Didi
What the hell is wrong with him?
I leave Remy and head outside—nearly bolting through the door. My lungs might suffocate if I spend one more minute with him. I can’t breathe when I’m with Remy, almost like he sucks the air right out of my lungs.
I keel over as soon as I’m outside, resting my hands on my knees and sucking in a breath. The fresh air is like a cool mint in my lungs, tasting like the trees around me.
A few eyes linger as they pass, heading toward the large group amassed around the fire. Smiling, laughing, like they all aren’t on death’s door. The energy around this house is so unsettling, almost as if it’s the origin of the evil that resides here.
Surprisingly, it feels like home.
I tilt my gaze up as a cloud shifts across the night sky, revealing the stars twinkling above. My eyes easily adjust to the nocturnal light, and it’s as if each star has its own orbit. They shoot across the sky like a million fireflies.
Firefly… Does Tommy think I’m a shooting star?
Crinkling my nose, I stare at them longer than I should—standing by myself with my mouth gaping. The world is fuzzy as a guitar blares in my ears. It’s not Tommy singing anymore, but a stereo blasting from the front door, echoing down the grassy front lawn.
I search for Tommy but can’t find him in the crowd. I take a deep breath, trying to snap out of it.
I’ve smoked dope once or twice, and I didn’t care for it, but this is different. Running my hands through my hair, I can’t tell up from down, everything around me is amazing with the twinkling tea lights in the yard and the darkness of the trees beyond.
I take a step, and my foot gets tangled on something. Glancing down, my stomach does back flips as my scarecrow stares back at me. A burlap mask is on the ground, caught up in my shoes.
I reach down, pick it up, and run my hands along the fabric, interlacing my fingers in the black slits—eyes like coal.
“What did you find there?” I shoot my gaze up and see a dark-haired guy with long hair staring at me. The flames from the bonfire dance off his face.
I pause and stare at him, and reach my hand out, which he grabs. “I’m not sure.” He gives me a kind smile, but I no longer trust kind smiles.
“Why are you over here in the dark all by yourself?” he asks me, taking a step closer.
Closing the distance, the world spins, and I’m lost in a daze. My skin tightens, almost like it’s peeling away, and my vision becomes razor sharp. His face blurs and distorts, and the face of the devil stares back at me.
“You devil bitch.” Mama’s voice cuts through the soft music playing. My hand whips to my mouth, and I gawk up at the man, as if the man sounded like Mama.
“Aaarrreee yyyyoooouuuu okkkkkkay?” He sounds like a fragmented dream as his face twists and contorts.
My heart beats at a furious rate. What is happening to me?
“Are you okay?” he asks again, and his voice is no longer distorted. I blink a few times, and my world goes back to normal. I try to compose myself, although every minute that goes by, I’m losing my sanity.
“I think…I think I’m hallucinating.”
His eyes blaze in the flickering firelight, and he chuckles. “That’s because you are hallucinating. Pretty sure everyone here is about to go on a ride.”
I glance around. Everyone is a monster, each with a blurred, shadowed face.
Shadowface.
“I…I don’t understand.”
The monster in front of me grabs my shoulder and leans in. His voice is garbled, like the ghost from the horror movie I watched with Tommy. “It’s easier to become him than hide from him. Succumb to me, Diana.”
My eyes widen. “What did you just say?”
He turns me in a circle, then releases me. “I said…it’s easier to succumb to it than fight it.”
I can’t decipher anything, and I’m not sure if it’s me screaming or if it’s someone else. I drop to my knees, squat down, burying my head into the ground. I’m no longer in control of my mind or body.
I might be dying.
I’m not sure how much time goes by, but the guy walks away, leaving me in my hallucination, and I can’t move. I lay curled up in a ball on the cold ground. A few seconds go by then—
“Firefly.”
Tommy pulls me up and gathers me into his muscular arms, and I peer up at him. He looks mad, and really sexy. Even if I’m out of my mind, he may be the nicest-looking guy I’ve ever seen. “How much did you take?”
The world turns vivid again, the waves of acid hitting me.
He carries me through the party and inside the house of death, and down to his room, gently placing me on the bed.
My attention focuses on the lava lamp on the corner of the desk, and it looks like it’s waving at me, so naturally, I wave back.
The lava inside is dripping out and oozing all over the floor.
I fall deeper into his bed.
Deep.
Deep.
Deep.
As if there is no bottom.
Tommy sits beside me, his arm finding its way around me. I can’t seem to focus enough to look at him, my attention fixed solely on that lamp.
“Didi,” he whispers as he plants his body next to mine.
I turn toward him, though I avoid meeting his eyes. “I need to leave.” I choke out.
He squeezes my hand, sending a familiar quiver through my stomach, just like always. “You’re not in any shape to go anywhere, firefly. Plus, Talia won’t let you leave.”
I try to roll off his bed, but I can’t move and my head lands right in Tommy’s lap.
Stupid little girl. You don’t want to listen to me. I’ll make you stay. I’ll force you to stay.
Mama’s voice makes me shake. She’s in my head, controlling me, tormenting me from the inside. She’s everywhere in my mind as guilt and fury consume me. I sense her everywhere.
I melt against him, my body becoming boneless. His rough hands knead circles on my back. “Take it easy, firefly. Talia gave you a bit of acid—I’m tripping, too.”
His face contorts like dark poison, his face blurred and distorted, like the vision of who I see when I shut my eyes.
The demon.
A flicker of something untamed in his eyes. This isn’t Tommy…he’s a stranger—the monster chasing my soul to trap me.
Blood, darkness… Death.
I recoil, gasping. “Get away from me. I don’t know who you are.”
“Didi, it’s me, baby,” he pleads, his voice slow and calming as his features soften back to a semblance of familiarity. “Let me help you through this.”
My head rests comfortably on his lap, and I stare up at his beautiful face. Rainbows suddenly shine around him. I don’t say anything; my mouth gaps open, and I admire him. My head slips from my body.
A scream…
My scream…
“Didi, you’re tripping out. Just focus on my voice and count to ten.”
My head rolls back, and I see him, but there are four of him. A mirror. A memory. A grave.
“Why would Talia do this to me?”
I can’t understand his response. All I can see are his teeth, which have become razor blades.
He rubs my forehead, and I focus on his scent. His spicy scent is the only thing grounding me. “What you’re seeing is not real right now. You’re hallucinating.”
Tears start to pour out of my eyes. “It is real, Tommy—that’s the problem. I need to find peace within this darkness; it’s always been where my mind resides.”