Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 57623 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 288(@200wpm)___ 230(@250wpm)___ 192(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57623 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 288(@200wpm)___ 230(@250wpm)___ 192(@300wpm)
“But then I’ll be a missing person,” Storm mumbles, giving into an Alice in Wonderland style monologue. “Where did she go, they’ll say. That nice Australian girl? Because they still can’t tell the difference, not one of them. And then I’ll grow old up here and perhaps technically end up owning the entire school because of occupation rights. Do they have those here? I should look that up. I wonder where I’d look that up? A library, maybe? Or a municipal building. Municipal. What a word.”
“I might get hungry,” she continues to muse. “But the kitchen always has plenty to eat. I could go down in the night. Maybe make friends with a mouse up here. Maybe make friends with several mice. I miss Kravik. He was a good boy. I bet they’re not walking him.”
“I’ll live up here,” she says to herself. “I’ll live up here and I’ll sneak out at night and I’ll be pale because of a lack of sun, so they’ll think I’m a ghost and then they really won’t be able to get rid of me because all old places worth anything have ghosts.”
Storm could conceivably entertain herself in such musings for hours. There is a peace to this roof space she has missed. There are always people around downstairs in the proper parts of the school. People who want to talk or at least be listened to. Even late at night, her head is so full of things she’s supposed to do and things she must do, it’s all felt very full and busy all the time. But it doesn’t feel that way now. It feels peaceful.
For a while, Storm forgets why she’s in the roof.
Creak…
The sound of a foot fall outside makes her freeze. There’s no fucking way she’s been found. There’s no…
Creeeeakkk…
That’s the sound of the door opening. Storm scoots around a partition, heart hammering in her chest.
“I know you are here.” Laura’s voice rings out across the roof space. “Come out now.”
There’s no fucking way that’s happening. Storm’s panicked brain has already made a plan. Let Laura come in. Let her get all the way around, and hopefully move up and past where Storm is currently hiding. Then, when there’s a chance, run for the door, shut it, and bar it with everything she can.
Hold.
Laura’s footsteps come toward her.
Hold.
She steels herself for the moment she is going to run. Closer they come. Closer… Closer still.
Hold
It’s tempting to run now, but if she makes her move too early, she’ll just run right into Laura. She has to catch her off-guard.
Now.
Storm bursts from her hiding spot and sprints for the cupboard, diving out of it in a wild panic. Laura is right behind her, but not close enough again. Storm slams the door shut and leans against it. There’s a dull thud as Laura makes contact with the shut side.
“Let me out at once!”
Laura’s voice comes through the door, loud and frustrated.
“I’m not letting you out until you promise not to punish me.”
“Of course I am going to punish you, you little brat,” Laura growls. “I am going to make what Miss Strict did to you with that birch look like nothing.”
Storm braces herself against a stair railing in the common room, feet against the bottom rung, back against the door. Laura’s not getting out of there any time soon.
“You better be nice to me,” Storm calls back. “Or you’re going to be the old lady in the roof forever.”
She can’t help but laugh at her own joke, adrenaline making her absolutely goofy, along with the relief of not actually being caught. She has no idea how this is working out so well. Someone or something must be watching over her.
“Stand back, or you’re going to get hurt,” Laura warns.
Storm can hear Laura backing up a step to take a run at the door. She doesn’t know if she can hold it or not, and in an instant she decides not to even bother to try.
She runs down the common room stairs as Laura comes flying out of the roof cavity behind her, the cupboard door bursting off its hinges under the weight of the angry guard.
Again, Storm has the advantage, but it is not as much this time. She bolts for the staircase that goes to the first floor, hearing Laura behind her. Gripping the bannister, she jumps and slides down to the first floor, adding maybe a second or two to her time.
But Laura didn’t bother with the bannister. Laura jumped. And as Storm hits the bottom of the staircase, the guard comes down on top of her in a tackle that brings them both to the ground, cursing and growling like a pair of furious animals.
Storm doesn’t know what the woman is trying to achieve, but she fights for all she is worth, squirming and cursing, kicking and even trying to bite. After an intense few seconds of tussling, Laura grips her by the back of the neck in one hand, and pulls her right arm up and behind her back. But Laura is not letting go, and that arm grip means she can barely squirm. She’s got Storm pinned, and she’s keeping her pinned.