him.”

The silence went on for a breath and then two. “Kids come from bad homes all the time.”

“Yes, I know.”

“It’s a big leap to think this boy is in danger.” His tone hardened. “So, how did you know? What about him gave that away?”

I shrugged now, lost because I couldn’t exactly put it into words. “I don’t know, Locke…a feeling. I just…Something’s not right. Please, believe me.”

He didn’t say anything. I looked up at him, trying to observe him in the dark. My eyes had long adjusted by now, but I sensed that even if the light had been on, it wouldn’t help me discern the man. His silence was unnerving. Then I thought about what he said… He was pretty much asking how I knew something sinister was going on, and if he was asking that—

My heart paused. “You found something.”

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