•••Cora•••
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"I'll do it."
He smiled. "Thank you, Cora."
"Why're you thanking me?"
"I'm concerned about my friend. I have quite a few enemies in this city—"
"Enemies?" I cut him off. "What do you mean enemies? Why would you have enemies?"
Ashton sighed. "We all have secrets Cora, you just as much as I."
"So you're not going to tell me, then?"
"As you've only pointed out quite a few times, we're strangers. Maybe one day we'll reach a point where we can share our deepest darkest memories with eachother. But right now is not that moment. Right now I need you to trust me. You ask a lot of questions Cora, and while I admire that at points, I'm afraid I can't answer all of them. Atleast not all at once." He spoke in a darkened tone that let me know he was serious. Whatever was going on with his friend clearly was negatively affecting him. And while it's true that I had so many more questions, I decided to hold off for a minute.
We sat in silence for a minute or two before I spoke again. "What's his name? Your friend?"
Ashton didn't respond at first. "You know Cora," he said after a moment, "I'm beginning to feel like you know much more about me at this point than I know you."
The statement surprised me for a second. "I thought we weren't telling eachother our deepest darkest secrets yet?"
"I didn't ask for those. Just tell me something about yourself, love."
I looked down, chewing on my lip. "Trust me, there's nothing noteworthy."
"I don't believe that. Cora. Even your name invokes mystery. Tell me about that, then. Tell me about your name."
And for a second I saw the memories. I saw the memories and I smiled. I saw the memories and for a second I could feel the joy in my veins and the sunshine in my blood. "Cora..." I whispered my own name to myself before looking back up at Ashton. My smile faded as I remembered how those memories ended. The warmth receded from my body, and the darkness enclosed me once more.
He didn't say anything, Ashton's eyes never left me, and I looked down, embarrassed he had seen one of my rare moments of pure vulnerability.
"Im sorry..." I whispered.
"Well isn't that something." Ashton leaned across the table and took my face in one of his hands, his thumb tracing an outline under my eye. "Your eyes, they say much more than your lips." His amber eyes were completely focused on mine, studying me, analyzing me, reading me. It felt intimate in such a fashion that made me uncomfortable, as I don't allow people in like this. I haven't for quite some time.
I turned my head away from Ashton's grasp. "When did your friend go missing?" I avoided eye contact completely now, mindlessly tracing invisible circles on the table.
"Three days ago." His tone sounded cold now, the words piercing the air with their sincerity. "Six days and nothing. Not a text, not a phone call, nothing. It's like we all woke up one day and he was just... gone."
"So where do we start?"
"With a man named Jimmy Belanova. He's what you would call an ex business associate of mine. Can't say we parted on good terms. We visit him tonight."
I nodded slowly, thoughts racing through my mind. "You're dangerous, aren't you?" I still had my gaze fixated on the table, tracing incomprehensible geometric shapes just to keep myself grounded.
I heard him chuckle, and I made the mistake of meeting his eyes. "What's funny?"
"You're dangerous." He repeated my words with a smile. "That's exactly what I said to you when we first met."
I tilted my head, trying unsuccessfully to remember the moment he described. "What made me dangerous?"
"Your determination. Your passion. It was something else entirely, Cora."
I breathed slowly. In. Out. What do I say to that? "That's the magic of ecstasy, I suppose. The drugs tricked you just as much as me. I made my own reality and you believed it. Anyone can falsify determination and passion when they're completely out of their mind. What you saw wasn't me."
"I don't even think you believe that." He shook his head slightly, before running a hand through his hair. "I think what I saw was exactly who are you, but you're just not ready to admit that to yourself yet." He looked like he was about to say something else before Luke walked back to the table, leaning on it with both hands.
"As much as I hate to interrupt you and sleeping beauty here, we need to go Ashton." Luke glanced at me before looking at Ashton and nodding his head towards the door. "Belanova will be at the the Grand soon."
Ashton looked at me one last time before standing up. "All right Cora, let's go."
Luke raised his eyebrows as he looked me up and down. "Is she going like that?" He glanced at Ashton as they shared the same red-tinted amusement in their eyes.
"Unless she has something else." Ashton chuckled before turning away, Luke giving me a sly grin as well before the two made their way towards the door, two figures clothed mainly in black, the light seemingly bending around them. It was a moment where I knew I could let them walk out those doors. I knew I didn't have to follow them. But I did.
Following them out the double doors, still dressed in blue silk pajamas and Ashton's original black coat, I got in the car. And for a split second, a single moment, I felt the difference. Right before I closed the door, I looked at the red light one last time, refracting through the windows of the bar, glowing through the windows as it met the darkness of the night. But it couldn't reach very far. Light will never consume the darkness; all attempts are futile. Darkness is a devouring entity, it spares spares no one and nothing. Eventually we all end up in the dark.
•••
After a silent car ride, in which I spent most of it looking out the window at the world passing by me, the car pulled into what was seemingly an empty parking lot. Luke parked under of if maybe three or four street lights that lit up the lot, resulting in dancing shadows.
Luke turned off the car, and for a second the three of us sat in silence.
"Does she know what she's getting herself into?" Luke broke the silence after a moment, choosing to look over at Ashton.
"You don't have to talk like I'm not here."
"She's her own woman Luke. She's made a decision to help us, one you and I should be thankful for." Ashton put a reassuring hand on Luke's shoulder, the darkness shrouding them both.
"There's no going back once you step out that door, sleeping beauty." He addressed me this time, and his voice sounded as cold as the night air. Whatever had happened, whoever was taken from them, it was beginning to show. The feeling of loss is an overwhelming one, I knew that. Watching someone become nothing but a memory right in front of your eyes is an excruciating pain like no other.
A certain presence had creeped over the two men since we had left the bar. The air was just as icy in the car as it was on the outside. I felt the reality setting in. The three of us were starting something the moment we got out of the car, and there was an unspoken understanding that it was all going to change. How, I don't know, but the feeling was there. The sense. I don't know what I'd gotten myself into, but I was entrapped now.
"I know." I finally whispered in return to Luke's warning.
"That's
the
point."
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Okay I actually apologize because I feel like that chapter was extremely boring. I promise promise that things start speeding up in the next chapter and that their will be more than just dialogue. I hope everyone is enjoying the story though, and please remember to leave comments to let me know what you think! Thank you all!