Painkiller

13

    Luke sighed. God, he didn't want to have to do this, but he had to. He had to work, and that meant that he had to go to the studio, which, ultimately led to travelling in the car.

    And Elena didn't know.

    Elena didn't know that she was going to be travelling in a car - the one thing she now feared more then anything.

    Luke knew it was a bad idea. He knew it would only lead tears and fear and panic attacks, but it had to be done.

    And Luke would rather it happened with him then whilst she was alone.

    "Elena, sweetheart, I gotta go to the studio."

    Elena barely looked up from phone. Her heart hammered in her chest because she didn't want to be left alone, but Jesus Christ, Luke couldn't know that, so she kept her head down. "O-Okay."

    "N-No, um, Elena, you're- you're coming too." Luke stammered. The poor man was so nervous.

    Elena smiled, relieved that she wasn't going to be left alone - not that she was going to let Luke know that. She leapt down from the chair next to the kitchen island, practically running towards the door and grabbing her shoes from beside it.

    Luke was left stood in shock - she was taking this much easier then he had originally expected. Did she realise they were travelling in a car?

    Shaking his head, he checked to make sure he had his keys and wallet in his pockets before proceeding to follow her. A small smile on his face and hope in his heart as he thought this wouldn't be as hard as he thought.

    That smile, however, disappeared as he saw Elena freeze once they had left the house and started making their way towards the car parked in the driveway.

    Elena froze and her eyes widened. Her breath caught in her throat and her heartbeat began to pound in her chest. Her arms lay loosely by her sides as she stared at the black car.

    Thoughts swirled through her mind too fast for her to comprehend, and all she could picture in her head was the crash. Her parents cries echoed through her ears and every time she blinked she could see their bodies hitting the dashboard. She could practically feel the blood running down her forehead.

    "Lena?"

    A hand on her shoulder broke Elena from her trail of thoughts. She turned to look at her brother, tears pooling in her eyes.

    "I can't- I can't do it."

    Lukes heart broke. He didn't want to do it but he had to. Or, that's what he kept reminding himself.

"You've gotta do it at some point."

He pulled her into a hug, before guiding her into the backseat of the car. She barely registered herself sitting down in the chair, or Luke buckling her in, or the tears that were now streaming down her face. In fact, she could barely register anything at all, aside from her own panicked thoughts.

Luke sat down in the front seat of the car. Giving a weary glance into the back of the car through the mirror, he set his hand on the steering wheel, mentally setting a course towards Michaels house. They were going to pick him up first.

It was Elena's heavy breathing that snapped Luke out of his concentration on the road. Looking in the mirror, his heart almost stopped when he saw the girl curled up on herself, her knees pressed to her chest. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and her chest heaved.

"Elena?" She didn't answer. "Elena!"

They were minutes away from Michael's, and Luke pushed his foot down harder on the pedal. Breaking many traffic laws, he managed to get there in record time, and Michael was already stood outside waiting for the pair to turn up.

Leaping out of the front of the car, he muttered a quick 'you drive' before hopping into the back, attempting to console Elena.