Love is Madness

13: the Descent is e a s y

13: the Descent is  e a s y

Lissa made it to her truck in half a minute. Her heart beat only twice in that time. So it seemed. All she could think of was finding Mikhael, getting him safe, finding him bruised or bloody or dea-

She snapped that trail of thought down with a determined swipe of her hand, like the physical outlet would help. Mikhael was fine. Everything was ok. She just had to find his bastardly self, be mad at him, and then everything would proceed as planned for the beginning of summer. All good. Setting it out in ordered rows made her believe herself.

That boy.

That boy would be the one to unhinge her, and she was so used to Mikhael having that kind of hold in her, she didn't even start to question it. It was how it'd always been.

She missed him. She missed the old Mikhael, the uncomplicated, carefree, sweet and childlike angelboy from when they were little. This one was difficult. This Mikhael was wild and dangerous and reckless, and when he laughed, she saw through the savage amusement to what was underneath, and it was dark and agonized.

She'd save him. She'd fix him up, like she always did. But first she had to find him.

"Hey, you! Oi-!"

Lissa turned around to see a girl striding towards her in a wavering line. She paused, her hand still holding the truck's door open, ready to climb in. She stared at the girl. From a distance away, she looked like a blurry image of herself. Dark curls trailing down her back, light eyes. Cut off jeans, one naked shoulder, tatty ratty hi-tops.

(Lissa's feet were bare and sandy; it was summer.)

"Hey, you Lissa?" called the girl. She sounded a bit drunk, and quite British.

"Yeah, I am, what of it?" Lissa said shortly and hauled up into her truck. She had time only for a few lunatics in her life, and the list was very precise. She made to yank the door shut (it was old and temperamental and needed cleaning) but the girl lunged forward- what the fu- and hung through the open window.

Now she was closer up, half drunk and visibly mad. Lissa could see that the girl didn't in fact look like her at all. Her eyes were grey, not green, and her hair was lighter, her skin paler. Pretty enough in her own way, but not Lissa. Not Lissa at all. She smelt of cheap white rum and Coke, and looked slightly soaked, bedraggled.

"Do me a favour, and keep your frigging boyfriend in line, would'ya?"

Lissa stared blankly at her. "Say what?"

"Oh and get him, y'know," continued to girl airily, waving her hand in the air and tipping forward, "get him laid."

"Que, who, what exactly? I didn't know I'd acquired a-"

The girl cut her off, leaning further in for emphasis. "You know, laid! Banged, jacked, screwed, whatever you guys call it, fu-"

"I get it!" Lissa snapped. "Who are you talking about?"

The girl slid her head sideways and peered down at Lissa. "It's Erin." she said firmly. "And your stupid bastardly blond boy-"

"Mikhael?" said Lissa exasperatedly. "What did he do now..."

Is he mine? I don't even know.

Am I brave enough to find out?

From the corner of her wing mirror, she saw more random people parading up to her truck. She tipped her head back and groaned. More delay, more pain in the ass-

"He bloody kissed me!" Erin yelled in her face. Loopy suddenly switched to furious.

Lissa bit on her lip and held in a laugh at her abrupt personality shift. "Where, when did he do that?" she said.