Page 7 of Two Kinds of Stranger

She leaned over, put her fingers inside the bag and tore it open. Then did the same to the bag beside it.

Elly froze. Shock rooting her boots to the floor like cement.

There, in the garbage bags. . .

Two.

Yellow.

Broken.

Suitcases.

The handle hanging limp at the top of each one.

The zippers closed.

The fabric between the zipper and the case, ripped.

Both cases were identical in every way to the case she had just carried up six flights of stairs.

Her gut squeezed.

Saliva filled her mouth and Elly moved.

Out the front door, not looking back.

Down the first flight of stairs, clinging to the rail with her left hand in case she lost her balance again and tumbled over the side.

Panting.

Heartbeat rattling like a snare.

Her feet matching that fast tempo, adrenalin taking her down those stairs.

As she half stumbled, half bounced down the steps, she realized, almost absent-mindedly, that her stomach and right legfelt wet. She grabbed the carton of water from her coat pocket. It was leaking, she probably hadn’t sealed it again properly.

Another flight down. Quick turn on the landing, and down another set of steps. The door to the lobby visible now.

As Elly was almost at the bottom of the stairs, she was about to toss the water but saw, strangely, that it was indeed sealed with the cap.

But her hand was wet.

Elly reached the bottom of the staircase, thumped open the door to the lobby of the building and ran for the front door.

In the sunlight, and the cool air, she felt the pain in her knee and the churning nausea return.

Elly doubled over and vomited, violently. The suddenness of the reaction frightened her. She looked at the carton of water again, thinking about taking a drink to wash out her mouth, and then saw where the water was leaking.

A tiny hole in the top of the carton.

The kind that could be made with a pin.

Or the needle from a syringe.

Her vision whirled into a kaleidoscope of colors and random shapes as the carton fell from her hand and the ground came up to meet her. A terrible pain on the side of her head.

Elly used her arms to push herself off the ground and saw the pool of blood where her head had been.