Page 69 (1/1)

Eyes Wide Open Raine Miller 16570K 2023-09-02

"She sent ain, to no one in particular, still in a a terrible situation

I raised the volued in on ht flash nor o to her and bring her back Come on, baby

What felt like aeons of time passed painfully slow I recalled later that I never desired a seone, or i of nicotine deprivation None of it I’d never touch another ciggie inBrynne safely back to me Not much of a vow, I know Pathetic, really But it was all I had to wager with

I prayed to el for another miracle, and hoped she would hear ain

Then the picture ca blip I’d ever heard I opened thewhat she’d just sent

Brynne was playing her hand in a kill-gae stakes that could go either way I loved her so ht on the spot My girl played her cards with the instincts of an experienced ace Of course she does, she’shand "Where is that bell tower? You ht now Brynne can see it from where she just took that photo"

23

My first instinct was to rip the la Karl on the back of the head with it I don’t kno I didn’t I wanted to hurt hi tiined for him was not fit for anyone to ever know I’d have to keep it buried inside ot there eventually Karl got bored in our same, I couldn’t tell That’s how I knew he had his phone and where it was I would have to get it from him at some point and use it to call the only phone number I could remember--the phone nuo I did not know any other nuht about how I could get to Karl’s iPhone In ti deep into o all in, as Ethan would say To bet everything To carefully leverage the risks--or the consequences To try to win, or be willing to lose everything

Anger would be the vehicle to get me there

"You murdered my dad, you eviland stared atme see you after it happened He kept you secreted away from your friends, and from me I wanted to help you and to be there for you Your prick of a father shut me down every tia parent, you assle!" I let my emotions build up insidehi a brick at the funeral Did you see hi for my father, you soulless shit"

Karl se his eyes out with a dull spoon "Not like your dad when I took him out He was one cool son of a bitch, even when he kneas happening" Karl looked ht at the last"

I couldn’t hold in the gasp, the agonized cry that poured out from my heart as I heard his nonchalant words, spoken alht It was toowhat Karl intended for me

"Don’t look so upset, Brynne I told your dad I’d take care of you," he said in a cocky voice, and then he turned his back onmonster!

They say that under the influence of an adrenaline surge, huth Mothers lift cars to free their children and stuff like that I didn’t know if the effect could apply totirasp A nice solid stone-component base that would do the trick if it didn’t shatter froht Fucking Now!

I took ahold of the dath at the back of Karl’s head

I had done the shot put in high school, and I did it now Contact coupled with perfect precision and brutal force Karl went down like a rock in a pond Maybe the stories aboutcars did apply to ot rerabbed his phone off the floor and did the first thing I could think of I held it up to theand took a picture of the skyline Then I sent it to my old phone number

I hoped I’d killed Karl, because it was precisely what he deserved, but I couldn’t be sure and I didn’t want to stick around to find out I was getting out of there

The door ate up a precious led a chain lock on the inside that tookso badly I kneere up three or four stories, and that I had to get down to the street to find safety, but when I exited the attached flat, I found myself in a corridor This place was aI looked around for the best way out The fastest way

The corners and stairwells reminded me of the Mission Inn in Riverside that I’d visited with my parents as a kid You could follow different paths and end up going in crazy loops, up and down stairs and around secluded alcoves that turned you right back where you had been before Where were the elevators in this place?

I thought about Ethan and wondered again if he understood e in the text, and hoould ever find ht about the GPS stuff we’d discussed, and it came to me in a flash Facebook! With Facebook you could check into places and post your location status with a built-in GPS application