Run, Girl (If You Can)

Keeley and her roommates stared down the many aisles of options in the costume store with trepidation. It was four days to Halloween and they still hadn't figured out what they were going to wear to the party.

"Should we try to do a group costume?" Jennica suggested.

"No," Keeley and Valentina answered in unison.

Their freshman year, they dressed up as ketchup and mustard bottles respectively and everybody in their dorm made fun of them for months.

She pouted. "You guys are no fun."

Valentina eyed all of the weird 'sexy' costumes of things that should not have been that way, like lobsters, lions, and Chewbacca. Why did people always have to make costumes sexy?

"Can I just wear my scrubs? People dress up as doctors; I've seen it!"

"That's so lame!" Jennica exclaimed. "You can't dress up as something you already are, that's completely against the point of Halloween."

Keeley eyed a sexy Minion costume from the movie Despicable Me with distaste. She was on the same page as Valentina. There weren't enough normal options here. Maybe she'd be better off making her own costume, though she wasn't much of a DIYer.

"This one isn't terrible," she commented, pulling out a dress patterned like a pineapple that came with a matching hat.

"You seriously want to go as food?"

"Why not?"

Jennica shook her head sadly. "Your unoriginality wounds me. By the way, do you know what Ryan and his friends are coming as?"

"Not a clue."

"It would have been really fun if we all did a group costume together…"

Valentina and Keeley exchanged a look. So she was still on the group costume idea. That was worrisome.

"Oh, this is fun, look at this!" she hollered from a few rows over.

They followed her voice and saw her holding up what appeared to be a hipster Little Mermaid costume. It consisted of a white crop top with purple clamshells on it like the mermaid's bra and green leggings that looked like fish scales, completed with a pair of thick black fake glasses and a red wig.

"It's perfect for you," Keeley said, wanting to get this over with. "You'll be a hipster mermaid, I'll be a pineapple, and Valentina will be a—"

"Doctor," she said firmly. "I already have the scrubs waiting for me at home and I can't afford this."

Jennica seized her roommate's arm and dragged her away. "No! We're going to find you a proper costume; come on."

She suggested a pirate, a fairy, a medieval princess, and vampire but Valentina didn't want any of them. Keeley wandered down the aisle and saw something that might catch her fancy.

"What about this?"

It was a skeleton costume but unlike the purposely sexy ones that were leotards with arm warmers and thigh high socks, this was a simple black jumpsuit with an anatomically correct x-ray on it. Not only was it one of the least ridiculous costumes in this place, it catered to her interest in medical science.

Valentina's interest was piqued. "Not bad! I think I'll go with this one."

Jennica sighed dramatically and leaned against a costume rack like a tragic heroine. "No one appreciates the fine art of costume wearing anymore."

Keeley grinned at her. "We can't all be actresses, Jen."

She stuck her tongue out in retaliation.

Gathering up all the costumes, they headed to check out at the counter. Jennica paid for Valentina's since she was the one who wanted her friend to buy a costume instead of using what was on hand.

The costume shop was hidden away on a backstreet near the high profile shopping district that Keeley used to frequent as Aaron's wife. They planned on going out to eat but the nearest fast food place, a Burger Barn, was a few blocks away. To get there, they had to pass through the shopping district.

Keeley hadn't been there in many years and didn't enjoy being reminded of the social pressure she used to experience while she shopped. Shopping with her roommates was about as different as could be.

As they walked past one of the expensive storefronts, Roslyn Hale and Lacy Knighton were exiting with a few other women she vaguely recognized from her past life.

Keeley's blood ran cold.

"Hide me!" she yelped as she dove behind Jennica, who was about five inches taller than her.

Her friend was surprised and craned her neck to see what was going on. "What are you—"

"Shh!"

She was desperate not to be seen. Having been supposedly out of Aaron's life since their high school graduation, Keeley had completely fallen off of Lacy's radar. The last thing she wanted was to get back on it.

Valentina noticed her distress as well and tried to block her from view from the other side as the group of socialites passed as best she could considering she was 4'10".

Once they were gone, Keeley's friends turned to her with obvious questions in their eyes. She didn't say anything until they had sat down waiting for their order inside Burger Barn.

"Thanks for covering me," she said quietly. "The girl with the black hair is a total psychopath who made my life hell in high school. I didn't want her to see me and remember how much she hated me."

A fierce look appeared on Jennica's face and she cursed Lacy out.

"I met her at that cocktail party where I was paid to act as a guy's date a while back. She was a bit spoiled but I had no idea she was that bad."

Valentina frowned. "What did she do to you?"

Well, aside from stealing her husband and having her and her father murdered…

"She pushed me into a punch bowl, started nasty rumors, tried shoving me down a flight of stairs, and drugged me on prom night, which also happened to be my birthday."

Both of her friends cried out in alarm. "Why?!"

Keeley shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant when she actually felt a bit sick seeing the woman for the first time in nearly six years.

"She thought I was after the guy she liked. I wasn't though; I was actually doing my best to avoid him. She's completely nuts."

She didn't notice that all of the color drained out of Jennica's face as she talked.