No Exit by Taylor Adams 2

She’d received 9-1-1’s text message at 3:58 a.m. The walk
back had taken twenty-one minutes. Subtracted from thirty,
that made nine minutes left until the police arrived here. Nine
short minutes.
Survive nine more minutes.
That’s all.
Ashley halted her abruptly — here, at the janitor’s closet
door. Still half-open, from when she’d unlocked it. He gently
twirled her now, like a slow, dizzy tango, and pushed her
against the wall.
“Sit here,” he said.
She didn’t.
“Sit, please.”
She shook her head and tears tapped the floor. Her sinuses
ached.
“You’re not going to sit?”
She shook her head again.
“You’re not tired?”
Oh, she was exhausted. Her nerves were shredded, her
muscles sagging meat. Her thoughts blurry. But somehow, she
knew that if she sat down now, it would all be over. She’d lose
her will. She’d never stand up again.
For a moment, she considered just blurting it out, saying
what couldn’t be unsaid: Ashley, I threw your keys out the
window in the men’s restroom. They landed just ten, maybe
twenty feet away in the snow.
You can kill me. I’m done.
Across the room, Jay wept. Rodent Face knelt by her,
trying to calm her. “Don’t look at Ed. Don’t look at him, okay?
He’s fine—”
Ed took in another tortured breath through his nose as
Sandi wrapped another bandage around his jaw, and then he