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I rushed down the stairwell.
I'd left in such a hurry, bringing nothing with me but my phone.
But as soon as I ran out of the dorm, a man's fist slammed into me.
I fell hard onto the pavement, my lip split and bleeding.
Chloe's mom caught up, shouting to the man across from me,
“Darling, it's her! Beat her up! She stabbed me! We can do whatever we want to her—go all out! Better if she dies!”
Chloe's dad was 6'2", all muscle from working construction. One punch from him made my vision go black.
I tried to fight back, but I was no match.
His fists and kicks rained down on me.
Luckily, campus security showed up fast.
Four guards worked together to pull Chloe's dad and mom off me.
I lay on the ground, still trying to catch my breath.
Struggling in guards' grip, Chloe's mom spat on me and screamed,
“You call yourself a college student? I'll tell you what—if you don't bring my daughter back today, this isn't over!”
As more students gathered around, her eyes gleamed with satisfaction.
“You might be in college, but I'll make sure you never graduate!”
“You've been a bad influence on my Chloe since forever! And now you've made her disappear! If you don't give her back, I'll tell everyone what you've done!”
I swallowed the metallic taste in my mouth, barely able to speak,
“I've done nothing wrong. I have nothing to hide. If you keep this up, I'm calling the police. Let them handle it.”
Chloe's mom went full Karen.
“Everyone, look! This trash is supposedly here to study, but really she's out here sleeping around! She's nothing but cheap garbage!”
“My daughter found out she was pregnant over the summer and made me promise not to tell! And right after school started, she asked my daughter for money—for an abortion!”
“My daughter told me everything! I didn't give her any, so she made Chloe take out a loan! I got the calls and texts—they're right here!”
“And now my daughter is missing! I bet she did something to her!”
She waved her phone around, showing everyone her so-called “evidence”.
The gathering crowd turned on me:
“I can't believe our school has someone like this! How did she even get in?”
“Good grades don't mean you're a good person.”
“She should be expelled…”
Only a few people questioned things:
“But don't you need to be the one to take out a loan? Wouldn't that girl called Chloe have known what she was signing?”
“No matter what, you can't just beat someone up...”
Those voices were drowned out by the shouting.
Chloe's mom yelled that she'd call the police. “Luna! You're going to pay for what you did! You'll never graduate!”
