drag me down | grayson dolan

【twenty three】

I toss and turn anxiously in my bed. My sweaty body is never able to get comfortable. I turn over to the clock hanging on my wall. Through the darkness I can see that it's almost nine thirty at night. I've been in bed this entire day, and I haven't eaten one thing. My body flips over to the right side of my mattress. I can feel the heaviness in my chest as I try to catch my breath.

It's been three days since the event. I haven't seen or talked to Grayson in three days. I assumed he would be long gone by now. Just thinking of his face in that mask makes my skin burn. I close my eyes again, trying to relax my body. I haven't slept properly and my head continues to pound against my skull. I keep thinking about everything, especially what happened after.

"Stay still, alright?" Duke's heavy accent instructs me. I simply nod my head, unable to even speak. He takes the rubbing alcohol and pours it onto a washcloth.

"Damn, that's some cut." He looks down at my arm.

"It's not too bad." I lowly say while keeping my head down.

He dabs the cloth over my wound, trying to clean it up. "I don't want it to become infected."

"It won't." I let out a breath. I keep my body positioned on the counter of Duke's sink. His bathroom has a really nice pattern to it, the theme being black and white. I have never been in his apartment before.

"I finally got the bleeding to stop." He says while grabbing gauze from another cabinet. He takes a strip off and wraps it around the large cut.

"Thanks for this." I say. My throat is dry from crying so hard.

"We need to talk about what happened today." He whispers while wrapping the bandage around my arm.

"There's nothing to talk about." I gulp while looking back up to him. "The masked phantoms got away."

"Shit." Duke says out of frustration. "I can't believe we lost them. We were so goddamn close." He finishes fixing me and begins to put the supplies away.

I jump off of the counter and stare at him. I never said a word about what happened. I know I should tell him that Grayson is part of the masked phantoms, but I can't seem to say the words out loud. I'm too numb.

"It's not our fault. We needed more backup." I let out a sigh.

"Fuck." Duke clenches his fist and slams it down on the counter. The action makes me slightly jump at his anger. "I waited for this moment for two years, and now it's all gone."

"Duke, don't blame yourself." I make my voice a little bit louder. If anyone is to blame, it's me.

"I lost him." He shakes his head back and forth. "I was chasing the man with the turtleneck, even fired my gun a few times, but he got away. He was too fucking fast!" I can tell how upset he is by the way his voice cracks. "They were no match for the two of us."

I nod my head and let him rant, not even knowing what to say at this point.

"We both let them slip through the cracks." He continues to speak. "Are you sure you couldn't see who it was? Try to make out a suspect?"

"No." I quickly say, growing anxious. I tell him the same story I told him earlier. "He was too fast for me, and I couldn't get a good shot. I have no idea where the other two went. The adrenaline took over my body and I fell, causing him to get away."

I think back to the event. Looking into Grayson's eyes through that ski mask changed everything for me. "I tried to find him again, but it was no use. He was already gone." I lie.