Proxy [l.h]

14. Innocence and Protective Instinct

«DAY 9 cont.»

Luke

The elevator doors open and I stiffen immediately, seeing my father standing on the fifth floor.

For the years he'd been working as an image consultant, he'd always had the decency to keep sane in public. But now, with those red and baggy eyes, and the shitstorm stirring in his gaze, it's clear he's taken off the picture-perfect mask.

Lissa

Luke's father always looked younger than I'd first expected. He's got thick blond hair, pushed out of his face and overly gelled, like one of those Italian models. Plus, he's wearing a Polo tee with dress pants. A strange combination...maybe a drunken decision. In other words, he looks like Haymitch from the Hunger Games.

I can feel the tension in the air as Luke grabs my wrist with painful force and tries to wean out the elevator doors. Somehow expecting Mr. Hemmings to move out of the way, I stupidly careen into Luke when he is shoved back by his father, his body the only barricade for our way out. Luke presses his lips together, tightening his grip on me.

The elevator starts to beep loudly, signalling that the doors will close soon. Nobody acknowledges the sound. Luke stares at his father with a blank expression, his gaze suddenly calculating and cold. I can feel my wrist slip slightly from his grip, and he grabs me even tighter. My heart starts to pound, though I don't understand what's going on.

The elevator beeps again.

Suddenly, the steel doors make a terribly loud, grinding sound as they start to slide closed, and I feel Luke leap forward before the doors shut, pushing through his father and out the elevator as fast as he can.

No such luck. The farthest we get is out the door. To my distress, Luke's father grabs him just as they ram into each other, shoving him into the wall. Luke lets go of me as he falls, the impact sending me backwards as well. I get a whiff of booze as I hit the floor; something strong, like the booze Michael has boxes of in the fridge. Ending up semi-sprawled and dazed on the floor, I'm not exactly sure what's happening, but in some form of way, I know this man had hurt Luke. Shoved him. The alarms in my head start to go off. The same alarms that rang when Dustin went for his countless surgeries, the type I heard when they declared he had brain damage-

The elevator doors slide close, and the hallway fills with silence. Beside me, Luke lets out a heated groan, his hands on the back of his head.

"Why did you come back?" I hear Mr. Hemmings ask coldly, his figure looming over Luke just by the elevator door. The hairs on my neck stand up immediately. I stumble to my feet, getting up just as Luke does. He moves closer towards me, almost covering my entire body, but doesn't even shoot me a glance.

Watching two people in a heated- I don't know, some kind of a threatening argument- makes me nervous. And immensely confused. His father is obviously not happy that his son is back- no, there must be something that Luke did...

Luke's mouth twitches, the overhead light of the hallway forming a deep shadow on one side of his face.

"Why did you come back?" His father repeats.

Luke slowly opens his mouth, glaring at his father. "Ben... was going to destroy me if I stayed and you know it-"

"You coward!" His father booms, not giving him a chance to finish. As if he knew what Luke would say all along but wanted to hear it anyway. "You couldn't find her, could you? That little bitch in the hospital. She's dead after all." He starts to cackle maniacally, and then I can really hear the 'drunk' in his voice. I freeze in horror at the terrible sound, almost expecting foam to be coming out of his mouth.