tracks of sweat dripping from his brow and into his eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Please let me go.”
“Once I get what I need I will.” I looked away. His relief would accompany him in death. I printed the information I needed and closed out of the file and signed out. If the system was monitored, I didn’t want anyone finding him before I was long gone. I crossed the room to the water bubbler and took the powder-filled packet from my pocket and dumped the contents into the paper cup. I filled the cup with water; the powder dissolving quickly.
I went to Benjamin, placed the cup on the desk and untied him. “You’re sweating like a pig. Here.”
“Thank you,” he said staring at me.
I was used to the stares; they didn’t bother me as much as they used to. I handed him the cup. He chugged the liquid greedily. It wasn’t his fault he was going to die. It was an unfortunate circumstance that he had been working late when I arrived. I couldn’t risk his identifying me to anyone. His death would be swift, merciful.
I picked up the rope and coiled it around my arm, then shoved it in my bag and lifted the strap over my shoulder. “Goodbye, Benjamin.”
He opened his mouth to say something but, instead of words, a wet gurgle filled his throat.
I watched him clutch his chest and seize for a few moments before he went still. I pushed his rolling chair so he was situated under his desk. They would say he had a heart attack. No one would be the wiser.
I slid the papers from the printer into a large envelope, giving them the care they needed for my travel to Chester Bay, Connecticut.
It was the first time in hours that my phone didn’t ring. To any other average sixteen-year-old girl that would have caused an aneurysm, or at least twitchy fingers and a headache. I rolled over; the bright-purple-and-pink-striped beach towel under me stuck to my leg from the heat of the early afternoon. I sat up and lifted the towel from under me. I wiped my sweaty face and dropped my sunglasses down from my head. Like hell was I going to get raccoon-eyes tan lines! The girls wouldn’t forgive such a summer faux pas. The lounge chair was warmer than it was when I sat down to sunbathe two hours ago and the backs of my legs immediately stuck to the plastic surface.
I grabbed my phone from under the chair so it didn’t take the brunt of the New England late-June heat, and I pressed the round button on the bottom of the screen. Several photo texts littered the screen. Earlier, I’d turned off the text notifications, leaving the ringer on in case Mom or Dad called. Dad would be okay with leaving a message, but Mom would have been frantic if I didn’t pick up before voicemail.
I scrolled through to find the latest from Kat. My best friend, and my boyfriend’s sister, posed on the deck of her parents’ sailboat in the matching bikini we both bought last week. Well, she bought mine as an early birthday present. I kept my relief to myself since I wasn’t sure how I’d be able to explain that expense on Mom’s credit card. The suit cost more than several items of my clothing combined.
I looked down at the pink and gray bandeau top with matching bottom. Mine looked dull in the Connecticut sun while hers appeared more vibrant against the clear blue ocean of the Caribbean. I flipped through the photos and commented on each one as she would be expecting. Then I took a picture of myself in my suit and sent it along.
It was around one. I wouldn’t be expecting anything from Rachael or Brittany for another hour. They were night owls and the main reason my parents forced me to turn my phone on silent at night. Rachael’s and Brittany’s late-night barrages of texts over the past week had disturbed the entire Daniels household. And, after two sleepless nights before the new cellphone rule, I was happy to comply.
After checking my text log, I let out a whoosh of breath. There weren’t any texts from Joe yet. I’d woken up this morning with twelve missed calls from him and one cryptic voicemail.
“Call me back, Cara” was all he said, though I sensed the “or else” in the silence following his voice. I wished he would have gone on the family trip with Kat, though he insisted on staying home as his own graduation present. Two weeks of freedom to do whatever he wanted.
Even in the stifling heat, I shivered. Joe and I had been on some seriously thin ice since his graduation out of Chester Bay High two weeks ago. Our relationship seemed solid to everyone else. It had started like a fairytale, with a junior jock plucking a sophomore nobody from the masses of high school social hell. But it had a happy ending for only about a year. I could have ended it at any point after getting to know the real Joe, but, at the same time, I couldn’t. There was no going back after getting a taste of the high life. Besides, I’d burned enough bridges clawing to the top of the food chain, I would be ground meat if I ever attempted to climb back down.
The sliding door opened and my sister, Madison, stepped onto the deck. She squinted in the sunlight as if it would burn her pale skin the second she came into its light. Or it might have been the glare from her Coke-bottle glasses. She twisted her blonde ponytail around her finger. Hair color was the only trait we shared. I thanked the genetic gods for my ability to sustain a tan, unlike my sister.
“What is it?” I asked. Madison had rarely left her room so far this summer.
She pushed the bridge of her glasses further up her nose. “Joe’s on the phone.”
I ground my teeth together and glared at the phone in her hand. Why didn’t I think about the landline?
She held the phone in her outstretched hand as it continued to ring. “He’s been calling all morning. I saw his name on the caller ID.”
I stood up and crossed the deck, my bare feet pounding on the wood. I grabbed the phone from her hand and pressed the end button.
“Why did you do that?” Madison asked, squinting up at me.
I held the phone out to her. “I’m not in the mood to talk to him.”
She crossed her arms. “You don’t want to talk to your boyfriend? Since when?”
“Since, I said so,” I snapped. I wasn’t going to explain the intricacies of high school relationships to a fourteen-year-old.
Madison stepped back and scowled. “Why are you so mean all the time? Your stupid friends have turned you into a jerk, you know that?”
“I’m not mean,” I said. “You need to stay out of my business.”
She rolled her eyes. “Devin is right. You’re always mean.”
My breath caught in my throat. Devin was my best friend since fifth grade. In fact, she’d been my only friend. Then I started dating Joe and all of that changed. She got weird and suddenly stopped hanging out and talking to me. Sometimes, Madison hung out with her little sister, Sabine. It was Devin’s fault that she didn’t stay friends with me; now, apparently, she had only her little sister to talk to. Pathetic.
I rolled my eyes. “It’s not my fault Devin was jealous that I had a boyfriend.”
Madison shook her head. “Whatever. I’m going inside.”
“Take the phone with you,” I said, holding it out.
“Take it in yourself.”
