Luring Light - K.E. Osborn Page 0,33

hell tearing my skin to pieces with gravel rash. My jeans rip apart as I come to a stop in a ditch at the side of the road.

My head spins like a motherfucker, and my body aching so damn much I wanna hurl. I look around and see my bike is resting against a tree in the ditch a few feet away from me. I lay on my back, looking up at the sky, panting for breath as the clouds form multiple skulls and crossbones in the sky.

I know I’m still fucking tripping as I lay in the ditch, broken and bleeding.

I’m not sure how long I lay here for, staring up at the skulls. I swear they’re mocking me, but I need to do something. I can’t just lay here tripping. My hand slides into my jeans pocket for my cell.

Coughing, my entire body tenses, the pain incredible as I bring my cell into my line of sight and dial the number I need right now—Nerve.

“VP! Everything okay at Trixie’s?”

I grimace, shifting on the ground to try and get some semblance of comfort. “Nerve… I’m tripping hard. I’ve eaten asphalt, brother, in a bad way.”

“Fuck! How bad are you hurt? Do you need an EMT?”

I glance down at my legs, where there are no obvious open fractures. “No, I’m good, you should be able to patch me up. My ride, not so much.”

“Okay, hold on… I’m coming. I’ll have Voltage track your cell.”

“Thanks, brother.” I end the call, dropping my cell to the ground because I’m too fucked-up to keep talking.

Trying to hide those fucking skull clouds from my sight, I slump my arm over my eyes.

Goddammit! I should have listened to Trixie. I should have brought the macarons home with me, but no, I was in a downward spiral because of Ivy and thought I could handle it. But this, this is just plain stupid.

Nycto’s gonna fucking kill me, and I am gonna deserve it!

Groaning, somehow I find the strength to sit, then pull myself out of the ditch. I move to the edge of the road and sit, waiting for Nerve to show up. I peer over my shoulder at my mangled ride. Wincing, I turn back to the other side of the road—I must still be tripping because those shadows are back.

My anxiety creeps in further as they dart to and fro in the forest in front of me. Black shadows are moving far too fast for anything to be real, then the white statues appear, slowly edging their way out from the trees.

“Fuck off, all of you,” I yell.

Now, I’m really losing my mind.

Yelling at my own imagination.

As the white statues show their faces, I tense up. They’re all people from my past. I clench my eyes shut, trying like hell to wipe them from my memory, attempting to fight the images from my mind. When I open my eyes again, they’re still there, and this time, my father is back, but he’s just standing there. He’s not saying anything, quietly watching me fall apart in my mind.

It’s fitting.

They would so do that.

“I said… Fuck. Off!”

The squealing of tires echoes in the distance. I turn my head, the tow truck heading toward me like one of those mirages people see in the desert. I feel like it’s only been a few minutes, but it must have been quite a while for Nerve to grab the tow truck and get everything in order to find me.

Man, tripping makes you lose all sense of time.

I turn back, the statues are now retreating into the forest. “Ha! Yeah, you better run, you motherfuckers!” I call out to them as the tow truck pulls over, and Nerve rides up on his bike, pulling in front of me. Nerve hops off, the same time a door to the truck pushes open, then Ivy comes surging toward me.

Am I still tripping?

Ivy drops to her knees beside me, placing her hand on my cheek. The second she touches me, a spark shoots straight through me to my dick.

Is she really here?

“Jesus, Void, what have you done to yourself?”

I take her in. She’s glowing, my high making her seem like a real-life, fucking heaven-sent angel. I swear she even has a halo as I stare blankly up at her.

Nerve steps over with a Thermos. “Drink this, dickhead.” Nerve shoves it at me, and I reach out to take it. The Thermos smells of coffee, and as I take a sip, the bitter hit