Trailer Girl (Completed)

Chapter 16 - In Hiding

I was never good at following rules. It was like with religions. I respected them, but I wasn't the most devoted follower. It wasn't that I was purposely being rebellious, it was just that I didn't care much for the obstacles and I was good at finding ways around them.

Technically, I had listened to Sean. Partly. I went back inside, only because I had no choice. Staying in the same room as the killer, however, was not a choice. At least not one I was willing to make.

I slipped back into the lady's room and waited until it emptied out. Then I jumped on to the counter and out of the window I went. Like I had said, I went back. I just didn't hang around to wait for Sean. Screw the story, screw the investigating. I was out.

I landed with a thud in the neatly cut bushes near the entrance of the hotel. I walked slowly with my back against the wall so the police and the rookie, whom Sean had put in charge to make sure nobody leaves, didn't see me. I felt a little bad for the rookie when I thought of the scolding he was going to get.

When I got to the corner, I jumped out of the bush and flagged the first cab I saw. When the cab driver left me at the campsite I didn't even hesitate. I went straight to the water and power plug, yanked them out and drove off.

I needed to put as much distance as possible between me and Milwaukee, both physically and mentally. I drove without stops and with every mile, I'd had to wipe my eyes to be able to see the road. By the time I reached Chicago, I was all out of tears, as well as kleenex.

I drove past my street, past the building where Sergei stood guard. I drove on, in a welcoming state of complete numbness, to Vasili's place.

He lived in a gated community where three modern buildings rose proudly. The first one was the business building with all the offices. The other two in the back were where he and most of his employees lived.

I waved at the guard, who could have been Sergei's brother for all I knew, and he got out of his security booth to explain to me that this wasn't a trailer park. He even had the same attitude as Sergei.

I gave Vasili a ring and he asked to speak to the guard. Sergei's twin spoke briefly with his boss before he returned my phone and gave me instructions to the parking lot.

Vasili was waiting for me there. I shut off my engine but felt glued to my seat. Vasili knocked on my window and I burst into tears again.

He yanked my door open and gathered me into his arms. I cried into his neck as he carried me through the halls, into an elevator, and into his apartment. He sat down with me on the couch and asked whose ass should he kick.

Despite the promise, and because it was Vasili, I told him the truth. Well, the altered version of it. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life locked in his apartment with Sergei One and Two standing guard.

I told him that I went to the party after Andrei's game and that I found the body. I didn't tell him that Sean was an FBI agent, or that I knew the girl who was killed. That I was, in fact, looking for her on behalf of my one night stand. He knew that she was murdered, but not that it was a work of a serial killer.

He kissed my forehead and made me use his shower. Dressed in his big sweatpants and a t-shirt, I snuggled up on his couch. I refused to take his bed, even though Svetlana wasn't there. Or maybe because of that.

As soon as Vasili hit the lights I drifted into a restless sleep where I was running away from a man dressed in Cubs jersey, whose face I couldn't see because he was wearing his cap too low. I would run into the same back alley where I had found Jessica and I would trip over her body and fall. And while I was looking over at the shadow of a killer approaching me, Jessica's hand stuck and scratched my face. I'd woke up after that drenched in sweat and terrified of every shadow.