Owning You - A Na Jaemin Fanfic

58. The Wilderness

I connect with her stomach.

She doubles over and I reload my legs, kick her again, in the face. My heel cracks against her nose. She spills to the floor. I rip the sheets back and spring from the bed, run through the doorway into the black hall beyond.

Next to me, rain drills into the windows.

I stumble, sink to my knees, try to pull myself up with one flailing hand.

Suddenly the hall glows white as lightning flares.

I haul myself to my feet.

Thunder rolls outside.

And then: "You bitch."

I hear her stumble into the hall, her voice wet.

"You bitch."

I need to get to the kitchen. To the knives, unsheathed atop the kitchen counter. To the intercom. To the door.

But can you go outside? asks Jaemin, just a whisper.

I've got to.

She'll overtake you in the kitchen. You won't make it outside.

I whirl like a compass, orienting myself.

Four doors surround me.

The study. Jaemin's old room. The guest room. The bathroom.

Choose one.

Wait -

Choose one.

The bathroom.

I grasp the knob, tear the door open, step inside.

I lurk within the doorway, my breath short and shallow - and she's coming now, rushing down the hall.

I don't breathe.

She reaches the hall. Stops, four feet away from me.

I feel the air stir.

For a moment I hear nothing except the drumbeat of rain. Sweat creeps down my back.

"Haeri." Low, cold.

I cringe.

I hear her flicking on the switches.

Nothing happens. It is a power outage.

Gripping the frame with one hand, hard enough to prize it loose, I peek into the dark of the hall. She's faint, just a shade among shades, but I can make out the span of her shoulders, the floating white of her hands. Her back is to me. I can't tell which hand holds the letter opener.

Slowly, she rotates; I see her in profile, facing the study door. She gazes straight ahead, motionless. Then she turns again, but quicker this time, and before I can draw back into the bathroom she's looking at me.

I don't move. I can't.

"Haeri," she says quietly.

My lips part.

My heart hammers.

We stare at each other.

I'm about to scream.

She pivots away. She hasn't seen me. She isn't able to look deep in the dark.

I can see what she - Now she moves a few more steps. The blade flickers in one hand; the other dips into her pocket.

"Haeri," she calls.

She pulls her hand from her pocket, lifts it in front of her.

And light blasts from her palm.