Hollow Highs [h.s]

2.

Eliana could feel her mind go haywire. She could feel her nerves in her brain slowly become erratic. She got up from her bed, her legs hanging from the edge. She tried to soothe her pounding headache by rubbing her temples with her hands.

She sighed and got up, grabbing a glass of water trying to make minimal noise in the kitchen. She opened the glass cabinet. Cookie woke up and stretched her tiny legs while she laid on her bed. Eliana faintly smiled at the dog and checked the time, two forty a.m.

She quickly walked into her room and grabbed a black hoodie, slipped it on her. She clutched her phone in her hand. She checked in on Mason before leaving, the boy was cocooned in his cluster of pillows and blankets.

She smiled at him, remembering of times when she was just the same. When she didn't have to worry about spiralling once again. She wanted to forever stay innocent but as life went on, she had no option but to match her pace with time so that she wouldn't get lost.

But in spite of matching her pace, she got lost. She got addicted to a temporary high that lasted only when she had substances coursing through her blood stream. She got busy chasing an illusion and she hated herself for it.

Eliana walked through the vacant streets, not caring of the consequence that could follow her, it was New York after all.

Her mind was going wild. She felt caged in her own self. Eliana desperately tried to shake off the thoughts persuading her to inject the substance she longed for. She needed to feel it flow through her veins.

She sat down on a bench, grabbing her hair from its roots and tugging on it tightly, a groan of frustration escaping her lips. She tried her best to burst out crying in the middle of the street.

She felt ashamed of herself. She felt ashamed of the fact that she became so dependent on substances, she couldn't even function properly. Rehabilitation centres can only help someone so much.

"Goddamnit!" Eliana screamed, almost ripping her hair off from her scalp. She got up from the bench and started to kick the trash cans.

"Fuck!" She screamed, kicking the metallic trash can. Her breathing went harsh. She could feel her chest heave up and down harshly, her heart almost exploding in her rib cage.

She could feel hot tears spill down her soft cheeks. She wiped them away with the pad of her thumb and sat on the bench. She looked at the moon and the stars, reminding herself of how she's going to be fine as long as the sky is there to shelter to her.

"Hi," a voice said, causing Eliana to face the person. She couldn't make out who it was but could only see a faint silhouette.

"I mean no trouble." The voice quickly added. Eliana nodded and cleared her throat.

"You can sit if you want to," she offered the living silhouette some space on her bench, underneath the yellow street light.

"I'm Eliana." She said to the figure that seemed to be having a discussion in their mind regarding the seat that Eliana just offered.