Abyss

I wake to a soft humming coming from beside me. My eyes blink rapidly and the light is blinding my eyes. I scan my surroundings, noticing that I’m in my room.

“Alexia!” comes a loud voice from my side. I snap my head in the direction of the sound and blink as I stare into the eyes of my mother. “You’re awake!”

Her face appears stuck between happiness and shock, and I can tell she’s fighting back tears.

“Wh-what happened?” I ask, my throat dry and voice cracking.

Confusion spreads across her face as she leans in and swipes a few loose tendrils of hair away from my face. “You don’t remember, sweetie?”

I shake my head and stare at her intently.

“You,” she begins. “You were found not far from the boarding station and you were unconscious.”

“I was?” I try to focus on what happened last night but I keep coming up blank. My mother nods beside me. “Who found me?”

Her eyes sparkle a little as she says, “Blaze.” I feel my stomach sink from the thought of Blaze finding me anywhere unconscious.

“Oh,” I mutter.

“He really is such a fine boy, Alexia. We are so ever blessed that he was there to find you! He is really such a catch, dear. You two looked so beautiful dancing together last night.”

I slowly nod and sink lower into my pillow, not wanting to hear my mother’s ranting on Blaze and I’s nonexistent relationship. She’s always had unrealistic ideas that I’ll end up marrying young like she did, and for status and wealth rather than love.

She was lucky she found dad. Not many girls fall in love with someone they’re arranged with here in Division I, and finding someone you want to spend your entire life with at such a young age is practically unheard of.

I still hope though, but my window of opportunity is coming to a close and my parents are already pushing me to begin looking for someone to settle down with.

I interrupt my mother’s tirade about Blaze and say, “I think I just need a few minutes alone. I have a lot to process right now.”

My mother nods and kisses me lightly on the forehead. “Yes, try and rest, dear. And once you feel up to it, we can talk more and try to figure out just what happened last night.”

I nod as I watch her retreating figure, waiting until I hear the click of the door signaling her exit before throwing back the covers and standing up on my two very wobbly legs. The room is spinning and I clutch onto the frame of the bed, steadying myself. Once I stop feeling so disoriented, I slowly make my way across the room and in front of my mirror, examining myself. I don’t look that different – save a few bags underneath my eyes, which you wouldn’t expect from a girl who’s been asleep for who knows how long. Lifting up my shirt reveals a deep purple bruise on the side of my body. I gently probe it, flinching almost immediately. What happened to me?

I stumble back over to the bed and sit down slowly. Running my hands through my hair, I try to think of what happened the other night. I remember leaving the party early, walking down the street, helping a man, and then – nothing.

_______________________________________________________________________________

I’m awoken by a faint shake of my shoulder. I groan, wishing I didn’t have to acknowledge whoever thought they had the right to wake me.

“Alexia,” came a deep voice. “Wake up, dear.” I roll over and slowly open my eyes; my dad’s face the first thing I see. He has a soft smile gracing his expression. “Sorry to wake you, my dear, but you actually have a visitor.”

I frown slightly, my eyebrows scrunching in confusion. “Who?” I whisper, my voice full of sleep.

“A certain hero, it would seem,” he says with a slight chuckle.

“Hero?” I question.

“Well, I’m not sure I’d go so far as to call me that,” came the voice of one of the few people I really have no desire being in my presence.

My dad stands up from his position on the bed and shakes Blaze’s hand. “You most certainly are a hero in the eyes of myself and my family, Mr. Lynch.”

“Please, Mr. Caen. There’s no need for us to revert to formalities.” I watch as my dad nods in agreement. “And I only did what anyone would do – save the beautiful damsel in distress.”

Blaze’s eyes connect with mine and I force myself to bite back the bile rising in my throat.

“Well, I’ll give you two a moment, then,” says my dad, and I feel my eyes go wide. Not a single part of me wants a minute alone with Blaze Lynch.

We both watch him leave my room, my dad clearly not getting the telepathic messages I’m hoping I suddenly am able to send. No such luck.

Once my dad is completely out of the room, Blaze turns to me and walks over to the bedside.

“You don’t look like hell so much anymore,” he comments.

I roll my eyes. “Well aren’t you quite the charmer,” I retort.

He smirks at me. “So I’ve been told.” I just glare at him, not offering a reply. He sighs. “You really do look a lot better, Lexi. I’m glad you’re alright.” I still choose not to say anything. “You had us all worried, I hope you know. Seeing you lying there unconscious – I’ve never been more terrified in my life.” I gulp, imagining such a scene. “That’s what I really came here for –to check up on you.” He moves towards the door.

I nod, knowing what I need to say next, although I’d rather walk through fire than ever thank Blaze Lynch. “Blaze, wait.” He stops walking and turns to me. “I – I’m not sure how to say this because I never thought I’d have to, but I just want to, I– thank you.” Words seem to struggle coming out of my mouth as I muster through a thank you.

He smiles at me and lets out a small chuckle. “That seemed awfully painful for you to say.”
I smirk at him. Even though Blaze and I aren’t compatible and didn’t work out, we still learned a lot about each other, and I’m sure one of the biggest lessons he’s learned from me is the difficulty I have being grateful for someone like him.

Before I can open my mouth to come back with a witty comment, Blaze interrupts, “But I’ll take whatever form of gratitude you have for me.” He walks back over and sits down on the side of the bed. I watch him as he does so and his eyes remain on my face. We sit like that for a moment, both of us not really sure what to say.

I sigh. “I really do mean it, Blaze.” His eyes flicker to my mouth. “Despite our past, despite our history, and despite our differences, I’m really grateful that you saved me.”

He studies me for a minute, as if taking in my words, and its moments like these that make me miss him. I miss those nights we used to spend alone and cuddled up on my roof, talking about everything and nothing at the same time. Even though he represents nearly everything I can’t stand, there were moments when I had him just to myself that he showed me a different person. He slowly nods, hopefully accepting my gratitude.

“Do you remember?” he asks. “Do you remember what happened the other night?”

Slowly, I shake my head. Even though I’ve tried to relive the other night, I never make it very far. “I remember leaving the party,” I say. “And I remember slipping off my shoes because my feet were killing me.”

He lets out a deep laugh, the vibrations rocking his body and in turn shaking the bed slightly. “What a sight you must have been,” he says, after he stops laughing. “A citizen of Division I prancing around the streets of Metropolis late at night without any shoes on.”

I feel myself laughing lightly, recognizing that I probably did look rather odd. “I also stopped and gave a desperate looking man some change I had,” I continue.

“A desperate looking man?” Blaze asks.

I nod. “He looked rather rugged and desperate,” I explain. “He had a sign that read something about a ‘penny for a poor man’ and I just couldn’t walk away after seeing him.”

“Lexi, that’s so dangerous,” he chastises and I immediately bristle. “You should know better than to be around someone so ‘desperate’, as you call him, alone.”

I glare at him. “I don’t see what’s so wrong with stopping to help someone.”

“Well something is obviously wrong if you were found unconscious not long after!” His voice is rising at the same time as my anger.

I curl my fist into a ball and try to fight back the string of expletives threating to spill out of my mouth. “Blaze! You aren’t seriously inferring that a man I just helped had anything to do with me passing out, are you?”

“Well, right now, he’s the last person you saw!”

‘No, he wasn’t’ are the words that flash into my mind and I find myself biting my tongue to hold them back. For some reason or another, my subconscious is telling me that the man I helped wasn’t the last person I saw that night. Why can’t I remember?

“Blaze, it’s not him,” I say, trying to calm myself down. “I can’t tell you why or how, but I know that he had nothing to do with what happened to me.” He stares at me for another minute, and I calmly ask, “Blaze, what happened? How’d you find me?”

Nearly all the anger in his eyes seems to vanish and I’m not sure what replaces it. He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly before beginning. “I left the party early too,” he explains. “After I realized you were gone, I thought I’d leave too. When I went out to the cars, I noticed your driver was still there and that something had to be wrong. Now I know you willingly chose to walk alone.” I smile sheepishly. “As we were heading towards the pods, some guy on a motorcycle came out of nowhere and cut us off, causing Frank, my driver, to swerve and hit a light post. I got out of the car, annoyed, ready to go off on Frank, when I noticed something on the other side of the street. Then I realized that something was you.”

I can feel my forehead crease in confusion. “I really don’t know what to tell you, Blaze. Every time I try to remember all I get is black. I just know it wasn’t the man I helped. Maybe I just passed out?”

“People don’t just pass out for no reason, Lexi,” he explains. “And they don’t get those bruises you have from nothing either.”

Involuntarily, I clutch my sides. I’d almost for gotten about the bruises there. “I don’t know, Blaze.” For some odd reason, I feel the urge to cry, and I’m stuck fighting back tears that are threatening to spill over. Two warm arms embrace me and I sit there awkwardly in Blaze’s arms. I pull back and am met with his gleaming grey eyes. Was I wrong about him? Is he still the same boy I fell for last summer? I mentally shake my head, the memories of last summer filling my mind. I freeze as I watch Blaze’s mouth descend closer to mine, his eyes closed, and for a second I think I might actually let him kiss me, but reality has a way of always creeping in on me at the most inconvenient times, and I pull away. “Blaze, I think you should go.”

I watch as his eyes slowly reopen, confusion immediately marring his face. Instead of arguing or questioning me, he simply nods and stands up from beside me. Before he leaves the room, he bends down quickly and delivers a soft peck to my forehead. “I miss you,” he whispers, and then casually strides out the door, leaving me confused and mentally exhausted.

_____________________________________________________________________

Black.

Why is everything black?

“Hello?”

My feet click against pavement, that much I can tell, but I have no clue where my feet are taking me. I stumble along the hard ground in the darkness. “Where am I?” I say to myself.

A loud crash sounds in the distance and I freeze. My heart rate picks up and I glance around in all directions, still not able to see anything.

“Is anyone there?” I call out.

A second crash. This one much closer.

I stumble back in what I believe is the opposite direction, fear causing me to shake slightly. “Please,” I beg. “Who’s there?”

Footsteps. They’re not faint or slow, but fast and charging, and suddenly I know I’m being chased. I turn around and take off in a dead sprint, finally noting that I’m barefoot on the pavement.

I chance a glance back behind me, hoping that something will make itself known to me, but all I’m met with is black. I whip my head around and suddenly I’m up against something hard. Two hands snatch my wrists and I realize that I’ve run into a person.

And there, in all the darkness and black, are two piercing green eyes staring intensely back at me. I can’t force back the scream.

I jolt forward, panting and gasping for air. Looking around me, I note I’m in the safe confines of my bedroom. A soft glow from the moon paints my room in midnight and I fight to catch my breath. “Just a dream,” I say to myself in between gasps of air.

And suddenly, I start laughing as I fall back into the comforts of my bed. I laugh as if everything that’s happened to me in the past few days has been nothing but a cruel sick joke and I’m just the victim of my own mind. Relief floods through me at the thought of that horrible nightmare being only a figment of my own imagination.

I roll onto my side and close my eyes, trying to shake the lingering images from my nightmare. The only thing I can’t seem to shake, however, are two piercing yet captivating green eyes.