WHEN THE DARKNESS COMES I NICK CLARK

Playing Dangerous

Playing Dangerous

Everybody knows that I'm a good girl, officer
No, I wouldn't do a thing like that, that's for sure
The house was already on fire, I swear I'm not a liar...

Lourdes sat in the back-seat of Madison's car, the streets flashing by, the world a lie, something parents used to comfort their children with. Alicia sat upfront, blocking out her mother's prattle with music, the erratic beat filling the vacuum of silence. Lourdes bowed her head, clasping her hands, almost as though in prayer. Nick was wrong. There was no Gloria or guts being spilled, no girl trying to tear his flesh apart. It was the creation of a drugged imagination, chemicals using his thoughts as their canvas.

Trying to convince herself this was true, she pulled out her cell, forcing herself to focus on the screen, flipping through picture after picture, the random images as random as her thoughts. Her and Tobias on the sidewalk outside his house; Chris sullen, Chris sulky, Chris surprisingly smiling; too many of her with her arms around the Cruz family's pet German Shepherd called Timmy; her mother caught unawares in the kitchen; her father and Madison gurning like fools on the beach; Nick posing with a fedora; even one of Alicia leaning against some railings, the sunlight creating a strange halo around her head.

They were evidence of the real world, her world, the one she knew, suffocatingly familiar, commonplace and cruel, Lourdes never quite sure of her place in the grand scheme of things. College was her key to another life, where she was nobody's middle-man but her own woman. She wouldn't be good old reliable Lourdes, but someone else, somebody new. Even as Alicia was plotting her escape, so was Lourdes, but what came after college, neither one knew. This life would still be waiting for them, always there, a trap ready to be sprung.

"You okay, Lo?" Madison fired over her shoulder at Lourdes, making her head jerk up.

"Um," Lourdes began, biting her lip, only for her cell to beep, saving her. "Toby's gonna be late," she said, hastily scrolling through his text, passing over the lengthy Josh Whedon quotes which Tobias always felt necessary to punctuate his paragraphs with.

"Can we pick him up on the way?" Madison said, swinging the steering wheel round.

"His brother's giving him a lift," Lourdes lied, not wanting to have Tobias, Madison and Alicia sharing the same cramped space. It would be like being stuck in a lift but worse. At least at home and in school, she could escape, but not here.

"Okay," Madison said, eying her oddly, making Lourdes shift guiltily in her seat.

The rest of the journey passed in silence, Lourdes hunched over her cell, Googling whatever popped into her head, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the meaning of life, Skylar Grey lyrics, chocolate cake, Drew Roy; anything to stop her hearing Nick's voice in her head, his words destroying what was left of her world. Madison drew into the school parking lot, nearly crashing into the principal's car as she tried to drive in reverse gear, cursing under her breath as she did so.

"You trying to kill us, Mom!?" Alicia exclaimed, grabbing the dashboard.

"You should be so lucky," Madison retorted, "dying in such style."

"What, in this rust-bucket?" Lourdes snapped. "I don't think so."

"Do not insult the car," Madison said, jabbing her finger at her.

"Whatever," Lourdes muttered, hating herself for using such a clichéd idiom. She clambered out of the car, the heels of her battered bright pink Skechers hitting tarmac, the concrete almost sizzling in the heat, before sprinting over to the school front doors, pretending not to hear Madison call for her to wait up.