Gone Girl 2

Chapter 27

A month later

I expected Atlanta to be gorgeous during winter, but it's not even snowing and it's Christmas. I wanted to wear my cozy sweaters and chill by the fireplace—which I don't have—while drinking hot chocolate rather than vodka on an empty stomach.

Anything to get away from college, even if it's only three weeks. No one would believe me if I said I studied the whole past month for finals, but Irène and Nicole saw me. I ditched most of the parties and tried to not think about drinking until I forget why I am even drinking in the first place. I'll leave that for New Year's Eve.

The next best thing about this hot chocolate is that Nicole is sitting in front of me, in my living room. We are facing the window and to our surprise, it's pretty sunny.

She sips from the cup and licks her lips which are slightly tinted from the chocolate. "It's pretty good."

I didn't have to convince her to spend Christmas with me. She just didn't want to spend it with her horrible mother that would force her to not eat anything because 'you gain the most weight on Christmas.' I was pretty shocked when Nicole told me that.

My mother is currently finishing her apple pie. She usually makes it on the day of Christmas so that it's freshly baked and warm.

We help with the dishes and house cleaning. Nicole's been sleeping with me the past week.

"Irène's dad actually got most of Felix's men arrested," I say and she puts down the cup.

"Really? That's great."

"It would be if they arrested Felix too. He could be looking for us." I sigh. "He most certainly is, we ruined everything for him."

I wonder if Derek is okay. I know he is the first target—or was, considering Irène ended up doing the most damage to Felix's business.

I haven't talked to him since that night. I went home and he never contacted me again, and I did the same. I don't know why I expected otherwise.

Sometimes I wonder if he was genuine about 'I'm not over you.' If he was, he has a very weird way of showing it.

I understand Felix is still out there but he is only one man, against six people. He doesn't have any of his workers anymore. We'd be mostly safe.

Are we safer individually? No. I don't think so. Perhaps for Derek it was just an excuse to let me down easy.

I'm never alone, and neither they are. We don't say it aloud but we are all terrified of what Felix could do to us. He has nothing to lose. They even showed his picture on local news of Atlanta.

As if it helps with anything...

My rapist had his image all over TV for a couple of months but he still hasn't been caught... and to think I am near the place where he assaulted me.

Maybe living on campus isn't that bad. It's pretty safe.

"I think it's almost done," my mom yells from the kitchen as she opens the oven.

Nicole and I stand up to check out her food and by the smell alone, we're starving.

My mom is too good at this.