tiptoes • luke

2%

the first mistake luke ever makes comes two hours later.

he's sitting underneath a table in the corner of the basement, right beside the air conditioning unit, and he's singing to himself because, really, he's bored and it's too quiet.

he's no longer pumping with adrenaline, and this no longer feels peaceful; he just feels sad, and he knows that being here won't help, that it'd be at least a little better if he were at home with his family because at least that's a distraction.

he knows all this, but still he sits there with his knees drawn up against his chest, smoking a cigarette because why not?

taking a drag, he presses his face into his kneecaps, trying to forget everything but the smell of cigarette smoke. he's pretty much accomplished that until he hears someone coming down the stairs and into the basement.

immediately, his heart starts thrumming and his palms become sweaty, but this anxiety is a friend because some one's about to find him here.

he puts out the cigarette, crushing underneath his shoe and sitting completely and utterly still.

"who's there?" a voice calls out hesitantly and the thrill immediately dies back down to a normal pulse because this voice belongs to a teenage girl.

luke slumps back down and makes himself as invisible as possible.

he's good at that - being invisible. no one ever knows who he is or where he is, but he likes it that way. he likes being so small that no one can see you because if they don't see you, they can't step on you.

"I know someone's here, I could smell the smoke." the girl sighs, and luke sees her sitting on the floor, her back to his table. "look, I understand maybe you come here to smoke or whatever, but you can get in some serious trouble for that. more importantly, you could get me in some serious trouble for that."

luke decides to speak when he hears that because she's in the same boat as he is. "maybe you shouldn't be here in the first place if you don't want to be caught."

she laughs bitterly, not even bothering to look in his direction. "yeah, if I had a choice."

"what are you talking about? of course you had a choice of whether or not to break into a building. it's not exactly something you'd be forced into doing."

she lays down then, her back to the floor. she tips her head back so that she's looking at luke, and the way she is looking at him is sort of terrifying,

"you don't know shit."

and then she's up and gone before luke can even register what just happened.

-

unedited.

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