Dare to Breathe

by Tina Maurine

  I’m so going to need therapy after this.

  I chuckled silently to myself, then grabbed for my phone and swiped it. The bright light of the home screen illuminated the dark duct and I prayed no one from out THERE could see it through the vent. I skimmed what I had typed Isaac about how I liked him but didn’t immediately reciprocate his feelings and reread the last paragraph…

  I THINK THAT INSTEAD OF BEING OVER THE TOP ELATED THAT YOU RECIPROCATED FEELINGS THAT I’VE BEEN GROWING FOR YOU, IT CAME AT A TIME WHEN I’D CLOSED OFF MY HEART TO THAT POSSIBILITY AND IT HAD BEEN FILLED BY SOMEONE ELSE.

  YUP. YOU HEARD ME RIGHT.

  I’VE MET SOMEONE ELSE THROUGH EMAIL ON THE SCHOOL’S EMAIL INTERFACE. THAT DOESN’T MEAN THAT I DON’T WANT TO DO DINNER. I AM OPEN TO POSSIBILTIES OF US.

  ~RHEA~

  As immediately as I hit send, my phone vibrated and I saw that Isaac had already emailed me back. There was no way that he could’ve read my note, so I was curious to see what he had to say.

  SUBJECT: MOVE!!

  TO:

  RheaVelvetKenzee@pacificlakescommunityc ollege.us.net

  FROM:

  IsaacJoesephMatthews@pacificlakescommun itycollege.us.net

  GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE NOW. THEY’RE COMING FOR YOU.

  ISAAC.

  My breath hitched again in my throat. Then my body sprang into action. I jammed my phone into my purse and quickly navigated the air duct space until I was on all fours. I had hung my purse around my neck and as I began to crawl down the tight duct, I pulled it along beneath me. I no longer worried that I’d be heard; they already knew I was there.

  How did Isaac know?

  The air duct was dark since little to no light now came through the vents that led to the other

  classrooms…now that it was sometime between seven and eight in the evening. I paused just long enough for it to register that I had been in this duct for somewhere close to ten hours now. My stomach growled hungrily in protest to my moving forward. I navigated the duct work turning right, then left, another right and left…trying to put as much space between me and the monsters as I could.

  STOP!

  My brain screamed for my arms and legs to quit their blind search in the dark. I had heard the loud noise, but it hadn’t consciously registered. Thank God some part of me could still decode the sounds and signs that my body was receiving. I hunched on all fours—sore as I had been seeking for a new place to hide for a good ten or fifteen minutes, as best a guess as I could make.

  My wrists ached from the angle I had had them bent at, and my knees burned from crawling over all the tall rivets I had crept over. In my silence, I heard banging echoing through the duct work and loud voices arguing.

  “Goddamn it, shine it in there.” I could hear a muffled retort. “Fuck! Right there. Shine it there. I swear, I saw a reflection earlier.” That voice was easily recognizable—it was that mean bastard Spider.

  There was more arguing and I heard the vent cover bang loudly on the classroom floor.

  “I can’t. Why don’t you try? You’re damn near smaller than me…I don’t give a shit, take a look!” I heard more banging and some disgruntled grunts made their way to my ears. Best as I could guess, someone was trying to squeeze into the duct space that I had called my safe haven for the past several hours.

  Thank God Isaac had emailed me and that I just happened to open it immediately. Thank you God. Thank you.

  I finished my silent prayer and found a surprising smile on my face at the thought of Isaac. I shrugged it off and continued silently. A few tight turns later and I found myself at a pitch black dead-end where the only duct work available for me to navigate took me up. I shined my cell phone flashlight app. up the duct and rotating my hips, sat against the dead-end. There was no way that I could make it up the wall to the next floor. At least nobody could find me through all the duct work I had crawled through—that brought me some comfort.

  My stomach growled again and after searching every zipper and pocket in my purse, I gave up. I had no food. No snack. Not even gum…I was screwed. I wrapped my fingers around my phone and swiped the screen as I pulled it from my purse.

  Chapter

  +1 Hours

  My screen read 830 pm. Another distracting stomach growl made it hard to focus on my emails, but there was absolutely no light where I was and only the faintest light coming from the ‘T’ that I had turned in from, a good twenty-five feet or so away from me. I knew it was only a matter of time before I’d have to leave as find a bathroom, I could feel the uncomfortable pressure already.

  SUBJECT: HOW DID YOU KNOW? TO:

  IsaacJoesephMatthews@pacificlakescommun itycollege.us.net

  FROM:

  RheaVelvetKenzee@pacificlakescommunityc ollege.us.net

  ISAAC,

  HOW DID YOU KNOW? I AM SAFE FOR NOW BUT I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE I AM. I WAS TOO PANICKED TO PAY ATTENTION TO THE LEFTS AND RIGHTS THAT I TOOK, BUT I AM NOW IN A PITCH BLACK DEAD-END WITH NO WAY TO GO BUT UP OR BACK THE WAY I CAME.

  TALK TO ME. I’M SCARED. THEY TRIED TO COME IN TO GET ME.

  ~RHEA~

  The muscles in my back spasmed and my neck replied with an aggravating twitch. I wasn’t too sure how much longer I could stay in this air duct before my muscles

  completely locked up on me. That, and my bladder was complaining—I’d have to find a bathroom before it started screaming at me. I rolled my neck and tried to get comfortable, I was finally going to read Eli’s emails and I smiled at just the thought.

  SUBJECT: MORE OF ME EHH? ;-) TO:

  RheaVelvetKenzee@pacificlakescommunityc ollege.us.net

  FROM:

  EliValenSnohe@pacificlakescommunitycolle ge.us.net

  SO, AT THE RISK OF SOUNDING REPETITIVE…THAT WAS A PRETTY AWESOME LETTER!

  ALL I CAN THINK RIGHT NOW IS THAT YOU WANT MORE OF ME…HEHE.

  DON’T WORRY, I’LL PULL MY MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER. I CAN BEHAVE AND I SUPPOSE THERE’S NO BETTER TIME TO SHOW YOU THAN WHEN I HAVE YOU AS A CAPTIVE AUDIENCE.

  SO, I WAS THINKING…WHAT DO WE DO ONCE WE GET OUT OF HERE?

  DO WE GO ON A FIRST DATE OR DO WE COUNT THIS AS ONE? LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS.

  ELI.

  P.S. I’M LEANING TOWARD COUNTING THIS AS LIKE OUR FIRST FIVE DATES, CAUSE WHEN I SEE YOU STANDING

  THERE OKAY BEFORE ME…WELL, IT’S GOING TO BE PRETTY DAMN HARD NOT TO GRAB YOU, PULL YOU TO ME AND KISS YOU WITH EVERY, SINGLE, FIBER OF MY BEING. AND I JUST DON’T DO THAT ON A FIRST DATE…JUST SAYIN’.

  I was grinning ear to ear as I clicked on his next email, hoping there was some more good stuff in there. He’d made me blush at his interpretation of what I meant when I had said I had wanted more and more of him and my heart sped up as I read about the kiss he wanted to give me.

  SUBJECT: EYE CANDY TO:

  RheaVelvetKenzee@pacificlakescommunityc ollege.us.net

  FROM:

  EliValenSnohe@pacificlakescommunitycolle ge.us.net

  SO, IN YOUR SILENCE I CAME TO THE REALIZATION THAT I COULD JUST SEND YOU A PHOTO OF ME. SO…

  BOOM!

  HERE YA GO BABY!! ELI.

  I clicked on the attachment and my screen was filled with a familiar face. Where Isaac was a more conservative and contemporary-sexy blend of Bradley Cooper meets Paul Walker, meets sexy college professor; Eli was a rougher, rebellious melding of Adam Levine’s tattoos, meets John

  Depp’s hair, and Ian Somerhalder’s build and attitude in the Vampire Diaries. Either way I chose, I had died and gone to heaven. I didn’t even bother to pull up the last email from him, all I wanted to do was put down my reaction so that what I wrote was as real and authentic as possible.

  SUBJECT: RE: EYE CANDY TO:

  EliValenSnohe@pacificlakescommunitycolle ge.us.net

  FROM:

  RheaVelvetKenzee@pacificlakescommunityc ollege.us.net

  OH MY GOD. BOOM IS RIGHT!

  WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME WHO YOU WERE? YOU KNEW DAMNED WELL I HAD NOTI
CED YOU…JUST TELL ME EXACTLY WHO HASN’T?

  ~RHEA~

  I skimmed my finger across the email icon and opened the last email from Eli just as my blue notification light started blinking.

  Yay! Another email!

  SUBJECT: WORRIED TO:

  RheaVelvetKenzee@pacificlakescommunityc ollege.us.net

  FROM:

  EliValenSnohe@pacificlakescommunitycolle ge.us.net

  I’M SURE YOU’VE HEARD THE MOST RECENT SHOTS.

  WHAT DOES THAT PUT THE COUNT AT…EIGHT?

  BEST AS I CAN TELL THE VOICE OF REASON, THE ONE GUY THAT WOULD COME CLOSE TO WHERE I WAS AND WHO SEEMED LIKE HE HAD A MORAL HEAD ON HIS SHOULDERS…WELL, I’M PRETTY SURE HE WAS SHOT IN A SCUFFLE.

  AFTER THEY LEFT I CHECKED OUT THE ROOM AND THERE WAS A LOT OF BLOOD.

  A LOT.

  I’M OKAY, JUST WORRIED ABOUT YOU. THEY’RE EITHER TALKING ABOUT YOU OR ANOTHER PERSON HIDING IN THE WALLS. STAY SAFE AND BE CAREFUL.

  ELI.

  My fingers flew across the touch screen keyboard on my phone, they couldn’t move fast enough…

  SUBJECT: RE: WORRIED TO:

  EliValenSnohe@pacificlakescommunitycolle ge.us.net

  FROM:

  RheaVelvetKenzee@pacificlakescommunityc ollege.us.net

  THANKS FOR THE WARNING, I’LL TAKE HEED.

  THOUGHT IT WAS ONLY RIGHT FOR ME TO ISSUE YOU A WARNING AS WELL…

  WHEN WE GET OUT OF HERE, YOUR FRIENDS MAY PUT OUT AN APB ON YOUR ASS…SEEING AS HOW I PLAN TO KIDNAP YOU AND MAKE YOU BEG FOR THAT KISS YOU WANTED. 

  ~RHEA~

  I couldn’t stop smiling, even after hearing that the gunmen were on the lookout for me. My fingers clicked on my new email icon.

  SUBJECT: CHECKING UP TO:

  RheaVelvetKenzee@pacificlakescommunityc ollege.us.net

  FROM:

  EsiahJosephCurn@pacificlakescommunitycol lege.us.net

  RHE,

  EMM CALLED ME AND TOLD ME WHAT IS GOING ON THERE AT THE COLLEGE. SHE SAID IT’S BEEN AWHILE SINCE SHE CHECKED IN WITH

  YOU, BUT THAT AS FAR AS SHE KNEW…YOU WERE OKAY.

  THAT WASN’T GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME.

  SO, I’M WRITING YOU EVEN THOUGH I HAVE NO BUSINESS TO AFTER HOW I ENDED THINGS.

  KRIS AND I ARE OVER, ALTHOUGH I AM GUESSING YOU DON’T GIVE A SHIT AND PROBABLY WISH WE WEREN’T. THEN AT LEAST YOU’D KNOW I RECEIVE A DAILY DOSE OF TORTURE. I SHOULDN’T HAVE CHEATED ON YOU. I SHOULDN’T HAVE LIED. I SHOULD’VE SAID SORRY LONG BEFORE NOW INSTEAD OF ACTING LIKE A RIGHTEOUS ASSHOLE.

  SO…

  I AM SORRY.

  I AM VERY SORRY. NO.

  IT’S MORE THAN THAT. I HAVE A DEEP REGRET ABOUT HOW I TREATED YOU AND A STABBING GUILT THAT I CANNOT SHAKE ABOUT WHAT I DID TO YOU. I AM SO, VERY SORRY.

  I KNOW THAT ISN’T ENOUGH, AND I AGREE. IT DOESN’T QUITE TOUCH ON THE FEELINGS THAT I FEEL.

  I DON’T MEAN TO HIT YOU WITH ALL OF THIS WHILE YOU ARE IN

  THERE, BUT IF I DIDN’T TAKE THIS CHANCE AND SOMETHING WERE TO HAPPEN TO YOU…FUCK, I JUST DON’T KNOW WHAT I’D DO.

  I GUESS I JUST NEED TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE OKAY. I NEED TO KNOW THAT YOU FORGIVE ME AND HAVE MOVED PAST WHAT WE HAD.

  …EVEN IF I HAVEN’T.

  I’LL TELL YOU RHE—REGRET IS A BITCH AND THERE’S NO AMOUNT OF PUSSY THAT WILL OR HAS CURED ME OF YOU.

  FOR ALL IT’S WORTH. SORRY.

  LOVE, ESIAH

  I sat my phone down, drawing my knees up to my chest. I swiped at the stray tears that made their way down my cheeks, then threw my hands around my knees. I lay my head on my knees…

  How was I supposed to know that Esiah still loved

  me?

  I couldn’t shake the feeling that if I had only stuck

  around, if I had not dropped Kris’s friendship like a bad habit…that Esiah and I would still be together; that was what I had wanted all these past months wasn’t it? I hadn’t noticed that more renegade tears had escaped from my eyes and I angrily brushed them away. Problem was, they weren’t stopping.

  “Are you there?”

  Oh my God—I’m going crazy. I’m hearing voices!

  “Hey, are you there?”

  My heart slammed into my chest. Someone was whispering through an air vent. I had to be quiet. Very, very quiet. My body reacted immediately, pulling itself into an even tighter ball as I slinked even deeper into the inky blackness. I was pretty good at becoming invisible.

  “Are you there? Rhea, answer me if you are.” SILENCE. I had to be completely silent. I WAS

  NOT HERE. Nobody, especially not THEM, could know I was in the walls.

  “Rhea Kenzee? Rhea!” A deafening silence followed.

  How do they know my name? Surely someone held hostage must have told them I stayed back to talk to Isaac. Surely someone ratted us out. Why would anyone want to hurt Mr. Matthews or me?

  I heard a shuffle or rattle of some sort coming from the air duct above my head. Then again, I heard a familiar voice—but not from Mercy or Spider, and not from any other gunman that I’d heard today.

  “Goddamn it Rhea, if you’re there, answer me!” “Who, who is it,” I managed to squeak out through

  my fear and past my dry, cracked lips. “It’s Isaac.”

  My lungs forcefully exhaled the air I had trapped inside them while I had been holding my breath.

  “Isaac,” my voice waivered from sheer disbelief. “Where are you? How did you know…I mean, how did you find me?” My questions came in quick hurried whispers. I was still terrified that the gunmen would find me.

  “Just a minute, someone’s coming.”

  I heard him scrambling and then a door from the room above me bang against the wall as it was tossed open. I could just vaguely make out voices, but they diminished as

  they left the classroom. I heard more movement above me through the vent and what sounded like the door clicking shut.

  “Rhea, are you still there?”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. “Yes Isaac. I am so glad to hear your voice. I’ve been so worried about you…there were those gun shots, and, and…” my voice cracked and trailed off cluing him into the fears that I’d had.

  “I’ve been looking for you.” “How did you find me?”

  “I went to the vent I put you in, and you were gone. I was so incredibly worried.” Now it was his turn, as his voice cracked from emotion—cluing me into the fact that he’d really meant what he said when he said he’d cared for me as more than just a student. “I’ve been sneaking from room to room since I got your email that you were nearly caught.” I heard him pause for a deep breath, “Damn it Rhea, you just can’t even imagine the thoughts that have been running through my head.”

  I caught myself nodding as though he could see me. “You know, I probably have a pretty good idea.” A nervous laugh bubbled out of me.

  “Yeah, I guess you probably do.” “Hey Isaac?”

  “Yes?”

  “When are we getting out of here? How can I get out of here—ya know I am pretty stuck.”

  “I’m not for sure, as far as timeframe goes. I’ve heard that the gunmen hijacked the college’s computer network and had planned to confiscate passwords, account numbers, all the financial information that would allow them access to tens of millions of dollars.”

  I guess my gasp was louder than I had intended.

  “I know right?” His voice echoed my own disbelief. “Evidently, their plan as best as the detectives can say right now…was to lock down the School of Journalism and throw the rest of the college into a tizzy trying to figure out why none of the computer systems worked. In their own deranged brilliance they’d thought that they’d have the financials confiscated, and the hostages released before anyone was the wiser.”

  “I don’t know. It just doesn’t sound like a plan that would work to me.” My dubious tone wasn’t hard to miss. “So, then what happened? Why did it turn into all of this? Why are people dead and for God’s sake, why aren’t we free yet?” />
  “I wish I was down there with you.” His pained voice tugged on my heart strings.

  “Me too Isaac. Me too.”

  “So Rhea, what they didn’t plan on was you.” “Me? What did I do?”

  “Well, somehow you got in touch with some other students here at the ‘J’ School via email. You see, it seems they’d shut down the campus internet so they thought nobody could communicate with the outside. You, however…you emailed your roommate, and although she had a college email, she wasn’t here on campus. You blew the whole thing wide open.”

  “Me? It was Eli that got in touch with me.” “Eli?”

  “Yes. Eli Snohe is in some of my other advertising and copywriting classes. He’s the one that sent me an email. I just responded to him.”

  “Well, for whatever reason—you were the only one who got the news of what had happened off campus. I mean,

  without the details that you’ve sent your roommate—what’s her name?”

  “Emmory.”

  “Right, well without you sending Emmory all the details, she couldn’t have gone to the police. I mean from what I’ve read in emails—they’re counting the minutes until the emails you send Emmory come through. They can’t wait to get the details.”

  “I don’t get it. If I can send out emails to other people here at the school…why can’t you or anyone else?”

  “Well, Rhea, it’s not that we can’t. It’s just that we didn’t think to try.” He paused for a second before continuing. “Like I said before, I really appreciate your ‘out- of-the-box’ thinking. In fact, it’s one of the main reasons that I find you so intriguing in class—it’s awesome to know that it’s just how you are. Who you are.”