Get Out If You Can

Matt | Runaway

Something in my brain isn't functioning as well as I'd like it to. For some reason, I can't think straight.

What is happening here? Okay, first things first, Diego's not-so-loser brain thinks Lana's got something to do with all this. Fair enough, coming from him. No one else would pay equal attention to that tiny slip of conversation he'd somehow seen through.

My foot almost slips on the last stair. That's unlike me, to be honest – I've got a good grip. I bend double, to see what it was that almost made me slip. You can never be too sure, can you?

Well. The smell of whatever it is is weird.

"Guys, there's something here." I brush a little of the greasy liquid, strangely dark-colored, on my finger, and take it up to my nose.

Well shit.

"This is gasoline," I say. "Fresh. It's been spilled here just a few moments before."

"Jesus Christ," Alison exclaims, a few steps behind me. "Look, we gotta run. I'm positive that trampoline's somewhere there. I saw it through the surveillance cameras. The police are doing something to help us."

"But if you could see it so well," Diego says, not looking backwards, "then won't the person who's doing this be able to see it just as well?"

"I know that," Alison replies, through gritted teeth. "But what else do we have?"

"True, that," I say, just for the heck of it. "We're here. Where's our balcony?"

"There," Alison points towards the right of the hallway, and runs off in that direction. Emilie goes behind her, and the rest of us follow.

***

"So we simply jump?" Emilie asks, surveying the scene like it's the last thing she would do. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Alison says, not sounding sure at all, "yes, I am."

The scene below is, well, funny. Some hunky police guy – oh, wow, the same guy who thought I was behind all this and took me for questioning! – is setting up some sort of crime scene barricade around the manor, and a dozen cop cars are whining like unfed babies, flashing red and blue. The sound hurts my head. Somewhere in the distance I see Diego's parents' flashy car. They're standing out of it, Diego's mom crying, like all the rest; his father with his arm around her shoulders. I can see what looks like Alison's parents, not together of course – after what I've learnt about him, her dad looks sketchy – and Hunter's, somewhere further behind. A blond woman, with hair the exact color as Emilie's, stands talking to an officer.

And oh shit, behind her is my dad.

Jesus, why on Earth is he here? How the hell did he walk? We don't have a car, there'd be no other way.

"Dad!" I yell from the little balcony. I know he can't hear me, but I might as well try. "Dad! You hear me?"

"Oh, right, I wanted to tell you that," Alison says, pointing to my dad. "He loves you. He was literally crying his eyes out a while ago."

"Don't fool yourself, he must've had too much to drink," I say, tension building up behind my eyes. "Don't – fool – yourself."

"I'll be blunt, Hastings, but just because you're apathetic doesn't mean everyone else is," Alison says, shaking her head. "Who'll go first?"

Nobody answers.

"Oh, come on," she says. "We haven't got time. I'll give you five minutes to decide, or I –"

"GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF HER!"

Diego runs to the railing, leaning over so desperately I'm afraid he'll fall without wanting to. He's still yelling his lungs out.