GROWL (Semi-Haitus)

THIRTEEN

"You reek of alcohol" Was the first thing that came out of my mouth when I pushed myself off him. Which was a bit of a lie. I detected a hint of alcohol from his breath, but I wouldn't say that it reeked. It was barely even subtle.

Levi chuckled and pushed himself to sit up. "Two shots. And that was hours ago"

I guess this was what people meant by run from a tiger and meet a crocodile. I ran from someone I should've just talked to but instead, I got something worse...

Much worse.

"Where the heck are we?"

"Storeroom, second floor"

"How the hell did we get here?"

"Ghosting"

"What the hell is that?"

"In child-like terms, teleportation"

"Are you calling me a child?"

I seemed to have amused him. He laughed at me and god, I cursed him for having such a beautiful, melodic laugh.

"Are you still drunk or something?"

"My tolerance is higher than two shots, believe it or not" Another form of laughter spilled from his mouth. One in between a giggle and a snigger as he pressed the palm of his hands onto his eyes as though to suppress a headache. And then he was spluttering, coughing and clutching his hair even tighter in his fists. Suddenly, I saw a flash of Seth in front of me. Coughing. Spluttering. Dying.

The panic shot through me like a bullet. "H-hey, are you okay?" He didn't reply but I could see him clenching at his teeth. His body was trembling and I felt like if I didn't snap him out of it soon, he was going to pull his hair out. "Levi, are you-"

"Don't!"

I flinched away when his glowing red eyes snap at me with a blazing fury that practically burnt me. But my hand, for some reason, was still reaching for him. "But I just-"

"Don't. Fucking. Touch me" A monstrous growl laced his words. Two voices. I could hear two voice from him. I didn't understand how that's possible but I heard it.

I was so bewildered that I didn't know what to do. So for a few minutes, I just sat and watched him calm himself down. Watched his muscles loosen up and his breathing go back to normal.

And then it turned painfully quiet. A tense and awkward kind of silence. "Are...are you okay now?...Maybe?" I didn't know why I cared. Well, maybe I didn't care. But something in my head was trying to convince me that there was something about this boy that...I didn't even know what the right word was.

Levi wasn't looking at me. His palms were still pressed against his eyebrows when he said, "Why are you still here?" In a weak, croaky voice.

"Should I not be?" Stupid reply. But it was the first thing I could think of because honestly, I didn't know the answer. The door was right there and it probably wasn't even locked...

"...You should've ran" He said.

"Why would I run?"

From under the shadow of his hands, Levi peers up at me. His golden green eyes almost shockingly bright in comparison to the red. "All of them do...they just run"

"Well, if anything's running, I think my heart is doing laps" I managed a little chuckle because my heart really was going crazy.

"But you're not scared" It wasn't a question but a statement. I took a while to try and understand it myself. My heart might've been running laps but it wasn't the same sort of feeling I got when I was scared. It was more of a shock and panic response...