Growing Wildflowers | WLW

Black Dahlia

My fists clench on their own. My throat constricts like a snake around its prey until I can't breathe. Fire cracks my throat and I know immediately, the only way to stop the pain is to drink; to drain Liam. I take a step forward, a wallflower compared to Liam and Kelsey's screaming match. No one's looking at me... Yet. My tongue slips across my teeth, ready to taste the familiar mix of copper and human as my feet move closer to the scene on their own.

I'm in the middle of my own personal fantasy, draining Liam until his body goes limp with death when Jamie comes into focus, her worried green eyes the only thing keeping me from my prey. She grabs my hand. "Come with me, Gwen."

"Should see if he's okay," I mumble, stepping around her but she doesn't let go.

"He's fine. It's just a scratch."

"I'll meet you in the car." I don't know where these words are coming from. It's like I'm trapped inside myself, watching as my body does what it's been designed to do.

Jamie's grip tightens around my wrist, and she pulls me to face her, to turn my back on the boy I want to sink my teeth into. The simple act of getting his blood out of view makes it easier, if only slightly. I suck in a sharp breath through my mouth, trying to get the hot, rusty smell out of my nostrils but the whole auditorium reeks with Liam's blood. The thick crimson liquid is burned into my memory. I shut my eyes tight, trying to force the image from my head as Jamie's cold palm finds its way to my cheek.

"We're leaving," she whispers in my ear and before the monster controlling my actions can protest, she's dragging me toward the exit, stopping briefly to give her condolences to the families she knows by name. She pulls the passenger door open and waits for me to duck into the vehicle before she closes the door.

I roll the window down before she gets in, still fighting the urge to rip the door open and run back inside. I dig my fingers into the side of the cracked leather seat as Jamie slides into the driver's side and shoves the key in the ignition. People are beginning to pour out of the building as Jamie pushes the rattling Volkswagen onto the road.

Silence hangs heavy in the air as she takes the closest highway from the city. "Are you okay?" she asks, turning the knob on her radio until the music is only background noise.

My jaw pops as I unclench it. "Sorry about that," I say. "I have a thing with blood." An understatement. I dare a glance at Jamie, who's sitting tall, her shoulders stiff as she pushes the old car to a decent speed.

"Mhm."

I clear my throat, an attempt to cut through the tension but words don't follow. I don't know what to say to the woman who just put herself between a killing machine and its meal. I can't thank her without telling her I was on the verge of murdering Liam in front of the entire school board. "I should—"

She jerks the steering wheel so that the car flies off the road into a turnout on the side of the highway.

"You're not running this time," she says as she pulls the key from the ignition and lets the engine die off. She nods for me to follow her. "Come on."

She leans against the hood of the car and waits for me to follow suit.

"You're going to get cold," I tell her. "I don't have a jacket for you." I'm coming up with excuses. Anything to get away from her, to get away from her inevitable questions.

She smiles at me but doesn't say anything. Her arms are crossed over her chest and goosebumps ripple up her biceps.

"Let me take you home," I offer.

She shakes her head.

"Why not?"

"Because I can't imagine you telling me your big secret if my mom's in the room next to us."