Kissing Lucy

Chapter Seventeen

When i wake, it's still dark. The lights are off, the ocean waves have settled, all is peacfully quiet, and yet we're still slowly dancing. A smile forms on my face, and i feel the dry pathways my tears made whilst traveling.

I lean back, and meet Tyler’s eyes. They were closed at first, but his eyelashes fluttered a little before they completely opened.

“How long have we been out here?” I whisper to him.

“Does it matter?” he whispers back to me.

I smile lightly, and kiss his cheek.

My smile falters, and I look back at him. He’s staring behind me. I whirl around just as Tyler pushes me behind him. I caught a glimpse of smoke, and was instantly paralyzed. I collapsed to the ground, suddenly having to gasp desperately for air. My eyes hurt, but I used them to find Tyler. He was still standing still, his face still angry, but his eyes worriedly staring at me.

Suddenly he runs to my side, and helps me sit up.

“Tyler, what’s going on? Is this another dream?”

He looks horrified as he looks at my face.

More tears fall from my stinging eyes. “What?”

I hear a scream, but it’s not from Tyler. It takes a moment for me to realize it was my own scream. I was screaming because Tyler’s face was melting to the bone. I couldn’t stop screaming, and when I did, it was only because I couldn’t breath.

I couldn’t see anything but blood and melting flesh falling off his face. What I could see, however, was tears of pain in his eyes.

My screaming stops, and I cry helplessly. “T-Tyler! I’m scared…!”

I look over at the mirror that I saw myself in before Tyler and I had danced, and screamed again. For my own face was melting. Why couldn’t I feel the pain?

Confusion and fear intertwined in my stomach, and I bent over and vomited. I wiped my mouth, and screamed again, but Tyler’s deformed face seemed angry, yet I could tell he knew exactly what was going on when he looked in the mirror.

It all his strength, but he finally got up, and helped me up. He lead me unsteadily to the doors, and set me down on a chair.

“Stay in here.” he tells me.

“Why?”

“Just--for once, listen to me? Please?”

And then he goes. He locks the doors, I can hear it.

“It’s alright,” I tell myself, “Tyler will be fine. He’s an angel for Pete’s sake, he can do anything…” I glance back at the door, then down at my hands. “Listen to him, listen to him…” I tell myself, but I cant. I run to the door, and look out the peep hole.

At first I see nothing. Then, I saw a black shape forming. When it was done forming, I realized who it was. My father. I gasped, and crawled away from the door.

That did nothing, because the black smoke just flew from under the door. I scream as loud and as horrifyingly as I could when I saw him forming in the opposite corner of me.

I wiped the tears that crawled down my face, sniffled, and crawled backwards--all the while still screaming. I’ve been told I have good lungs.

Almost instantly, my father comes towards me. Running. I crawled faster, but it was futile. He picked me up, and threw me against the closest wall. I slide to the ground, cowering in pain.

“Why are you doing this?” I shriek so loud you can barley hear what I said. Then I gulp, and whisper, “Why are you doing this, Dad?”