Betrayed by Francine Pascal

uncomfortable stammering, that her point was that she was done pretending—that they were together now. No matter what happened.
    â€œOkay,” Ed said placing his hand on her cheek. He understood. Of course he understood. “I don’t… not love you, too, Gaia,” he said, smiling a wide, comfortable smile. He leaned down and kissed her softly. And Gaia kissed him back. And she could have stayed in that kiss for the next…
    â€œOkay,” she announced, throwing her body back against the door.
    â€œRight,” Ed agreed, pulling back as well. “ Sorry. I’m sorry.”
    â€œNo, I started it.”
    â€œNo, I—”
    â€œOkay, here’s the thing,” Gaia stated. “We really need to leave this closet now, and we need to go home and not get together until tomorrow.”
    â€œYes,” Ed agreed, nodding.
    â€œYes. Because if we don’t leave this closet and go our separate ways at least tonight, then we’re just going to start kissing again, and Heather’s going be down the hall in that room and…”
    â€œWe’ll end up feeling like the scum of the earth—”
    â€œRight.”
    â€œOkay,” Ed concurred. “I’m going to go home.”
    â€œOkay,” she said. “I think I’m going to just…take a little time in this closet here.”
    â€œOkay…” Ed stood up straight and placed his hand on the knob. “So…no kiss,”he confirmed, inches from her face.
    â€œNo kiss,” she confirmed, willing her hands to her sides.
    â€œRight.” Ed quickly cracked open the door and slipped out through the sudden blinding shaft of light. But she could still feel him behind the door. “Gaia…”
    â€œYeah?” she called back.
    â€œWe’re going to be okay,” he said. “Just don’t be afraid. I mean, I know you’re never afraid, but…we’re all going to be all right. Okay?”
    â€œDon’t worry,”she said, “I’m not afraid, Ed. Believe me.”
    â€œGood. Bye,” he whispered.
    â€œBye.”
    She listened to the miraculous sound of Ed’s footsteps trailing off into the distance. And then she stood alone in the dark, claustrophobic closet.
    You’re not afraid, right? she thought irrationally. You didn’t just put Ed in more danger by telling him the truth, did you? A moment later her head was flooded with philosophical questions about the nature of fear.
    No, of course you’re not afraid.
    Terrified, maybe. But not afraid.

Tremors
    In all the darkness, her emotions had developed a mind of their own.

Something Drastic
    TOM DOUBLED HIS SPEED AS HE saw the man in black reach the end of the long hallway and duck into the master bedroom. He was about to run out of space in the apartment, and then Tom would have him cornered. He jumped into the master bedroom and flipped on the light. He had just enough time to spot the masked man crouched up on the windowsill of one of the oversized windows. That was it. Nowhere else to run.
    But an opposing thought had just begun to enter Tom’s mind as the man brought back his leg and smashed a huge, jagged hole in the center of the window. The deafening sound of exploding glass filled the room as a rush of cold wind and shattered glass blew up against Tom’s face.
    Fire escape. He’s still got a fire escape.
    He must have known. The bastard must have known his escape route the entire time. This little revelation lost Tom the extra millisecond he’d needed. He thrust the gun forward and started firing through the shattered glass, but the masked man had already ducked through the window and out onto the iron platform.
    Tom ran to the window and leapt through the jagged hole, looking down through the iron slats for a target, but when he took his next shot, the faint click of the trigger was all he heard.
    Empty. Bad timing. Terrible, terrible timing.
    He