237 Ks Zero Fs Chapter 08
Airport. Security checkpoint.
Two guards had him by the arms.
The gash on his forehead had split open at least three centimeters. Blood ran from his eyebrow all the way down to his chin. His shirt collar was a mess of red fingerprints.
His left eye was glued shut with blood. His right eye stared, fixed and unblinking, at the woman on the other side of the glass wall.
Maya stood at the gate, phone in hand.
She turned around. Through the pane of glass, she watched Conor pound against it like a madman.
His mouth opened and closed, shouting words she couldn’t hear.
She raised her phone. Held the screen up to him.
That chat log.
The green bubbles she’d sent. The gray ones he’d replied with—
K.
K.
K.
Two hundred and thirty-seven of them.
Conor’s movements seized up.
His pupils contracted sharply. His whole body jolted, like something had just smashed into the back of his skull.
The hand slapping the glass slowly slid downward, leaving five streaks of blood on the pane.
Maya pressed “Delete Conversation.”
The confirmation pop-up appeared. She pressed “Yes.”
Conor’s knees buckled. A collapse like every ounce of strength had been sucked from his leg bones in a single instant.
His body slid down the glass wall. The guards had to hoist him by the armpits to keep him from hitting the floor.
Blood dripped from his forehead onto the gray marble, blotting outward one drop at a time.
“Maya—!”
He finally screamed it out loud. The sound couldn’t penetrate the glass. It was swallowed by the airport PA announcements and the footsteps of travelers.
The plane punched through the rain clouds and climbed into the stratosphere.
As Conor was dragged toward the medical station, his head stayed twisted backward, staring at the glass wall. Staring at the gate. Already empty.