smother. [h.s.]

23. the line

The Lady Of The Night - Vladimir Dubyshkin

cw substance abuse, mature sexual content

"There is no way I'm going down there."

Alice stands in front of the uncovered manhole with her arms tightly crossed over her chest. Half of us wait from within the tunnel, while the rest try and talk her into it. 

"It's not so bad, Al, there are little ladder steps and everything." Vincent stands halfway out of the ground, his hand held out for her for the past few minutes. 

"That's not the bad part!" She shakes her head, not moving from her spot. "There's probably rats and sludge and god knows what."

"What part of sewer rave did you not understand?" Sasha mutters from beside her. 

"What's the holdup?" Niall's shout echoes from within the tunnels below.  

I stand inside already, wandering off a little. My feet trudge through the murky gravel as I hold up my phone light to illuminate the dark tunnel. Covering every inch of the interior of the sewers is graffiti, from vulgar words to confessions of love. This path has been neglected by the city, and instead converted into a passageway for Wintergreen delinquents to take advantage of. 

No words can go unheard down here. Accompanied by the sound of the occasional drip of water are the secrets whispered, which bounce against the walls until they land right into your ears, revealing the truth in one way or another. 

In the distance is the faint hum of music. I can't make out the words, but I can feel the far-away vibrations traveling through the low, arched ceilings. 

I drag my fingers across the vandalized walls as I try to walk in a perfectly straight line down the tunnel, my arms raised by my sides for balance. 

"She's got cold feet," Vincent says from above. 

"Either you come down, or we leave without you." Ivan gives her an ultimatum. Harry leans on the wall beside him, quiet as usual. 

I avoid his gaze. 

I should have never opened up to him. I regret it the more I think about it. 

"Do you always have to be an asshole?" Noah gives Ivan a dirty look and stares up at the opening in the ceiling. "Alice, it's not so bad. It's dark enough that you can't see anything anyways."

Eventually, she gives in and joins the rest of us.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Sasha's voice echoes as we start to walk toward the source of the noise. 

"Sasha, I can feel them scurrying."

"I don't feel anything."

"Can't you hear them?" Alice groans, speeding past me. 

As we walk, I feel a presence behind me. Ivan's slinky arm suddenly drapes over my shoulder and holds out a little, clear bag out in between his long fingers. 

"New delivery." I can hear his lazy grin through his words. He shakes it as if tempting a dog with a bone. 

I snag it out of his hands and inspect it closer: four rectangular pills, origin unknown. 

"What is it?" 

The conversations behind us blend together in loud echoes, making it almost hard to hear each other. 

"Some kind of new upper. Since when do you care?"

"You're a fucking lousy drug dealer." 

"Hey, hey," Ivan laughs, nudging my side a little. "Easy on the fighting words. I'd argue that I'm such a good drug dealer that I don't even need to tell you what I'm selling."