Sleep Magazine (Completed)

The Injury: Part One: 1

Ava easily spotted Luther in the crowded kitchen, his tall frame a head above anyone else's, and rushed to him, pulling him by the front of his sweater as she tore him away from his conversation. The pretty girl he had been flirting with scowled at Ava as she led the boy away to the unoccupied space by the cupboards.

"Does your burn-out step sister ever smoke anything orange?" she asked him worriedly, having no willpower left to conceal her nerves.

He let his eyes run across her body in concern, checking for any visible causes for her state of distress.

"No..." he replied with a frown. He glanced over at the pretty girl, who was now crossing the threshold into the living room, then looked back down at Ava. "Why do you smell like vinegar?"

Ava's jaw dropped just a fraction of an inch before she clenched it in an effort to fake a neutral expression. She was beginning to feel dizzy.

"I don't know," she answered, unaware of how confused she sounded.

She lifted her left wrist up to her nose to smell the sleeve of Matty's sweatshirt and looked back over at the door. 

She recognized the smell of burning sour candy that she had smelled in the room, causing visions of the recent encounter to flood her mind; the way that the gray smoke had billowed around Marcus, unconscious in the forest green chair, and the way that Dave's fingertips had slid over hers as he pulled the joint from her hand, but she could not remember what he had called her...

Ava tore her eyes from the door to look back at Luther, suddenly finding it difficult to focus her gaze on him. Her eyes darted over the cupboards behind his head as she tried to halt her dizziness.

"Where did you get that hat?" Luther asked as he reached out to hold the sides of her head firmly with both hands.

Ava only looked past him in the direction of the cupboards.

"Hey," he repeated, locking his eyes with hers. "Where did you get that hat, Ava?"

Ava couldn't remember how she got the hat nor could she feel it—or Luther's hands—on her head, though she knew they were all there. The flecks of gray in his anxious blue eyes began swirling slowly like tiny clouds of smoke, causing Ava's vision to swirl along with it. 

She closed her eyes to keep from losing her balance and immediately her mind was filled with the vision of Dave burning his eyes into her collarbones, waiting for her to breathe.

Ava could not tell whether or not she was breathing.

She willed herself to inhale deeply but felt no movement in her lungs, as if her mind and body were suddenly disconnected completely. The only touch she was able to register was the feeling of Dave's soft, raspberry-colored lips on hers as they suffocated her, sucking all the oxygen from her mouth like thick streams of smoke from a freshly lit joint. 

And then, as if only a second had passed, her eyes were open wide and looking at Luther clearly, and she felt a satisfying burn in her lungs as they expanded against her ribs.

Relieved, she exhaled and laughed nervously when she saw the terrified look on Luther's face.

"Are you all-fucking-right?" Luther tightened his grip on Ava's head and shook it side to side a bit, making her laugh out louder. "Ava!" he exclaimed, his eyes darting over her face to regain contact with hers.

She reached up and pulled at his forearms, signaling him to let go of her head.

"I'm fine," she giggled. Suddenly renewed with energy and unencumbered by her bizarre encounter with Dave and Marcus, Ava met Luther's eyes with a bright smile.

Luther bent down to quickly kiss the side of her beanie-covered head before withdrawing his hands.

"What the hell did you take in there, you fucking idiot?" he scolded her playfully.

"I don't know," she continued to giggle nervously. "I tried not to inhale it."

He shot her a surprised look, having never seen her in quite this exuberant of state before, and glanced at the door, behind which she had undergone this transformation. Ava skipped a few steps over to the sink and lifted herself up onto the counter to sit in her previous spot by the sound system.

"Ava, whose hat is this?" Luther asked her suspiciously, tapping her gently on her head.

"Marcus's," she answered cheerfully.

Young people continued to flow in and out of the kitchen to make drinks and converse, and Ava watched them happily, appearing all too entertained by the chaos around her as Luther again grew worried.

"Ava." He gently lifted her chin up with his index finger, seeking to connect her blown-out pupils with his own. "Marcus is in Fall River."

"No," Ava smirked up at him, a bit annoyed. "Marcus is in there," she pointed to the door and then to her head. "And this is his hat."

She turned away from him to continue observing the crowd in the kitchen.

"I drove him there this morning," Luther argued.

"Well, obviously, Luthy, someone drove him back tonight."

Luther watched Ava gaze upon the scene in the kitchen, a dreamy, entranced look washed over her face. 

The heat in his blood overtook the turning in his stomach. Impulsively, he tore the beanie off Ava's head and threw it over his shoulder to land somewhere on the countertop behind him. In one fast motion, he had one hand on the tap and the other on the back of her head as he pushed her over the sink roughly and held her head down under the cold running water. 

She screamed out in shock, gripping the edge of the stainless steel basin with one hand and pushing at his chest with the other until he let go. She sat up alert, struggling to catch her breath, and glared at Luther, who now looked a bit sheepish.

"What the actual fuck, Luther!" she shouted at him.

"You're fucked up, Ava!" he spoke back at her angrily. "You're like hallucinating and shit! You told me you were gonna go talk to Dave, not do drugs with him!"

Ava lifted the hem of her brother's sweatshirt up to pat her face dry while Luther continued.

"I know Marcus is in Fall River, Av—"

"He's in that room!" She pointed at the door as she shouted over the music, just loudly enough to garner curious looks from other party-goers.

Luther cupped her face gently and brought his head down closer to hers.

"Ava, I swear, I know he's not in there." The desperation in his voice made Ava's eyes go wide.

"How do you know that?" she argued, "I just saw h—"

"I know, trust me." He said it quietly but sternly, like an order, and Ava's skin prickled down the back of her wet neck. She searched Luther's eyes for more, waiting for him to continue. He glanced around the room quickly before he returned his eyes to hers.

"Ava, Marcus is—"

"Mike Wagrowski just walked in!" Katie whispered excitedly as she collided into Ava's legs, her motor skills now fallen victim to inebriation.

Ava and Luther turned their attention to the entryway to see Mike Wagrowski step from the front doorway into the hall. 

Smiling from ear to ear, he turned his head from left to right and back again to greet people with slapping handshakes and cocky head nods as he strode down the hall toward the kitchen. He was followed by his older brother Ben, who, though practically identical to his younger brother in physical appearance—save for an extra inch of height—was opposite in personality.

"Do you think he'll come over here?" asked Katie with an embarrassing urgency.

"Not as long as Luther's standing here," replied Ava. She did not fight the grin from spreading wide across her face when Luther rolled his eyes.