As she leafed through the documents, Mrs. Locklore blinked rapidly. The words seemed to be swimming on the white pages. Brushing her sleeve over her eyes, Mrs. Locklore inhaled deeply. When her vision cleared, she picked up the folder stuffed with papers again.

"Mina? What are you doing?"

Mrs. Locklore looked up in the direction of the whisper. Her husband stepped out of the darkened hallway into the living room.

"Shh," Mrs. Locklore held up a warning finger, "don't wake her up. It took a while for Peter to get her to relax. They're both asleep in bed now."

"Which is where you should be. It's 3 am. Why are you still awake?"

"I couldn't sleep, so I was just doing some reading." Mrs. Locklore tried to smile reassuringly at her husband, but she knew her eyelashes were still wet with tears. "Don't worry about me, Eddy. I'm okay."

Reaching over, Mr. Locklore took the folder from his wife's hand and opened it. He perused the court documents and sighed.

"Mina, you have to stop doing this to yourself. It's not going to help anything."

Mrs. Locklore allowed her husband to pull her onto the couch. Leaning her head on his shoulder, she curled up next to him and pulled his arm around her waist.

"What are we going to do, Eddy?" she murmured.

"I don't know."

Mrs. Locklore could feel her husband's fingers stroking her hair comfortingly. She nestled closer to him.

"I just feel like I have to do something."

"Honey, there's nothing to be done," Mr. Locklore replied. "The verdict has been passed. You can relax now."

"No, I can't. The judge still hasn't sentenced him yet. What if he lets him walk away with no jail time? Or gives him probation?" Mrs. Locklore sifted through the papers and handed them to her husband. "He's got so many reference letters. Look at all of these. This one's from a high school coach. Here's a letter from his grandparents. Oh, and this one from some random lady who blames me for everything because I was the one that dropped our daughters off and let them drink at home. What if all of these character letters make the judge think about giving him a lesser sentence? What if...?"

"Mina," Mr. Locklore interrupted his wife, "you're going to drive yourself crazy with all of your "what ifs". We don't have any control over this. You've got to find a way to let it go."

Mrs. Locklore shook her head. "I don't know if I can do that."

Closing her eyes, she clenched her jaw to keep her lip from trembling. The weight in her chest felt as if it would never leave. Anxiety and fear had drawn new lines on her face over the past few months. Her mind kept thinking and worrying until the world spun around, and peaceful sleep was just a memory.

"Please Mina, talk to me. How can I help you?"

"Oh Eddy," Mrs. Locklore murmured. "What do I do when there's nothing to do?"

*****

"Come on, Gabriel! Keep up!"

Panting heavily, Gabriel stood on his bike pedals and forced his way up the incline. His friend braked at the crest of the hill and waited for him to catch up. Sweat trickled down his back and into his eyes as he reached the summit.

"You're losing your stamina, Gabriel."

"Shut up, Karl," Gabriel gasped out. "The air is different here than in Sweden."

"That's your excuse?" Karl laughed. "Come on. You're a graduate student studying law internationally at an American Ivy League school. You've got to learn to come up with better arguments than that."

Running his fingers through his long, blonde hair, Gabriel balanced on his bicycle with one foot on the ground. His calves were aching, and he was so thirsty that even his tongue felt dry. He had emptied the water bottle attached to his bike twenty minutes ago, and they still had a mile to get back.

"Thirsty?"

Gabriel nodded.

"Here." Karl knocked his bike's kickstand down and climbed off his seat. Opening his backpack, Karl tossed Gabriel his water bottle. "I told you to fill up at that water fountain back by the Eamond Science Building."

Squeezing the blue plastic bottle, Gabriel squirted a thin stream of lukewarm water into his mouth. After he swallowed several times, he wiped his chin with the back of his hand.

"And I told you," Gabriel lobbed the bottle back to his friend, "it was a bad idea to go on a five-mile midnight bike ride."

"Enjoy the adventure, my friend."

As Karl placed his bottle back in his bag, Gabriel glanced up at the full moon. The silvery beams shone down almost as brightly as the fluorescent lamps lining the concrete paths. Gabriel yawned and stretched his arms up.

"I just want to get back, take a shower, and go to bed."

"Good luck with that," Karl answered. "We still have to study for that exam on Monday."

Gabriel mopped the sweat off his forehead with his dark blue shirt sleeve and exhaled loudly.

"I forgot the exam was so soon," he groaned. "We better get back and begin the reading."

Karl nodded and hopped back on his bicycle. The two students continued cycling the course back to their apartment complex. The cool breeze rushed past Gabriel as he pumped his legs up and down. The short rest had given him a new burst of energy, and he enjoyed the feeling of gliding along the pavement.

"Let's take a shortcut across campus," Karl called back to his friend. "It'll take half of a mile off our route."

"Great," Gabriel yelled.

Veering off to a side path, Gabriel followed Karl past a line of fraternity houses. Blaring music came from most of the small houses, and the front yards were full of loud students celebrating the weekend. Karl and Gabriel biked past several of the fraternity homes and turned down a side street. The area was still well-lit with street lamps, but the noise faded behind them. A few people were sitting on a bench drinking beers. Gabriel nodded to them as they passed. Standing up on his pedals again, he pushed his way up a small incline.

"We're almost there. Just down this hill and four more blocks," Karl said over his shoulder.

While they coasted down the hill, Gabriel rested his fatigued legs and looked around. He knew they were nearing their apartment complex, but he was not familiar with this area. A single fraternity house, Kappa Alpha, was at the bottom of the decline. Karl led the way through an empty parking lot to cut across to the street in front of the fraternity house. The two bikers halted before the road as several cars passed. As Gabriel waited for the last vehicle to cross, he noticed a flicker of movement to his right. Glancing over, he saw two figures behind a green metal dumpster. The side of the fraternity house behind them was deserted except for the couple who was lying on the ground.

"Hey, you ready?"

Gabriel jerked his head back around. The street was completely empty now, and Karl was ready to move forward. His friend turned to see what had distracted Gabriel.

"I suppose some people are getting their exercise in other ways," Karl commented, raising his eyebrows.

"I guess so," Gabriel replied.

"Come on. Let's leave them to it."

Slowly, Gabriel remounted his bike and pedaled across the street alongside Karl. Looking back over his shoulder, he caught one last glimpse of the two forms. The guy was on top of the girl and appeared to be fumbling with his pants.

"Gabriel, stop staring at them. You're being kind of strange."

Turning back, Gabriel shook his head. "Something doesn't seem right."

"Yes, there's two people having sex back there and you keep looking at them."

Gabriel ignored his friend and began slowing down. An uneasy sense passed through him. Finally, he stopped his bike and put one foot on the ground to balance. Karl halted next to him, puzzled.

"What is it?"

"I am telling you that something about those two wasn't right. I really feel like we should turn back and check on them."

"Gabriel, that's going to be really awkward, and I thought you wanted to get back home soon," Karl protested.

"I do, but I just have a feeling in my gut that we need to turn around." Gabriel looked into his friend's deep brown eyes. "Please, Karl. It won't take that long."

Karl hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "All right, if you feel like we should."

Riding back in the direction of the fraternity house, Gabriel pedaled quickly. The street was clear when they reached it, and Gabriel could see the couple was still behind the dumpster. As he drew closer, Gabriel noticed that the woman was very still. Her dress was filthy, and her long hair was spread all over the dirt. The well-built man wearing a white hooded sweatshirt was still moving, but she was limp underneath him.

"You're right. That looks strange," Karl murmured.

Frowning, Gabriel jumped off his bike and knocked down the kickstand. The woman remained motionless and seemed as though she was asleep. One of her hands was flung out to the side, laying limply in a heap of brown pine needles.

"Hey man!" Gabriel yelled. "I think she's unconscious!"

The man didn't respond and continued thrusting his body upon the girl. Gabriel began running towards the two with Karl following closely behind him.

"Hey you!" Gabriel shouted again. "Stop! What's wrong with you? Can't you see that she's unconscious?!"

While the two graduate students drew closer, the man slowly stood up. When they were a few yards away, he leapt away from the girl and began running. Instantly, Gabriel took off after him while Karl bent over the unconscious woman. Adrenaline rushed through Gabriel's body as he ran, reenergizing his exhausted legs. His feet barely seemed to touch the ground while the cool air blew his hair back. Sprinting across a concrete basketball court, Gabriel gained rapidly on the man until only a few feet separated them. Swiftly, he jumped forward and scythed his legs around, hitting the man in the back of the knees and knocking him to the ground.

"What were you doing to her?" Gabriel demanded.

Without answering, the guy pushed himself back up. Gabriel could tell he was going to run again. Quickly, he tackled him around the waist and shoved him down again. Straddling the man's body, Gabriel pinned his arms down. The guy began fighting back, kicking out with his legs. Gabriel gritted his teeth and pushed down on the man's wrists as hard as he could.

"Hang on, Gabriel! I'm almost there!"

Gabriel could hear Karl's shout from across the basketball court. Sweat was dripping down his arms making his hands slippery. He barely managed to hang on to the man who was thrashing violently. With a surge of power, the guy threw Gabriel off to the side. Gabriel landed on his back with a grunt. Before the man could jump up, Karl leapt in on top of his legs. Forcing himself up, Gabriel wrestled the man back down.

"Are you guys okay? What's going on over here?"

Glancing up, Gabriel saw a group of three men approaching them. Karl hastily explained the story. Immediately, one of the men went back to check on the girl while Karl called the police. The other two helped Gabriel hold down the boy who had stopped struggling. The police finally arrived after what seemed like an eternity to Gabriel. Rising, he watched as one of the officers cuffed the man and took him to the police car.

"I'm going to need witness statements from all of you individually. Why don't we start with you?"

Gabriel obediently followed the police officer to a more private area and told her what happened. As he began recalling the still form of the woman, Gabriel felt an empty hollow forming in his chest.

"Will she be all right?" he asked anxiously.

"We don't know yet. She still hasn't regained consciousness. Please continue, sir."

Gabriel took a deep breath. The memory of the girl's lifeless hand lying in dirty pine needles made his stomach feel queasy. His eyes began stinging, and Gabriel blinked hard several times. Clearing his throat, he finished his testimony and rejoined the group of witnesses. After Karl spoke with the officer, he returned to his friend.

"Do you know who she was?" he asked in a subdued voice.

"No." Gabriel looked at the departing ambulance which was carrying the girl. "But I doubt I'll ever forget her."

*****

She waved to Lela from the front porch of the fraternity house. Her sister nodded back as she walked away with her friends. The night air was growing cooler. Zipping up her jacket, she decided to return to the backyard to wait for Lela. Her head was spinning in circles, and she gripped the bannister before she stepped down unsteadily.

"Hey, let me give you a hand."

She looked up into the blue eyes of the student who had approached her earlier in the backyard. His strong, sinewy hand supported her shaky steps. She could hear that he was still speaking, but nothing seemed to make sense. The words floated around her head like misty clouds. His face seemed to be lifting higher and higher into the air until it touched the twinkling stars. Then she felt that she was falling and sliding down into a pit with no way to stop her descent. Something was pressing down on her body, stifling her. She reached out blindly and tried to push the weight away, but her hands had no strength and fell to the ground limp. She was smothering in heavy darkness as her mind slipped into nothingness.