Second Chances for Tyler Landry

If I Were You

Mackenzie Lowly travelled through the swaying bodies. Coming to this party was a bad idea, she thought.

She knew that this wasn't good a good plan. She thought she might see Tyler here, might try and talk to him.

Or maybe she just wanted to be numb for a change. She stumbled into the kitchen and downed a cup of beer. Was this smart? Was this safe? Was she being a hypocrite by coming to this party just so she could get totally smashed?

Wasn't this what she told Tyler not to do so long ago?

She felt her thoughts and her consciousness dwindle and she collided with the hard lineolium floor.

*Tyler Walks Into The Kitchen*

Tyler Landry hobbled into the kitchen. Tonight was one of those nights were it would be difficult to stay unfeeling. It seemed he hahd grown immune to everything that had once erased memories and common sense.

He tripped over something, almost smashing his face against a counter top.

"What the hell?" he mumbled to himself.

And that's when he saw her.

Her eyes were closed, and heavy with bags. Her eyelids were puffy and she was wearing an outfit that she would never be caught dead in.

Her lips were slick with what smelled like hard liquor and her hair looked like a swallow tried to make its home in her hair.

Tyler dropped to his knees next to Mackenzie.

"Oh Mack." he choked.

He moved her knotted and tangled hair away from her once animated and clean face. Now, it had a tiredness and harshness to it that seemed too deep to get off.

He shielded her from people who were clumsy and almost stepped on her.

He picked her up bridal style, something he hasn't done in a while, and carried her to his black car, almost hidden by night.

His eyesight was still a little hazy and he was in no condition to drive, so he layed her in the back seat, and crouched carefully next to her.

He didn't care that the space was tight. He didn't care that she didn't care about him.

All he wanted was for her to wake up and live.

Looking at her face, crinkled in a deep sleep, he realized how fucked up his life was.

How hard it must have been to see him the way he was, the way it must have broke her heart. The thoughts that she must of thought.

Tyler hated what he had put her through. He hated the people at the party. He hated his family.

But, most of all, he hate himself.

And for the first time since he had known her, he felt a love so painful that it swallowed him whole.