After a head injury, people aren't the only thing Lilly Truscott can see.
Ok, this chapter may be a tad too confusing. I wrote it late at night, and although I usually write better then, a cat was shoving itself onto my face. Sort of.
Nevermind. Let's continue.
--
was it you who spoke the words that
things would happen but not to me
oh, things are gonna happen naturally
and taking your advice
i'm looking on the bright side
and balancing the whole thing
but often times those words
get tangled up in lines
and the bright lights turn to night
until the dawn it brings
a little bird who'll sing about the magic that was
you and me
--
She's in a home.
She's not the only one - boys with dates, broken bottles by their feet. Heartbroken girls running past them and out of the house. Most everyone's breath smelling of liquor.
She's there, but she's not. She sees, but it is in no way her body. Or her voice.
She's thinking his thoughts. She's seeing what he sees. She's feeling what he feels.
He feels drunk.
His thoughts are foggy and he has a slur in his voice as he teases the guy he's talking with.
It's Lucas, she realizes. He's talking to Lucas.
A can in one hand, the other poking Lucas almost threateningly.
"S'what if I do?" He demands, his voice slurring again.
Lucas shakes his head with a sick grin. "Trust me. You do not want to." Even from two feet away the beer on his breath is strong, although his words are clear.
"What if I do, tough guy?" He asks again, this time emotion - anger? - in his voice. "What are you gunna do now?"
Lucas laughs. "If you do, I'll hit you halfway to hell. How does that sound?"
"Only if I can do it first."
Suddenly there are drunken punches being thrown. Yelling, cursing.
A glass cabinet shatters.
More fighting.
The prized possession is taken from its shattered home, loaded, and fired.
Then she's falling with him.
Pain; he can feel the wound and he can see the blood, but he can't comprehend.
Fifteen minutes.
He's screaming now. The blood is pooling, they're just letting them lay there. She screams with him.
They hurt together.
They are worried and scared and drunk, not just them, but the growing crowd around them.
He's quiet now. He just lays there. She lays with him because that's all she can do. They don't know what's happening. Everyone's blurry around them.
People are whispering.
He's pale. They both are.
The blood is getting all over the carpet, they're saying. It's definitely going to stain. There's a whole lot of glass on the floor. Joseph is going to be grounded for life for throwing a party like this.
He's conscious, but barely, as they hear the sirens and the shouting. Even that fades and they're sitting in the black together, confused, hurting.
But then it's bright. For a split second they see together, then it's black once more.
He does not see. He does not feel.
She does the same.
Lilly woke with a scream and a cold sweat.
"Oh my God," She whispered to herself, running a hand through her hair. She was partially relieved to find that it was actually her hair.
Was it just a nightmare?
She was on her couch. A blanket pulled over her, some unused painkiller lying on the coffee table.
The digital clock on the wall stated in a large, blinking red font: 2:47 AM
Lilly sighed and laid her head back on the throw pillow. Her mom and her brother were probably home. After a second she sat up again.
It was then she realized that it had been three thirty in the afternoon when she last recalled...well, actually being conscious.
And that was when she hopped off of the living room couch and grabbed her phone.
This had to be her absolute last resort. And she was wasting it now. Although it probably wouldn't be much use.
She dialed the number and pressed it to her ear. After a few moments she heard the click.
"Miley!"
"Lilly...it's, um, three in the morning. On a school night. What do you want?"
Miley was never too friendly when she was tired. Or able to speak clearly. As opposed to the 'definately not sugar' high she was usually able to pull off.
"I don't know, it's just...ugh. I'm so confused right now and I don't know what happened and I can't remember anything..."
There was silence.
"Miley?" Lilly said after a moment.
"Were you drunk?" Was her reply, a little more awake-sounding than before.
Lilly would have given her a glare if it had been possible. "No. Of course not. I just don't know what happened...I was talking with Lucas this afternoon, and then all of a sudden I woke up on my couch just a few minutes ago!"
"Hmm, you better check on everything, make sure your business stayed your business if you know what I mean."
There was a tense silence.
"Lucas wouldn't do that Miley. Don't be stupid," Lilly struggled to say. What she really, really wanted to say was way too colorful for someone like Miley to be hearing at three in the morning.
Though at this point she probably wouldn't care.
"Hey, I'm just saying!"
"Uh-huh."
"It's possible. Don't you remember what he did to you in ninth grade?"
"He dated seven different girls at once. He didn't rape me."
"It's the same idea!"
"No it's not! He apologized like a million times. And it was the beginning of ninth grade. He was an idiot then."
"When you forgave him, you two made out in a closet the entire rest of the day."
Silence.
"How do you know it didn't happen?" Miley prompted.
There was an awkward pause.
"He didn't put anything into my drink."
Another pause.
"Well…what about your food?!"
Lilly thought back. Probably not.
"That's impossible Miley, I didn't even eat anything. He inhaled the only bag of chips I had. Lucas didn't rape me, okay?"
"Did you check?!"
"Miley!"
"Okay, sorry! What do you want me to tell you?"
"I don't know!"
"This conversation is so totally going no where."
"Then let's hang up!"
"Fine!"
Click.
Lilly collapsed back onto the couch and held her head. She was in a fight with Miley now...about Lucas raping her?
Her life was oh so fascinating.
Even more so as Oliver appeared next to her.
"Headache?" He asked with that grin of his.
That one that proved he knew something.
