Ariana held her breath as Reed made the left and hurried toward her dorm, her head bowed against the frigid wind. She waited, feeling giddy with anticipati
on, as Reed used her key to get inside. Then she stood out in the cold for a good forty-five seconds, until someone else came out and she was able to grab the door.
The elevator doors were just sliding closed. Ariana watched as the numbered lights above the door illuminated, stopping on the third floor. Then she turned toward the stairwell and ran. She took the steps sometimes two, sometimes three at a time, and burst out into the hallway on the third floor. Reed was just slipping around the far corner. Ariana hustled to catch up. It wouldn’t be long now. Not long now until she had her fingers around Reed’s throat. Until she was squeezing the last gasping breath from the girl’s lungs.
She paused at the corner as Reed opened her dorm room door, then sprang out of hiding as it began to swing closed. With one mighty lunge, she stopped the door with her hand before it was able to click shut and lock. Pressing her lips together to keep from laughing out loud, she swung the door open and stepped into the tiny dorm room behind her prey.
Reed turned around with a smile, undoubtedly expecting to find someone she knew. The moment she saw Ariana, she turned to stone. Her lips drained of color, her coat dropped to the ground, and she screamed.
Ariana had never heard anything so lovely in her life.
OVER
Reed’s eyes darted left, then right, and Ariana saw it register in her eyes. She was going to die. She knew she was going to die.
Slowly, Ariana smiled. It was so delectable, so perfect, so much more gratifying than she had ever imagined. Every single thing Ariana had been through to get here—all the death, all the pain, all the hunger, all the fear, all the loss, all the paranoia, all of it—was now worth it.
“Hello, Reed,” she said, tilting her head. “Don’t you have a hug for your old friend?”
“You’re dead. You’re supposed to be dead,” Reed said, taking a step back.
Her butt bumped against her desk and she stumbled sideways. She was so scared, so thrown, so trembly—just like a baby rabbit. Ariana advanced slowly, savoring every moment. She had a feeling this was going to be too easy, and she suddenly wanted more than anything to make it last.
“Yes, well. Don’t believe everything you read,” Ariana said. She picked up a framed photo from atop Reed’s dresser. It was a picture of Reed, Noelle, Taylor, and Kiran, taken fairly recently. “Aw.” She turned it around to face Reed. “And then there were two.”
Then she flung the photo at the wall and pounced. As her leather-gloved fingers closed around Reed’s slim neck, Ariana felt every bit of her anger, every bit of her frustration, every bit of her venom course into her hands. She pushed her thumbs deep into Reed’s clavicle and bore down, pressing as hard as she possibly could. Her teeth gritted together and her eyes felt as if they were going to burst from her skull.
“No,” Reed croaked, grasping for Ariana’s wrists. “Stop … please….”
“Yes, yes, yes. Beg me,” Ariana said through her teeth. “Beg me not to do it. Please, just beg me.”
She let up just the tiniest bit, giving Reed room to speak.
“Please, Ariana,” she whispered, holding on to her wrists. “Please …”
“That’s it. God, you have no idea how long I’ve waited to hear you say that,” Ariana said. Then she squeezed even harder, leaning in, slamming the back of Reed’s skull against the shelf above the desk.
Reed’s eyes began to unfocus. They began to slowly roll from side to side. It was all Ariana could do to keep from laughing. She had thought she wanted APH. She had thought she wanted Princeton. She had thought she wanted a career and a home and children and love. But now she realized that it was all about this. All about this moment.
All she really wanted in the entire world was to watch Reed Brennan die.
And then, something suddenly cracked against the side of her head, and Ariana’s vision blackened over. Her arms dropped at her sides and she fell against the bed, then slid to the floor. Her fingers instinctively went to her skull. As her vision began to clear, she brought them in front of her face. They were covered in blood.
Reed was doubled over coughing. In her hand was a heavy white mug. Ariana could just make out the Easton Academy logo emblazoned across the side.
“What … how did you …?” Ariana blinked and shook her head. Darts of pain jabbed into her skull, and she felt momentarily dizzy. Can’t take your eyes off her for a second, Ariana thought as she pushed herself to her feet. It was a mistake she wouldn’t repeat.
As Reed started to regain her breath and stood up straight again, Ariana focused. She shoved the girl as hard as she could with both hands, slamming her back against the desk. Reed reeled around and cracked Ariana across the cheek with her fist. Ariana’s head jerked to the right, but she instantly whirled back around and landed an even harder punch against Reed’s left temple. Reed fell sideways onto the bed, and Ariana didn’t hesitate. She pounced on her victim, flattening her back on the bed, her knees pressed with all her weight into Reed’s shoulders. Reed’s hands were above her head and under her pillow, in a pathetic gesture of surrender. Ariana closed her hands around her throat once again.
This time she was not going to stop until the girl was dead.
“It’s all because of you,” Ariana said, pressing down. “My whole life sucks because of you.”
Suddenly, Reed’s knee jabbed upward, and she shoved Ariana off of her with a force Ariana wouldn’t have thought possible. She caught herself on the end of the bed as Reed sat up, drawing her hands out from under her pillow. Drawing out with them a small black gun.
Ariana’s eyes widened. She staggered backward, her heart pounding an erratic beat in her ears. Slowly, Reed stood up, grasping the gun with both hands like a professional, training it on Ariana’s heart.
“What the …?” Ariana stuttered out, staring at the gun.