A thousand plans raced through my mind, and a thousand times, I failed. That stupid door was heavy and always got stuck. There was no way I’d manage to open it before Chris got to me. No way.
But it wasn’t locked.
I knew it wasn’t.
And it was my only chance.
I surged forward, sprinting down the hallway, reaching out, my hand curling around the knob, twisting, turning, and with a yank so hard it jolted me back a step, the door was open. Streetlights blazed through the gap. My eyes went wide.
I did it!
A palm landed flat on the door, and the glimpse of freedom slammed shut.
My blood turned to ice. I glanced over my shoulder. “C-Chris—”
His hand shot out so fast and so hard that when the slap connected with my cheek, my face snapped to the side, my body spun, and my shoulder cracked against the front door. My knees buckled.
He kept coming.
A scream tore from my throat when the burst of fists struck my fragile body. The world went fuzzy. My glasses were missing. Myshirt was ripped, and I tasted the sweet metallic burn of blood on the back of my tongue, but I wasn’t going down without a fight. I clawed at Chris’s face and kicked my legs. My heel smacked into his nose. The sickening crunch flipped my stomach upside down.
Chris reared back. “Fuck!”
I didn’t waste a single precious second. I scrambled to my feet and bolted down the hallway, but…where to? My eyes were panicked. I’d never make it to the back door. What other options did I have? My bare feet skittered along the wood floor into the bedroom, and my hand flew out to rip the drawer from the nightstand. Frenzied, my whole body shaking, I dropped to my knees and sifted through the mess that spilt across the floor.
No!
Panic speared my temples. My eyes skipped over the hazy outline of my junk again. Tissues. A book. The scrunchie Ruth had made me. I blinked back tears of frustration. My heart rocketed when the silver glint I desperately needed was nowhere to be found.
No!
A cruel laugh bristled the back of my neck. “Looking for your knife, Lola?”
My body went still.
Chris’s footsteps were slow on the wooden floor. “Did you forget? I tidied up for you.” He slithered closer until his breath was hot on my ear. “I found all your secrets. I touched all your pretty things. Did you think I wouldn’t check your drawers? How stupid do you think I am?”
Desperate, I fumbled through the junk. Even a pen would do. My fingertips brushed over smooth metal. Relief sparked in every battered bone in my body. Chris hadn’t found all my secrets. I’d bet he’d seen the pink glittery tube and scoffed at it like he did at everything else I liked.
I silently flicked off the lid of the pepper spray and watched it roll under the bed.
“How stupid?” I whispered. “Pretty stupid.”
Confusion flashed across his face. I raised the pink canister, gritted my teeth, and pressed the nozzle. White fog spewed out. The foul smell burned my lungs, but I held my finger down, my aim steady on his bloody, swollen face.
“Fuck!” His eyes squeezed shut, and his arms thrashed wildly, smacking nothing but air. “You little bitch!”
I launched off the floor, onto the bed, clawed my way across the comforter, and tumbled off the other side. I scrambled back to my feet. My shoulder clipped the doorway as I flew out of the room.
And I ran.
“Lola!”
I ran for my life, down the hallway, into the kitchen, my eyes glued on the back door. My heart raced in my chest. Muscles burned in my legs. The pounding of Chris’s steps behind me drowned out mine. I didn’t slow down.
“Lola!”
The back door was right there.
