ZERO HOUR : [ TMoL One Shot Contest ]

00:00

Before: prior to frank meeting lolita
During: when the story is set
After: what happens after lolita leaves

.

L A N A

: before
Lana likes attention—craves it, even—and knows how to get it. She knows that licking your lips before saying a guy's name makes them pay attention to you; knows that if you got on your knees it was easier to manipulate them into buying a gun for you, and if you wanted the noise to vanish all you had to do was press the mouth of the weapon against the side of your head and think happy thoughts. Pink clouds at sunset. Untouched snow during the winter. Cheating dads being choked to death by their daughters.

: during
Robin is looking at her again, and so she follows him into the Geo hall. Maps depicting places she will never visit and diagrams of volcanoes line the walls. He wants to go down on her again, but she doesn't know why he bothers. He had already been caught last night, when she found him making out with a guy in the parking lot of their local supermarket, where the shadows could cover their faces enough for them to forget who they were. Still, she lets him pretend he wants this as much as she doesn't as her gaze fixates on one of the images in front of her. Orange froth flows from the mouth of the volcano, red cracks carved into the rock structure, just like the ones where she had clawed her heart out. She reads the title, head dipping backwards—eruption.

: after
There is only one spot in the world where the noise in Lana's head fades away. Sometimes, when she lays her head on the biting cold floor of the ward's bathroom, the ringing dissolves into the mist and she is simply Lana again. Lana, who fucked guys to forget she existed, who found solitude in waving a gun in Lolita's face even though she knew the truth, knew that it wasn't Lolita's mum who had killed her own mother, but Lana herself. For fuck's sakes Lana, this is the last time I'm picking you up from a party. You need to start acting more responsibly, do you hea—

She never heard the ending of that sentence.

.

R O B I N

: before
"Well, would'ya look at that?" His dad's huge paw clapped him on the shoulder. He tried not to flinch. "My own son made quarterback, ha!"

They were seated across from each other at the dining table. Robin was eyeing the butter knife inconspicuously, hoping his dad's wavering hands wouldn't go near it. Again.

"Gonna be a right gunner like your old man, eh pal?" laughing, his dad winks. Robin freezes.

Almost instantly, a cold expression sweeps across his dad's face. Robin tries so hard not to breathe too loudly, too out of sync.

"Maybe we can also find you a girl," a harsh breath falls from his dad's lips. "How about that Lana girl, Rob?"

Fuck. "What about her dad?"

His dad stands abruptly. "Do you think I'm stupid? I asked you a question, Robin." Fists slowly come to rest on the wooden tabletop. "Are you sleeping with that girl?"

He couldn't quite look his dad in the eyes. Couldn't quite come out with a half-lie half-truth like that. So, he whispers "yes" to the spot between his dad's eyebrows instead and waits for the mask to fall back into place.

: during
He could see the tears glisten in Lolita's eyes and God, he felt so ugly for loving how high it made him feel. For once, he wasn't the only person hurting.

: after
His hands were clutching the porcelain seat as he gagged into the bowl. Grating music was playing in the background but his mind was too doped up on whatever to recognise the song. Who's the deadbeat now? He could feel his foul words reverberate in his mind and he could not stop laughing for the life of him.