Page 110 of Until Nalia
“I…” My stomach sinks. “She was talking to a friend, Evelyn, but she didn’t come to meet me back in line. I thought she had come back here because the show started.”
“It’s okay we’ll find her,” he tells me softly before he gets up. I apologize to everyone around us trying to watch the show then hustle down the aisle with Logan right behind me.
“Where did you see her last?” He asks when we get out the door, and I spin around to face him.
“Over near the cafeteria.” I start ahead of him, going in that direction with my heart pounding. I know that I should not be as worried as I am; she’s not a little girl and would never just leave with someone. She would also scream the roof down if someone tried to kidnap her. Still, terror is sitting in the pit of my stomach, making it hard to breathe.
“I’m going to be sick,” I tell Logan when we get to the cafeteria and find it completely empty. Not even the women who were in here earlier are around.
“We’re going to find her.”
“But where did she go? She was talking to a friend; she was supposed to meet me back at the concession stand. Where is she?” I look around, and he does the same, but the room is still empty
“What’s going on?” My dad asks walking up to join us with Logan’s dad right behind him.
“I don’t know where Zuri is,” I tell him, as Logan takes the popcorn I’m still holding and spilling all over the place because my hands are shaking.
“Do you have your cell phone?” Logan asks me after I explain the situation to my dad and his.
“Yes.”
“Alright, I want you to go check the girls’ bathroom. While you do that, we’re going to split up and ask anyone we come across if they’ve seen her.”
“Okay.” I take out my cell, and the screen comes to life the photo is one I took of Billie, Zuri, and Cooper during movie night last weekend. Seeing it, my throat tightens.
“We’ll find her, baby,” Logan whispers, and my dad says something along the same lines before we all split up.
Thirty-Three
LOGAN
With Nico headed down one hall and my dad going down another, I stop at the concession stand to ask the two women working behind the counter if they’ve seen Zuri, showing them the picture of her and Coop Ma sent a few weeks ago. Neither of them has, but they do tell me they overheard a group of kids talking about going outside to shoot hoops.
Even though I doubt that Zuri would leave, since she really wanted to see Billie perform and I know she wouldn’t just leave without talking to Nalia, I figure it’s as good a place as any to start looking. I start towards the front exit, stopping to look inside the classrooms and restrooms, I pass on the way but all of them are empty, and I haven't passed a single person.
As I’m getting ready to push through the door to go outside, I hear shouting coming from down the hall and start to jog that direction. The closer I get, the more apparent it becomes that something has happened. Over the echo of my footsteps bouncing off the hallway walls, I can hear a girl screaming and multiple other voices, but none of them sound familiar.
I get closer to the double doors that lead into the gym, and the view through the small glass panel in the middle comes into perspective. I can see a group of boys surrounding a girl with blonde hair. I swing the door open, and all eyes turn my direction, including the girl I assumed was Zuri. It’s not her, but when her eyes lock with mine, she looks relieved while the boys all instantly pale.
“Run,” one of the boys yells and Matthew, who is among them, takes off to the door that leads to outside with two other boys running out right behind him.
“Zuri is stuck behind the bleachers.” The girl the boys had surrounded tells me as she runs over to the side of the bleachers that are shoved flat against the wall. I follow behind her and stop at the end of the bleachers as she attempts to look behind them by pressing her face against the wall. “Zuri!” she yells as I scan the bleachers for the mechanism to release them. “She’s not answering. Zuri!” she yells louder.
Finally, finding the switch, I hit it, but nothing happens. I hit it again, still nothing.
Pressing the side of my face to the wall, I look behind the bleachers, there’s barely five inches of space. I can just make out Zuri she looks like she’s asleep which sends fear spiraling down my spine.
Worried that the pressure from the weight of the steps has crushed her chest, I run around to the front of the stairs and pull from the bottom, hoping that if I use enough force, I can get it to unlock and gravity will do the rest. It takes me multiple tries before I’m finally able to yank the steps free, and I have to jump out of the way as they come sliding out in one swift woosh. With my heart racing, I jog behind the now descended steps to the empty, angled space where Zuri is lying on the ground. I fall to my knees next to her and press my fingers to her neck, checking for a pulse. It’s there, steady and strong, and her chest is moving.
Thank fuck.
“Is she okay?” her friend asks, and I look up at her as I adjust Zuri’s body so she’s flat on her back.
“Yes, but I want you to go and tell the first person you see to call 911.”
“But?”
“Go get help, run as fast as you can.”
