Titanium Promises

Twenty-seven

I don't know how long we stood there before Silvia helped me upstairs onto my bed. I was too emotionally exhausted to thank her, even though I desperately wanted to. I practically collapsed onto the comforter and fell into the deepest sleep I've ever had in my life. I can only describe it as the type of rest I never wanted to wake up from.

It's the dreams that break the calm.

Dark water surrounds me, coating my arms as legs as I fight to stay on the surface. I look up and see Luke standing on the cliff high above me. He smiles down at me, the dark purple sky casting shadows across his face.

"Come on!" I shout, waving him down. "It's lonely down here."

Without a word, he disappears away from the cliffside. After a moment, he jumps from the edge, diving into the water below. The cold water splashes against my face as I let out a laugh.

"Rude..." I mutter sarcastically.

I wait for a moment for Luke to reappear, but I'm alone. I look at the place where he dove down, and see no bubbles rising to the surface. There's nothing in the water at all.

"Luke?" I call out, my heart pounding. "Luke!"

I suck in a breath, diving into the water below. The black coats my eyes until I can't even see my hands in front of my face. My lungs burn and I desperately kick my legs back upwards, my head breaking through the surface of the water.

"Luke!" I scream.

He's gone.

He left.

I dive back down, and keep descending until my lungs are on fire. Even then, I don't stop. I keep going until the darkness has consumed me, and the light inside me goes out.

An explosion sounds in my ears, and I feel something rip through my side.

I wake up, my lungs straining to suck in air and my bullet wound seizing. Breath after breath fills my lungs until my breathing becomes steady. I turn to the other side of my bed and open my mouth to tell...

Nothing.

I thought that when I woke up this morning, I would find out it was all a twisted nightmare. One even worse than the one I just had. But I'm still here in LA. And Luke is still in Massachusetts. Without me.

A light knock on my door shakes away my thoughts.

"Come in," I say, my voice barely above a whisper.

The door creaks open to reveal my dad, his eyes red and widened. He stays in the doorway, almost as if he was afraid to step inside. He only steps towards me after we're in silence for a moment.

"Hello," he says, awkwardly.

I don't know what I expected from our first interaction—something filled with yelling most likely—but it definitely wasn't this. I wonder if Silvia managed to talk down his anger before he came to me.

I don't respond.

"I've missed you here, in LA," he says, trying again. "Was Massachusetts everything you wished it would be?"

I hate myself for remaining silent, but I'm at a loss for words. I have to say something. I can't punish my dad for what I'm going through.

"It was fine," is all I manage.

"It was? That's good." He tucks his hands into his pocket, a stiff motion. "Reid, I know you're not in the mood for talking. But you have to talk to me about that." He gestures to my body.

I look down at my abdomen. My shirt got tangled higher on my body, and the bleeding bandages around my bullet wound are exposed. Without saying a word, I reach over to my side table, open the bottle of Advil, and swallow one without using water.