Survive the Night by Danielle Vega

Author:Danielle Vega
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2015-06-15T16:00:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

“TRAPPED?” I WHISPER. I’M ONLY A FEW FEET OFF the ground, but I can’t make myself pry my fingers off the ladder. Horror holds me in place. “Are you sure?”

The brown soles of Woody’s sneakers shift on the rung above Sam. I stare at them, willing them to climb higher. Woody bangs against the manhole cover.

“Let us out!” he shouts. He pounds again, and the entire ladder shakes. I curl my fingers around the rungs and close my eyes. Shana swears and Aya releases another choked sob.

“Careful,” Sam says.

I barely even notice the shaking. I’m too distracted by the darkness pressing in around us. I cling to the ladder, like a worm dangling on a hook. I make myself count to ten. Quickly, first. Then slowly.

One. Two. Three.

The last time I counted like this was the night Shana ditched me at Jasper’s party. I stood frozen in the middle of that creepy living room, hands shaking as, one by one, everyone turned to stare at me. The men were worn out, like Jasper. They had watery eyes and cracked lips.

One of them leaned forward, and the bare mattress creaked beneath his weight.

“I heard about you.” He bared his teeth. It wasn’t quite a smile. “Shana brought you to keep me company.”

He shook a whiskey bottle at me, like I was a dog he was trying to bribe.

“What are you talking about?” I asked him. Sweat plastered his hair to his head, and his jeans drooped low around his bony waist. He would have been cute, but drugs had hollowed out his cheeks and left his eyes vacant and cloudy.

“Just last week I asked Shana why she didn’t share any of her friends with us.” He licked his cracked lips. “She said she had a real hot piece for me. And here you are.”

I cursed Shana in my head. “I have a boyfriend.”

The man stood and stepped toward me. I could see his ribs through his thin T-shirt. “Sure you do,” he said.

I raced for the bathroom without another word, pulling the door shut behind me. I crouched on the cold tile, trying to steady my breathing. I counted to ten over and over, and when that didn’t calm me down, I dug a pill out of my pocket. Oxycodone, left over from my knee surgery. I bit into the pill, closing my eyes as it dissolved on my tongue. Then I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Sam’s number with trembling fingers.

Woody bangs against the manhole cover, startling me back to the present. Sam says something, but his voice is too low for me to hear. I catch sight of a strand of Shana’s pink hair and look away, angry. I don’t know why I’m surprised when shit like this happens anymore. Shana ruins everything she touches.

There’s a shuffle above us. Sam climbs up next to Woody, and both of them pound against the cover together. Hope rises in my chest, and I grip the ladder even tighter. But they stop pounding after a second.

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