N I G H T S C A R S

i i

e l l e

Levi's eyes snapped open fast enough to make me jump.

They weren't brown like his mother's. They were dark, dark scary green. He yawned and rolled over in his tangled bedsheets, tousled black hair in a mess, with a tissue stuck to his cheek.

He looked a lot like his mother. He even looked like Ava; they could've been siblings. They all looked so cold. They all had the same cheekbones that could cut diamonds, pale skin, glossy jet black locks, intense dark eyes set under perfect dark eyebrows, and tall lean height. Luckily, Levi had a queen sized bed, or his feet might've been sticking out of it.

The room was painted gray, matching the bedsheets and overall theme of the room, along with the plush carpet. One wall was almost completely covered with posters (sadly, I liked most of them), pictures, album covers, and news articles that I didn't have time to read, but they looked interesting enough. The other wall had a desk cluttered with papers and school books. His floor was covered in his laundry, and despite that his room smelled like fresh polished wood.

"Well, I'll leave you girls to it." Mrs. Atticus nodded to us and left, shutting the door softly.

I choked on nothing, trying not to laugh. "Why'd she have to say it like that?"

My best friend gave me a glare with her intense, electrifying blue eyes. They matched her silver button down shirt today. "Just work your magic." She shoved me toward Levi.

I slowly stepped forward. She sat down in his desk chair with her stiff, perfect princess posture and I kneeled at his side.

He watched us intently, still laying in his giant bed, then finally locked his green gaze onto me. I could see in his eyes that his mom was definitely right about him being loopy.

"Levi?"

He cracked a crooked smile, revealing perfect white teeth. "You're really pretty," he mumbled, voice slurring.

I smiled and laughed gently. "Thanks. How you doing?"

"Really good now." He reached forward and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear, resting his hand on my cheek.

Drugged Levi would make this a hundred times easier. Normal Levi was said to be intense and scare the living daylights out of everyone.

"That's great." I kept my soft smile and placed my hand around his wrist, but didn't move it. If this was what I had to do to break the dragon news to him, I'd probably even kiss him, just to help Ava. "You remember me, right? Ava too? We have something we want to tell you."

His words were all mumbled and he had kind of a drunk sounding voice, courtesy of the pain meds. "I couldn't forget you. Don't know her, though." He jerked his head in Ava's direction, not taking his eyes off of me. Ava pursed her lips and ruffled up her short, silky raven locks. It was thick like mine, tending to stay in whatever messy position it had decided that day.

"She visited you in the hospital. I don't suppose you remember that. You probably won't remember any of this when all of these drugs wear off." I turned my head, breaking his grasp, and picked a bottle off the nightstand. I read the label. We couldn't really tell him anything now when he was basically stoned. He currently reminded me of my druggie stepbrother.

"Are you here to laugh at me?" he suddenly asked, drawing my attention back to him. He looked hurt.

"What?"

"The others. Some came because they thought I was crazy. Some because they thought it was cool that I was struck by lightning. But I'm a popular guy. That's why most others came. At least I hope." He finally turned his eyes away from me and sat up in his bed against the headboard. "Why are you here?"