The Chase

Maya didn't wait. She bolted.

She abandoned stealth, bursting out the back door of the admin office and sprinting toward the West Wing.

"Hey!" Ethan shouted.

The heavy sound of boots hitting linoleum erupted behind her. He was fast. Of course he was fast; he was the captain of the track team.

Maya clutched the insulin kit in one hand and her backpack strap in the other. She skidded around the corner past the Art Room, her sneakers squeaking violently on the polished floor.

"You can't run forever, Maya!" Ethan’s voice echoed off the lockers, bouncing around her so it sounded like he was everywhere at once. "I know it's you! I saw that cheap thrift-store jacket!"

She reached the double doors leading to the courtyard. She slammed her hip into the crash bar.

It didn't budge.

Chained. The night custodians chained the perimeter doors from the inside on weekends.

"Locked?" Ethan called out. He was closer now. "I have the master key, Maya. My dad is on the school board. I have keys to everything."

Maya spun around. The West Wing was a dead end, a long corridor of classrooms leading only to the library and the stairwell.

She saw his shadow stretching long and distorted against the wall at the end of the hall. He was swinging the crowbar lazily against his leg. *Tap. Tap. Tap.*

"You're going to make this fun, aren't you?" Ethan said, stepping into the light. "I was getting bored just breaking glass. I needed a witness. It makes the narrative so much better."

"Why?" Maya shouted, backing up until her spine hit a locker. "Why are you doing this?"

Ethan stopped twenty feet away. He shrugged. "My dad says the property values are dropping because of the busing program. The school needs a reason to cut the budget. If the 'scholarship rats' destroy the trophy case... well, the board will have to act."

He took a step forward. "And if one of them attacks the Student Body President when he tries to stop them? Even better."

He raised the crowbar.

Maya threw her backpack at him.

It was a desperate move. The heavy bag, filled with textbooks, hit Ethan square in the chest. He stumbled back, cursing, the crowbar clattering to the floor.

Maya didn't wait to see him recover. She sprinted past him, ducking under his grasping arm.

"You little bitch!" Ethan roared, his composure shattering.

Maya ran for the stairwell. She couldn't go out. She had to go up.

Her lungs burned. Her legs felt heavy, dragging through the air as if she were running underwater. She hit the stairs, taking them two at a time.

* Second floor. Science labs. No exit.*
* Third floor. English department. No exit.*

She needed a place with a lock. A place he couldn't get into easily. Or a place where she could get help.

Her eyes landed on the sign at the end of the third-floor hall: AV / BROADCASTING.

The morning announcements room. It was soundproofed. It had heavy doors. And it had lines to the outside world.

She heard Ethan pounding up the stairs below her. "I'm going to break your fingers, Maya! One by one!"

Maya threw herself at the AV room door. It was locked, but she still had the tension wrench in her hand.

She jammed it in. Her hands were shaking so hard she nearly dropped it.

* Come on. Come on.*

She heard Ethan reach the third-floor landing.

* Click.*

The door opened. Maya fell inside and slammed the deadbolt home just as Ethan’s body collided with the wood on the other side.