Deadlock

XVII

“I’m sorry.” I muttered.

“Sorry?” He asked.

“It’s my fault that you’re stuck in here.” I told him.

“Why is that?”

“Because I have this.” I showed him the key chain that was in my pocket.

“So he’s telling the truth.” He murmured but loud enough for me to hear.

“What do you mean?” I asked him warily.

“Ahm, what is that?” He asked looking at the thing in my hand as if he didn’t hear my last question.

“This is Rob Van Garrette’s.” I told him. He didn’t make any expression so I continued. “He is a student in here. He is the biggest jerk I’ve ever met… no, he’s the biggest jerk in the world.” He chuckled. “What’s so funny?”

“Uh, nothing.” He simply said.

And then another great silence followed. It was almost killing me. Because all I could think was that I wouldn’t be able to go to my parents’ graves. The tears wanted to flow down but I didn’t want anyone to see me cry. I didn’t want this stranger to see me cry. It hurt me when I think that because of this stupid thing in my hand, I wouldn’t be able to go to my parents. I’d been doing it for nine years without a fail. And now, because of the selfishness of a bastard, I would miss it. I just hated him so much.

“So why did you say that he’s the biggest jerk in the world?” He asked all of a sudden. 

I looked at him. Tears were starting to flow. I couldn’t stop it anymore. And then I just burst into tears. But I managed to look at him and I just told him everything without thinking. “I hate him. I hate Rob Van Garrette because he bullied me after I accidentally poured some crap into his shirt. I hate him because he tried to force himself into me. I hate him because he locked me here, and today is my parents’ tenth death anniversary.” I yelled. But then I regretted saying the second reason. I shouldn’t have said those.

“He did what?!” He asked shocked.

“He bullied me.”

“No, after that.”

“He locked me here.” I told him hoping that he would stop.

“No, before that.” He continued asking.

“Nothing. That was just it.” I told him and he finally stopped. 

He was just there staring at me, still suspecting me. And then he just sighed heavily and talked again. “So today is your parents’ death anniversary?” He asked. I nodded. “I’m sorry.”

I didn’t answer him. I just continued sobbing. “Stop crying.” He demanded. I looked at him. And then he shrugged. “Uh, uhm, I hate seeing cry babies.” 

I didn’t listen to him. He seemed annoyed but I didn’t care anymore. I just continued what I was doing. Good thing about it was that he didn’t stop me anymore. He just kept quiet the whole time I was sobbing, though I knew he really thought it was annoying. After awhile of crying, I got tired and I started to sleep in my arms.

Third Person POV

Emily buried her face into her arms and continued sobbing. But after a while of crying, she just got tired and slept. Nate Pierce came into her and poked her head. But she was not responding and when he poked her again, she gently lied down on the floor.

“Stupid girl, how could you sleep in front of a guy, you didn’t even know the name, in an empty room.” He muttered. 

He went to lockers to looked for something. He found some unused towels and placed them on the floor. He carried the girl and put her on the pile of towels gently. And then he covered her with more towels to keep her from the cold.

It was getting darker outside, he thought. He knew it was because his watch said so. Seconds, minutes and hours had passed but no rescue came to them. They were still stuck inside the locker room of the gym. 

The things Emily had told him kept ringing into his mind. He knew it was Rob’s idea of locking her here or rather he knew it was Rob who bullied her again. Rob said she took something from him but they didn’t believe him, Rob continued pestering her though. They were thinking that Rob probably misplaced the key chain or something. Now he realized, he was telling the truth. This girl really had something that belongs to him. But this same girl said Rob forced himself into her. Could it be true? He started remembering things from Jake’s birthday party.

Nate and Vaughn were on the stage along with Jake and his ex-girlfriend Ashley. They were kissing when everybody heard a splash at the back. They all looked at it and they saw Rob soaked with water as he was pulling a girl. Jake went down of the stage and went to where Rob was. He took his suit off and placed it to the girl. But the girl refused to take it and she ran away crying. 

Rob said she confessed to him in the study room. And then she just took away Rob's key chain. But every time they asked him about why she'd ran when she confessed to him, he would avoid the topic.

So Rob forced himself into her, he thought. And then Emily started to move. She started opening her eyes.

End of Third Person POV

I started opening my eyes. I looked around. I realized the pile of towels had been keeping me comfortable while I was asleep. And then I saw the brunette guy sitting on the floor across from me.

“Ahm, thanks.” I told him.

“Yeah, it’s okay.”

“Uh, what time is it?”

“It’s ten in the evening.” He answered.

Darn, I was really hungry. I let out a sigh. And then footsteps were echoing and I knew he heard it too. We started getting up and shouting for help. We were banging the door and the footsteps were heading to the door.

“Who’s in there?” A big cold voice asked.

“Nate Pierce here. Now open it.” The brunette guy said. So his name was Nate Pierce. Where did I hear that from?

“Yes sir.” The big voice answered.

He opened the door and we saw our savior. He was a big guy wearing a uniform with a badge in it that says Ourine Academy. A security guard probably.

Nate walked passed the security guard and went into his bag. He was taking his stuffs and he was putting it into his bag. And then he looked at me. I walked toward him. I wanted to say thanks and I wanted to properly say goodbye to him.

“Thanks, Nate.” I said as I used his name.

“Believe me, you don’t want to say that.” He said, his face expressionless.

I did not understand him but I decided not to ask anymore. I smiled at him and I started to walk away.

“W-wait…” He called. I turned into his direction. “…what’s your name?”

Yeah, I never really introduced myself to him formally. “Emily Hayes.” I told him. And then I walked away from the place.