Dare to Breathe Read online

  “Rhea, please?!” he begged urgently.

  I nodded and looked into his eyes before sitting in the back hole. No sooner had I pulled my feet in had he placed the vent screen back in place and was screwing it in.

  “Isaac!” My voice called out in a shaky whisper. It was choked and not nearly as loud as I had intended it to be. “Where are you going?”

  “Don’t worry about me. I’ll hide in the attic access down the hall. Just don’t say a word. Don’t breathe. These guys mean business…and for God’s sake, make sure your phone’s volume is off.”

  “Isaac, I’m…I’m just so scared…” Tears now ran down my cheeks.

  “Just pray. They shouldn’t find you here. I’ve got to go.” I heard him stand up and move to the rear door of the classroom and down the stairs. I heard the door handle turn and I could only assume that he was checking out the hallway. I didn’t hear any voices. That was a good sign.

  Then the door quietly clicked closed.

  Isaac was gone. I was all alone.

  I was operating in near total darkness as the vent didn’t let very much light in. There was no way that I could continue to sit here in this duct in the position that I was in, so I carefully slid myself backward, as much as I hated to leave the comfort the sparse light created. I only had to slide back about four feet before my back hit the ‘T’ in the ductwork. I paused.

  There was silence. Nobody had come into the classroom yet. I dug in the dark, searching through my purse in search of my phone. As my fingers closed around their treasure, I heard the classroom door bang open. I froze. I stopped breathing. Was it Isaac saying everything was okay?

  Holy Fuck! Was that a…?

  THEN A THIRD SHOT RANG OUT.

  Voices got angrier and louder as they burst into the classroom. I explored my surroundings and to my left felt a dead-end in the ductwork. I drew my knees up to my chest, pulling my legs out of the duct that led to the vent—my only protection from THEM, and scooted myself back into the

  end-piece. If I drew my legs all the way up to my chest, only my toes would be visible from the vent, and cloaked in the oppressive, thick, inky-darkness, probably not at all. I took my first deep breath in I don’t know how long. For the briefest of seconds I felt the smidge of optimism that they just might not find me. I might just come out of this okay.

  “All you fuckers listen up. Jaybird and Wishbone have the students and teachers we found on this floor corralled in a large lecture hall downstairs. I haven’t gotten word from Jester and Boom if their team’s secured the top two floors.”

  I heard a loud bang and some muffled arguing.

  “I don’t give a shit what you think Crush, it’s what needed to be done!”

  I could hear the low, angry growl sparring with a quieter although just as impassioned voice and made out the words ‘kill’ and ‘just kids’. I scooted forward just a tad so that I had a better chance of hearing what was going on.

  Clearly the ring-leader was trying to squelch a rebellious gang-member. With my head closer to the vent, I could better make out what they were saying.

  “Mercy, I understand you’re point, but man. I didn’t sign up for this!” The nervous tone in his voice was palpable. “You just said that we’d move in and sweep. You know,”

  and I heard movement and assumed it was him. “THAT fucker didn’t have the right to open fire.”

  “Who are you calling fucker?” The voice was low, a sinister growl. The same voice as before. “I did what I needed to do to get them downstairs. These privileged punks weren’t listening to us; they acted like these fucking guns were props or they were in a fucking movie or something.

  And that stupid fucking bitch, she stuck her nose up at me

  and taunted me to shoot her, said she wasn’t going anywhere. I had to show them we meant business.”

  It was the voice of reason that spoke again. “I don’t give a shit, Mercy, what Spider said his reasoning was. I’m out.”

  There was more commotion and it sounded like someone was slammed into a door or wall. It amazed me that with my sight all but paralyzed, my hearing became more acute. So did my ability to provide logical explanations for what I was hearing.

  “No-fucking-body is OUT! You got me? I told all of you dumbshits that once you were in, you were in. You knew what you signed on for. You couldn’t have been so fucking stupid to think that it couldn’t come to this. If you’re out, it will be the fourth bullet of the day in the head that takes you out. Is that fucking clear?” He paused and I felt for the poor boy who had had a change of heart. “Crush! Is that fucking clear?”

  “Y…y…yes. Yes Mercy. Crystal.” He stammered and that low, threatening voice mocked him, mimicking his stutter.

  That voice. What’s his name? Wasn’t it something like…Spider! His name is Spider. Keep track Rhea. You have to keep track of who they are.

  The gang on the other side of my vent seemed to have calmed down some, so their voices didn’t carry enough for me to catch much of the conversation. I slid my butt back until it met the end-portion of the duct and pulled my purse back onto my lap. Man was I glad I’d grabbed it.

  Fuck! My backpack. I left it in there. It has my planner, my thumb-drive…they’ll be able to find out who I am and where I live.

  MY WALLET. I’d crammed it into the front pocket after I’d gotten my coffee, now it was in my backpack…in the classroom. I am so, SO screwed.

  I reached into my purse and turned my phone on. I was hoping that with it staying in my purse, the suede would block out any light from it. It powered out of its sleep mode with an intensely bright white light. I folded my purse over so that no more light could escape.

  Fuck! Please tell me that they couldn’t see that!

  I reopened my purse just a little, and bent my head closer to it, trying as hard as I could to contain the screen’s bright light. I scrolled through my contacts stopping on Emmory’s number. I tapped the compose message icon.

  EMMORY,

  CONTACT THE POLICE. THE COLLEGE IS UNDER

  ATTACK.

  I DON’T KNOW IF IT IS THE WHOLE CAMPUS OR JUST THE SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM BUT GUNMEN HAVE TAKEN CONTROL. THE RING LEADER’S NAME IS MERCY. JAYBIRD AND ONE OTHER ARE HOLDING STUDENTS AND TEACHERS IMPRISIONED IN A LECTURE HALL ON THE FIRST FLOOR. MERCY, SPIDER AND CRUSH ARE ON THE SECOND FLOOR. I DON’T KNOW HOW MANY MORE, BUT THERE ARE TWO LEADERS ON THE TOP TWO FLOORS AND THEY HAVE A TEAM TOO. MR. MATTHEWS IS IN THE ATTIC. I AM HIDING.

  GET HELP.

  THERE ARE AT LEAST THREE SHOTS FIRED WITH FATALITIES.

  ~RHEA~

  I hit send. My phone beeped. I slammed my purse closed again and strained to hear THEIR voices. I figured if I heard voices, then they couldn’t have heard me.

  SILENCE.

  I sat in the thick blackness, its weight crushing the air from my lungs. I drew in only enough air to keep me alive.

  After a pause that seemed like an eternity, I heard muted voices coming from down in front of the classroom. The air rushed out of my lungs in a subconscious gust of relief.

  I dug back into my purse and staring me in the face: MESSAGE NOT SENT glared back at me. That message crushed me more than I would have ever imagined.

  What the fuck now? Now what do I do? Dear Father, Lord in Heaven…please, PLEASE get me out of this. Get us all out of this. Please God.

  I changed all of my phone’s volume settings and turned it off. I sat in the oppressive blackness for minutes, time standing still and yet moving me ever closer to the final ending.

  Chapter

  -9 Hours

  My phone screen blinked on. 10:12. Had this really been going on for over an hour already? A blinking blue light on my phone finally caught my attention. I’d been sitting, staring down the long duct in front of me. My eyes had adjusted to the dark and the meager light that was filtering in through the heating and air conditioning vent. I could see that I was inside a formidable air duct that ended where I was sitting, ‘T’-ed
at the classroom I’d been in, and then continued down a long ways. Small arcs of dim light made their way to this main duct and I knew at those points, there were vents that led to other classrooms.

  I glanced back at my phone and swiped to unlock my screen. My notifications showed that I had received an email.

  An email? How could I have gotten an email if my text wasn’t sent?

  I had spent the last several minutes trying to rationalize why my text hadn’t been sent and all I could come up with was that the gunmen had a jammer on— keeping anyone, and all of us from communicating with the outside world. So then why or rather, how could I have gotten an email?

  I touched my email icon and sure enough I had received an email from someone in my afternoon Copywriting class.

  SUBJECT: YOU ARE NOT ALONE TO:

  RheaVelvetKenzee@pacificlakescommunityc ollege.us.net

  FROM:

  EliValenSnohe@pacificlakescommunitycolle ge.us.net

  RHEA,

  THIS IS ELI SNOHE. I AM SENDING THIS MESSAGE OUT TO PROFESSOR DUNCAN’S ADVANCED COPYWRITING CLASS LIST. I NEED TO KNOW IF I AM ALONE. ARE YOU SAFE? DO THEY HAVE YOU? I JUST WANTED YOU TO KNOW YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

  ELI

  How could he be emailing me? Do they have him? I set to work emailing him right back.

  SUBJECT: RE: YOU ARE NOT ALONE

  TO:

  EliValenSnohe@pacificlakescommunitycolle ge.us.net

  FROM:

  RheaVelvetKenzee@pacificlakescommunityc ollege.us.net

  ELI,

  I AM AS FINE AS I CAN BE UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES. HOW ARE YOU? ARE YOU HIDING SOMEWHERE? ARE YOU SAFE? AND BTW, HOW ARE WE EMAILING IF PHONE TEXTS WON’T GO THROUGH? I HAD FIGURED THE GUNMEN HAD JAMMED THE SIGNAL.

  ~RHEA~

  Outside the vent the group’s conversation had gotten heated again. I swiped at a bead of sweat and wished like hell someone could’ve change the heating controls before I was crammed up in the duct work. I felt like I was baking.

  “Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!” Something hit the wall and I could only imagine the gunman bitching was the one who had thrown something.

  “Calm the fuck down. The police never acquiesce to any perpetrator’s first request. We’ll get what we want or they’ll have a huge fucking mess to clean up!”

  I slid back into my cubby alcove and slumped against the wall. How could they be doing this to all of us, and why? The flashing blue light indicated that Eli had already gotten back to me. I swiped the screen and opened the newest email.

  SUBJECT: JUST BREATHE, WE’VE GOT THIS

  TO:

  RheaVelvetKenzee@pacificlakescommunityc ollege.us.net

  FROM:

  EliValenSnohe@pacificlakescommunitycolle ge.us.net

  RHEA,

  I AM HIDING AS I ASSUME YOU ARE TOO. NOBODY FROM THE CLASS LIST HAS GOTTEN BACK TO ME YET EXCEPT YOU. I DO HOPE THAT SOMEONE IS OFF CAMPUS AND WILL CHECK THEIR EMAIL BEFORE COMING TO CLASS. I AM NOT SURE WHY WE

  CAN EMAIL, BUT AFTER SOME THOUGHT I’VE COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT IT MUST BE BECAUSE THEY PLACED A JAMMER SIGNAL. YOU ARE ABLE TO ACCESS THE SCHOOL’S EMAIL BECAUSE YOU ARE USING THE WIFI AS A GUEST OFF THE ROOM NEXT TO, ABOVE, OR BELOW YOU. I AM NOT A TECH, BUT THERE HAS TO BE SOME REASON THAT THE SCHOOL EMAIL WORKS AND NOTHING ELSE DOES. MAYBE A DIFFERENT NETWORK OR MAINFRAME OR SOMETHING?

  ELI.

  Well, he was right. I’d give him that. Who really cared anyways how it all worked, I was just glad that I wasn’t completely alone. I copied the text that I had sent Emmory, to Eli and hit send. That way, he’d at least know the details that I had pieced together. Then I went to work sending out an email to Emmory using her school account.

  SUBJECT: CALL THE POLICE, WE’RE HELD HOSTAGE

  TO:

  EmmoryVanessaJane@pacificlakescommunit ycollege.us.net

  FROM:

  RheaVelvetKenzee@pacificlakescommunityc ollege.us.net

  EMMORY,

  CONTACT THE POLICE.

  THE COLLEGE IS UNDER ATTACK IN CASE YOU DIDN’T ALREADY KNOW…FIRST SHOT FIRED JUST AFTER 9:00.

  THERE ARE IN EXCESS OF EIGHT GUNMEN THAT I’VE COUNTED SO FAR, THREE IN THE ROOM NEXT TO ME, TWO DOWNSTAIRS AND AT LEAST THREE UPSTAIRS TOO. I AM HIDING. GET HELP. THERE ARE AT LEAST THREE SHOTS FIRED WITH FATALITIES.

  ~RHEA~

  I hit send and crossed my fingers that she’d see it. I arched my back trying to get as good of a stretch in as I could, but let’s face it—when you’re stuck in an air duct that’s maybe three feet high by two feet wide, there just wasn’t the space to get comfortable. Not, that under the circumstances I could even begin to anyways. I gently jounced my knees working the cramps out of them, when suddenly, my heart slammed into my chest.

  “Hey Mercy! Come take a look at this!”

  The voice of reason—Crush—was entirely too close to the vent for my liking. Now I was wishing that I’d sat closer to the front of the classroom…then he wouldn’t be all up in my safety zone. I figured he was only maybe twelve or fifteen feet from my vent.

  Oh God why do I like to sit in one of the last two

  rows?

  I was giving myself grief when a voice, that low

  menacing growl of a voice did stop my heart.

  “Oh yeah? What the fuck did the wee-little man find, besides his conscience?”

  The voice came from what sounded like right outside the vent. I was too afraid to pull my legs in for any sound at all would alert him to where I was, and yet I felt too exposed, as though he could see me already. I started feeling light headed.

  Breathe Rhea, take a breath…

  I slowly drew my legs into my chest as I drew in a breath at the same time and none too soon either.

  “Hey, did you fuckers see this vent?” I could hear him hitting the vent. Smacking it real good.

  I DIDN’T DARE BREATHE.

  I pulled my legs in even farther, I doubt if even my toes showed past the end-portion now.

  “Mercy man, bring me your gun. I want to use the light on it to shine it in this vent. I don’t know why, but I just have a feeling.”

  Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.

  It was taking every single cell in my body to hold still, every ounce of strength that I possessed to not make a sound. The fear in me radiated from every pore and I was strung taught like a rubber band that was ready to snap. All I could do was pray.

  “I don’t give a fuck if it’s closed tight. Bring me the goddamn light!”

  I could hear movement down in front of the classroom, and simultaneously sounds that indicated that Spider, the owner of that menacing voice had knelt down in front of the vent. My pulse accelerated proportionately to each step as I heard the heavy weight of boots ascending the wooden stairs.

  “Fucker, you took long enough!” I heard a dull thud followed by the sound of a body hitting the floor.

  “You’d better remember who’s in charge. I never have taken shit from nobody and don’t plan to start now.” Mercy’s voice was enraged, controlled and he meant business. The cool rage that he directed toward Spider gave me chills. My body was covered in goosebumps in spite of being covered in sweat and the heat pumping through the ducts. “Let me ask you this, you low life piece of shit.

  Where would you be right now if it weren’t for me? WHERE?!”

  “Nowhere, Boss.”

  “That’s right. Without me you’d have no cause, you’d have no life, you’d have no purpose. Don’t you forget that.”

  “Yes, Boss.”

  “Good. Now forget about that vent. It’s sealed up real tight—you pounded on it right?”

  “Yes, Boss.”

  “Did it wiggle or come loose?” “No. Boss.”

  “Alright then. Take Crush and go see what is going on downstairs. I want you to speak with Jester and Boom, then get a detailed report for me on the top two floors. Got it?”

  “Yes, Boss.”

  “And no more fighting with each other, it’ll take all of us to pull th
is off.”

  I took in a breath of fresh air, rolled my neck and stretched my legs out the moment I heard Spider get up and move down the stairs. Some muted arguing indicated that he had met up with Crush and soon after the door closed. But, where was Mercy at?

  Holy Hell! What the fuck was that? Is he right here?

  Again, I pulled my legs ever so slowly back into my chest and found that I had stopped breathing. I only took in the smallest breath of air—just enough so that I didn’t pass out. And it was none too soon. A piercing bright light drove into the darkness through the vent grate. I pulled my legs even farther into my body—if that were even possible.

  He can see my toes. I KNOW he can see my toes. Oh my God! Where’s my purse?

  My eyes jetted out to the few feet in front of me and sure enough—there my green suede purse sat.

  Oh my God…NO!

  “What the hell?” I heard him mutter to himself and the light disappeared. I heard heavy boots descending the steps. I took this few seconds to pull my purse…dragging it slowly and silently into my hidden space, tucking it into my butt so that it was no longer visible.

  Then, I heard him climb the steps again. He stopped in front of the vent and dropped to his knees. I heard him grunting as he was either bending over or laying prone…I wasn’t sure which, but how he was laying mattered less to me as soon as a spotlight flashlight-type was shone in through the vent.