I tried to remain calm, telling myself this would pass. Like last night, it would pass, and I’d feel okay again.
The coughing intensified. I looked up, squinting to see Ethan. He was still searching the desk. I couldn’t put him in danger. Until I knew this would pass, I had to get away from Ethan. I moved as quickly as my body would allow, past the two other storage garages on the end of Ethan’s and around the corner. I came to a door that said “Office.” I stopped and stared at it. I could see movement on the other side of the cloudy glass window in the door. If I went inside, I could make this feeling stop, but it would make someone’s heart stop, too.
I bent forward, putting my hands on my hips and struggling to get air into my lungs. They felt the size of shriveled peas. It wasn’t stopping. Last night had been a fluke. If I didn’t do something soon, I was going to die.
I took a step toward the door and reached for the doorknob, but before my fingers grasped it, I stopped. I couldn’t do this anymore. I couldn’t kill to save myself. Just because my life had ended early and I felt like the universe owed me something, I didn’t have the right to decide my life was more important than someone else’s.
I eased myself to the ground, coughing and choking on the air, which felt as heavy as concrete. My body went cold and rigid. My legs stuck out in front of me, and my back leaned up against the building. I had only minutes left. This was my last chance to change my mind. To save myself.
The will to live took hold of me and battled my brain. I tried to stand, to get to the office, but my conscience worked against me, slowing me, letting death catch up to me.
The office door opened, and a man smoking a cigar stepped out. He was humming as he counted a handful of rubber-banded bills. I stuck my foot out, tripping him. He stumbled forward, and I cursed myself for being weak. He fell a few feet away from me, still too far for me to touch.
“Sorry, I didn’t see you there,” he said, assuming he’d tripped over me, never suspecting I was trying to take him down. He grabbed the money and quickly pocketed it.
I swallowed, getting a tiny sip of air in my body.
“Do you need help? You don’t look so good.” He looked up at the sky. “Is it the sun? Heatstroke maybe? It’s unusually hot today.”
I couldn’t answer. His cigar had fallen out of his mouth when I tripped him, and it rolled toward me. I extended my finger toward it.
“Oh, there it is.” He picked up the cigar, grazing my finger with his hand.
I swallowed another sip of air. The slightest touches were keeping me from death, but how long would this last? How long could I hold out?
He bent down next to me. “Tell you what, I’m going to call 911 for you. You could probably use an IV or something to rehydrate.” He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out his phone.
My fingers crept toward him, lured by the heat coming from his body.
“Yes, this is George Peterson down at—” He stopped and stared at his phone. “Damn cell reception. I lost the call. They probably didn’t hear any of that.” My head lolled to the side, and I fell toward him. He dropped his phone and reached for me, supporting my head in his hands.
His touch sent waves of warmth to my freezing cold body. I shivered and then warmed. I breathed in—short, raspy breaths. Not enough. I raised one hand and waved George toward me.
“What is it? Did you want to tell me something?” He leaned toward my face, waiting to hear what it was I had to say.
I raised my hand to his neck, and he thought I was trying to pull him closer. He leaned down farther, allowing me to press my other palm against his chest. Instantly his life began to leave his body and enter mine. Air filled my lungs. I felt the warmth of my blood flow throughout my body.
George made a gurgling sound, and my eyes snapped to his face. He was shriveling at my touch. His body caved into itself, and his eyes pleaded with me as the life drained out of them. He slumped forward on me. My body shook with tears that threatened to spill out. I was so weak. Too weak to let myself die. To put an end to all of this. I hated myself, hated the monster within me.
“Sam?” Ethan called.
Oh, God! He couldn’t find me like this. He knew about the body at the gas station and at school. If he found me near George right now, he might start to piece things together, figure out the common factor in all the deaths. Me.
I scrambled to my feet and opened the office door. I dragged George by his feet until he was in the office. I locked the door behind us. It would be difficult to explain later if Ethan found me in here, but at least it would buy me time to hide the body. I dragged George behind the counter and made sure none of his limbs were sticking out. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered, as if the words could help him. Satisfied that no one would find George before Ethan and I got out of here, I put my ear to the door and listened for Ethan.
A knock made me jump. The doorknob jiggled.
“Hello?” Ethan called. “Anybody working today?”
I stayed frozen in place, afraid the slightest move would give me away. If I could hear Ethan, then he could hear me, too. I waited for him to leave before peeking out the cloudy window on the door. No sign of him, but I had to be careful. The window didn’t allow me to see down the row of storage containers. Ethan could be standing two units down, and I wouldn’t know it until I’d stepped out of the office and fully into his view.
My pulse thundered in my ears, limiting my hearing. I wanted to wait him out to make sure he was really gone, but the longer I stayed here, the more Ethan would worry, and my chance of lying my way out of the situation would decrease. I unlocked the door slowly, careful not to let it click back into place. I hesitated a few seconds to make sure Ethan hadn’t heard the lock, that he wasn’t coming back to look for me.
I turned the knob slowly until it wouldn’t turn anymore. Holding it in place, I pulled the door open an inch and peeked out. I didn’t see any shadows or movement, so I opened it a little more. Still nothing. I stepped out and pulled the door shut behind me. I glanced in both directions before bolting across the parking lot to the back of the building. Ethan wouldn’t come this way. He’d go back to the car thinking that’s where I’d gone.
I followed the building around to the front gate. My only chance was to come up on the car and pretend I’d gotten turned around since all the garages looked the same. Once again, I had to play dumb, no matter how much I hated it. But there were a lot of things about my life that I hated these days.
Ethan came out of garage 1221 as I walked up to the car. “What happened? Where were you?”
“I got lost.” I turned around and looked at the building, pretending to be confused by the layout. “I went back to the car because I got some dirt or something in my eye, but someone yelled for help.”
“Really? I didn’t hear anyone.” Ethan scrunched up his face.
“I guess it’s tough to hear outside noises from the storage garage. You were all the way in the back of it.” It scared me how easily the lies spilled from my lips. He nodded, waiting for me to continue. “I thought it was you calling me at first, so I followed the voice. But it turned out to be some guy who lost his passkey and couldn’t get in the gate. I didn’t know how to get the gate open without a key, so he ended up calling the office for help. After that, I had a little trouble remembering how to get back here. I think the heat is messing with my head.” I could thank George for that excuse.
“Well, unfortunately, I have some bad news.”
So many things came to mind. He’d found the manager’s body. His family had called and said they were checking the cottage in case Ethan was hiding out there.