A/N: Holy crap, a new chapter. Nearly a year after I thought I'd finished it. I had random inspiration that would not let me rest. Actually, I pretty much took Starlight Pixiedust's idea (which has honestly been floating around in my head for the past year) and ran with it (see the review page). As always, none of these characters are mine, but Josh Hartnett was awfully foxy as Mr. Fontaine...

Trip

Chapter 4: Drowning for You

Three months later...

Trip could feel himself sinking, surrounded by darkness. Which was an odd feeling, considering the euphoria and light that usually accompanied his frequent dates with Mary Jane. Usually he felt, well, high. Floating. Not weighed down as if a fifty-pound boulder were tied to him. Maybe it was the combination of about three joints and half a bottle of gin, the finding of which (the gin, not the joints) was no surprise, considering that his father and Donald drank often and while they didn't outright condone Trip's partaking in a drink or two, they didn't exactly lock up their liquor cabinet, either.

Or maybe it was the joints, the gin, and any member of the cocktail of other drugs he'd ingested. Maybe it was all of them. He couldn't think clearly enough to remember every single thing he'd taken. The guy behind the school that day had been more than helpful. What had his name been? Tom. That was his name.

Wonderful, Fontaine, Trip thought, you can remember the fucking name of the asshole who sold you the goddamn things, but you can't remember what the hell they were.

Trip moved his arms and his brain registered a slight shock as he realized that his arms were moving through water.

What am I doing in water? How did I get in water? I only went out in the backyard to sit by the pool…or in the pool…or on a raft…I don't remember…

Suddenly the darkness broke. He had opened his eyes. He hadn't realized that they were closed. Instead of complete black, he could see soft blue all around him. The blue rippled, and hazily Trip thought of someone's eyes. Someone he had cared about.

Lux's eyes. They're that color. That blue…with the ripples of light…

He closed his eyes again. He could feel something blowing across his back, making it cold, making him shiver.

Wind. That's what it is. Wind. Why am I half in water and half in the wind? The wind...it reminds me of...Homecoming. Lux. It was a little windy that night.

He was suddenly aware of muffled voices calling his name.

"Trip!"

"Trip! Are you all right?"

"He's not answering. Trip! Answer us, please!"

The water he was lying in was disturbed. It sloshed over his back, giving him a little protection from the wind.

"Trip? TRIP?"

He was all of a sudden gliding through water and feeling the coldness transfer from his back to his front.

"Trip? Talk to me, Trip, please!"

"Is he breathing?"

"I don't know. Call the ambulance!"

Trip felt skin graze his lips, and then an intermittent pressure on his chest.

"Come on, Trip! Breathe!"

The voice swore softly. Trip felt pressure on his mouth, and then the pressure on his chest. He was then strangely and acutely aware of sirens in the distance. Strange because the sound of everything else had been so muted and muffled.

"Are they here yet? Goddamnit, why don't they HURRY?"

"They're coming, they're coming."

"They're here! Get him in there, quick!"

The voices, the sirens, and all the other sounds around him merged into one dull roar and muted.

And thus Trip's world went completely black and silent.