“No.” I take a breath, forcing myself back to Friday night. “They dragged me into the brush.”
He furrows his brow, pacing out a line into the trees. “Like here?”
I shake my head, pointing. “No, over there.”
Marcus frowns, clearly not following. “Will you show me?”
I wait for him to say he’s kidding. The edges of my vision blur and I’m starting to feel light-headed. I look up the path toward home. But maybe if I just do it, he’ll finally let this go.
I retrace my steps the best I can from memory, shuffling backward from the bridge until I reach the edge of the clearing. I keep my eyes wide, filled with light the whole time, but my heart still pounds loud enough that it almost drowns out the falls.
“This is about where we fell down.”
“You both fell?”
I nod. “They—he was on top of me.” My voice is barely a whisper.
“So it was definitely a guy. . . .”
I stare down at the moss and dirt, thinking of Amir’s composite sketch. “I . . . the more I think, it had to be. . . .”
“Did you get a look at him then? Did he say anything?”
“It was so dark.” I shake my head and then pause. “He was wearing a hood, I remember that.”
“That’s good.” Marcus’s voice is encouraging. “What happened next?”
“I was so caught off guard . . . at first I didn’t resist.” My mind tumbles over the self-defense classes Gretchen and I both took and I look down, ashamed. My hands close into fists. “Once we were on the ground, it became a fight.”
Marcus’s jaw hardens. “Good for you.”
“It gets fuzzy after that.” I close my eyes, holding back tears to summon my memories out of the dark. I trace my fingers along my scratched arms, my ribs lightly throbbing. “There were a lot of branches and rocks, and I wasn’t sure where I was until we were on top of the falls.”
I turn that way, intending to show him this too, but Marcus stops me with a light hand on my elbow. When I look at him, his eyes are gentle. “It’s okay, I get the idea.”
My skin tingles where we touch. I cross my arms and nod, grateful not to relive the moment. “It was dumb luck I got away and managed to run in the right direction. I felt him behind me every second until I was through the door of the diner.” This memory stands out in vivid color and I can no longer hold back tears, thinking of my mom’s face when she saw me.
Like every mother’s worst nightmare had burst through the door.
A flutter of wings behind Marcus grabs my attention. I peer up the narrow path and spot a lone shadowy figure making its way toward us. Marcus’s expression shifts to alarm when he sees my face and he turns to follow my gaze. It could be a person leaving a token at the memorial, or just someone taking the path as a shortcut. Or maybe whoever scratched out my photo is coming to get the rest of their message across. I scan the rocks and plants, but there’s really nowhere to go. Marcus shifts between the approaching person and me just as the heavy footsteps reach my ears.
“Marcus Perez, I wasn’t expecting to see—” Amir’s words cut off when he notices me. He takes in my tear-streaked face and stiffens. “Sonia. Is everything all right?”
“I—I’m fine,” I say quickly, wiping my cheeks with the back of my hand. I’m not sure if I’m relieved to see the deputy, or more scared.
Marcus gestures to the makeshift memorial. “We were leaving flowers for Gretchen.”
“Both of you . . . together?” I don’t know how familiar Amir is with Marcus’s and my relationship, but he looks unconvinced.
“Not together. We just ran into each other,” I say, but the truth never sounded so lame. “Anyway, I should go. They’re waiting for me at the diner.”
I turn toward home, but Marcus clears his throat. “Yeah, I better head out too.”
He joins me on the path and my face burns. I can’t bring myself to look back at Amir.
“Sonia?” the deputy calls after me. When I turn, he’s holding out the pepper spray canister Noah gave me. “Did you drop this?”
My hand flies to my empty pocket. I jog back to where he stands, but he doesn’t hand it to me right away. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he says in a low voice.
I force an appreciative smile. “I’m fine, Amir, really.” I take the pepper spray and tuck it back into my pocket. “Thanks. Don’t want to lose this for sure.”
Marcus waits for me on the path, but I hurry past him without a word. He follows me up the slope. I try not to think what Amir might be radioing to the sheriff right now. I stop just shy of the road and scan the woods behind us, but there’s no sign of him, or anyone else following. The deputies have been making periodic foot patrols through the park. He’s probably most of the way to Gretchen’s by now. I swear under my breath.
Marcus shifts beside me. “That seemed to go okay—”
“If that gets back to Sheriff Wood, it won’t be.”
He touches my shoulder. “Look, I’m sorry, I just . . .”