Chapter 3

Hilary woke up cold and dishevelled. The once warm radiator was now ice cold against her back, soothing the burns it had inflicted the night before. Shifting uncomfortably she winced in pain as the burns began to throb. Sighing irritably now she gazed around the room. Her eyes were still tired and itchy; the horrible bunged up feeling of a cold coming on not improving her mood. The previous nights memories swam slowly around in her mind. It had all happened so quickly, she couldn't even begin to come to terms with it.

Casting it from her mind, she glanced around the room. Numerous desks and chairs arranged in tidy rows, looked unnervingly different bathed in the clean light of the morning, shining in chinks through the blinds. Getting slowly to her feet, she hunted around for her shoes and socks, attempting to quell the shivering starting to wrack her body again. Hugging herself tightly she forced her bare feet into damp shoes, shoving the socks in the pocket of partially dry jeans. Not even bothering to run a hand through her knotted hair, she swept the mess from her eyes and set off, hunched against the morning chill, to find a way out of her school.

Glancing at the class room clock it told her five in the morning. Thanking her lucky stars that no students would ever be in school at this time, she let the scenario of waking up in the middle of a classroom full of students run through the back of her mind as she made her way back down the corridor she had come, wet shoes squeaking horribly against the hard floor.

Reaching the exit, still trying to rub the tiredness from her coffee brown eyes, she tugged wearily on the door handle. It didn't move.

Her heart skipped a beat. A small frown of confusion crept onto her face. She pulled again, harder. The same result.

Heart speeding up, pounding painfully in her throat, eyes widened slowly in realisation; her pale hand slid onto the cold metal of the handle, grip tightening once more. Tensing her body rigid she yanked the door as hard as she could.

Nothing.

Suddenly a distant bang echoed through the hall. Staring at the door in puzzlement for a second, the menacing sound of footsteps suddenly sprung up from down the hall, bouncing eerily off the walls. Someone had entered the building. She whipped round. They were coming closer. The concise tapping of office shoes closed in.

Turning quickly, in two strides, Hilary was through the nearest door. The rank smell of stale urine hit her in waves. Fighting down the nausea she cursed her luck. She managed to stumble into the boys toilets.

Holding a hand over her nose, she ventured deeper into the grey room of rotting tiles and toilet paper hanging grotesquely from the ceiling, determined to escape the school without being found, at any costs.

Waiting, almost suffocating from the smell, until she thought the person must have gone, Hilary slipped tentatively back out of the door, taking a huge gulp of the clean air and scouting round quickly for any danger. Looking round carefully once more, the door was still closed. But the person must have come in from somewhere. Hilary slipped as quietly as possible down the hall way. The lights had been turned on. Between her and the end of the corridor where numerous rooms, all could hold the person, and if they came down the stairs from the far end, she would be seen instantly. Retracing her steps swiftly to the empty class room she had come in from, eyes darting round everywhere, ears strained for the slightest noise, an idea suddenly came whirling into her panicked brain. The window. She was on the ground floor. The Drop was nothing but a few feet down. Smiling in relief, Hilary dodged quickly between the desks and without thinking drew up the blinds. They made an earth shattering screech as they shot up the window, screaming against the glass. Hilary almost jumped out of her skin. Adrenaline flooded her body. A shout emanated from down the corridor. She swore quietly, she was in too deep to turn back now. Crouching down the girl pinched the cold bolt of metal that latched the window shut resolutely, and pulled. It jammed. Wiggling it about furiously she cursed the faulty mechanism. Split second flashed past as she wrestled with the knot pulling it back and forth, up and down. With a final jerk it came loose, shooting across and cutting deep into her fingers where they had closed round it. Deep red blood spurted from her index finger. Fighting down a scream, she ignored it and grabbed the sliding window with her other hand. Shaking now, she could hear the office shoes running down the corridor. Voices. There was more than one.

With new resolve, she swept the window open and thrust her torso through.

Mistake Her momentum carried her forwards. She flipped uncontrollably over the other side of the sill. Hands gripping desperately, she slid unceremoniously towards the concrete on the other side. Her legs followed her and she landed flat on her back on the ground, hands burning and the wind knocked out of her. Dazed, she knew she had to get away. She heard a man's voice shouting from in the class room. She heard desks shift and groan as he heaved them out of the way. She heard muffled footsteps as he rushed towards the window. She couldn't seem to react. Closing her eyes, still on the ground, she prepared herself for the onslaught. She couldn't move. Waiting Hilary watched the man lean over the sill in her mind's eye.

But the moment never came. Suddenly she heard a small cry of pain followed by the unmistakable sound of a body collapsing to the floor. What was going on? Her breath tearing out of her throat as though she had run for miles, Hilary scrambled backwards. She forced her spine was against the building, hoping hiding under the window ledge would provide her some cover. Curled up in a foetal position, she looked up, head resting against the wall so she could see the edge of the sill. She would know the instant someone popped their head over to look. She waited. Silence. Nothing but the pounding of her heart. The rushing of blood through her veins. She desperately tried to slow her breathing, she was sure it was too loud. Some one must have heard her. Her body slowly tensed as the silence increased. Pressing herself flat against the wall, she could picture the teacher standing on the other side, watching, waiting for her to move.

She wondered who it would be. Anyone but Mr Balkov. The purple haired man was notorious for his harsh punishments and deathly glares. He had also been looking at her strangely these past few weeks, especially when she had hit the homeless boy in the face. She had seen a glint in his eyes that had made her feel sick without knowing why.

A shadow fell over her. Hilary screamed. Pushing away from the wall she threw herself away from the window and dived across the concrete onto the grass lawn. She scrambled up to run when something made her stop. She turned to the window, eyes widening in shock as the sound reached her ears. Leaning casually out of the window, grey hair flopping carelessly into his eyes was: "The name's Kai" the boy said. Barely concealing a smirk he managed to keep down the laughter that had burst out of him seconds before. Hilary's feet seemed to have taken root in the grass in shock. She stared wordlessly at him, heart still galloping. She couldn't comprehend. What was he doing here? The boy from last night... The image of him soaked in rain and topless swam blurrily into her mind. Suddenly she was hit with a nasty thought. "What are you doing here?" the question was guarded. Had he been following her? The events of the previous night were a jumble of emotions and images. Should she know him? The back of her neck prickled uncomfortably. Why was he grinning so confidently? It unnerved her. That arrogant smirk reminded her of that black haired boy, Ray. Hilary was suddenly pulled from her thoughts and started as the boy, Kai, suddenly vaulted out of the window sill.

She took an involuntary step back. "What do you want?"

He was still smiling.