Dear Dahlia // B1

[36]

Luke's P.O.V.

"What'd she say?" I ask, trying to pull on Julie's arm. It doesn't work, discouraging my briefly.

"She didn't text me back," Julie mumbles.

"What?" Flynn asks, picking her head up from her phone.

"Nothing," Julie shakes her head. "Luke stuff."

"He's here?" Flynn brushes some of her braids over her shoulder and looks around the room, entirely missing to look where I actually am.

"Julie," I say over her shoulder, getting impatient.

"I know, Luke," she snaps, whipping her head to look at me. "I don't know what's so urgent, but I'll call her, okay?"

I nod and Julie calls Dahlia. I appreciate Julie's coordination. I didn't want to scare Julie by explaining to her that the reason I need to talk to Dahl so bad is because of the pain in my chest that feels like its ripping me apart. And no, it's not like my heart aches when we're apart or something. It's actual physical pain, like an electric shock just pulses through me, straight down the middle. But its not just me. Reggie felt it too when we were playing basketball by the garage. Or trying to play basketball, the ball was hard to catch on account of it passing through or hands.

"What is it?" I hear her say.

"Look, Luke wants something. I don't know what, but he won't leave me alone," Julie glares at me. "So please just meet him at home."

There are moments of quiet on the other side of the phone before I hear Dahlia quietly say, "Tell him I'll be there in five and that it better be important."

Julie sighs as Dahlia hangs up the phone. "She says-"

"Thanks," I cut her off before poofing out of Flynn's house and to... well I don't know where.

I shake my head and spin in a circle. I'm on Sunset Boulevard, where a couch and a wall full of posters faces me.

This. This is it.

This is where I died, where my two best friends died. I walk up to the wall and run my hand over the posters. There are layers of them. I pull the top one off. Then the one underneath that. And all of them within a two foot radius, until I reach the second and third layer. There it is. Right where it was in 1995.

I pull my missing person poster off the wall and fold it up.

I shake my head again. I can't do this right now. There's something more important that I need to tackle.

I slip the poster into my back pocket before appearing in the garage.

"Luke!" I hear someone shout. "What took you so long?"

"I got lost for a second," I say. "But there's something I need to - who's that?"

I point at the girl standing an awkward distance away from Dahlia, looking at her with terrified eyes.

"Oh," she says, grabbing the girl's hand. "Luke this is Lydia. Lydia this is Luke." Dahlia holds her hand out to me and Lydia smiles and waves awkwardly in my general direction. I wave back, knowing that she can't see me.

"Now, what's up?" Dahlia asks, turning back to me.

"Look, something happened today and I don't know what it was," I start to explain. "Reggie and were out trying to play basketball when we got this shock or something."

"A shock? What do you mean?" She asks, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Like we got electrocuted or something what do you mean, what do I mean?" I say. "It felt like somebody hit me with those AED paddles."

"Well, I didn't know. I wasn't there or anything," she says, holding her arms tighter to herself. "What do you think happened?"

"I don't know," I feel my voice rising, but there's nothing I can do to stop it. "I was kinda hoping you'd have some sort of answer."

"Well I don't," Dahlia tries to yell. Her voice cracks part of the way through and guilt washes over me as she looks away from me.

"Dahl-"

"Don't," she cuts me off. "It's fine."

"No," I shake my head, walking toward her. "I shouldn't act like that. I just - it felt like I was dying all over again."

She looks up at me and Lydia reaches her hand toward her.

"I'm scared," I admit, reaching for Dahlia's hand. She reaches out and puts her hand in mine.

"I'm sorry," she mumbles. She seems to think about something for a few moments before she wraps her arms around my neck and buries her face in my neck. My hands instinctively find the small of her back and I pull her closer to me.

She feels warm in my arms for the few seconds that I get to hold her. Then there's a disconnecting feeling, like when you're pushing too hard on something and you break through. Dahlia fades through me, her weight shifting forward, causing her to stumble. She catches herself, on the other side of me.

"What the hell was that?"

A.N.

Hi!

I'm already working on the next chapter as we speak. And it will be up ASAP!

I LOVE HOW THIS CHAPTER TURNED OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!! (lmk what you think of the story so far... if you want👉👈🥺)

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