Blackout

Metamorphosis

[n] a change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one, by natural or supernatural means


“Sophie.”

A singsong voice calling my name made it’s way out of the darkness, reminding me of my mother. I could hear her saying my name when I slept in too late on the weekend, her voice soothing as I woke up sooner than I really wanted.

But then I remembered the sight of her blood, splattered on my skin and clothes, dark against my pale skin and mixed with my father’s. I remembered their lifeless eyes staring blankly at me. I had done this to them. I had killed them.

I woke with a gasp, my room dark except for the lamp on my nightstand which had been turned on. The last thing I could remember was Pete’s hand wrapped around my throat. Bree was standing beside the bed, looking down at me with worry.

“Hey sleepyhead,” she said. “Everything alright?”

I felt the urge to scream at her that no, everything was not all right, but I couldn’t exactly tell her what was really going on with me. So I took a slow breath through my nose, and despite everything, I sat up slowly and forced a smile.

“I’m fine,” I answered. “You just startled me. What are you doing here?”

“You texted me,” she said, smiling crookedly at me, a hint of confusion in her eyes. “Said you wanted to go out and get crazy.”

I looked past her out into the hallway, where I could just make out Pete in the shadows just past my doorway. I looked at my nightstand where my phone sat innocently.

“Sorry,” I said, looking back at Bree. “Completely forgot. I must have texted you right before I took a nap. Just give me like 30 minutes to get ready.”

“Don’t worry about it!” she said. “I’m just going to go get to know your cute new roommate you failed to mention.”

She winked at me and quickly left my room before I could warn her in some way against Pete.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to get through tonight. I was glad I had a day off, but I didn’t think that going out and drinking and having fun with Bree was the best thing to do the day after I had murdered my own parents.

I went to pick up my phone to check the time and the text I knew that Pete had sent Bree when I saw the red pill sitting beside it. I put my phone back down and picked up the pill, holding it between my fingers and looking at it closely. I was sure this was no ordinary pill, probably some demon drug that Pete had come up with.

But he had said it would take the edge off all of this, and right now, more than ever I needed that. So what the hell? I popped the pill into my mouth and dry swallowed it.

---

Before I had even been able to pick out a dress to wear out, I felt a warmth overcome me that I hadn’t felt in a while. The constant chill that I had become accustomed to faded away. The edges of my consciousness felt fuzzy in a good way and I felt a smile grace my lips as I ran my fingers through my hair.

I couldn’t even remember why I had been so upset.

I went to the closet and found the tightest, shortest dress I could find and pulled it on as I glanced at my shoe options.

When I was ready, I went out into the living room where Bree was sitting on the couch and Pete was standing by the window, gazing out at the city. Bree smiled when she saw me.

“Now there’s the Sophie I know,” she said, standing up. “Are you ready to go wild?”

“Absolutely ready,” I said, my lips stretching in a slow smile. “Want to do a few warm up shots before we head out? I’m sure Pete has some kind of liquor in the kitchen we can have.”

I headed for the kitchen and heard Bree following. I started opening cabinets before finally opening one to find a bottle of vodka. I pulled it down and set it on the counter and opened another cabinet to find shot glasses.

“Do you want a shot, Pete?” I asked. I turned, not surprised to find Pete hovering in the entryway of the kitchen, watching us in a bored way. Bree took the shot glasses from my hand and lined them up on the counter before opening the vodka bottle and starting to carefully fill them.

“Of course he wants one,” she said, smirking at him.

Pete moved into the kitchen and stood beside me. I saw his lips curve up from the corner of my eye as he studied me.

“You seem relaxed,” he said quietly, reaching up to brush a few stray strands of hair behind my shoulder. “I can hardly believe you’re actually acknowledging me.”

I turned my face towards his, choosing not to react to how close we were to each other.

“Well, I don’t really feel like having to explain to Bree how much I actually loathe you,” I responded, keeping my voice low. Bree turned from her phone which had been distracting her and smiled at Pete and me.

“These shots aren’t going to do themselves.”

I moved over to Bree, stepping away from Pete, and picked up one of the shot glasses. Bree picked up one and Pete moved beside me once again, wrapping an arm around my waist as he picked up his own shot glass.

“To a night of being free,” Pete toasted, raising his shot glass slightly

“Hear, hear!” Bree exclaimed, clinking her glass against his. I rolled my eyes and brought the glass to my lips before tipping my head back.

Pete’s hand squeezed my waist and I was surprised that my first instinct wasn’t to violently push him away. Bree said something about going to the bathroom and when she was out of the kitchen, I took the opportunity to step away from Pete to lean against the counter.

“You took the pill didn’t you,” he said. I didn’t say anything. “I told you it would take the edge off.”

He moved in front of me, placing his hands on the counter on either side of me.

“You know, I think I’ll join you guys on your night out,” he said, smirking at me. “I think this could be fun for both of us.”

“You’re an asshole,” I snarled. The pill was definitely helping me forget most of the horror that was my life, but I don’t think it could ever make me forget how much I disliked Pete. It just seemed to make me tolerate him more.

Bree entered the room then.

“Ready to go?”

I turned my face away from Pete’s and smiled at her.

“So ready,” I responded. Pete took a step back so I could leave the kitchen.

“You coming out with us Pete?” Bree asked.

“I think I will,” he answered. “I haven’t had much opportunity to let loose lately.”

“Well, we will definitely fix that,” Bree said.

We left the apartment, and when we got downstairs, Pete took it upon himself to try hailing a taxi. Bree stood close to me.

"So why haven't I heard anything about this roommate situation before now?" she whispered, she was watching Pete and I was happy to see he was having difficulty getting the attention of a taxi.

"I don't know," I answered, shrugging my shoulders. "I just didn't."

"Are you two sleeping together?"

"No!"

"Are you into him?"

"No," I shook my head, causing me to feel slightly dizzy from the pill and alcohol starting to really take effect. "I'm not into him."

"Is there something wrong with him?" she asked. I sighed.

"He's just an asshole," I whispered back. I wasn't sure why I continued to whisper. I had no doubt that Pete could hear every word that we were saying.

"That's usually your type," Bree said, her smile growing when I glared at her.

Finally a taxi pulled up to the curb and Pete opened the back door, gesturing inside.

"Ladies first," he said. I refrained from rolling my eyes, fighting the constant urge, and followed Bree into the back of the taxi. Pete climbed in after us, making the backseat very cramped.

"You couldn't have sat in the front seat?" I asked, as Bree told the driver where to go.

"And lose an opportunity to test the effectiveness of that pill I gave you?" he questioned in return. He smiled at me and I looked away, crossing my arms.

When we arrived at the club Bree had decided we were going to, my head felt even fuzzier as if I had been drinking for hours already. I laughed as I stumbled from the cab and grabbed ahold of Pete's arm before I could fall flat on my face.

"Get it together Sophie," Bree laughed. "You've only had one shot so far, you lightweight."

"She may have had a little something extra before that," Pete added. Bree looked at me suspiciously and I just smiled, still holding onto Pete as I swayed on the sidewalk.

"And you didn't share?" she asked. I shrugged.

"I only had one," I answered.

"One what?"

I shrugged my shoulders again and we started walking toward the club entrance, Pete pulling his arm from my grasp and wrapping it around my waist to keep me steady.

"You don't even know what you took?" Bree inquired.

"Whatever it is, it's definitely working," I said, smiling at the security guy outside who let us in without giving a second glance, much to the chagrin of those who were waiting in the long line beside the door.

As soon as we were inside, Pete directed me toward the bar, Bree following close behind. Once there, Pete pulled out a credit card and passed it to the bartender who came over to us immediately.

"Any drinks these girls want are on me," he said. "Now bring us 3 shots of your best and strongest liquor."

The bartender pulled out 3 shot glasses and set them on the bar before grabbing a bottle that he had already placed in the well below, filling each with the liquor. Pete passed the shots to us and raised his own with a cheeky smile before bringing the glass to his lips and downing the shot. Bree and I followed suit and as soon as I had set down my glass, Bree was pulling on my arm.

"Let's go dance!" she yelled over the music. I stumbled along behind her as she pulled me to the mass of people in the center of the club. I glanced back quickly to see Pete still at the bar, watching me with his dark eyes.

I turned around when Bree stopped and laughed as she tapped the shoulder of a man who had his back to us. The laughter got caught in my throat when the man turned around and I was staring Seth in the eyes. I felt my world spin and no amount of liquor or strange demon pills could keep me from forgetting my first kill, even if he hadn't remained dead.

I could just barely hear Bree say his name followed by him responding with a simple, "Sorry, do I know either of you?"

My head felt light and my breathing became shallow as I thought about all the other horrible things I had done since that night, just so that this man could live. How fucked up was that? What had I been thinking?

But I hadn't been thinking. I had panicked, had been promised that this would be made right, in exchange for anything. At that moment I would have given anything to undo my mistake, and in the end, I saved one life only to have taken many more since then, in only a few short weeks.

I felt myself swaying as I slowly backed away from Bree who had seemed to forget about me as she laughed with Seth. She didn't realize what was going on with me. The edges of my vision started to darken and I was sure I was going to pass out from all of this. It was too overwhelming.

"Sophie."

I turned my head too quickly and started to fall, but was quickly steadied by two hands gripping onto my arms.

"Sophie, look at me."

I focused on the person in front of me, realizing that it was Pete. Of course it was Pete. For the first time since this whole mess had started, I was actually relieved to see him.

“Do you want to leave?”

I managed a nod and in the blink of an eye we were suddenly back in Pete’s apartment. I took a shaky breath, not even caring that Pete had just teleported us from a crowded room or that we had left Bree behind.

I felt my muscles relax, and my knees wobbled. Pete helped me sit on the couch and as soon as I was down I started sobbing. I heard Pete moving around the room and suddenly he was pushing a glass of water into my hands.

“Drink this,” he said. I looked up at him, and tried to take in a deep breath. I brought the glass to my lips and took a small sip.

“Why are you helping me?” I asked when I felt confident enough to form words. Pete didn’t say anything, just staring down at me with that dark, unreadable gaze.

“You should get some sleep,” he said instead of answering. He walked over to the windows in the living room. “You’re going to feel like shit in the morning.”

I looked down at my water glass and sniffled, before setting the glass down. He was right. I should get some sleep. I felt tired straight down to my bones. I felt more tired than I had ever felt before. My life was suffocating me slowly; a torturous dance with the devil that I was fighting at every step.

I didn’t want to fight anymore if this was all I got in return. I was fighting a losing battle against my own choices. Nothing was going to change no matter what I did to try and change it.

I stood next to Pete at the windows, looking out over the city before turning to him.

“Hey, Pete,” I said. He turned his head, and I took my chance. I was diving in headfirst. Screw everything I had ever believed in. I was lost and going to hell anyway. My lips met his with force, causing him to stumble for a change. I smiled against his lips before backing away. “Goodnight.”
♠ ♠ ♠


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This one's a long one! Hope you enjoy the update!

~Sally