•••Cora•••
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"Well speak of the Devil."
Luke turned his phone so I could see Ashton's name illuminate the screen. I widened my eyes.
"Don't answer it!"
"I've got to answer it Cora, he'll just call me again."
I pursed my lips together, holding my breaths lightly so I could try to hear Ashton's voice as Luke answered the call.
"Yeah." Luke looked to me as he answered. "Yeah it's fine....We ran into some traffic before hitting the outskirts, but we're on our way now..." He was silent for a few moments. "Fuck, really? Ash are you sure that's a good idea... what're you having a change of heart?... okay okay fuck off, I'm sorry...." he looked over at me again. "Yeah, she's fine... about what?... yeah then, she's asking questions."
I glared at them. Clearly they were talking about me.
"Yeah... yeah.... don't worry I intend to keep that way... yeah...this is your deal Ashton, I'm just mediating... Ha well we don't hate eachother yet... yeah... soon... yeah, see ya." And with that he hung up and tossed his phone back in the cup holder.
I looked at him expectantly, but he simply focused his stare ahead through the cracked windshield. How he could make out the road behind that thing, I have no idea. "Well?" I finally asked.
"Well what?"
I tried to contain my agitation. Adrenaline was running thick in my blood. "Well what did he say?"
"Plans have changed a bit. Turns out we're gonna have a nice sit down dinner with our old friend Max Ronan."
I raised my eyebrows. "Didn't you just spend this entire fucking car ride telling me how dangerous this man was and how much Ashton hates him?"
"Listen sleeping beauty, this is news to me as well. Whatever Ashton has set up, he definitely didn't fucking tell me about it beforehand. The original plan was for me to take you to a meeting spot. Ash was going to meet with Ronan, and then he'd meet us. He wanted you far away from the guy. But Apparently it's fucking family dinner night now." Luke pressed on the gas, and I could feel myself dig my fingernails into my palm. Adrenaline.
"That doesn't make any goddamn sense. I saw the hatred he had for this man. What would make him want to do this?" I genuinely couldn't grasp the thought. Although to be fair, my mind wasn't exactly in one place right now. I felt almost dizzy, my eyes darting from point to point constantly. The lights outside suddenly seemed blinding, and my blood suddenly felt heavy. Sensory overdrive.
"Your guess is as good as mine. And I know Ashton. I know the shit he's been through. I know what he's lost. We've been through it together. I'm just as goddamn surprised." Luke seemed genuinely surprised. That unnerved me slightly seeing as that was not an emotion I had seen either of them really give off. Both of them seemed like very in control people, men who knew what they wanted and intended on doing anything to achieve that, regardless of the consequences. My theory had already been proven after the event with Luke. I closed my eyes and saw her pale skin, her beautiful white dress stained with blood, her arms outstretched like a ballerina dancer reaching for a light that she will never touch. Curtain call.
We drove in silence after that. I had nothing to say to Luke, and if he had anything to say to me, he did not make it known. I clutched the silver pendant in my hand, scared that if I let it go, it would disappear. Vanish. That's a word that has been coming up a lot lately. It was a haunting word that unfortunately I knew all too well. I too had many people that had vanished from my life, not this was though. No the people I had lost were violently ripped away from me in seconds. It was not smoke in open air; they did not slowly drift into the heavens as I watched. No, one second they were there, and the next second I had sat in a pool of their blood. And I remember thinking the most painful thing about the experience was not the loss, but the not knowing. Why? It was a question that quickly blackened my mind and wrapped itself around my heart like an iron chain. I spent every night after that trying to forget that question, that sickening word. Why? Because that's the thing about the human mind, it's a weapon within itself, and it will take whatever victim it pleases. Sometimes you really are your own worst enemy.
Eventually the neon lights outside the car window grew brighter as we got closer to the outskirts of the city again. The blues and pinks glowed; people danced in the purple moonlight. I envied them. I wanted to go back, to be lost in the light again, to feel the music in my blood. I hadn't had a pill in days now, and I could feel the wanting crawl up my veins like a demon trying to drag its way out of hell. I was beginning to feel jumpy and paranoid, and now there was literal blood on my hands. N, A, R. Those were someone's initials. That had stood for a name once. The name of a living, breathing, beautiful woman. Maybe she was a mother...my hands shook at the thought...had we taken someone's mother?
"Cora, did you hear me?" I was stripped back to reality as Luke's voice broke me free from my own mind. I was almost thankful.
"What?" my voice came out a weak whisper.
Luke glanced at me for a moment before speaking. "Damn, you look like shit."
"Oh, I'm sorry, does the look of 'we just committed a murder and left the body in a ditch on the side of the road' not fucking fit me well, Luke?" I spat the words harshly, still gripping the pendant. I felt it burning in my palm.
He ignored my acidic tone."I didn't mean physically." His voice was something else now, something I couldn't read. "You look like someone who's been fighting a war with them self. Is that why you're so tired all the time? Do visions haunt you, Cora?"
I glared at him. "The only thing that is fucking haunting me right now are those woman's eyes you sick fucking bastard! I'm covered in her blood!"
"Damn, you really do have it locked up tight, don't you?" he shifted his gaze back to the road. "You know, I'm beginning to think you're about as fucked up as he is. And you know what they say about fire with fire, it usually ends in ashes."
I didn't have a decent response to that. He was catching on all too well to my downwards slope into insanity.
"Why are you here Cora?"
This question hit me like a bullet, piercing all the walls I had spent years building. "Your friend Michael." My voice barely got above a whisper as it threatened to break. "Something has happened. I know I don't know much about the situation, but whatever it is, he's not okay. And he meant something to you and Ashton, and I know that feeling. I know the feeling of waking up in a different world because everything changed one morning." I breathed slowly. "I just want to help... I just want to see one story with a happy ending."
He didn't respond after that. Maybe I had taken him by surprise. Whatever it was, once again I was watching the world go by in silence. The lights continued to grow brighter as the buildings grew taller. More people walked the streets. From this perspective it really was beautiful.
Eventually Luke pulled into some kind of side lot of an enormous mixed marble building. The light reflected off of it magnificently, and for a moment I slipped away from the perils of my own mind. "Where are we?" I kept my eyes out the window. The entire roof and front outline of the building was lit up with color-changing stage bulbs. a large double staircase led to the entrance.
Luke didn't answer, and when I looked over at him to repeat my question, I saw why. I could see the figure of a man through the cracked windshield, and although distorted, I knew it was Ashton. It only just occurred to me that we were going to have to explain what happened on the way over here.
I got out of the car without looking at Luke, and immediately Ashton's posture changed, eyes darkening. He looked me up and down before looking at Luke. "What the fuck?" He glanced between the car and me, his expression confused and angry. "Cora, what happened?"
I looked down, and it was only then did I realize that not only was I still in those goddamn pajamas, I was covered in blood. The once aquamarine colored fabric was stained a deep maroon. I also realized that blood still covered my hands, face, and hair. Looks like our traffic excuse was going to have to be explained a bit better.
"Luke, Cora - what the fuck happened?" He walked briskly up to me and grabbed me by the shoulders. It was only when I looked into his eyes did I realize he was looking for a source for the blood. For a moment, he seemed almost concerned.
"It's not mine." Was all I could manage to say. I'd let Luke explain what happened on the way over. I wasn't in the state of mind to.
"Not yours?" The light in his eyes gleamed as he continued to look me over. "But you're covered in it..." he looked over at Luke, and then at the shattered windshield of the car. "Luke. What the fuck happened?" His tone was dark and demanding. There it was, that power.
Luke sighed, leaning against the hood of the car. "Nothing that can be traced back to us."
Ashton pursed his lips, taking a deep breath before continuing. "Are you fucking sure?"
Luke simply nodded once. "It was on the outskirts. A woman. She was just in the middle of the road. I didn't see her. By the time I did it was too late."
"We'll talk about this later." Ashton looked back to me after addressing Luke, a slight look of confusion on in his eyes. "Are you okay, Cora?" He was looking at me, but not really. He was looking at the blood. I hadn't seen myself yet, but I'm sure it was a morbid affair. And then he asked the question I was dreading. "Why're you covered in blood?"
Before I had a chance to come up with some shitty excuse, Luke spoke up. "Moving the body." Both of us turned to him, but he was looking at me. "I made her help me move it. As you can tell, it was a bit fucking messy." It was a strange gesture of goodwill I hadn't expected from Luke, especially after all that had happened tonight. He was covering for me, atleast for now. He had seen me break down. He knew I was keeping things from them. But now he was covering for me. And as Ashton met my eyes to confirm Luke's statement, I realized it was to protect him. Luke was protecting Ashton from my insanity because he knew Ashton was going through his own.
It was an amazingly heart-warming gesture. And I realized I forgot what that was like, to have someone so concerned about your well being that they would be willing to do anything to preserve it. Luke had already lost one brother, and now he was protecting his other one.
"Yeah." I whispered to Ashton.
"Really messy."
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