“Can I at least have another glass of water?” I ask. “Please, I’m parched.” I’ve been drinking out of the bathroom tap, but hopefully Bill doesn’t know that.
After a few seconds, Lily pipes up. “Can I get one too Bill? My mouth is like the Sahara.”
For fuck’s sake, Lily. I’m ready to try another tactic when there’s the sound of Bill shifting in his chair, getting to his feet.
“Alright, but just one glass each,” he says gruffly.
I peer through the keyhole to see him pass in front of my door, then I hear him disappearing down the hall.
As soon as he’s gone, I waste no time. I walk into the bathroom and start filling the toilet with tissue paper until the whole thing is plugged solid, then I open the cistern and wedge the flush down. It doesn’t take long for water to come cascading over the top of the bowl and start flooding the bathroom.
By the time Bill comes back, water is pouring into the main room. I stay in the bathroom when he tells me to get on the bed and unlocks the door to come in.
I can see him through the crack between the door hinges looking confused. “Bill, a pipe has burst in the bathroom!” I shout.
He puts the glass on the side and hurries into the bathroom to take a look. I step out from behind the door and I hit him over the head with the cistern lid, knocking him out cold. The pain wrenching through my injured arm has me gasping, but I can’t sit and cry. I have to keep moving.
Keys first.
I fumble for them with one hand in his pocket. The other I shove under my arm pit to take the edge off how much it fucking kills.
“You bastard,” I say when the keys slip into the water pooling around my feet and his prone body on the bathroom floor. I stick my hand in and fish about, finally grasping them.
“V, what’s happening?” Lily says through the wall.
I don’t have time to explain. I move quietly out into the hallway, checking to see that no one else is coming. Then I open the door to their room. Lily’s eyes widen when she sees me. She jumps to her feet and so does the girl next to her. Apart from the cut on Lily’s head, they look fine. And they’re in actual fucking clothes.
“Why are you butt naked?” she asks as I usher her out into the hallway.
I shoot my eyes heavenward. “Just give me your hoodie.” I know she has a t-shirt on underneath, because they’re my clothes that I gave her. Lily is in the same clothes as she was the day of the party. She hauls it off and helps me put it over my head. Then I quietly make my way downstairs with the girls following.
There’s no one in the main atrium when we get to the base of the stairs. Without a weapon I feel naked, never mind look it. Fuck it. I stalk up to the front door and try it but it’s locked.
“Fuck,” I say.
“Try Bill’s keys,” Lily says.
One of them works, and as soon as the door opens, I glance back at Lily.
“Once you get to the main road, stay out of sight. Don’t flag any of the cars. Keep to the side roads until you get across the bridge, then find a pay phone or flag a black cab,” I say. “Don’t go back to school. Find Dante.”
“You’re not coming with us?” she asks.
“Do I look like I can come with you?’ I say, indicating to the tracker on my ankle. It’s beeping red.
She scowls but doesn’t have time to say anything else because I’m shoving her out the door and locking it back up again. Now to get a fucking weapon and paint this fucking house red with his blood.