Lost in Hollywood

This Midnight Hour

Eli lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling, knowing he wouldn't sleep tonight. Only the night light was on. Shadows lurked in the corners of the room like living things and his whole body felt tense and restless, alive with the adrenaline that still hadn't worn off.

He had changed into his pajamas, but that felt stupid now. It wasn't like he was going to fall asleep like this, his heart beating fast and nervous against his breastbone, like a frightened rabbit trapped inside of his ribcage.

It was impossible to believe it had been only three hours or so since the moment he had stood at Sky's door with Demetri, begging to be let in. It felt like a fucking lifetime ago. He felt like he had aged a thousand years.

The things he had seen on Kyoler's laptop—

There had been a short, shameful jolt of electric-like heat rushing through Eli's core at the first photo of a girl in a short skirt. He hated to admit that, but it had been there, nevertheless. He was just a guy. The sight of a girl's ass was always gonna make something stir in his gut, it was a primitive reaction, and it wasn't like he could switch it off at will— But only a heartbeat later he had realized what these photos were - and who was in them - and all the excitement in his bloodstream had turned to ice instead.

God, those fucking videos. Eli let out a stifled groan and pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes so that it hurt, but it wasn't enough to drive away the images.

He knew he could never unsee that stuff.

He felt dirty. Even after showering with scalding hot water and rubbing his skin so hard it caused pain, he still felt like he would never be clean again. It felt like insects were swarming under his skin, like he had crawled through a stinking sewer, and the stench of filth had saturated him so that it would never wear off.

Letting out a tense sigh, Eli rolled to his side and picked up his phone from the bedside table, to check if Demetri had replied to his texts. He had to get something else to think about than the images on Kyler's laptop - oh God, poor Jo Anne, I wonder if she even knows what happened to her— and the way they made him feel, like he had swallowed a pint of tar. But his latest messages to Demetri on their text chat were still unread:

Eli: did Nicholas call your Mom too?

was she pissed?

Dem

what's going on?

which made Eli think Mrs. Alexopoulos had probably confiscated Demetri's phone and grounded him for life. Eli had a hunch it would take a while before she got over the fact that Demetri had participated in a conspiracy to break into a stolen computer that had turned out to be a lair of homemade rape porn.

It would be a fucking miracle if she ever let Demetri out of the house again.

Of course, Eli knew that his own situation wasn't much better.

To say that Mom had been upset to learn the truth would have been the understatement of the year. She had sent Eli to his room without supper, with a grim we'll talk about this in a minute. Now, an hour or so later, Eli was still waiting for that talk to happen. His stomach growled loudly, adding to his misery. Despite being disgusted by the things he had seen on Kyler's laptop, he was still hungry as fuck. The couple of sandwiches Sky had fixed them - a part of him still couldn't believe he had gotten to be in her room, eat something she had prepared - had been great, but that was hours ago and he was a teenage boy. Hunger was his constant state.

He wondered if he could sneak out of his room unnoticed to get something, a quick sandwich or a protein bar, or anything really, but—

Better not risk it.