Reaper's Touch

Lucas: Section 8

"Poverty is a lot like childbirth- you know it is going to hurt before it happens, but you'll never know how much until you experience it."
- J.K. Rowling

Marcus's face was gray with shock and horror as he stared at the empty syringe on the bathroom floor.

"Are you seriously... am I... what the fuck, Lucas?" he said slowly, his voice shaking.

Woozy, Lucas got to his feet. "I... I have a problem," he mumbled.

"You're damn right you do! I'm calling your mother right now and you are going straight home! BOTH OF YOU!" Marcus turned to glare at Nora, who had just appeared behind him, still wearing her coat and clutching her keys as she stared at them in shock. He took out his cellphone and started to dial Sarah's number.

"I'm not going home," Lucas said softly but firmly.

"Well you're sure as fuck not staying here! What the hell are you thinking?" Marcus shouted.

"I'm an addict. My mom knows. I should have told you when I came here..."

"You think? That would have been nice to know! What the hell was in that thing? Heroin?"

"Fentanyl."

"Oh Jesus Christ! You know how fucking dangerous that shit is? You can OD by accidentally touching it! I saw it on the news!"

"I was clean when I got here," Lucas said. "I was clean until Jeff died."

"Well you're not now! You could die from this shit! Does that even register to you? And after your dad... oh my God, Lucas! How could you do this to Aunt Sarah? This is bad! This is really bad!"

Lucas had no response. Marcus shook his head and put the phone to his ear. Lucas could hear the soft ringing sound.

Nora looked at him and mouthed, "We run."

"I'm not going home," Lucas repeated, pretending he hadn't seen Nora.

"Trust me, she will be up here tonight to pick your asses up and put you both in rehab where you belong, 'cause it's obvious you're on this shit too, Nora. Been watchin' you two act like zombies for weeks," Marcus said as he waited for Sarah to answer.

Lucas felt himself tensing, familiar black dots starting to seep into the corners of his vision. Suddenly, he lunged forward and shoved Marcus against the opposite wall, his fist connecting to his jaw. The phone fell out of Marcus's hand and crashed on the tile floor.

"Lucas!" Nora cried, grabbing his arm before he could take another swing.

"What the fuck!" Marcus exclaimed, holding his bleeding lip, his eyes wide with shock.

"She doesn't need to know," Lucas said breathlessly. "We're leaving anyway!"

"Lucas, don't! It's not safe out there! You're my cousin, and I care about you! I can't let you leave!"

But they were already in their room. As fast as possible they threw whatever they could save into two big backpacks, grabbed the guitars and amp and took off as Marcus was calling Sarah again.

———————

The night was brutally cold. The very air felt solid around Lucas as they hurried from the train station to Gus's place. The temperature was near zero. Normally they would have been terrified to be out in Riverdale alone at night, but it was too cold for even these slums to look scary.

Gus's building was run down, dirty and foul smelling. The off-white linoleum floor in the entrance way had scuff marks streaking across it. The walls were cinder blocks, some covered in graffiti, and the lighting was fluorescent yellow, buzzing and flickering like a dying bug. The groaning, clanging elevator took forever to climb its way up the shaft to the sixteenth floor, and it took so long to open the doors that Lucas feared they'd be stuck in here until morning. But they eventually peeled apart to reveal a smaller, darker and even dingier area.