CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

My mouth is still covered, the assailant's palm still muffling my screams, his other hand pressing me to the wall.

The room is dark, so dark that I can't see anything.

In a split second, the hand pressing me to the wall leaves my shoulder, and I hear a flip sound. I flinch when a bright light suddenly lits up the entire room, piercing through my eyes.

I blink a couple times, adjusting my eyes to the light's intensity.

And to the face of my assailant.

I freeze.

Anger starts to boil up inside me, and with all the strength I can muster, I crush the numbness in my bones by pushing him off me.

"Luke! Are you mad?!"

My heart is slamming against my chest. Slamming in anger. Pain. Madness. Surprised fury.

"Alicia, we. . . . .we need to talk."

I can hear the faint footsteps and giggles of students walking down the hallway outside, apparently heading to the cafeteria for lunch but oblivious of a girl trapped in this room with a boy that is just the definition of insanity.

"We don't have anythin