After the ambulance had taken the girl away, the three had just stood there in silence, not sure what else to do. The night seemed so quiet, so empty. Anna couldn’t bear to look at either of her friends, and ended up staring at the tops of her black-and-white sneakers.
Eventually, Carmine looked at her watch. “It’s almost two…” she said, trailing off. Her voice wavered a little, causing Anna to look up at her, a guilty expression on her face. Carmine still looked a little pale, but at least she’d stopped trembling. In response to Carmine, Anna and Mina had merely nodded – neither of them said anything. There didn’t seem to be anything they could say. After a few more minutes of silence, Carmine, realizing that no one was going to respond, tried again.
“I guess we may as well go get the bikes,” she said.
“Ok” Mina replied quietly.
Anna responded with a “yeah” and slowly started following her friends towards the back of the parking lot.
When they got there, the bikes were still laying in a tangled heap on the grass. In their haste, the girls had forgotten to lock them. Someone mumbled something about how it was a good thing they weren’t stolen, but Anna didn’t hear who it was. She figured that the police cars, which had been sitting in the parking lot with them for the past hour or so, had helped in this, though she didn’t bother to say it out loud.
The girls picked their bikes up off of the ground and peddled slowly back to Carmine’s house. The car in the driveway told them that Carmine’s parents were home by now. Quietly, they snuck through the gate on the side of the house, down a short paved walkway, and into the garage. They stacked the bikes up against the wall of the garage, just the way they’d found them. After a few bland comments about how they’d see each other tomorrow, Carmine snuck inside, while Anna and Mina crept through the garage and back out of the gate. At the end of the driveway, Anna turned left while Mina started heading towards the right.
Before they got more than a few feet apart, Mina turned back to face Anna. Even in the darkness, Anna could see Mina’s eyes were filled with concern.
“Are you going to be alright?” she asked sympathetically. “After all, Fredrick was your friend – even if it was a long time ago.”
Anna looked back at her, touched by Mina’s thoughtfulness.
“I’ll be alright” she replied. “I just have a lot to think about.”
Mina nodded, understanding. “Okay” she said, coming over to give Anna a quick hug before turning back towards home.
Anna walked slowly down the empty streets, back to her apartment. A breeze picked up, noisily blowing leaves down the street in front of her and sweeping strands of hair over her eyes. Absentmindedly, she pulled her hair behind her ear. For the first time in as long as she could remember, Anna felt cold. When she got home, all she wanted to do was sleep. She just wanted to put the events of that night as far out of her mind as possible. She pulled on her favorite pajamas and hopped into bed, pulling the down comforter up to her chin. She reached over to her nightstand and turned off the light.
Anna closed her eyes, but couldn’t sleep; her mind kept replaying the events of the night over and over, like a movie that just wouldn’t end. During her walk home, Anna had managed to keep herself distracted – looking at leaves dancing across the sidewalk, watching the lights of passing cars. But now that she was tucked into bed without the distractions of the city around her, the events of the night came flooding back to her, too vivid to be put out of her mind anymore.
Anna never did get to sleep. Instead, she’d stayed up all night thinking about what she’d witnessed earlier that evening. Anna couldn’t believe how Fredrick had changed. Even after their engagement had been called off, he’d still seemed so kind and charismatic – at least to others. Anna knew he’d kill her if given the slightest chance, but she never thought he’d act like that towards someone else; he was too concerned with maintaining his polished image. To see him act that way – it was almost as if he’d lost control.
But deep down, Anna knew that Fredrick was never out of control – he acted brutally because he could, because no one would stop him. Who could stop him? Watching him that night, and replaying the images over and over in her mind, Anna could only come to one conclusion: Fredrick had to be stopped. And she was the only one who could do it. Anna just hoped she’d be up to the challenge.
You Were What You Eat Page 42