#Chapter 56 Wrong Place, Wrong Time

I had been sitting on the floor for five minutes—maybe ten? I couldn’t keep track—when I heard two sets of shoes coming down the hall. One sounded like Barnett’s, but the other sounded lighter, like a smaller person’s footsteps.

The door to the women’s restroom opened.

“Hello? Ms. Leonard?” a woman’s voice called.

I wiped my mouth with some toilet paper before I answered.

“Yes?”

“Are you all right? Mr. Cogsworth told me that you were not feeling well.”

“I-no, I’m not all right. My stomach is very upset.”

“Do you have to…do anything else?”

I didn’t answer for moment, trying to assess the state of my stomach.

“No, I think I’m done.”

“Can you stand up?”

I pulled myself up onto wobbly legs. I cursed my high heels as I nearly slipped onto the toilet. I slipped off my heels and walked out of the stall.

A woman in a white blouse, black slacks, and white nurse’s shoes greeted me. She rushed forward to support one side of me.

“Don’t worry, I have you,” she said. “My name is Claire Smith,