Save Me

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The room is so dark that if it weren't for the thin strip of LED lights on the far wall, I wouldn't be able to take another step without colliding into something. I cautiously step over a pair of sneakers, trying to avoid the man in the room sitting in a bean bag chair several feet away from me. His eyes are glued to a TV screen hanging on the wall, casting a light glow over his unkempt form and the evident reason as to why we're here. At least, the reason why Luke is here.

I should have known the second we walked through the door that this was drug related, the only thing Luke thinks he needs more than oxygen and water. I see the dresser drawer upside down, lying on the floor in front of Luke's drug dealer, duct tape lining the surface with what I'm sure to be several kinds of street drugs underneath. Either the guy is confident that he's not going to get caught, enough to leave his stash out in the open or we're not the only customers walking through his front door tonight.

The scene startles me for many reasons, besides the obvious drugs and lack of decent people present who would without a doubt grab the drugs before me if the house were suddenly to catch on fire. I realize from the very little light in the room that the guy now turning his head slowly in our direction is actually a man, with a thick beard and wrinkles beside his eyes. He still appears young, maybe a college dropout who decided drugs were better than an education, and I'd guess by our surroundings and the context clues that he's in his mid to late 20's.

I'm unsure how Luke came about meeting a man older than us, but I'm sure more of his friends than I realize are into street drugs, especially with scholarships on the line and the end of the school year just around the corner. I don't want to know why Luke is suddenly so into drugs and so careless about who knows he's into them. I don't want to know who this guy is or the history between him, Luke and the other people who I'm sure are involved. I don't want to know why Luke's bringing me along with him to buy drugs or why I'm even a thought in his head right now.

I just know I want to get out of here.

The fear triples as I realize the seriousness of this situation since I'm now an accomplicance to a crime, possibly many crimes. If this house were suddenly ransacked by police, I'd be hauled off in handcuffs and shoved inside the back of an awaiting cop car beside Luke. The image in my head makes my gut twist so bad I worry I'm going to vomit.

The guy in the bean bag chair, dressed in clothes similar to what Luke wears to school, releases his hands from being clasped behind his head and glances between us like he just suddenly remembered he had a drug deal scheduled at this time. I almost want to laugh at the ridiculousness of all this since I don't belong anywhere near these kinds of people or what they're selling, but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised anymore. I almost want to blame myself for allowing this all to unravel the way it has and for not ever speaking up when I had so many opportunities.

Luke closes the bedroom door behind him and I wish more than anything I could have run out before the wood of the door touched the door frame. Everytime I think it couldn't get any worse, Luke drags me further and further into his mess like he wants me to see everything so that I know exactly how to put it all back together again for him.

His hand is on my shoulder and I'm shoved forcefully onto the mattress beside me, the bed frame creaking in a way that almost makes me cringe noticeably. Goosebumps break out on my skin from touching someone else's' bed, a man who sells drugs in his bedroom of most likely his oblivious parents' home, and I carefully wrap my arms around myself as my only source of protection.

I watch through my eyelashes as Luke appears satisfied with me sitting on the edge of a stranger's bed, an invisible rope around my legs and arms so that I won't move. He turns his head to the guy now standing from the blue bean bag chair, who briefly runs his eyes over my form before turning back to most likely his best customer.