Page 9 of Spark
“Yeah,” she said, but then her bravado slipped a beat later.“Only, it was dark, and I hadn’t really been sure where I was to begin with, so I got lost kind of fast.I knew I wasn’t exactly in the safest part of the city.I’m not dumb—I watchLaw & Order.I know what happens to girls who wander around all by themselves, distracted by their phones, so I found another building that looked pretty dark, at least from the outside.I thought I could sneak into the back where no one would see me, just for a minute while I figured out where I was.”
The dots connected with a sickening pang.“The warehouse.”
Esme nodded, shakier now, her wiry arms wrapped tight around her thin tank top.“This place wasn’t empty like the other one, and it wasn’t totally dark.There were giant shelves and big, wooden crates all over, some of them stacked up to the ceiling, and there were a couple of overhead lights on in the back of the building.I thought it was probably for security, but I still didn’t want to get caught, so I hid behind one of the shelves, just in case.I started to pull up location services on my phone, but then, I heard someone in the very back of the room, arguing.”
At this point, Chloe’s heart was far enough in her throat that all she could do was give Esme a look that said she was listening, and that Esme could trust her.Thankfully, that was all the kid needed.“There were two men.At first, I just heard their voices.I was going to bolt, but they were closer than I thought.I was scared that if I made any noise, they’d find out I was there and I’d be inreallybad trouble.So, I stayed where I was and kept hiding.”
“That was really smart,” Chloe said.In truth, it had probably saved her life.“Could you see the men from where you were?”
“Yeah.I wasn’t going to look at first.But, then, I knew I should, in case they saw me and I needed to make a run for it.Only, they were too busy arguing.”
Chloe took a slow, silent breath and tried to remind her adrenaline that it wasn’t the boss of her.“Can you describe them?”
“One of them is the guy who…you know.Got stabbed.”Esme’s voice caught, and she cleared her throat before pressing on.“But the other guy was white, with brown hair.Old, but not like, grandpa old.Maybe thirty-five?”
Later, Chloe might be able to laugh at the irony of thirty-five being old, but right now, she settled for what she hoped was an encouraging, “That’s good.Did you notice anything else?Height, build?Maybe how this other guy was dressed?”More things she knew from experience that Addison would have asked.
“He was taller than the other guy.Bigger, too, like maybe he worked out.”Esme leaned forward in her chair, gesturing to her shoulders.“And he was kind of dressed up.”
“Like, in a suit?”Chloe asked, and Esme nodded, her brows bent in thought.
“Sort of, but without the jacket or tie.But I remember, because he still looked pretty bougie.I thought it was weird, being all GQ in a North Point warehouse in the middle of the night, but it wasn’t like I was gonna bring it up.I just wanted to get out of there.”
This next part was going to be a lot harder, so Chloe gentled her voice.“You said the two men were arguing.Do you know about what?”
“Not exactly.”Esme’s chin dropped a fraction, the move tagging Chloe right in the sternum.“They weren’t yelling or anything, but the bougie guy was definitely mad.I could tell by the look on his face and the way he was clenching his fists.He kept asking why the other guy was lying to him, saying he knew he was ripping him off and that he was cutting in the product.But he might as well have said drugs, because, like,everyoneknows that’s what ‘the product’ means.”
Fair point.“And how did the other man respond?”
“He was trying to smooth things over, saying he would never do that, he knew who the other guy was.But I could tell he was scared, especially when…”
Tears filled Esme’s eyes in a sudden burst, and she jammed them shut as her words crashed to a halt.Instinct screamed at Chloe to jump out of her chair and protect the girl—God, she knew the exact brand of fear Esme was feeling right now, how terrifying it felt to be so vulnerable.
And so, she offered the only thing she could think of.An anchor.
“Esme,” Chloe said, shocked at how calm and in control she sounded.“Esme, hey.Look at me.”
She opened her eyes, the tears she’d probably been doing her very best to hold back spilling over her pale cheeks, and fuck, this anchor thing was harder than Chloe thought it would be.
Yet, she still did it.“I promise that you’re safe.I know this is really scary, but nothing bad is going to happen to you here.Nothing.Do you understand?”
Esme nodded, swiping at her face with the back of one hand.“Yeah.Okay, yeah.”She took a breath.Let it out.Took another one, then said, “All of a sudden, the bougie guy just kind of snapped.He took out a knife.It was long, with a really fancy handle that looked shiny and white, like it was made of pearl.There was a design on the blade, too—kind of swirly, the same as a tattoo.I thought maybe he’d just use it to scare the other guy, but he didn’t.”
Her voice lowered to a notch above a whisper.“He just lunged forward and stabbed the guy really hard, right here.”She touched the spot directly over her clavicle, her fingers trembling.“The guy was so surprised, he didn’t even scream.I wanted to run, but I knew if the man with the knife heard me, he’d come for me, too.He’d…”
She trailed off again, but Chloe shook her head, shifting in her chair so she was in Esme’s field of vision.“He isn’t here.He isn’t going to hurt you now.”
Esme gave up a tiny nod.“I couldn’t move,” she said, more to the table than to Chloe.“I couldn’t even look away.He just pushed the knife in really far and said, ‘Nobody ripsmeoff.’Then, he stabbed him over and over, on his body and his face.There was so much blood, and”—her voice wobbled, along with Chloe’s heart—“some other stuff.It was everywhere.But the man with the knife just kept going for what felt like forever, until finally, he stopped.”
As if she just wanted the rest of the story out—and really, who the hell could blame her?—
Esme kept talking.
“The other guy was on the ground by then, and I knew he had to be dead.The man who stabbed him looked around, I guess to make sure no one had seen him.But I just stayed really, really still until he left a minute later.I wanted to run, but I was so scared he’d come back, and the other guy was bleeding, like,somuch.I didn’t want to get any closer.”
“That’s okay,” Chloe said, truthfully adding, “I think I’d have felt the exact same way.”
Esme sniffled, but soldiered on.“I counted to five hundred, just to be really, really sure he was gone, and then, I blocked my number and called nine-one-one.I didn’t mean to hide from the cops,” she added quickly, her eyes darting to the camera still sitting between them on the table, “but I thought I’d get in trouble for sneaking out.Which is really stupid, I guess, considering.But that’s everything that happened.”
