Kill Me Sweetly

Chapter 23

            The alarm I set on my phone went off quietly the next morning and I quickly turned it off so I wouldn’t wake up Sam and Natalie, both were still fast asleep. Stretching out my various aches and pains from my adventure through the dumbwaiter shaft, I climbed slowly out of bed and went into the bathroom to take a quick shower; some of this dust was starting to irritate my skin.

            While I used the hotel soap to scrub my skin raw I started thinking; the door to my room was still locked so there was no way I would be able to get in from there. I mean I could probably go downstairs and ask the person at the front desk for another room key but if he tells Ms. Robin that I needed another one and was out at this time in the morning; well it was probably more likely of me winning the most popular student award at school.

            I stepped out of the shower drying off and slipping back into Sam’s nightgown when I suddenly remembered something. Right before we started playing truth or dare, Ashley opened up our window a little bit because it was too stuffy in the room. The chances are even if she shut the window before they went to bed she probably forgot to lock it back up.

            Quick walking to the window in this room I opened it up slowly and stuck my head out looking down. We were about four stories high so the people walking around on the sidewalks looked like ants. Ripping my gaze away from that I stared down at the wall looking for any good hand holds; luck must have been on my side because the building design created bricks that stuck out a good few inches from the wall.

            Opening the window wider I crawled up on the ledge then slowly lowered myself until my feet hit the bricks that were sticking out. Lowering my hands to the edge of the ledge I took another slow step down making sure the bricks would hold my weight before I decided to move down further. As I slowly scaled the side of the building I thanked any god who was listening that it wasn’t even dawn yet; there were less people around to see me and even the ones awake couldn’t possible see me in the dim light.

            When I reached the third floor windows I paused when I realized I didn’t know which one was mine. “Tricky, tricky, tricky,” I muttered under my breath before I started peeking into windows to try and see if I could find my room. The first window belonged to an old couple, the second was this punk rock guy who was fast asleep at the kitchen table surrounded by beer cans, then the third window showed me a couple making out; I quickly moved on before that heated up any faster.

            After two more dunce windows I finally saw Crystal’s blonde head underneath the bed sheets; and the window was still open a little. Jamming my fingers between the window and ledge, I slowly opened it up making sure I wouldn’t make any noise. After a minute there was a gap big enough for me to squeeze through; I did and then slowly shut the window behind me making it look like I never came in that way. Once my tracks were covered I went over to my bag to find some clothes for the day to get changed in to.

            Even in the middle of the woods two hours later, the prep squad was still staring at me like I was some sort of monster. Let’s just say that I couldn’t help but cover myself in ketchup and lay half in the doorway when I saw them waking up; the results were absolutely hilarious. I managed to get Vanessa to drop away in a dead faint for ten minutes.

            Nick squeezed my hand back into reality and I tried vainly to listen to Ms. Robin explain different plants and animals. The animal facts I found interesting but I already knew everything about plants thanks to my assassin training, so in case I’m ever dying in the middle of the woods I knew which plants would help me and which could kill me in under a minute.

            We must have been about a mile or two into these woods already; I’m surprised that Crystal wasn’t complaining too much yet. I mean she was wearing freaking heels, in the middle of the woods, and kept tripping over every single stray blade of grass. As I kept watching her I had to smile when I saw her stumble for the thousandth time in the past hour; she glared up at me before stomping towards the front of the group closer to the teacher.