Break Free The Night (Book 1) (37 page)

              "Toss the keys?" She nodded towards the padlock key swinging from Emma's pocket.

              "You sure?" Her sister asked, eyeing her speculatively.

              "Yeah, I'm gonna be a while."

              Emma threw the keys towards her sister with a mumbled, "See you later then."

              The beam of light from Kaylee's flashlight swept the empty halls. Ahead was a maze of suitcases, in the center of which stood an escalator forever frozen. Kaylee made for the frozen stairs, following the promise of the sign hung above it. In a nondescript font, the black letters shone plainly on the white sign: Bedding.

              As she reached the top, she heard the last echoing squeak of Emma's sneakers against the tile floor as she disappeared back into the mall. Emma would pull and lock the security gate and Kaylee could undo it later when she was finished sleeping. A dozen beds, dressed in all the frills of shams and bed skirts and duvets were scattered around her, each sporting at least four pillows. She found the nearest one and collapsed.

              She turned her flashlight off with an echoing click and stared up at the dark ceiling. The bedding was soft but smelled of dust. Still, it was better to be alone. Without the light, the blackness pressed against her. She closed her eyes, watched the red take over her vision and then blinked them open. It was so dark, she might as well have had her eyes closed, there was no way to see through the gloom. So she kept her eyes open, staring at the ceiling, as she felt the waves of exhaustion sweep her up in their tide.

              It was a long while later that she awoke in the darkness. Her eyes must have slid closed at some undefinable point. She had no idea how long she had slept, but she felt better, felt focused. She stretched experimentally and she wasn't too stiff. She groped for her flashlight, knowing she had tucked it under the covers with her. With an audible click, the light cut through the dark. Across the opening in the floor from which the escalator rose, racks of lingerie caught in the beam of light, white and black and red and some ridiculous leopard print. She rose and began her shopping.

~

              Kaylee walked right into a pile of suitcases, crying out when she stubbed her toe. The pile she had knocked into tumbled over and she dropped her armful of clothing onto the ground. She pulled her flashlight from her back pocket and swept the luggage, looking for a sturdy backpack.

              She had no idea what time it was because, stupidly, she had let Emma walk away without first setting her watch. And without windows to see the sun, it was impossible to tell. But she couldn't hear any of the others and so she assumed they were still asleep. She found a pile of rugged looking back packs under a knocked over display of carry on Louis Vuitton and picked one out to stuff full of the clothing she gathered. It wasn't all for her, she took triple of all the necessaries, even having a little fun with the lingerie. She picked out a baby blue bra covered in cream lace in Emma's size that she knew her sister would hate. But it made Kaylee laugh, the sound ringing through the empty department store, so she packed it just to see the look on Emma's face when she pulled it out. Or Andrew's.

             
In addition to the clothing, fresh underwear and socks, long sleeved shirts and new jeans, Kaylee found a large selection of boots. She had several pairs, the laces tied together so she could sling them over her arm. She was both happy and sad to be ridding herself of her old sneakers. They were worn and comfortable, they formed to her feet so nicely, but they were also tattered and falling apart. She needed new ones, she knew it. But her sneakers had been with her from the beginning. All new clothes, new boots, new everything. Her city was behind her, no longer accessible. She fumbled in her pocket for her mother's medal and the padlock keys, placing them both carefully on the floor before she stripped her old clothing off and changed. She returned the medal and the keys to her new pocket, her fingers lingering over the cold, impressed surface of Saint Jude.

              The lights overhead flickered and came to life, not all of them, some were shattered and others just seemed dead. But many hummed to life, causing Kaylee to squeeze her eyes at the sudden intrusion of light, the whine of the florescent bulbs loud in the stillness.

              She froze. Because suddenly, it wasn't the only sound.

              China smashed. Lenox, Wedgewood, Waterford, crystal and flatware, Kaylee heard them all shatter as they hit the tile floor above her. The floor on which she had just taken a long nap. Alone. She thought she had been alone.

              She wasn't now.

              Kaylee had no idea how they got in. They could have been here the whole time and just woke now when the lights flickered on, or maybe there was a door to the outside they had missed when locking the place up. But it didn't really matter, because someone was already thudding down the escalator, skidding into the suitcases piled at the bottom. Another fell after the first and then the rest followed, a mass of people stumbling and sliding and writhing over one another and towards Kaylee. She counted at least a dozen before she turned away.

              She hitched her bag on her back, threw the boots around her neck, and ran.

Loss of Light

Due out September 2014

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