Shattered - By Sophia Sharp Page 0,27

random, she flung the doors open to one classroom, interrupting the teacher mid-sentence. Everybody stared at her. She quickly scanned the faces, and, on not seeing Logan, ran back out.

She burst into another class. Logan wasn’t there either. The teacher yelled, and followed her into the hallway as she backed out. Laura ran on, leaving the cries of obscenity behind. Another classroom. Quickly, she opened the doors and scanned the faces. Logan wasn’t there.

Desperate, she ran to another class. Still, Logan was not there. Dammit, but he was taking the same subjects as her! All the students in her grade were, everybody was taught by the same teachers, so he had to be in one of these classrooms.

She ran into another room. No Logan. Another room. Still, no Logan. The man’s presence in the office was weighing heavily on her. She was getting more and more scared. She ran, as fast as her legs could carry her, into a room at the far end of the hall. She was already panting, and her hair was a disheveled mess. She had to catch her breath before looking up. When she did – she saw that everybody was gaping at her.

“Laura?”

It was Logan’s voice. Logan’s voice, from the back. She rushed over to him, not caring what anyone saw or said. He stood from his desk, and she jumped up to embrace him in a tight hug.

“Laura, what’s wrong?” He sounded concerned.

“I saw him,” she said quickly, the words rushing out.

“Saw who?”

“They called for me in the office. Two men. One…” She gulped. “…one was the man I saw yesterday.”

Chapter Twelve

~On the Run~

If it were possible, Laura would have said Logan turned even paler than usual. Suddenly, the confident young man she knew looked very frightened.

“Are you sure?” he asked her.

“Yes!” she practically screamed. “Would I come here like this, in the middle of class, if I wasn’t?” Everybody was still looking. The teacher started making her way over. “Miss,” the teacher began, but Laura ignored it. She had eyes only for Logan.

“You’re right,” he nodded. “We have to go.” And, taking her hand, he led her into the hall.

“Logan, wait,” she said outside the classroom. “Where are we going?”

“We have to get away,” he answered, continuing down the hall. His hand gripping hers gave her strength, made her feel stronger. Less scared.

“I don’t understand.”

“I’ll tell you. Later. But right now, we need to get out of the school.” The hall forked into two, and he looked down both ways, seeming uncharacteristically unsure of himself. Finally, settling on a direction, he led her that way.

They came up to an exit door, and he opened it for her. Before she stepped through, though, he stopped her.

“Your bag,” he said, “where is it?”

“I left it in my other class.”

“There’s no time to get it, now,” he mumbled to himself. “Do you have anything important in there?”

“Notebooks, school notes, that type of thing.”

“What about your cell phone?”

“It’s in my pocket.”

Logan nodded. “Good.” And he ran out the school with her trailing. Outside, Laura realized where he was headed: towards the parking lot, where he presumably had his car.

Sure enough, Laura picked it out, standing in that same far corner as before. Logan was at a dead-run, now, and Laura struggled to keep up. He got to the car way before her, and was already in the driver’s seat with the engine on when Laura opened the door.

As soon as Laura clicked on her seatbelt, he gunned the engine, and sped out of the lot. When they were on the road, he started checking his back mirror every few seconds. Obsessively. There was an obvious tension he was feeling, and the silence that stretched between them didn’t help.

“What do you keep looking for?” Laura asked suddenly.

“If they’re coming,” he replied distractedly.

“The men from the office?” Laura asked. Logan nodded quickly in reply. “But how would they even know that we left?”

“Trust me. They know.”

There was such conviction in his words, that Laura started looking over her shoulder, too. Everything seemed fine at first – there weren’t many cars on the road this close to the school at this hour – and nobody appeared to be coming after them. Just as Laura started to relax slightly, a black car appeared far behind them. Laura squinted her eyes. It appeared to be getting larger, getting closer to them, very quickly.

“Logan, the black car,” Laura said.

“I see it.” His face was the picture of concentration. Laura looked back again.