Nightfall

by Douglas, Penelope

  “Emmy, Jesus…” Will glared at me, his eyes drifting down my body.

  But before he could say more, Aydin dove in and swept me into his arms, something between a scowl and worry playing in his eyes, too. “Get her some food and water,” he ordered someone. “And get my kit, some clean bandages, and some alcohol.”

  He carried me up the stairs, and I watched Will and Micah sling Rory’s arms around their necks and walk him, following us.

  Will met my eyes over Aydin’s shoulder, and while I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, he didn’t look away.

  “You’re a fighter,” Aydin said. “I like you.”

  What? I gaped at him, in too much pain to even roll my eyes.

  “You saw the bones in my room today?” Aydin asked.

  I didn’t reply.

  “That was someone else who thought he could run,” he explained. “We found what was left of him three months later when we were out hunting.”

  Another prisoner tried to escape?

  It was definitely a human bone. A femur. I knew it the moment I picked it up.

  I’d dropped it just as quickly.

  I didn’t know if an animal got him or the elements, and I didn’t ask.

  And then I remembered something else he’d said. His kit. Bandages.

  Then there was all that stuff in his room. Biology. Drawings. Notes.

  “You’re a doctor?” I said, finally realizing.

  “When I want to be.”

  “How long have you been here?”

  He met my gaze. “Two years, one month, fifteen days.”

  I swallowed the lump in my throat. The idea of Will being here that long hurt.

  “Use your head,” he told me, carrying me into his room as if I weighed nothing. “You’ll need it to stay alive, because this is not how we end, Emory Scott.”

  Despite myself, I almost smiled.

  But I didn’t.

  No. This wasn’t how I ended.

  I had twenty-nine days.

  Emory

  Nine Years Ago

  I lifted one book after another, loose papers flying everywhere as I searched for my Lolita packet at the bottom of my locker. Old math papers, tattered and crinkled, blanketed the floor, and I held out book after book, fanning each one for any sign of my missing homework.

  Shit.

  That packet was over a week late. Where the hell did it go?

  Tears stung my eyes. I couldn’t believe I was about to cry over this. I should’ve just done it when it was due instead of dragging my feet. This is what I get.

  I knew I lost shit when that asshole Anderson knocked my books out of my hands yet again the day before yesterday. Everything scattered over the floor of the crowded hallway, passing students kicking my crap as they went.

  I’d lost it. Townsend wasn’t going to give me another one.

  Sifting through the mess, I quickly gathered up the old papers that had spilled onto the floor and stuffed them back into my locker, rising off my knees and pulling out the books on the shelf. I searched those pages as well, one last-ditch effort for hope that it was still somewhere.

  “You okay?”

  I glanced over my shoulder, seeing Elle walking toward me with a backpack on one arm and a trumpet case in another.

  “Fine,” I said, turning my attention back to my search.

  “Well, everyone is about gone,” she said. “It’s getting dark.”

  She kept walking, but spun around to watch me as she spoke.

  “Need a ride?” she asked.

  “No, thanks.”

  “’K, see you tomorrow.”

  “’Night,” I told her but didn’t bother to look.

  What was I going to do? School had ended two hours ago. The teachers were gone, and band was gone, practice having ended over twenty minutes ago. It was too late to find my bandmate Joseph Carville who shared that class with me to see if I could make a copy of his on the printer in the library.

  But of course, he’d probably turned his in last week anyway.

  I slammed my locker shut. The silence of the empty hallways only made the thoughts in my head louder.

  This was my fault, and I wouldn’t even be able to blame Martin for getting upset when he saw the missing assignment on my records. It was almost as if I enjoyed provoking him.

  I was stubborn to the point of being self-destructive. I was asking for it.

  Diving down, I swiped my bag off the floor, but instead of heading out the doors toward home, I went back the way I came—down the stairs, down the hallway, and toward the locker room.

  “Come on,” I heard someone suddenly say. “You can do better than that.”

  It sounded like Damon Torrance. I passed the wrestling room and peered inside, seeing him pin another kid to the mats as the basketball team worked on the weights nearby and his friends stood around, watching with amusement.

  I kept going.

  But then I heard another voice. “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?”

  I slowed and then…stopped, tingles spreading up my arms at hearing his voice. I hesitated a moment and then retreated, hearing thuds on the mat as I peeked around the corner.

  Will grunted, plastered to Damon’s back and pinning him to the ground as the poor kid from before stood by, smiling that the jerk was getting a dose of his own medicine.

  Damon jerked, freeing his arms, but Will grappled for them, quickly securing them again between their bodies and using his weight to keep them there.

  “I’m letting this happen,” Damon gritted out.

  “Sure, you are.” Will’s body shook with a laugh behind his friend, and his grin just looked so happy and easy. I started to smile, too, but stopped, remembering myself.

  He must’ve sensed me, because he looked up and met my eyes.

  The pulse in my neck throbbed, but I didn’t run.

  It was weird. He’d left me alone since the lock-in. Days and not a single word in lit class or a single look in the halls.

  I was glad for it. I didn’t want his attention.

  Turning around, I continued on my way to the locker room and pushed through the doors, turning on the lights.

  I slipped into my black swimsuit bottoms and matching, long-sleeved rash guard and then pulled my hair into a low ponytail. Grabbing a fresh towel off the cart, I headed to the indoor pool, leaving the lights off because the emergency track lighting was always on and that was enough for me. I didn’t want to alert anyone on the outside that I was in here when it was supposed to be empty.

  Setting my towel down on a bench, I kicked off my shower shoes and walked up to the edge of the pool, stretching my arms and shoulders as I hopped up and down to warm up my muscles.

  The chlorine in the air tickled my nostrils, and my blood coursed hot down my legs in anticipation.

  I’d missed this. I loved the water.

  Climbing up on the riser, I pulled down my goggles and bent over, gripping the end of the platform and blowing out a few quick breaths.

  Drawing in one large gulp of air, I pushed off, diving into the pool and fishtailing as I cut through the water.

  The icy cold was like a needle in every pore of my skin, but I exhaled out of my nose and then shot out, one arm after the other, freestyling at a nice, steady pace to the other end.

  I wasn’t here to race, but I wanted to sweat, too. Keeping my eyes down, I tilted my head to take in air every three strokes before putting it back in the water.

  Spotting the black marker on the tile below, I took one more stroke and flipped over, pushing off the wall and heading back the way I came.

  I could say band and swim were an excuse to be out of the house. That my project in the park was something else I used to avoid going home. That all these activities were things I could do relatively alone without too many others, especially peers, interfering in my role.

  The truth was, I liked showing people what I could do. To the town with the gazebo. To the few students and pa
rents who had showed up to cheer us on at swim meets when I was on the team. To the whole school when I walked the football field and played the flute.

  Every little thing you could do made you feel stronger. I have this, so I don’t need you. I have that, so I don’t need you.

  Sometimes I was able to kid myself into believing that having this or being able to do that made me too busy and too important to possibly care about everything that I didn’t have and everything I’d never be.

  Like a smiler.

  Like friends.

  Like having someone who loved to tickle me and kiss me all over my face, not just on my lips.

  Nah. Being able to swim the hundred-meter freestyle in forty-eight seconds was really what life was all about. That made me happy. I didn’t need that other shit.

  Charging toward the other end, I flipped, pushed, and headed back the other direction, deep in my rhythm now and the worries and stress burning away like fog in the sun.

  I tilted my head, took a breath, and stuck my face back in the water, but just then there was another face looking straight up at me from the bottom.

  I screamed, bubbles pouring out of my mouth like a goddamn geyser. What the hell?

  I halted and scrambled to get my head above water.

  But before I could get to the surface, something wrapped around my ankle and yanked me back down.

  I screamed louder, my submerged cries muffled as I flailed.

  Then, I inhaled. A gulp of water lodged in my throat, and I shot out my foot, kicking the prick so hard pain fired through my toe and straight up my leg.

  Gasping and sputtering, I broke through the surface, coughing as I tried to escape.

  But then…someone else took hold of me. “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he said, pulling me to him and holding me with one hand around my waist, and the other under my thigh. “Calm down.”

  I coughed, only managing short, shallow breaths as my lungs cleared, and I wiped my eyes.

  “Piss…” I choked out, blinking and seeing Will Grayson holding me. “Off.”

  But I was coughing too hard to sound stern, and he just snorted, laughing.

  I pushed away. “Get off me.”

  “They’re just fucking around, Emmy.”

  He let me go, and I looked over, seeing Michael and Kai waist deep in the pool and talking to Diana Forester, while Damon slammed his fist in the water and shot daggers at me with his eyes. Blood poured out of his left nostril as he reached onto the deck for a towel.

  Asshole. I could’ve drowned.

  A blonde came up behind Will, watching us before taking his hand. “I have to be home by ten,” she said. “Come spend time with me.”

  His eyes stayed fixed on me. “You okay?”

  I shot him a snarl as I walked for the edge.

  “Then go home,” he ordered me, turning away.

  I whipped around, still trying to catch my breath. “I was here first.”

  He looked from the girl back to me, a smile playing in his eyes. “Suit yourself.”

  Leaving her, he stalked toward me again, and I backed up until I hit the edge of the pool. He stopped and fiddled with something under the water.

  In a moment, he leaned over and pulled the black mesh shorts he was wearing in the wrestling room out of the water and threw them over my head, onto the pool deck.

  I stopped breathing.

  Whistles and hoots echoed in the room, and I stared up into his eyes, the moments stretching to an eternity as he waited for me to do something, and I almost thought he wanted me to.

  Instead, I turned around and grabbed the ladder.

  But he took my arm and pulled me back, my body slamming into his chest.

  I whipped around and shoved hard against his chest, but he barely moved.

  Anger boiled in my gut. His hand was still wrapped around my arm, and for a moment, I almost let my eyes drop down to the water to see if he really was naked.

  Raising my hand, I slammed it across his face again and shoved him in the chest, pushing him away. The girl was gone. I had no idea where.

  “You grab me again, and I won’t care about the consequences,” I growled low.

  Turning around, I started to climb the ladder.

  But then he said behind me, “Stay.”

  “No.” I climbed out of the pool, water dripping down my body as their patronizing whistles went off around the room.

  “Why not?” he called out.

  “Because you’re disrespectful.” I looked at him over my shoulder. “I was working out here. Your mansions all have pools. Get out and go home, why don’t you?”

  He stared at me, and I was just about to turn away and leave, but then he yelled, “Guys!” His eyes stayed on me. “Do me a favor? Get out and go home.”

  “Huh?” someone said.

  “What?” came another voice.

  “I mean it,” he told them. “Go home. Now.”

  I narrowed my eyes. Aw, what a gesture. Flexing his muscles to prove he had the strength of a playground bully and the moral compass of a tube sock.

  I rolled my eyes and walked over to the bench, picking up my towel.

  Water sloshed behind me, and grumbles continued, slowly fading away as the locker room doors opened and closed.

  When I turned around only Will remained, staring at me from where I left him in the pool.

  “Why don’t you like me?” he asked.

  I ignored him, wringing out my ponytail.

  “And what happened to your legs?” he questioned next.

  I tensed, but I didn’t look down to see what he was talking about. Minor bruises dotted my legs, but my arms, torso, and back were worse. I’d made sure to cover those with the rash guard.

  I slipped on my flip-flops, but I heard movement in the water and looked back to see him leaning over the edge and gazing up at me.

  “Why were you coming out of the cathedral last Saturday night?”

  I cocked an eyebrow. Stalker.

  Throwing the towel over my shoulder, I took the goggles off my head and started for the locker room.

  “Stay,” he said again.

  And something about how he said it made my insides shake a little. Slowly, I stopped.

  Stay.

  I had no doubt I’d love everything about staying with him for an hour. If he went slow, then maybe two hours.

  I’d let him mess with my head and take me away, because every day more and more of me needed my head messed with. I needed away.

  But…

  “What are we going to do?” I asked quietly.

  When he didn’t answer, I turned around.

  “Will we play?” I inquired. “Will you make me smile?”

  He didn’t reply, just watched me, his chest rising and falling harder.

  “What did you want to happen?” I pressed. “How would it go if I stayed with you here?”

  I dropped my towel and goggles, and I approached him, crouching at the edge of the pool and staring down at him.

  “Maybe I’ll joke around with your friends, and we’ll all laugh,” I told him, imagining things that would never happen and he knew it. “You’ll touch me and whisper things in my ear. They’ll take the hint and leave us alone, and I won’t be able to resist you. I won’t want to, right?”

  His eyes sharpened on me, but he listened.

  “You’ll press me against that wall,” I jerked my chin to the one near the girls’ locker room door, “and I’ll let you have me, because your attention feels so good.”

  I had no doubt that part would be true.

  “And tomorrow, we’ll walk down the hallway, hand in hand, and everyone will know we’re in love, right?”

  He cocked his head and hooded his eyes, knowing what I was up to now.

  I breathed out a laugh. “Come on, Will,” I said. “I have nothing you want. I’m not a happy person. Ever. We don’t mesh. Your life is trite to me, far removed from reality, and I thought your views on Lolita were repugnant, and worse, da
ngerous.”

  His jaw flexed, his green gaze turning defiant.

  “I hate your friends,” I continued. “I don’t want to be around any of them. Except Kai, maybe. One of three Asian kids in a school full of WASPs, he, at least, has some clue what it’s like to be me.”

  Pretty sure the only other Jewish kid graduated last year.

  “And you have nothing I want,” I went on. “You coast through everything, so where does your character come from? I don’t want to have fun with you, because there’s nothing and no one you don’t use. I don’t respect you.”

  He tipped his chin down, looking angry now as he glared.

  “In twenty years, you’ll all be your fathers—powerful, wealthy, and with a string of mistresses your wives will be drugging themselves in order to forget that you have.” I stood up, looking down on him. “But even as Masters of the Universe, Will Grayson III will never forget that I was one notch on his belt that he could never get. I’m not going to let you win this one. At least, I’ll have that.”

  I started to walk away, but before I knew what was happening, he’d jumped up, grabbed my arm, and yanked me down into the pool.

  I screamed and splashed, but he didn’t let me go under, pulling me into his body and wrapping his arms around me instead. I looked up at him, breathing hard, and he looked down at me, our lips inches from each other.

  Drops of water glistened in his hair and wet his eyelashes, and for a moment, I had no will. I lowered my eyes to his mouth. Supple and strong and most amazing when he used it to smile.

  Tears pooled in my eyes. I couldn’t stop him.

  Don’t. Please.

  I wasn’t a happy person. Not ever. I won’t be able to stop you.

  He pulled me in, and I opened my mouth to protest, but instead of a kiss, he just pulled me into his arms, pressed my head to his shoulder, and wrapped his arms around me so tight, it felt like he was the one about to break, not me.

  I stilled, not sure what to do, but I could feel every muscle in his body flex as he held me and took deep breaths.

  And slowly, I closed my eyes, every ounce of fight draining out of me, feeling his embrace.

  It had been so long since I felt this. My grandmother was hardly lucid enough to hug me much anymore.