Within Us

Chapter 14

The bus had come to a stop in front of the Amway Center. It was just close enough to the building that the lights from the inside lit up most of her entire body. She was still straddling me, still holding the knife, still making my mind run wild. I watched as she pulled down part of her shirt to reveal her partially see through triangular bra. She then proceeded to stuff her pocket knife between her breasts and purposefully flicked part of her bra down to essentially flash me. She smirks knowing full well what she was doing. She then leans even closer to me, turning a few inches into a few centimeters.

"You wouldn't snitch on me tonight right? I won't force you to help me with my next victim but be honest with me, Would you snitch?"

I let out a long breath and didn't breathe in before whispering,

"No I won't, Syria"

She smiled and gave me a kiss that rivaled the one we had at the hospital. It took my breath away, literally. I still haven't breathed in yet. She dug her fingers into my hair and gripped it. She held my head in place as she expertly curled her tongue against mine. This went on for a full minute before she decided to pull away. She got off of me as the dim white leds flickered to life.

Was I really going to let her potentially murder someone without stopping her? It was less of a question of legality and more of a question of morals.

We left our cases on the bus and only brought our instruments and our marching uniforms that were on hangers. Syria had an additional small red lunchbox with her. Syria was standing in front of me in the long line of students and guests. The line was as long as the sidewalk, leading up to the glass doors. The Amway center looked mesmerizing at night. It wasn't the first time I've been here but I never appreciated how pretty the light looked, shining through the glass front. As we got closer to the entrance, the metal detectors came into view. Syria swiftly turned towards me.

"You never told me they had metal detectors" She mumbled

She then hugged me and slipped her hands in her shirt and retrieved the knife. She glanced around to make sure no one was looking and with one swift motion, slipped the knife into the bell of my trumpet. She then knelt down and untied her shoes. From my angle, I couldn't tell exactly what she was doing. All I saw was her disassembling her clarinet in half then after a few seconds, reassembling it again. She re-tied her shoes and stood back up. I sucked on the side of my cheeks and moved my mouth to one side. It was soon our turn to go through the metal detectors.

"Instruments, uniforms, and anything in your pockets, in this bucket please" One of the security guards said.

Syria went through first, then I did the same as she did, placing my trumpet with the chambered knife in the long white bucket, followed by my phone, wallet, and uniform. I walked through it and collected my stuff. I was tempted to take the knife out and throw it in one of the trash cans that I passed. I frowned as I followed the group up the tall escalator, the tallest escalator that I've seen ever, I think. It was like your standard escalators at your local mall times three. I don't think I can snitch on her, even after knowing her sick intentions. I turned my head just a quarter then side eyed Syria who was a few people behind me, talking to Addison again. As soon as I reached the top I reached into the bell of my trumpet to retrieve the pocket knife. It was wedged into the bell so I gave it a forceful yank. I swiftly tossed it in the trash before Syria made it to the top. A small wave of cool relief trickled down my spine. I hope it'll discourage her enough to call it off for tonight. We walked to the second set of escalators, passing the various food stations as we started to head up another floor. We walked around on the uppermost floor as we entered the massive indoor stadium. There were close to twenty thousand people present. I know this since the capacity was twenty thousand and nearly every single seat was filled. A large square screen hung from the middle and in big words "Battle Of The Bands". We sat in the same top highest row as all the other schools. The whole top row was filled with different high schools, all wearing different color shirts that represented their school. Our school colors were dark green and black but we all just wore a plain black t-shirt since our black uniform with green stripes was going to cover up our clothes anyways. I carefully put my trumpet by my foot and placed my uniform on the back of my seat. I sat with my section and was on the end of the row with two seats left over, well. . . now one. Syria had just sat down next to me. She grabbed my trumpet and pointed it downwards as she reached inside. She turned and glared at me without saying a word. I swallowed and opened my mouth,