Dirty Secrets

Part 60

As her dad stopped the car at the curb, Lyla narrowed her eyes against the burning sun that seemed locked low in the bleached morning sky just above the orange and yellow tree line.

"See you at four," Ryan called when his daughter exited the car and began her trek up the concrete walkway. She waved in response.

She followed two nurses who chatted between sips of tea from their travel mugs. Behind her, a bearded man and his thin coworker, both wearing suit jackets, lugged their shoulder bags toward the hospital entrance.

Where's Shaniece? Or Natalie and AJ?

Nearing the sliding glass doors she heard Bo call out from behind, "Lyla! Lyla, watch out!"

Reflected in the glass, she saw him topple. Pedestrians on the walkway were shoved aside, screaming and shouting. She turned, wide-eyed at the terrifying image of Rose with stormy eyes, her mouth frothing, hacking her way toward Lyla with a butcher knife.

Lyla fumbled getting the Mace out of her pocket. It dropped to the sidewalk and rolled. With Rose closing in, Lyla abandoned it and ran.

When the bearded man made a daring attempt to intervene, Rose slashed ferociously. His throat opened, a trail of blood following the arc of her blade. She yanked free and lunged for her target.

Lyla bolted for the doors, her desperate eyes scanning for security personnel or police. She shrieked when she felt the knife rip into her backpack, sending her crashing into the nurses and stumbling to the ground, in a puddle of spilled tea. Rose pounced, lashing first at the unfortunate nurse who had come to Lyla's aid, then directing her fiery eyes at her victim.

"You little murdering bitch!" she shrieked.

Lyla howled as the blade tore through her outstretched hand. She turned her head away, the knife striking the pavement inches away. Lyla's nostrils flared when Rose squeezed her throat, raising her weapon for a brutal, fatal blow. As the wide blade came down...

Lyla threw her arms like windmills against her invisible attacker, thrashing in her bed. She opened her eyes and sucked in a deep breath, finding herself in her bedroom, her chest heaving, her legs twisted in a rope of sheets. Thankfully, there was no tattooed bony hand crushing her windpipe, no crazed knife-wielding witch straddling her torso, no wounds on her trembling hands and arms.

........

After a restless school day, when Lyla arrived at Moore Park, she slipped the backpack from her sweaty shoulders, unzipped it, and pulled out her drone and controller. She scanned the surrounding area. A soccer game was in progress at one end of the field. Aside from the soccer players, she noticed a girl running with her leashed chocolate lab, some kids on bikes, and a small group of skater boys smoking cigarettes in the shade of a nearby tree. She ignored one of the skaters with flippy blonde hair and Vans making kissing noises at her.

If her dad knew that she was venturing out on her own, he'd explode, but she couldn't wait for him to get home from work. She hadn't told him about the drone because she hadn't concocted a plausible excuse for why she bought it. And then there was the matter of Jack. With Ryan as her escort, she wouldn't be able to explain her plan to Jack.

"Hey, drone girl. Hey, baby drone girl," flippy hair called.

She noticed Jack as he jogged down the grassy hillside, his arm still in a sling. He gestured toward the church at the far end of the field and called, "Why'd you have to pick this place?" Then, noticing the drone, his brown eyes lit up when he asked, "Where'd you get that?" His bruised face had healed and he now wore a short scruffy beard.