T: “Are you okay?”
K: “Fine. You?”
T: “Meh.”
K: “Yeah…”
T: “I’ll be gone until at least midnight. Do you need anything?”
K: “No, it’s fine. There’s still pizza from yesterday in the fridge downstairs so I’ll have some of that later.”
T: “Okay. I’ll text when I’m omw there.”
K: “Ok. Xo”
T: “xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo”Fuck the chemicals in the blood. She wished she could feel those kisses and hugs for real.
The day dragged. Kyla’s period was even heavier than usual but the cramps had subsided, thankfully. She kept busy doing nothing. She watched TV shows online, she played games online, and she tucked herself in bed and was sound asleep shortly after she glanced at the clock and saw it said 10:16 PM.
~~~
She thought she was dreaming of the Hinder ring tone song but it played beside her from the cell phone on the floor.
“Hello?” She felt so groggy.
“Thank fuck! What the hell?” Tristan sounded enraged.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’ve been texting and calling and talking to the fucking camera for 10 minutes, that’s what’s wrong!”
“Oh no, I was sleeping.”
She heard him let out a long breath.
“I’m in the closet outside your door. I was two more rings away from opening the fucking door!”
“Tristan!” She breathed, jackknifing straight up. “Don’t open the door!”
“I didn’t know why you weren’t answering. I didn’t know if you were hurt or gone or…I couldn’t feel you in my head…” He sounded breathless.
The laptop wasn’t on. The screen was black. She pushed the ‘on’ button. Nothing.
“I was just sleeping, Tristan. Jeez, it’s unplugged.”
“What?”
“The laptop. The laptop was unplugged and it ran out of juice. The battery died.”
She leaned toward the floor and fetched the disconnected power supply cord and plugged it back in.
“I didn’t hear the phone. I must’ve been in a deep sleep. That period pain medicine knocks me out.” The computer booted up and she double clicked the security icon on the desktop. Tristan’s very pissed off looking face was on the screen.
“I’m on the software now. We can talk that way.”
“No,” he said, “I’ll call you back on Face Time. I need to see you.”
“Okay.” She hung up. It immediately rang and she answered the Face Time call.
He looked at her with a glimpse of relief and then his brows furrowed, “What happened to your eye. Did I…did I fucking hit you last night?” He looked horrified.
Kyla reached up toward her eye, which was still tender, “No. I fell when I ran from you. It’s just a bit of a shiner. It’s not that bad.”
Now he looked disgusted.
“Sorry you were worried. I was flat out.”
He closed his eyes and blew out a slow breath. Kyla was lost for words. They just stared at one another for a moment. She felt a lump in her throat and her lower lip started to quiver.
“I should be the one locked in that room. But then whoever is behind those missing samples…”
“No, I’m okay. I feel safe in here.”
“Mm hmm.” He pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Why don’t we send new samples and see what comes of them?”
“No! No fucking way! My brilliance sending those off in the first place likely set up a whole shit fucking storm already!”
“Did something else happen? Did you see Claudio?”
He shook his head, “I’m going to grab a shower and hit the hay. I just wanted to make sure you were safe. I’ll sleep downstairs. I left Sam at the hotel so it’s just me.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
He slammed his fist into the wall. Kyla jolted in surprise.
“I don’t fucking know! I gotta go.” He switched the phone off and the screen went off. She watched him via the laptop. He left the bedroom and headed downstairs where he walked up to the kitchen counter, pulled a bottle of alcohol from a kitchen cupboard, and swigged directly from the bottle.
Something else must’ve happened. He was livid. Or was he feeling withdrawals and fighting the urge to unlock that panic room door and tear her apart with his teeth?
She choked back a sob and then let it out. She couldn’t hold it back. She was sobbing so hard she was having trouble catching her breath. She lay down on the bed and looked at the cell phone and read his messages.
“Hi Princess. You ok?”
“I’m on my way. Be there in 10.”
“Kyla?”
He’d also called twice.
She held the cell phone close in case he called back and closed her eyes and cried herself to sleep. This was so fucked up.
~~~
She woke up to the sound of drilling and hammering. Terror spiked. She glanced at the screen. It was 8:02 a.m. and she saw that a guy was with Tristan and he was putting a panel on the wall in the bedroom, which was a disaster, filled with the contents of the bedroom closet. Tristan stood beside him, wearing jeans and a t-shirt, arms crossed, scowl on his face. There were two guys building something constructed of metal in the closet. She was about to speak over the intercom but realized she might tip the construction guys off to something odd with a woman’s voice coming over the loudspeaker. She muted the mic and decided to text him instead.