Loop by Karen Akins

Author:Karen Akins [Akins, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781250030993
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2014-10-21T00:00:00+00:00

chapter 18

MOM’S CHIP HAD MALFUNCTIONED. That was all.

An accident.

So why couldn’t I breathe?

The sound of gushing blood roared through my ears with each heartbeat as I felt my way blindly down the hall. I’d say the trip back to my room was a long one, but that would imply I remembered a single step of it. Somehow, I had the presence of mind to wrap the precious, precious hair around my pinky.

I reached my dorm room and leaned my forehead against the wall outside. These walls that had been my only home for the last six months were suddenly caving in. Every night I’d spent crying, praying, screaming—someone had done this to me. To her.

I could take the jabs, the insults and insinuations. But not this. Please not this.

I bent my head toward the scanner but paused. I had no clue how to handle this with Finn. With all that protection talk from my future self, he already acted like I was walking around with one foot in the crematorium. If he knew what I now knew—that someone actually was a threat—I wouldn’t be able to pry him out of this century with a crowbar.

I opened the door slowly in case Mimi had beaten me back and freed Finn from his closet exile already. But Mimi wasn’t there. As I moved toward the closet’s sensor, I heard his voice coming out of it and hesitated, pressing my ear to the door.

“She’ll come around … no, she won’t. Come on, yes, she will. She doesn’t realize yet how she feels about you, but it’s in there. Oh, who are you kidding? You clung to her like a spider monkey. I mean, seriously? That was your plan? Georgie could have done a better job protecting her.” Finn laughed at his own joke. “Okay, maybe not Georgie. But the monkey might give you a run for your money.”

I jerked away. There was no way I would let Finn know I’d overheard that. I backed up to the doorway and coughed.

Finn’s personal pep talk came to a halt.

I counted to three as slowly as I could and walked back to the closet. When it slid open, Finn met me with a smile so forced I wondered if he had sprained his cheek muscles.

“Hey. I didn’t hear you come in.” He pushed himself up from his makeshift bed composed of a pile of clothes and blankets and brushed some nonexistent dust from his hands. He folded that same journal he’d pulled out earlier closed, tucked a pen in the back. “I was writing. Well, doodling. Mom made me start journaling after I found out about Dad. Couldn’t exactly go to a shrink, could I?”

Oh, but he should have. First I caught him babbling to himself. Now he was flat-out lying to save face. Must. Stop. His. Mouth. I can think of one way to stop it. My mind drifted back to our kiss the day before. Get ahold of yourself, brain.

“Have you been out there, uhh, long?” He bent down and massaged his calf.

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