Page 21 of Liars

A shiver raced down my spine as I stared at her picture. She couldn’t have been much older than me. Younger perhaps. Crystal Martin. I didn’t know her, but she could have easily been Kenny or me.

The thought too depressing, I went to search for my friends, knowing they were more likely to check their socials than their emails. I sent Carson and Kenny a message, telling them I needed to see them. Tonight. I had no money and no credit card on me, so an Uber was out of the question. I told themto message me their phone numbers and go to Elmwood Public at midnight. It was the closest landmark I could think of, considering it would be my new school. I’d call them to get me once I figured out where the fuck I was.

Now I just had to sneak out undetected.

Shouldn’t be impossible. It wasn’t like this house was Fort Knox.

I waited until the darkness blanketed the sky and the house grew silent. I didn’t know Donovan or his household well enough to know their schedule, but I figured any time after midnight had to be safe. Of course, there were the security cameras and Evan to deal with, but I had a plan.

Getting outside wasn’t the hard part. The bigger obstacle was getting off the grounds to call my friends.

Outside my bedroom window, the four-seasons room’s roof sat just below. All I had to do was open the window, climb onto the roof, and crawl to the tree at the far corner. Its branches hung over the roof, tapping and scraping along the shingles.

Leaving my room to sneak out required more skill and planning with Evan lingering in the hall. This way, I could avoid the guard, and hopefully, by the time the cameras picked me up, I’d be sprinting through the grass.

Fully dressed in black, thanks to the closet of new clothes, I wedged open the window and shimmied the screen out of place, propping it against the wall in my room. Quite the fucking task when you had only one good arm. I dragged the chair from my desk to the window and climbed up, slipping through the window. Sitting on the ledge, I swung my feet out beforedropping onto the roof. Because I wasn’t fabulous with heights, I crouched down, using my hand to steady myself.

I got to the edge near the tree without a problem. The branches were thick enough that they should hold my weight without a problem. I just had to get my leg over and shimmy down to the trunk. From there, it was a quick jump to the ground.

Easy-peasy.

Except, it wasn’t.

Everything went wrong.

Especially when I remembered I was really only working with one arm.

What the hell am I thinking?

I was too far gone to back out now. I had to commit.

I hooked my leg over the branch, my fingers secured on the wood. So far, so good until I started to slide down. I wasn’t sure what happened. One minute, the bark was tugging on my jeans, and the next…

I fell on my ass.

Hard.

As if my body hadn’t already been through some shit the last week. I had to go and torment it some more. It took a few moments before I could move, my brain catching up to the fact I’d fallen out of a tree.

“Just great,” I grumbled, pushing to my feet and brushing off my hands. If it hadn’t been for the grass, I would have more than a bruised ass, and luckily, the ground wasn’t frozen solid yet.

The moon hung low in the sky, its pale light casting long, jagged shadows across the lawn and the woods bordering the house. My breath fogged in the cool night air as I crept through the backyard, the soft crunch of damp grass beneath my sneakers barely audible over the hammering of my heart.

The time I’d spent memorizing the layout, every hallway, every exit, and every camera angle paid off. Here I was just steps away from freedom. I could taste it.

The front gate was out of the question, which meant I had to scale the stone wall at the edge of the yard. It stood in front of me, dark and unyielding as I approached. Beyond it, my friends waited just a phone call away, ready to help me figure out what to do next. I rubbed my chilled fingers together, the adrenaline coursing through my veins drowning out the whispers of doubt.

Could I do this? The wall was suddenly daunting as it loomed in front of me.

There was only one way to find out.

As I moved closer, a voice sliced through the stillness. “Leaving so soon? And before we got a chance to get to know one another.”

I froze, my blood turning cold. Slowly, I turned to see a figure emerge from the shadows near the house. Even before a slice of moonlight cut across his face, I knew which Corvo had caught me. His voice. It wasn’t one I would likely forget despite how much I might wish to.

Kreed.

7

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