When You Were Young

"Oh my," Mrs. West said and then her beeping heart monitor turned to a final shrill note.

"There's only one left and then it's over," Veronica said. She aimed the gun at Samantha, but then ran instead. Samantha took off after her down the stairs and through the corridor.

Samantha took out her pistol as she ran along the lawn, but a group of seniors in wheelchairs were now parked on the grass. She couldn't risk hitting one of them. She ran faster in pursuit of Veronica, ignoring the pleas for her to slow down from the old people.

Veronica rounded the corner of the first building and reappeared a moment later, clutching the slow-witted nurse. She pressed the barrel of the pistol into the nurse's temple. "You're not going to stop me," Veronica said.

Samantha held her weapon up, trying to find a clear shot. Sweat formed on her forehead and her hand began to shake. "That's right, you can't do it. You couldn't shoot me right now even if you wanted to. So now Nurse Horseface and I are going to leave and if you're smart you won't try to stop us."

Samantha lowered her pistol as Veronica and the nurse backed away. She watched them shuffle up to the driveway, where Veronica shoved the nurse down and then climbed into a rusty Yugo. As the Yugo wheezed out of the driveway, Veronica tossed Samantha a salute.

After the car disappeared, Samantha went over to the sobbing nurse. "Where's another car?" she asked. The nurse pointed to an oversized van with the facility's name stenciled on the side. "Where are the keys?" The nurse shrugged.

Samantha had little difficulty hotwiring the van. Where was Veronica heading? she wondered. As she drove along the road winding into St. John's, she considered the list of victims. Her old partner, her college friend, her high school counselor, and now her kindergarten teacher. Each one was connected to a period of her life from adulthood to childhood. Unless Veronica planned to murder the doctor who delivered Samantha there didn't seem to be anyone left.

"There's only one left and then it's over," Veronica had said. One left until what's over? she wondered. What was Veronica's plan?

She pondered this question as she arrived in St. John's, a town not much bigger than Junction. As she drove, she thought of that black piece of paper and Veronica saying, "My mommy's dead." Samantha considered the roster of victims again. She's wiping out the past, Samantha thought. Not just Samantha's past, but her own as well. There was only one place left.

Samantha found her young pilot in St. John's only motel, lying naked on the bed with a bottle of sparkling apple juice in a bucket. "I couldn't get champagne," he said.