I said good bye and did not look back as I made my way farther and farther from Larissa, towards my dorm room.
My mom never sounded this freaked out. She was usually calm as nature herself on a beautiful spring morning.
By the time I got back to the dorm, it was already noon. The sun tore though the half open blinders in my room as I was frantically searching foe my car keys.
Come on, where are you.
I could have sworn I had left them on the desk, right near the two flower potts I had brought from home, but they were nowhere in sight.
I couldn't concentrate on finding my keys. I was too distracted, too concerned. What could be wrong with my mom? She'd never called me back home like that.
Well, I'd never been this far from home for this long either, but she wouldn't scare me like this if her only problem was that she missed me.
Something was certainly and unquestionably wrong.
In a flash, I remembered having my keys with me in class earlier. I fidgeted with the bat shaped keychain the whole time while Aidan talked.
I hurried out the door and back to the school building, sure as hell that I must have just left the key on the desk and left.
I was prone to being stupid like that sometimes.
Luckily, I found the keys right where I left them. Unfortunately, I had to wait for half an hour for the class to empty again, as the lector who was speaking when I got there didn't particularly like me. Or anyone else for that matter.
Right as people started to leave room, I stepped in, eyeing the desk I had sat at.
There was a guy was just getting up from the seat right next to my former place. When he saw me, and probably read the panic in my expression, he lifted the keys in the air for me to see.
"These yours?"
I thanked him, god I almost hugged him, stranger or not, and hurried back to the dorm, where my car was parked.
In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have taken that one back alley on my way back.
But if I hadn't, everything that followed would not have happened, and honestly, that would be quite unforgiveable.
Walking down said alley, keys in hand and still giddy from being lucky enough to find them, I did not notice the guy following me. Not soon enough to do anything consequential, at least.
I felt him behind me, heard him breathing and finally connected the sounds I had heard before to footsteps, and before he could grab me, I turned around.
My move was quick enough to see that it was not a pen he was holding in his hand, but a knife. A really old looking knife. An usually dormant part of my brain registered that the blade was crusted with rust, right before he made to plunge in into my gut.
But it still was my lucky day, I guess, and all those self defense classes finally showed their worth, because in a more wobbly than I hoped but effective move, I managed to catch his hand and make him release the knife, sending it clattering to the pavement.
A quick thought had me wondering if stabbing him with the keys in my hand was a good idea, but it didn't really get to take form.
What felt like a fraction of a second later, my assailant was pinned to the wall of a building beside us, and Aidan was punching him like there was no tomorrow.
I closed my eyes for a moment, struggling to breathe in and out.
I opened them back right in time to see my attacker crumbling into literal dust.
What the-
I don't know if I said it out loud, or only in my head, that was how hard my heart was beating.
"Aidan?" I asked.
"He's gone," he answered, lips tight. He took a tentative step towards me, but I stepped back. He didn't insist. "Let's get you back to your dorm."
I just nodded numbly.