Page 9 of Locke 2

No more of these damn fantasies of a man taking what he wanted, coercing me to do vile things—

It. Had. To. Stop.

Nick wrote me a script with a promise of a follow up. The doctor personally walked me out of the office and to thefront desk, and I could tell Miss I-Hate-People-Who-Yawn was surprised by that.

“I really like the office,” I said as we departed. “With the pictures and the cabin…It’s really cozy and interesting. Thanks for sharing your memories.”

He grinned, chuffed by the compliment. “Well, it’s a place to get away when it gets too much. In fact, if you need a getaway, I got the hook up.”

I smiled. “You’d let a stranger into your cabin?”

His eyes surprisingly held mine. “You’d be no stranger, I hope.”

Yawn-Hater gaped at him, clearly upset with whatever she was seeing. I gave him a lingering look, trying to muster my old flirty self. “I’ll keep that in mind, Nick.”

Yawn-Hater wasn’t happy I used his first name, either. Old Kali might have stuck her tongue at her, but I chewed down on mine instead.

His eyes lingered on me all the way to the door, and I couldn’t help but feel relieved he hadn’t asked me out.

I wasn’t ready.

I worried I’d never be.

Just the act of flirting with him made me feel like I’d done something wrong.

“You betrayed him.” Aurora scowled up at me as I hurried down the path to the school.

“I did not,” I snapped back. “It’s been over a year.”

“Whose fault is that?”

Oh, my God. “Go away, Aurora.”

“Kicking me out of your head already? When will you stop running from what you’re scared of?”

“I’m not running—” I spun around to look down at her, my voice on the brink of a shout.

She wasn’t there.

My heartbeat was going a million miles an hour. Tears dotted my vision. It was a good thing no one was around to watch me lose it, and yet I was beginning to panic. I looked around, searching.

“Come back,” I whispered. “Aurora?”

Nothing but stillness greeted me.

Five

Kali

Patsy gave me the stink eye when I showed up twenty minutes late. I grovelled and apologised and almost considered asking her if she’d like me to perform a blood sacrifice to prove how sorry I was, but I shoved that asshole Kali deep away.

The day consisted much of the usual, except it was expected I would be on recess duty most of the days now that Patsy was too delicate to walk around. I gave her a bit of a stink eye though because she had quietly scheduled a trail walk with the principal that very weekend to some nature park so she could do some bird watching.

There was a lot of bush around Georgewel, and it wasn’t the kind of bush that always had pretty little trails. If Patsy Butte could bushwhack Georgewel’s steep terrains and thick forests to look at colourful birds, why couldn’t she do a bit of recess duty?

I made sure the donation lunch basket was loaded. I knew Lenny enjoyed fishing out the meat sticks, but they were alwayscleaned out. I started to make sure to slip one in the exact moment I knew he was going to it. It meant keeping a close eye on him, which I didn’t mind doing.

Lenny intrigued me. He was independent and he never caused a fuss, but that very quiet nature made him invisible among the kids.

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