Devils Roses 01 - Cursed

a cap, and booties. I tripled my booties, to appear as if I had shoes. I knew I would be walking in them and three booties were going to be better than one.
    I sat down in the closet for a while, wondering if he could find me with a smell, or if he was able to pop to wherever I was. I was starving but my stomach was starting to hurt in a funny way, as if I had food poisoning.
    I couldn’t run into my family, without ruining Dorian's excuse as to where I was. I couldn’t run into Shane, without him dragging me back to the hospital bed. I definitely couldn’t run into Dorian, without him doing horrid things to me and possibly hurting me in ways I might never heal from. I shivered remembering his assault in the elevator. I slowly opened the door and peeked out into the quiet and empty hall.
    I wondered what I would eat if I was a threat to Shane? I wondered if like Aleks, I would need regular food every now and then to be strong or if like Dorian, I ate something else. I wasn’t sure why I was certain Dorian didn’t eat food. The black blood told me he was not exactly functioning inside, quite the same way Aleks was. Truth be told though, I had never seen Aleks bleed. It was possible he was full of molasses as well.
    I slipped out into the hall and ran down the emergency stairs to the bottom floor. I crept in the boiler room and ducked, looking around.
    I saw a door in front of me about twenty yards away. There was steam blowing out of a vent of sorts, between the door and me. I felt my bravery coming to a head, as I was nearly at the door. That would be the moment in a scary movie worth its salt, where the bad guy would show up. He would smash me in the head with one of the pipes in the room. My heart raced, as I scared the ever-loving crap out of myself, and made my way like a rat scurrying to the door. I looked both ways as the safety of my wall had ended. I nearly dove out the door when I saw no one there.
    The light from outside nearly blinded me, as I made my way up the concrete staircase. I didn’t know where I was, but the drizzle of the rain and cars parked all around me, told me it could be the staff parking area. I ran from the building not even looking. My feet pushed along the cement, driving me out into the parking lot.
    I stopped running and began walking amongst the vehicles. I walked until I finally found an unlocked car and climbed inside of it. I sat and took a breather.
    I needed to be as far away from there, as I could get. I searched the car for money and found about twelve dollars in change. I found a pair of black ballet-styled flats a half a size smaller than I needed, but I squeezed my feet into them. I found a blue fleece, which obviously belonged to a woman a lot more rotund than me. I didn’t care. I pulled it on over my scrubs to hide that at least. I felt guilty for stealing her things and imagined she loved the fleece. I wished I didn’t need to take her stuff, but I knew it was life and death. I hoped if she had been there, she would have helped me under the circumstances. I locked her car for her, I felt it was the least I could do.
    I walked along the cars, hoping to find at least one more open. It was tough going and security nearly saw me once, but I ducked behind a large SUV and hid for a while. I finally found another open car, which had thirty dollars in it and some granola bars in the dash. I stole a hair tie, ditched the cap and mask, and locked the car door. I ran from the parking lot into an alley around the corner.
    I felt vulnerable and scared, but convinced myself that I just looked like a nurse getting off work. I walked hurriedly to the bus stop. I boarded the bus and finally started to breathe again. I never felt safe until I was crossing the center of the city, on my way out to the north. I had examined the bus when I boarded, but also when it came time for people to get off and on. I didn’t see Dorian anywhere, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t change into someone else. I trusted no one. I didn’t know what he was capable of.
    I watched out the window as my bus made its way to the main transit stop. There I could switch buses and board a bus for home. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew that my best chance of survival was in a place I was comfortable in.
    Even when I boarded the bus heading toward home, I was skeptical I would make it. I felt surrounded by him, even though I couldn’t see him anywhere. When the forty-two dollars ran out, I found