Stone Rain

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Miranda heard noises coming from the bottom of the stairs. They were back. If they find me here, she thought, I’ll end up dead, just like the others.

It had to be them, downstairs in the bar. It was after hours, after all. Everyone else had cleared out. The Kickstart had been closed, the girls had been sent home. They’d be coming upstairs any moment now to finish up their business. It would be quite the day for them. Sell some beer, some drugs on the side, get a bunch of guys laid, figure out what to do with three bodies.

Oh yeah, they’d kill her. Well, maybe not Leo. Chances were he wouldn’t kill her. Gary would be the one to actually kill her. But Leo, he wouldn’t do anything to stop it. He always let Gary take the lead in these things. I’ll end up as dead as the others, Miranda thought.

If I don’t get out of here right now.

The others hadn’t been dead long.

Only minutes, she guessed, although it seemed much longer. It was true what they said, Miranda thought, about things slowing down. Maybe that’s why, in the movies, when something terribly dramatic was happening, they ran it in slow motion. Not just because it was a neat effect, but because it was a reflection of human experience. Maybe your brain had to play tricks with time, give you a chance to absorb what the hell was happening so you could figure out how to deal with it.

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