Dream Smashers
FIFTEEN
Her face, lifeless of blood. Her eyes, dark as the abyss. Evan sees her pain. He feels her sorrowful energy, but can’t fathom what she must be going through. Life has never been dark for him as it must be for her right now. There has always been light, love, family, and hope. Hope creates the light for no matter how dark it gets, it shines the way.
“Autumn?” he says.
She’s in a trance, a deep pit, and either doesn’t hear him or ignores him. Perhaps she just can’t respond right now. Maybe she doesn’t want to.
Alice trots behind the buffet. “Oh darlin’. You alright?” She embraces the lifeless shell of a girl. “Of course you ain’t.” She kinks her neck and reaches up, holds Autumn’s face in her hands and looks into her eyes. “Listen, that woman is going to be just fine. Whether she is or she isn’t your momma, you don’t worry one bit. We’ll give her a nice bed to sleep it off. Okay? Booze makes people do funny things.”
Autumn doesn’t respond, only runs her fingers back and forth over the bracelet around her wrist.
“I’m going to have Evan take you home now. You go home and get some rest. Ya hear me?”
Autumn finally shows some sign of recognition with a nod of her head.
“Okay.” Alice nods at me. “Evan, you go get her things now and take this poor girl home. She’s traumatized.”
He runs to grab their things out of the locker. When he turns around, Alice is standing at the back door with her stubby arm on Autumn’s shoulder. The diverse contrast between the woman’s short body and the girl’s tall one is oddly freakish.
Autumn’s physical beauty is savage. Her sadness only enhances a strange visceral feeling to protect her, to take her in his arms and to comfort her—any and all ways possible. He steps forward, holding out her jacket.
“Okay you two. Off with ya.” Alice turns to Evan. “You make sure she gets home safely. Call me if you need anything.” She opens the door.
Dark eyes stare at Evan. A glimmer passes through them, stirring a desire stronger than he’s ever known. She breaks eye contact and grabs the jacket from his hand. Her fingers brush his. A tingling jolt, like an icy-hot bullet, shoots up his arm and needles travel up his spine. If it were just she and Evan, she would be in his arms right now, crushed against his chest. He’d hold her so tight she couldn’t move. He’d keep her safe. This, he desperately wants, more than anything. To keep her close, sheltered from the cruel world.
They step into the night air and walk without words to the car.
Evan opens the car door for her. She looks up at him. “Thank you.” The grateful expression on her face, the silky sound of her voice, only pushes him closer to the edge. Alice no longer stands in the doorway of the Share Home. This is his chance to hold her and tell her everything is going to be okay. He turns to her, with the words ready to burst from his lips.
But, she’s already in the car. He wasn’t fast enough.
YOU ARE READING
DREAM SMASHERS
Teen FictionSixteen-year-old Autumn has spent her entire life worrying about others. Her ailing grandma, meth-addicted mother, and a best friend who's always in trouble. She's spent the last few years attempted to worry less, to be carefree, without success. En...
