Complicated People, Complicated Love

This Turned Dark

Maya

"I'm gonna go dry off, my fingers are starting to get all wrinkly from the water," I say to Lucas and work my way towards the swimming pool steps.

"Wait up, I'll come too," it's dark out now, the lights from inside and the pool being the only sources of light. I grab a towel and throw one at Lucas too. My hair feels gross and tangled from the dirty water and I try my best to tie it into a ponytail. It just me a cloudy night because I can't see a single star.

All my bruises are long gone but I still had to wear a one piece bathing suit because of my scars. I put Lucas's shirt on over it even though I'm still wet. "I must look disgusting," I quietly say to myself.

"Hey," Lucas looks at me with a disapproving face. "If for some reason you ever feel like you're not beautiful or like you're nothing, just remember you're perfect to me. And probably to everyone," he says this with such a serious look on his face that I actually feel guilt for saying what I did.

"Okay," I say awkwardly, not quite sure how to respond. He takes my hand and we go inside. The music gets louder as we go through the doors and I immediately dive into the bowl of popcorn on one of the tables. He laughs but doesn't try to stop me.

"Hey man," Zay says to Lucas, popping out of nowhere. "This reminds me of that epic party for your 14th birthday, remember? When we got all those girls to come and we were the only guys? Good times man," Lucas looks at me and back at Zay.

"Yeah, but this beats that one," his cheeks are red and he has a guilty fake smile on his face. I cross my arms and raise my eyebrows, only imagining what happened three years ago.

"Okay, but remember that time at the ranch where we rode those cows?" Lucas smiles at that.

"When we accidentally made one fall over?" They both burst out laughing and I walk to meet Riley, letting them have their reminiscing time.

"Maya! Come play cards with us!" Riley pleads.

"No thanks Riles, I'll just watch," I stand above Riley's chair and see her hand of cards, not really caring though. Lucas hasn't even noticed I'm gone, he and Zay are cracking up about another story. I remember when Lucas first got here and how much he just wanted to go back to Texas. Does he still feel that way? Would he leave me if he got the opportunity to move back home?

The snap of a lightning bolt makes me jump. I look out the window and rain is suddenly pouring. Girls from the pool are screaming and running inside along with the boys who are laughing. I find the remote buried in the couch and turn on the news.

"This flash storm is quickly becoming the worst of the year. We advise everyone to stay off the roads and stay inside." Lucas surprises me by touching my arm, he doesn't take his eyes off the screen. For some reason my head is starting to hurt. "Im gonna go lay down," I tell Lucas.

"Are you okay?" He asks looking down at me. I nod and maneuver my way out of the crowd. I go upstairs and kick a couple out of Lucas's room. I close the door, slip back on my pants, lay down, and sigh. I grab Cornelius and snuggle up with him.

"Maya, you okay?" I open my eyes, confused. Lucas is knelt down on the floor in front of my face. Oh, the party.

"Yeah, my head was just hurting, don't worry, it feels better now," I say with a smile.

"Hurting? Like the kind of hurting from your accident?" He asks sitting next to me on the bed. I sit up.

"Maybe, but it's gone now," I smile but he doesn't.

"Why would it be hurting? Was something upsetting you? Or stressing you out? Are you in pain? Is your-"

"Oh my god!" I yell. I didn't mean to yell, he was just asking so many questions so fast. He looks taken aback. "I'm sorry," I say, rubbing my head.

"Is it hurting now?" He asks touching my head.

"No!" I yell again. I sigh out of anger. I don't even know why I'm that upset.

"What's wrong?" He keeps his hand on my hair and doesn't look at all mad at me for yelling.

"Why are you like this!?" I ask him, sort of angrily.

"Like what?"

"Why aren't you mad!? You should be mad at me. You're never mad, I just yelled at you and I've done a lot worse! You can't be perfect all the time you have to not like me sometimes!" I take a deep breath and try to calm down. Lucas's hand hasn't left me.

"I could never not like you, never."

I stand up and turn to him, still angry. Am I even making sense right now? "You love me too much, it's not fair to you. Don't let me stop you from moving back to Texas,"

"That's what this is about? Texas?" He asks standing up as well. Huh, I guess it is. Well now I'm humiliated, he never even said anything about moving back, I basically made it up. I turn away and throw open the door. "Maya!" I hear him yell behind me but I don't stop. I run down the stairs, everyone's looking at me. Everyone. It seems like the room just sort of goes silent. I have an undeniable urge to get out. I run out the front door into the pouring rain. I hear Lucas behind me and then I see the brightest flash of light ever from behind me and the sound of thunder. I turn back and see a scorch mark in front of Lucas's house.

People are holding Lucas back from following me, but at the moment everyone stops and stares at the scorch mark. I run. The cold rain feels good after the hot day. The argument keeps coming back to me in my head, what's wrong with me? Do I push everyone away? Do I do it on purpose? My phone rings and I answer it, still running.

"Maya! Where are you? It's dangerous out there, I'm sorry if I did something,"

"No, no it wasn't you, I'm sorry, it was all me,"

"Baby, where are you?"

"I-I don't know, how long have I been gone?" I really don't know, everything's a blur.

"Twenty minutes, look around, where are you?"

I slow down and look up, there's nothing, the rain makes it hard to see anything at all around me. When I look back down theres a figure inches from me. I yell and drop my phone. It skids across the street and falls of the bridge. I'm on a bridge. I look at the figure, it's a kid.

"Hey, are you okay?" I yell over the sound of rain. I squat down and realize...it's Ava. "Ava!? What happened?" She has blood on her head.

"We had an accident,"

"We?" She turns and points her finger but I don't see anything. Then, I start to make out the shape of a car. A telephone wire that must have been sliced by lighting is laying feet from the car and sparks of light fly off of it, letting me take in the full view of the car. It's tipped on its side, windows broken, up against the rail of the bridge, glass everywhere.