"Yes," he said. I could almost feel him trembling in the dark. Lawrence had told me that he hadn't been off the grounds for years.
"You don't have to do that, Lawrence."
"I want to," he said.
He watched the corridor and indicated I should be still. Seconds later, we heard talking and through the crack in the doorway saw Billy and Arnie walk down the corridor. They paused near my door. Billy whispered something to Arnie and they broke out into laughter as they continued down the hallway, disappearing around the corner.
"Now," Lawrence said, and
we shot out and hurried down the hallway to the cafeteria. Just before we reached the kitchen, the doors opened and a janitor stepped out pushing a pail on rollers. He didn't look right or left or he would have seen us with our backs against the wall, watching him go through the cafeteria and out into the hall. We waited.
I looked at Lawrence. He seemed suddenly frozen against the wall.
"Shouldn't we go now?" I asked him. He nodded, but he didn't move.
"Maybe you should go back, Laura. I don't know if this is the right thing to do. No," he concluded. "It isn't. I shouldn't have done this. Please, let's go back," he said. He was trembling badly, and even in the subdued light, I saw how white his complexion had turned.
"No, I can't go back. I have to leave," I said. I started away and entered the kitchen myself. Moments later, Lawrence was behind me.
"How will you get home?" he asked when we confronted the metal door.
"I don't know."
"You don't even know which way to go. Laura, this is wrong," he said, seizing my arm to hold me back. "Laura. ."
His voice seemed to die away after he pronounced my name, the word falling lower and lower as if everything he was saying were being said from the top of a deep well and I was on the very bottom. I felt like I was shrinking.
"Laura. . . don't go. Laura . . come back."
"Yes, Robert," I said. "I'm coming back."
"What? Laura, it's me. Lawrence."
I went to the door.
"Laura! Wait!"
I pushed the door open and stepped out into the night, and then, I heard him calling again.
"Laura, come back! Come back!"
"Yes," I said. "I'm coming, Robert.Ill be there soon."
I turned and started around the building. Above me, the sky was thick with clouds. There were no stars, no promises for tomorrow.
I stumbled, but ignored the pain. I could hear his voice in the wind. Sometimes it was loud and sometimes it sounded far, far away.
"Laura, wait. Where are you going? You can't get to the highway that way. Laura."
Lawrence grabbed me at the elbow and spun me around.
"Laura, what are you doing? You lost your slipper back there," he said and gave it to me. I stared at it a moment and then at him.
"I'm not going back," I said. "Tell my grandmother I'm not going to give him up."
"What? You're not making any sense, Laura. Aren't you cold?" he asked, embracing himself. He looked around us. The weeping willow trees shook in the wind. "That wind is wild tonight. There's a storm brewing."
"Of course there's a storm brewing," I said, "but that won't stop us. You can tell her I said that."