Page 34 of Kalix
“Okay, I’ll be right back,” I say, before placing a gentle kiss to her forehead, “Any requests?”
“Hmmm,” she ponders, “sweet, salty, caffeinated.”
“Got it, text me if you think of anything else.” I add a wink onto the end just for a little extra touch before jogging back the way I came.
I shoot a text off to the group chat before I leave, too.
Whoever is closest to the library, come
keep an eye on Lainey. I gotta leave for a
sec.
Be there in a few.
I take my chances and head to the store, I’d like to be back sooner rather than later and it’s only a few minutes from campus. Issac will be there soon, so it’ll all be fine.
Not even fifteen minutes later, the bike is parked where Lainey and I had originally been, and I’m jogging back through the library.
Issac’s back is to me, the table where I left Lainey directly in front of him.
As I go to the side, it’s exactly like it was when I left her. Her backpack open, books pulled out and opened, the notebooks littered about with hernotes.
“Hey,” Issac says, “I was just about to text you. I just got here, I think she may be in the bathroom.”
“What do you mean you just got here? You mean she’s been by herself for the last fifteen minutes?”
“Well, yeah, I was on the other side of town, but also the closest. What’s going?—”
I don’t wait to hear anything else as I head to the closest bathroom and push open the door, checking to see if there’s any occupants. None.
“Check every fucking bathroom!” I yell at Issac from across the racks as I race to the next. His heavy footsteps echo as I push open the next door, and still, my little rabbit is nowhere to be found.
We keep repeating this action, one after another, until the entire building has been checked, and there’s no sign of her anywhere.
My jaw flexes, my hands ball into fists and my breaths come out heavy as I quite literally seethe.
“You fucking left her alone, now where the fuck is she?” I grit out.
“I-I didn’t know man. I got here as fast as I cou-”
My body reacts before my mind can, pushing over the cart holding books as the copies go flying to the ground. My arms reach out, shoving all of Lainey’s perfectly arranged materials off the table and let them join the books, too.
She’s fucking gone and it’s all my fault.
I think my vision is going blurry.
She’s fucking gone and it’s all my fault.
Definitely blurry, I can hear my heartbeat. Why is it so hard to breathe?
She’s fucking gone and it’s all my fault.
There’s spots in my vision. It’s going black.
She’s fucking gone and it’s all my fault.
She’s fucking gone and it’s all my
